Late night Wendy's session in Buena Park with photographer Chris (aka Christopher Canon).
Chris and Chris
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Shibuya Station 1:06am
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Shibuya Station 1:06am.
ENDLESS Girls
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After Tokyo Auto Salon closing hours with the Endless girls. This one is for all you JDM heads who couldn`t make it out to the show this year. Have to thank my friends at Endless and Car Station Marche on making all of the girls stay for me after closing.
The Return of the Camera Kozo
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It's that time of year again during the Tokyo Auto Salon when the camera kozos come out and motor drive their cameras at a blazing 14 FPS.
Stanley, Hong Kong
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Out of all the times I've been traveling back and forth to Hong Kong, this was my first visit to the area known as Stanley. It's a cool little spot just outside of the city area and is a good place to relax. You can easily get to Stanley by bus or taxi so it makes a good day trip if you're a busy shooter like me where time is usually limited. I say it's worth checking out if you're looking to refresh yourself from the craziness of the big city life. Makes a great place to lounge out with relaxing views all around.
Hong Kong Street Shooters
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In celebration of the people behind the cameras...because sometimes they deserve a little recognition.
Into Twenty Thirteen
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Congrats, we've all made it into another year. Hopefully a better one than the previous for many. It still amazes me how time flies as fast as a SR-71 Blackbird. Time after time and year after year goes by when some of us come to the realization that you should've taken that chance early on when you had the opportunity to. No excuse now as it's still early on in 2013 to make those dreams of yours a reality. Pick up that phone and make that sales call to those companies you have always wanted to work with. Stay in while others are out at the parties and focus on your art. Send out those emails to your editors and offer them a few good story ideas. Go out and shoot that project that you have longed put off. Get off your comfortable chair and experiment. Make those mistakes and learn from them. Don't limit yourself only to work in the region you live in. Reach out to the global market.
I look forward to the unknown of not exactly knowing what lies ahead in this world of uncertainty but as far as I can tell, it's always to keep charging along. Back to picking up the cameras, sitting on trains and planes this year. There's no stopping over here. Look forward to working with the wonderful new folks this year that I have connected with in 2012.
With this being the first post for 2013, let me take you on my little adventure when I was just in Hong Kong (again) right after Christmas into the new year eating all that cheap delicious food out there. I can't say it enough but it's a great place to see a bit of the old and the new. People are great and did I mention the food is superb too?
Victoria Harbour with good light on December 28, 2012. View never gets old...
Met my hero on the Avenue of Stars...Bruce Lee. And a bored man on the railing.
Lots of development have been going on in HK.
POP ART IS FOR EVERYONE.
The Lin Heung Tea House is such a cool spot for dim sum. Thanks to a friend who took us there for the great food and experience. Definitely a must go back.
Getting started with our table of guests...
Let the chow down begin!
It's almost like back home at some of the traditional restaurants in the LA area that my family used to all go to but it's just a bit better in HK.
Lin Heung Tea House. G/F., 160-164, Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong.
Seated for some good coffee at a local spot.
My 7 Up and 12 inch cheese pizza for about $3.00 USD from Paisano's Pizzeria. It was so good that I went back twice at different time in the same day and had two more slices.
New Years Eve countdown...
Cruising through the streets on January 1st, 2013 at 2:00am. Streets are jammed packed.
The Sham Shui Po area waiting for friends.
It's the first day of 2013 (Year of the Snake) and what better time it is to eat some snake soup. Something I haven't tried before but it was actually quite good and would definitely go back!
After having snake soup we all went around the block to a local Michelin star restaurant for more amazing food.
One of the perks of being a photographer (or any creative artist for that matter) is that I get to travel every so often, experience different cultures, meet up with friends I've connected with in various places and eat great food. It's almost like you're not actually working but you are working. I used to concentrate heavily most of my work only in the region I'm based in but why try competing with several others competing for the same type of work? It really didn't make much sense for me when there's others who will either do the work much better than me, will do it at a much cheaper rate or hell, even for free. I came to the realization that my advantage is using my locations to branch out into other regions which makes sense in my case with the people/companies I work with and I don't have to worry about the majority of those fighting for just the local work.
Street food on Stanley Street with the crew! After all that eating I still can't put on any weight for some reason and I don't even hit the gym. McDonald's, junk food, greasy fatty food, sweets, coffee and I still eat like when I was 16.
The secret is that I carry a lot of camera gear (not pictured above) almost on a daily basis...cameras, lenses, laptop, accessories and I walk a ton. Keeps you in tact to a certain point. I do the chiropractor's office every two weeks or so for back and neck adjustments...feels great and keeps your entire body balanced.
So You Wanna Be Your Own Photography Boss?
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1. It's not for most people like you. Photographer Joe McNally describes what it's like to be me. If you can deal with it, read on. 2. Read books like these to get you started off.
3. Make friends who are older and much more experienced than you.
4. Hang out with people outside of the photography industry. Don't be an artist hippie.
5. Hang with the passionate businessmen who know how to hustle.
6. Invest in tools/people that will benefit you in the long run. Enough with the cheap free stuff. Serious people put down money to get serious results.
7. Say goodbye to your 9-5, lunch breaks and your weekends.
8. Stay away from people who only think about having a good time.
9. Make lots of mistakes, apologize and learn from them quickly.
10. Take risks.
11. Fail more than you can imagine.
A Robotic Experience Like No Other
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Some of us guys from the photo agency office got to finally experience this crazy show consisting of sexy Japanese women, bright illuminated lights and robots which is better known as the robot restaurant in Shinjuku. It's a real fun mind trip if you want to escape from reality for a moment and have some laughs or two. Even women can join in on the fun too. I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one...
Advice from a Photographer to Photographers
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Working as a full-time shooter on your own is just one of those rare opportunities out there, especially in a foreign country not native to your own. It's unique, fun and challenging. Most freelance photographers I see maintain day jobs while promoting their photography business on the side, which of course, isn't a bad thing at all if you need to meet your finances for yourself and your family. But being able to run things on your own full-time is truly a rewarding experience if you can get past the first year of seeing what works and what doesn't.
A full-time freelancer (or anyone who wants to be their own boss for that matter) isn't for anyone that's afraid of taking risks and or not willing to try new things and fail over and over again. Most importantly for someone to get over their repeated failures and willing to dish out some sums of money out of their own pockets to invest in tools/people for self-improvement is really a hard thing for most people to do. It takes balls, discipline and persistence. Sure, there are lots of free things out there on the Internets, but the value of when you pay for something isn't just quite the same as getting it for free. Free isn't always a great thing. In most cases you get what you pay for.
A common question I get a lot from people is "how the hell do you earn a living by photography?" "What about your savings, retirement, blah, blah, blah?" Well, actually there are so many different ways to make money in this industry and still be able to secure your savings for retirement than you can imagine. If you can think business and leave out what most photographer do to make money by following the traditional business model of photography work then it's much easier to drift away from the majority of the competition and find your own route. Just like in any business you have to find your niche, positioning, target audience, marketing and cash-flow then you're set up to a certain point until the industry evolves into the next phase of the digital era. Photography is a huge market where nowadays anyone can pick up a camera and get photos for free but there are buyers out in the world that need not just great pictures, but creative thinking, trustworthy and reliable picture makers that produce excellent work.
One last thing I believe most people should be concerned about are those employees of companies that mistakenly do work to automate their own job duties or may eventually end up being replaced by the younger folks that will do the work for cheap and leave you out on the rough streets of unemployment. The great benefit of running your own show is that you can run with your ideas and know how to make money on your own, not just working under the benefit of someone else's thinking.
It's almost a new year so it's never been a better time to try and start something new.