Knowing & Loving What You Do

Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
This isn't even about photography, but it has something to do with what everyone wants to know. It's about knowing what you want to do & loving what you do. If you have 15 minutes of time to spare, this video by Steve Jobs is something you may be interested in.

Love,
Roosh
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Another 13 Useful Business Links For Photographers

Here are another 13 links which you may or may not have heard of. I've got a few favourites in here as well! :)

1) 2 Good Things
2) A Photo Assistant
3) A Photo Editor
4) Ask An Art Buyer
5) Dan Heller's Photography Business Blog
6) Groozi
7) Photo Business Forum
8) Resources For Photographers
9) Strictly Business Blog
10) Taylor Davidson
11) Tofurious
12) Your Photo Promo
13) Yuri Arcurs

Enjoy your week guys!

EDIT: I'll be adding more here:

14) H&H Color Lab
15) Numbers Are Life
16) Zenologue
17) ADBASE Blog

Love,
Roosh
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10+3 Useful Business Links for Photographers

Well, it's Friday today & if you're familiar with the Twitter community, every Friday we'll do this #FollowFriday & recommend fellow Tweeps worthy of following.

But for this time round, I'll be listing 10 different websites that I find really useful for photographers, especially for those who are keen on starting their own photography business.

So here are the 10 of them, in alphabetical order:

1) Black Star Rising
2) Current Photographer
3) GoingPro
4) New Media Photographer
5) Photo Attorney
6) Photopreneur
7) Photoshelter
8) Shakodo
9) The Part Time Photographer
10) Virtual Photography Studio

And I'd also like to throw in 3 more useful links for freelancers, entrepreneurs & business starters:

11) Enterprise One
12) Entrepreneur
13) Freelance Folder

If you have any more recommendations, do provide their links in your comments below!

Love,
Roosh
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A Photographer Promo

A Photographer Promo: Meet Justin & Mary from Stillmotion on Vimeo.

There was lots of love in this video, wasn't it?

The first time I was watching this video, I thought Justin & Mary were just another wedding couple for Stillmotion. But actually, they're wedding photographers wanting to promote themselves a little differently than the others.

When Mary's talking about her relationship with her husband Justin, she wants her potential client to know that both Justin & her can be trusted to understand the importance of their romance.

I thought this video was beautifully-made & achieved its purpose. In the end, it's all about the trust between the artist & the client -- whether they're willing to listen to learn more about them.

Have you come across other videos like this one? Do share!

Love,
Roosh
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A Note from Jessie

Here's what Jessie had to say on my personal FB page:

"Roosh! Thanks so much so much for being such a fantastic mentor. Btw, checked out some websites on the holga flash thingy. Apparently, both the flash voltages are different so it might damage the camera! =( haha oh wells. Anw, thanks so much once again! You taught me so much more than what I'll learn on my own. I'll definitely be checking your sites for more awesome photos and look u up when I'm back- All the best dude!! =)
- Jessie"

So try not to hook up your Holga flash directly to the camera, though it's definitely much safer to do it through a wireless transmitter. And thanks for for the wonderful help as my assistant Jess! Have fun studying while you're at the Downunder! =)

Love,
Roosh
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Holga 15B & 12MFC Flashes

A few days back, Jessie & I met up at Starbucks Parkway to review some of her photos that were taken at Lil Ryan's & since she just recently bought an external 3rd party flash, the Yongnuo YN-465 Flash, we thought we could try out her new toy too.

I had with me that day the Holga 135BC & its 15B flash but we decided to fix our Holga flashes on our Canon 1000D & 60D this time.

This photo above was my 15B flash, but she had the Holga 12MFC flash which had a guide number (GN) of 12 unlike my GN15 which simply means the 15B flash is more powerful. One other difference we spotted was that the 12MFC's metal contact point was much smaller than what is shown here on the 15B, but we weren't really sure if it mattered much, or at all.

After some testing, we found out that the 15B was able to be triggered off by both the 1000D & 60D almost flawlessly, unlike the 12MFC which didn't fire at all.

I'm sure the 12MFC's not faulty though because it worked well on our Holga 135BC & 120N, so I'm just wondering if that contact point's making all the difference on the different bodies.

We're able to fire off the 12MFC with the Phottix Aster wireless transmitter though.

Any idea why, my friends?

Love,
Roosh
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What Do You Want To Know About Your Camera

Just this afternoon, I was helping out a fellow aspiring photographer with some tips on how to 'hunt' for the perfect moment while shooting for an event. As she was also rather new to her DSLR, I also managed to introduce to her some new terms like 'exposure compensation', '1st/2nd curtain sync', etc. Knowing these functions will not only help during an event shoot, it will also aid the photographer in absolutely any kind of shoot.

