Different Types of Photography

PORTRAITURE PHOTOGRAPHY

If you have ever picked up a camera and took a photograph of a family member or a pet than you have done portrait photography.

Two different types of portrait photography are:

Studio – Many professional photographers have a studio where they do most of their work.  The studio most likely will have lighting, muslims (the backdrops in photographs) and different props.  Photographers can have a lot of equipment and it is much easier to bring the subject to them than to have to take all the equipment they would need to them.

Location – Many photographers including me, prefer natural lighting to artificial so they do their photography outdoors.  No matter where you live,  you can find some place that have a beautiful backdrop, whether it is at the beach, a park, famous landmark or maybe just your backyard. I live near the beach so I have the perfect backdrop.  The downside of course is the weather, you are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

NATURE/WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY

Have you ever taken a picture of a flower in your backyard or a cardinal eating out of your bird feeder?  That is nature/wildlife photography.  The great thing about nature and wildlife photography is you can do it in your own backyard or at the local park. Ansel Adams www.anseladams.com is probably the most well known nature photographer.  His shots of Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks are incredible.  This is the photography that I love to shoot.  It is beautiful and unpredictable.  The great thing about wildlife photography is no two shots are the same but you do have to be patient and you have to be ready.

LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

Another great subject is landscape photography.  Have you ever taken a photo of a famous landmark (i.e. Lincoln Memorial, Seattle Space Needle, St. Louis Arch).  That is landscape photography. Cityscapes also fit into this category.    Cityscapes are especially great photographs when taken at night.

Cox Wedding

Here are a few photos taken from a wedding I shot this weekend.

 

Beach Portraits

My lastest beach portrait session.

 

 

    

Honesty and Integrity Part 2

Three days before the runoff election between Tim Scott and Paul Thurmond, my mother received a postcard from the Scott campaign – one of many that were arriving in her mail box on a daily basis.  As usual it was hatefully attacking Paul. Although, unfortunately this was politics as usual, this postcard had a picture on it of Paul that the Scott campaign had no right to use.  The picture was one that I, as a professional photographer, had taken of Paul during the Tri-County Debate aboard the U.S.S. Yorktown in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. on May 18, 2010.

In case many of you don’t know, the use of someone else’s photographs without their permission is a copyright infringement.   It doesn’t matter that my picture was posted on Paul’s Facebook page – they never asked for my permission nor did they ever offer to compensate me for the use of that picture.  Unfortunately for them, my mother recognized the picture right away as it was a very unusual angle that could not even be duplicated by someone standing right next to me.  But to be sure, she and I compared the two to make certain that it was my photograph.

I am a professional photographer and photography is my livelihood.   Because of that fact, I sent a letter, an invoice, a copy of the flyer and a copy of the photograph to Tim Scott asking to be compensated for my work.   Three days later I received a call from his campaign manager telling me that they received the letter and that they were forwarding it on to their attorney.  No big deal, I was expecting that.  A week later I received a letter from the attorney asking me to call him at my convenience, which I did.   However, he wasn’t in so I left a message on his voicemail.   Needless to say, I didn’t hear back so for the following two days I called him again – both times leaving messages.  On the third day, in my message I told him that if I had not heard from him or the campaign by September 15^th,  that I would take my case to court.  Ironically, I got a phone call that afternoon.

It was the longest 6 minute phone conversation that I’ve ever had.  It was not a pleasant one as the attorney was determined to bully me but I answered all of his questions.  He then told me that he would confer with his client and get back to me.  That was on August 26, 2010 and I have yet to hear back.   I left one more message on the 14^th of September stating that they had until the next morning to get this issue resolved.  Otherwise I planned to hire an attorney to take this issue to court.  To this day, I still haven’t heard anything and doubt that they have any intention of getting back to me.

This was not the outcome I had hoped for.    I tried to get this matter resolved without involving the courts or smearing Tim but it appears that Tim and his representatives have no interest in working with me or are taking this matter seriously.     As a result I have been forced to file paperwork with the federal court.

