Days Like This…
March 13, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Wow! Some days just stand out against the rest, and yesterday was one of them. I spent the morning talking about the utility of Social Media to a room full of non-profit organizations from our area. The last time I was that nervous was probably shooting my first wedding. :O I was really looking forward to the class since we were covering a topic I truly enjoy, but when it came time to get some sort of plan together for what to talk about in my teenie little 3 hour window, I really had a hard time with it. Part of it had to do with the material; as much time as I spend learning about Social Media and how to use it for our business, I spend an equal amount of time understanding that I have a lot to learn. But I guess that’s probably also WHY I enjoy it so much as well. And part of the struggle had to do with myself…the pressure I put on myself to do something just a little different than might be expected. This trait plays itself out in a lot of what I do and I think it comes from just trying to live each day as big and as loud as I possibly can. I want to remember every day because of the things that make it different from all the other days of my life. It’s a challenging, educational and fun way to live!
Beyond the nerves and the sweating however, it was exactly the kind of day I really look forward to. It was something new…something different! As the class zoomed past in a blur my nerves of course turned to excitement. The questions and the feedback from those attending really put me in my groove and it all just started to flow out. It really was awesome. Thank you Joy at the Berwick Area United Way for asking me to do this. You pushed me to try something new and I really appreciate the opportunity to do so…
Needless to say, this week has been a heavy one. Aside from the class and other projects, there’s still ‘the work’ that needs to get done. My backlog of editing is pretty ‘amazing’, if I can use that word describe it…? 
But I AM getting there. Thank you everyone that might be waiting on images for your patience to let me do this as best as I can for you. Seriously, it means a lot to me…
In the next few days I’ll be kicking up a post about some photography classes the studio will be offering in the not too distant future. The classes will either be the 1 on 1 variety where you have my complete attention and excitement about photography. And while I have a pretty good plan for ‘things’ to cover, the 1 on 1 classes will be very geared toward answering the questions you have. I see these classes as pretty customizable to your needs. The other flavor of lesson will be in small groups (perhaps 3-5 people) where each session is focused on something specific. One day spent on ISO control and how to use it in your photography…another day spent on lighting theory and ideas…etc. It’ll make more sense in the blog focused on that topic…hopefully I’ll get it out this weekend.
We’re headed down to Philly today to visit some family and give the girls a little big city culture. We’re all pretty pumped for the experience! Before we head out I wanted to get some new images posted. Some of these are from the end of last season, and a couple are from the beginning of this week. This is the kind of post that on the surface may seem less thought out or focused that most…To me however, it’s an example of what I like to shoot and the variety of experiences that make being a photographer truly awesome. Thanks for looking.
Rock On and enjoy your weekend!
Old Stuff…
February 26, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
I was digging around some old drives and ran across a few shots of Jazzy’s dance class from about 15 months ago. Jazzy doesn’t dance anymore, but these will be cute to me forever.
Snap shots that have definitely grown on me since last viewed…
Have a great weekend…! :D
LIVIN’ LOUD!
February 23, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Getting ready to order the next set of ads to hang down at Fuel Fitness here in Berwick. Seriously AWESOME people to work with – Marc, Kevin and the rest of the team rock! Julie, Andrea and I have 2 more shoots planned in the coming months to round out a series of ‘active lifestyle’ images I’ve wanted to shoot for some time. In March or April we’re going to move the looks outside and get a little gritty with it. Some time in June (there’s not much time left in that month with some of the other things we have planned for then) we’ll be heading up to the Appalachian Trail for some backpacking/trail hiking radness…can’t wait!
Rock On!
Chocolate Heaven
February 13, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Wanted to take a quick second and post a few more of the shots from Lindsey’s Chocolate Cookbook shoot. The original plan was to hold off until Kat had worked up the actual cover layout, but after finding out she was working on a few (in the 3-5 range) I figured I’d get these up now and do something a bit different with the covers. I shouldn’t be the only person enjoying Kat’s mad layout & design skills. I thought it would be more fun to post all of them, run a little poll and see what everyone else thought. As soon as the covers are done (about 2 weeks) we’ll be doing just that. Until then…enjoy these!
I have to say thank you again to Lindsey for rockin this out like a pro. Her shoot submission sold itself; from her concept, to the way she presented it, the choice was pretty easy. Kat getting on board for hair and makeup was basically key to wrapping up this look, and Mollie and Jonathan offering up their retro kitchen was the cherry on the top of this chocolate sundae. From start to almost finished, this has been an amazing shoot to be part of. Looking forward to closing it out when we see Kat’s final designs. You all rock!