So if I could provide for you a one-on-one session for any of you who are interested, what are some of the things you would like to know more about your camera? Maybe you are curious about the metering modes, but not too sure which one will fit the scenario you are in. Or perhaps, you are just so bugged by your 'orangey' photos that you found it perplexing to have a totally different photo quality when compared to another photographer's set taken by the exact same gears you shot with.

Instead of bombarding with unnecessary terminologies that you are already familiar with, these sessions will be more specifically-catered for you, focusing on what you want to know and providing useful tips to further enhance that newly-acquired knowledge.

So what are the questions you would like to ask?

For those in Singapore who are interested in these sessions, you can drop me an email at info@rooshphotography.sg and we could probably work something out together.

Well, I sure hope to hear from you guys soon!

Love,
Roosh
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14 Tips to be a Successful Freelance Photographer

I've had aspiring photographers asking me for tips on how to start working as a self-employed, self-pleased & self-motivated freelancer. Well, the magic phrase is 'hard work', but these useful tips are sure to help you out even if you're already running your own business. So read up! =)

Hop to: 14 Tips to be a Successful Freelance Photographer

Love,
Roosh

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Poppin' Radio In The Ice

In my previous post 'Holga Mixing & Maxing', I wrote about using my radio popper to trigger the Holga 15B flash that's not attached to the camera but placed behind my subject. By doing so, I'm able to flash it simultaneously with my Canon 430EXII flash on my camera.

Many were asking me what exactly 'radio poppers' were.

If you've heard of the PocketWizard, you'll know how expensive it can be for the beginner photography enthusiasts. Well what I've got here is the cheaper alternative: Phottix Wireless Flash Triggers.

A complete set of the flash triggers will give you the transmitter & receiver. And what I like best about the Phottix Aster is that they can be triggered optically as well ie. flash will also fire off the Holga 15B when it's attached to the receiving end of the Phottix set. This feature is really useful for cameras that have no hot shoe mounts on them, but can still use their inbuilt flash to create the same effect.

My favourite vendor for those residing in Singapore would be Red Dot Photo. But there's always eBay or Amazon, always. I part most of my income through them anyway. Evil, evil..

So try this technique & do share your photos with us!

Cheers!

Love,
Roosh
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Holga Mixing & Maxing

Look at what I've got here: A Holga 15B flash with 5 colour filters for my Holga 135BC. And not only that, this attachment will work with any camera that has a standard hot shoe socket. So that means, it'll work with my Canon DSLR & also my Lubitel! Sounds fun? It sure is!

Khloe of Multiple Choice alerted us of the ongoing Singapore River Flea Market at Clarke Quay where she had set up a booth selling some of our favourite toy cameras & also a couple of fun accessories to go along with them. She's got great discounts going on for selected items there too so if you're interested, try to make it by Sunday as it'll be the last weekend before Christmas already. Hurry hurry!

Remember my previous post titled 'Lomography Mods' where I wrote about attaching my Canon 430EXII external flash to my Holga 135BC? If you look at this photo closely, I've actually done the reverse: My Canon  DSLR did some flashing with the 15B instead. Well, I've tried it out & the flash did work as I've expected.

And then, something struck me. Instead of directly attaching the Holga flash to my DSLR, why not utilise my radio popper as well? That way, while I have my 430EXII on the camera itself, the 15B flash unit can be used to provide some coloured background lighting as shown below:

I just needed to add a little fill with my Canon flash to light up the front of my subject. Needed a little trial & error though, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out in the end.

I'm actually quite excited for my shoot with Ika on the 24th. That'll be the best time for me to experiment lots of styles with her just because she's my crazy friend. So, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind, right? Of course she wouldn't!

What I'm doing now is just to source out for ideas for her shoot. Once it's done, we'll need to meet & discuss. For now, just proceed with your Christmas shopping.

Enjoy my friends! :)

Love,
Roosh
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Lomography Mods

Ever thought of attaching the external flash of your Canon, Nikon, etc system to your toy camera? Well, it's not impossible!

The only downside to this though is that you'll have to set your flash power manually since your toy cameras will not be able to utilise the TTL flash metering modes.

But isn't that what lomography is all about? It's all about experimenting!

And if you want to take it a level further, there are actually toy camera lenses available in the market which you can fix to your DSLR: The Diana F+ SLR Adaptors.

Feeling adventurous? Here's How To Make Your Holga Lens Mountable To Your SLR Camera! (Exercise extreme caution when modifying the Holga lens!)

You can also create A Bargain Macro Lens for your DSLR.

Try them out guys, have fun!

Love,
Roosh
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