Is this the type of politician that we want representing us in Washington?

Honesty and Integrity – Part 1

How is it that honesty and integrity and the word politician don’t seem to go together?  Yes, many politicians may start off being idealistic but somewhere along the way they change and become interested in only what being in power will do for them.  No longer do they seem to care about the people that they are supposed to represent or are concerned about making this country a better place.

Unfortunately, I believe that we are already seeing this trait emerge in the Republican candidate running for the SC 1^st District Congressional seat – Tim Scott (@votetimscott).

During the Republican Primary I was hired as an independent contractor to do photography and videography for the Paul Thurmond campaign.  It was a fascinating opportunity to work behind the scenes of the race.   I got to know almost all of the candidates pretty well and, for quite awhile, I had a great deal of respect for all of them including Tim.  In fact, my early impression of him was extremely favorable.

However, as time went by I started to see and hear things that I didn’t like.  The major one was that some very influential people in the National Republican Party decided to get involved in a state’s primary and not allow the people to make their choice of who they wanted to represent them.  However, it was until the run-off that I realized how bad the situation was.

The primary race between the nine candidates running appeared to be pretty much above reproach.  Overall, the candidates treated each other with respect.  It was very refreshing not to hear a lot of nasty innuendos being hurled out trying to hurt each other – in fact it was refreshing to have people running that seemed to genuinely like and respect each other.  However, once the primary was over and the run-off was between Tim and Paul, things started to change rapidly.  Paul wanted to keep the campaign clean – Tim (after stating to Paul he wanted to do the same) was determined to make it as dirty as possible.   Nasty insinuations were made about Paul that weren’t true.  Tim got well over $100,000 in donations – much of it from out of State – Paul borrowed money to keep his campaign going and yet Tim accused Paul of being the “establishment” candidate being backed by special interest groups.   Mitt Romney, Eric Cantor, Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee all backed Tim saying he was the true conservative.  I know for a fact they never interviewed Paul and doubt very seriously that they did Tim either.  It came down to the fact that Tim fit the Republican agenda – Paul didn’t.   Did they even do any research on either candidate before making a choice?  I seriously doubt it.

Copyrights

I recently had a photo of mine pulled off Facebook and used without my permission so I decided that I would do a blog on Copyrights.

Copyright is a form of protection, authorized by the United States Constitution, that gives photographers, artists, authors, musicians, choreographers and architects the exclusive right to use and reproduce their works. Essentially, all original works can be copyrighted. This includes photographs, art works, sculpture, writings, music and computer software. Virtually all works created or first published after January 1, 1978 are protected by copyright. Many works created prior to 1978 are also protected.

A copyright is secured automatically when a work is created. This concept is frequently misunderstood. Some people still believe that there are formalities required in order to create a copyright. This is not true. Under the latest version of the Copyright Act, neither publication nor registration with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is required in order to secure full copyright protection. When a work is created, it is automatically copyrighted.

The owner of the copyright generally has the exclusive right to reproduce the work in copies, to prepare derivative works based on the work, and to distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership.  The owner of the copyright generally has the exclusive right to publicly display and perform the work.

Permission to use a copyrighted work is called a “license.” A license must be obtained from the owner of the copyright prior to using the work. The license can be oral or written. Obviously, the use of a clearly written licensing agreement will avoid confusion. The writing does not have to be detailed to be effective. A simple letter or invoice is usually sufficient. For example, ‘one-time usage rights for photograph in brochure with press run of 5,000 copies and regional newspaper use for six months – $2,500.”

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

The unauthorized use of a copyrighted work is called an infringement. The Copyright Act provides stiff penalties for infringing copyrighted works. Under appropriate circumstances, penalties can include monetary damages, all profits earned by the infringer from the unauthorized use of the copyrighted work and attorneyís fees. A court can also order the destruction of all infringing copies.