Quick Note – We’re planting the seeds of a new project that takes ‘FUN’ (personally one of my favorite past times!) and glues it together with ‘SOCIAL AWARENESS’ in the hopes of getting people involved in projects in an engaging and interesting way. Being responsible doesn’t have to be boring! If you get a second, jump over to www.300AlmostNakedPeople.com and give it a read. I’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this project…and if anyone is interested in helping out or adding to the experience, please do drop me a line. That said, cake is already covered, so pick something else…thank you Leah and Tara! :D
GOOD BEITZ! (what ROCK ON sounds like when your ears are filled with chocolate syrup!) ;P
A Little Bit This & That
February 2, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
It’s been a bit since the last post…which wasn’t really a post anyway (shoulda probably just tweeted that thought). Anyway, I grabbed a few things from over the last few weeks/months and slammed together some images that I dig. I dig these for the images they are, but also because of the people involved in making them; rock-stars, lovers, studs, and friends. People that live a little louder than the average background din of life in some certain way. Thank you all for doing your part…
Before I blast off: Back in December we ran a little contest to get people to think long and hard about the life creative. This Friday we’ll finally get a chance to shoot the winning idea. Lindsey Beiter hit it hard with a great idea for her personal dream. We’ll be shooting a few different images that I personally hope to see her use some day in a recipe book for her dream of being a chocolatier. The grand-slam will be at the end of the shoot when we’ll be pouring a gallon or so of chocolate over her and rockin out a cover shot for said book.
I’ll be asking Kat, our rock-star editor and graphic design guru (not to mention make-up artist), to slam together a cover layout for Lindsey’s future book as well. Should be fun! I’ll also be shooting a bit of video footage of the day so people can see some of what we do on shoots like this.
We have some footage from some other recent shoots in the cooker as well…keep an eye out for that.
And lastly…a shout out to Jonathan and Mollie for use of their quaint and totally idea appropriate kitchen for this Friday’s shoot…THANK YOU!
Rock on!
Phoenix, We Have a Problem
January 21, 2010 by vard · Leave a Comment
Hey, look what I broke! Got inspired to move the blog over to another service last night. Things were going well until I started messing around with this end of it…you might have noticed some subtle changes ;P. I still think I’d be better served moving the blog, but what I realized over the last 24 hours, among other things, is that I can’t do everything.
Ultimately, yes, I want to be able to, but it’ll all come in time. There’s sooooo much I want to try and DO with the blog, the website and social media in general, that I try to dabble in quite of bit of it, but end up excelling in none of it. This blog is a perfect example. It’s lame as hell. I know what I want…at least I think I do…but I’ve really been sucking at making it all work. Teaching myself ’stuff’ is one of my favorite things…I love it. But I realized today that some things are going to take longer than I’m used to having patience for. Staying focused on the shooting and editing is pretty much primary for most of the season, but I still REALLY want to take some of this stuff up a notch.
On my run this morning I started thinking about video blogging – actually, I’ve been thinking about it for quite some time, but what I wasn’t doing was actually doing anything about it. I think it would be rad to start putting short vids together of shoots or some of the cool stuff we try to fill our lives with. Not because I NEED someone to watch it, but because ‘I’ want to watch it…and I think it’ll be SUPER fun to do. I have friends that can help with this, but I still want to know how to do it myself. Annie B and Jimmy C are both either in or getting in to video. I’ll be bugging the hell out of them to come have some fun with us, but until we can work that out, Connie and I can give it a shot. I haven’t shot any video because I was waiting around for some magical moment where one of two things would happen; either someone would come in and just start doing it for me, or I’d have some epiphany and feel like I knew what I was doing. Neither is happening…but duh..seriously, why would they? It hit me today that the only way for me to feel comfortable shooting video was to start, accept that I’ll be screwing it up a lot from the get go, and learning from that. Along the way, perhaps I’ll be lucky enough to have someone want to show me what I’m doing wrong, but if not, I should be learning some interesting and fun stuff, right.
Same for the blog…this thing stinks. But I can’t seem to take the time to make it like I want, and when I tried last night, I made it smell worse! I’m sure I know at least a person or two that rocks blogs blindfolded…but I’ve never asked. So now I am. Anyone out there really good at this stuff? Can I bend your ear for a few minutes? I need help with it. I want to get some video going here, links to the important stuff and basically take it up a notch, while at the same time having fun with people that geek out on some of the same things I do.
I know and work with some really cool and artistic people. It’s great! I know musicians (anyone bored and want to work on some soundtrack stuff for the videos?). We’ll probably both learn a lot and walk away with some cool collaborations on top of it. I know writers (anyone want to have some fun with that skill helping me get my point across online?). I know other photographers (anyone want to get together and shoot some time?). All the stuff I think about and never seem to be doing…that’s what I want to start doing…right now.
I’m starting to ramble a bit here…sorry about that. My brain has been in overdrive this week. I started helping Barry & Cathy Beck get their online presence stepped up and it just inspired me to start doing the things I’m thinking about all the time…I’ll end this here. This all sounded more clear in my head anyway.
Sunday night – if anyone is interested in dropping by, we’ll be on Oak St. (the one way thing). I’ve been running by those passenger cars for a couple of months thinking it would make a cool image. So I’m going to take it. Sunset, some studio lighting and an idea. If I hose it, oh well, it’ll still be fun. If anyone is interested in geekin’ out with us, cool! If not, cool too. I’m thinking we’re going to shoot some video of it all, just to see what we can put together and start the process of making better, more interesting videos in the not too distant future. Monday, we’re headed out of town for a shoot @ Daniel Oz studios in Philly…thinking we should vid that too…why not…
Basically I want to start having more fun…does anyone want to come out and play?