For more information check out: http://www.photolaw.net/faq.html

Save The Tiger

As I mentioned in my May 22, 2010 blog: Bengal Tiger, this is the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese Calendar.  With so few tigers left in the wild today, it is more important than ever to save this majestic cat.

Here are some of the different ways that you can help save the Tigers:

World Wildlife Fund

• Species Adoption – Give a gift that will help protect the future of nature. Your symbolic adoption supports WWF’s global efforts to protect wild animals and their habitats.  You can also give Species Adoption gift cards so your recipient can pick what species they want to adopt.
• Donate

SaveTigersNow.org – This is part of World Wildlife Fund.  You can donate and your donation will go to:

• strengthen grassroots projects to save tiger habitat across its range
• support antipoaching efforts on the ground
• build political will so that governments commit to bold, game-changing strategies that give wild tigers a future

SaveTheTigerFund.org

• Save The Tiger Fund (STF) is a partnership program between the ExxonMobil Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) established in 1995 focused on the conservation of wild tigers.

SaveOurTigers.com

• Every little bit helps. You can speak up about the cause. You can write or blog about our tigers. Even staying up-to-date with tiger facts like knowledge of tiger sanctuaries, their population, news updates, etc. helps. You can also donate money to NGOs working for the cause, like WWF-India. If we don’t act now, we can lose this part of our heritage forever.
• Twitter id: @SaveOurTigers
• Facebook ID: http://www.facebook.com/StripeytheCub?ref=ts

SavingWildTigers.org

• Donate

TigerHaven.org

• Big cat sanctuary and rescue facility located in Tennessee. Similar to a animal shelter for dogs and cats except it is a no kill facility and it is a permanent home for the big cats.
• These cats do not work for a living, they just enjoy the rest of their lives.
• Adopt a cat at $53/year to help feed and house these wonderful cats.  WIth your donation, you will receive a certificate and an 8×10 photo of the cat that you choose.

These are just some of the ways that you can help the tiger population.  Anything that you can do would be appreciated.

The Lion

The Lion (Panthera Leo) is the second largest member of the cat family, second only to the tiger.  The word lion derives from Latin leo.  They currently exit in sub-saharan African and in Asia with a critically endangered remnant population in the Gir Forest National Park in India.  The lion has disappered from North Africa and Southwest Asia.

They generally live for 10-15 years in the wild and can live over 20 years in captivity.  They are unusually social compared to the other big cats.  They live in a Pride.  Related females and their offspring and a small group of males live together.  The females hunt together.

The male lion is easily recognizable due to his mane.

There are eight subspecies that are recognized today:

• Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica) – About 300 exist in or near the Gir Forest in India.  Once widespread from Turkey across SW Asia to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
• Barbary Lion (Panthera leo leo) – They are extinct due to excessive hunting.  There may be some in captivity in India. Last wild lion was killed in Morocco in 1922. One of the largest subspecies.  Ranged from Morocco to Egypt.
• West African Lion (Panthera leo senegatensis) – Found in West African from Senegal to Nigeria.
• Northeast Congo Lion (Panthera leo azandica) – Found in northeastern part of Congo.
• East African or Massi Lion (Panthera leo nubica) – Found from Ethiopia and Kenya to Tanzania and Mozambique.
• Southwest African or Katanga Lion (Panthera leo bleyenberghi) – Found in Southwest Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Zaire, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
• Southeast African Lion (Panthera leop krugeri) – Transvaal region of Southeast Africa including Kruger National Forest.
• Cape Lion (Panthera leo melanchaita) – Extinct in wild around 1860.
• East Africa or Tsavo Lion (Panthera leo nubica) – Found from Kenya to Tsava National Forest.

The lion is the tallest at shoulder of all the felines. Their skulls are similar to that of a tiger though the frontal region is more depressed and flattened and they have broader nasal openings.  The lion color is light buff to yellowish, reddish, or dark brown.  Their underparts are lighter and both the male and the female have black tuft of hair at the end of their tails.  Lion cubs are born with spots that fade when they get older but may still be seen on their legs.  The male lion’s mane is a distinct feature, unique only to them.

Lions do not mate at a specific time of year.  Gestation period is 110 days.  One to four cubs are born in a litter in a secluded den.  Female lion hunts by herself when cubs are still helpless.  Cubs are born blind, their eyes open about a week after birth.  They are walking about 2-3 weeks after birth.  The mother does not reintegrate herself back into the pride until the cubs are about 6-8 weeks old.  As much as 80% cubs will die before they reach age 2.

It is estimated that there has been a 30-50% decline of the lion population over the past 20 years.  Something needs to be done before they are totally gone from the wild.

The Grizzly Bear

Three month old Grizzly Cub

The Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) is second largest land carnivore, the polar bear being the largest.  They can weigh up to 1,200 pounds. The term grizzly comes from “grizzled” or grey hair in its fur.  Grizzly Bears are a subspecies of the Brown Bear.  They are generally found in western North America but they are also found in Asia and Europe.

They normally are a solitary active animal but during salmon spawn, they can be seen congregating with other grizzly’s along streams, lakes, rivers and ponds.

Their claws make them different from other species of brown bear.   Their claws are twice the length of their toes.

Grizzlies are omnivores since their diets consists of both plants and animals.  Grizzly bears also readily scavenge food, on carrion left behind by other animals

Female Grizzly Bears (sows) reproduce about every other year.  They have between 1 and 4 cubs (normally 2).  The newborn cubs weigh only about a pound.  Mother bears are notoriously protective of their cubs.    Mother protecting their cubs account for 70% of all fatal injuries to humans. Grizzly Bears normally avoid contact with people.

They are listed as threatened in the United Sates and endangered in Canada.

The Grizzly Bear is one of the many animals that you can adopt on World Wildlife Fund.

Bengal Tiger

On February 14, 2010, the Chinese lunar calendar moved into The Year of the Tiger.

Tigers are the largest of all the Asian big cats, at the top of the food chain.  Tigers are one of the most culturally important and beautiful animals on the planet but they are one of the most vulnerable and threatened species on Earth.

Bengal Tigers are found in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.  The tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh.   According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are approximately 2,100 royal Bengal tigers in the wild:

• 1,411 in India
• 200 in Bangladesh
• 150 in Nepal
• 100 in Bhutan

It is considered to be the second largest tiger next to the Siberian Tiger, though recent studies show that the Bengal tiger could actually be larger than the Siberian.

The total length for males from tip of nose to tip of tale is between 8′ – 10′ and the average weight is about 490 lb., females are a little smaller, they are between 7-8 feet and weigh about 300 lb.  Though in India and Nepal, Bengal tigers can grow to about 518 lb. for males. A Bengal Tiger’s coat is yellow or orange with black or brown stripes.  Their belly is white and tail is white with black rings.  There are also white Bengal Tigers which have white coat with dark brown or reddish brown stripes.  This coloration is caused by a recessive gene.

A tiger’s roar can be heard up to 2 miles away.

India has approximately 2/3 of the worlds tigers.  Tigers are found in 37 tiger preserves throughout India.  Habitat loss and poaching are serious threats to the tiger population.  Tigers are killed for sport, skins and body parts.

According to the World Wildlife Fund – If we do not respond to the plight of the wild tigers and the needs of the communities that share their homes with tigers – most of which is outside protected wildlife areas, we will witness the loss of one of the world’s most irreplaceable, natural wonders of our lifetime.   Tigers survive on 40% less area than they occupied 10 years ago.  The tiger population has fallen about 95% and its range has decreased over 93% over the past century.

Please sign the petition Protect Tigers from Illegal Trade Help WWF tighten regulations to protect captive tigers in the U.S. and prevent increased demand for tiger products that put wild populations at risk. Sign WWF’s petition to Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack asking them to use their authority to close existing loopholes in the permitting and monitoring of captive tigers in the U.S.

World Wildlife Fund’s Goal Tx2 is to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.