Graduation C&C welcome

[KimC]

My second K9 class that I track for 16 weeks graduated today. There were 7 handlers and K9s. It's such an amazing experience to watch them grow and develop into full fledged partners. Here's one of my favorite handlers and her K9.

Yes, she's covered in dog hair; it's a hazard that comes with the job ;-)

[rpcrowe]

Good looking image of a great looking dog and its handler... They both rightfully are radiating pride.

[Shadowman]

Nice portrait.

[Digital]

Kim, very nice photo.



Bruce

[Manfred M]

Kim - another outstanding composition, but the image looks really flat. Is that what you were trying to achieve?

I prefer shots that have a wider colour range. This is where I am coming from.

[FootLoose]

Well done, Kim, but I agree with Manfred. On first viewing I thought the image needed a touch of the dehaze slider.

[KimC]

Thank you Richard - they were so proud!

Good looking image of a great looking dog and its handler... They both rightfully are radiating pride.

[KimC]

Thank you for your comment John and Bruce.

Nice portrait.

Kim, very nice photo.



Bruce

[KimC]

Manfred and Greg, thanks for taking the time to comment. The PP on this one was a deliberate decision. I just went back and looked at my original and it looks much like what Manfred posted, which I do like. So here's my problem. I have been struggling with PP. I want to be relevant with the 20 and 30 somethings who tend to contract with photographers, and they are all filter wild. If it doesn't have a filter they don't like it. And the hazy muted/flat look seems to be the trend of the moment. Some days I say to myself, why would I want to look like everyone else, but some days, I just want to feel relevant. I think I should prob stop looking at Instagram and focus on finding my own style. The photos that most impress me are always the special ones on National Geographic.

Kim - another outstanding composition, but the image looks really flat. Is that what you were trying to achieve?

I prefer shots that have a wider colour range. This is where I am coming from.

Well done, Kim, but I agree with Manfred. On first viewing I thought the image needed a touch of the dehaze slider.

[IzzieK]

When you said "graduation" in your title I would have thought you would upload quite a few more than one image. It is all well and good but I'd like to see some more if you do not mind...Did that macho man you shot a few times graduated too? Just curious...if I am a bit demanding, please ignore me...I like looking at your work...

[Manfred M]

Kim - I've had a similar discussion with a number of portrait / wedding photographers that I know. They face a real dilemma as they try to stay relevant in the current market where the trends seem to change every few months. All are well established in the business and have been working in the field anywhere from over 10 years to 45 years (yes one of them is in his early 70s).

To a man (and woman) they have all told me more or less the same thing. They are not in the market for the short term and feel if the trend changes, those people that followed the trend will be by-passed by whoever adopts the latest and greatest trend. They are going to stick to "good" photography as they are in it for the long haul. All of them have studied photography at a college or university level, so there is no question in my mind that they know what they are doing.

The other comment that they made is that the "internet is forever" and any "bad" images that they produce will potentially come back to haunt them in the future.

I noticed recently that one former photography classmate who started out doing trendy techniques about three years ago has left the portraiture business. She was in a centre with lots of opportunities and fairly limited competition, so I am a bit surprised to see that this happened.

I suspect that you will be happier and developing a style and growing with it, rather than hopping to trends that you are not comfortable with, but then, I could be wrong...

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful composition and depth of field, Kim.

I think I should prob stop looking at Instagram and focus on finding my own style.

You nailed it. Now simply follow through (not as if there is anything simple about that!).

Consider that the most important part of Instagram is the "instant" part. If you want your photography to be admired only by the people whose goals are mostly related to instantaneous spontaneity and the ease of quickly pushing their photos to the Internet, your photos will never be admired by the people whose goals are mostly related to the attention to the details of your craft and art. Another way of putting it is that you need to decide whether your goal is to have your photographs admired by people who know nothing about photography or by people who understand and appreciate the criteria and examples of master photographers.

Also consider that if you showed the Instagramers both versions of the photo displayed in this thread, be assured that almost all of them would prefer the second version. They don't know the first version is lacking until they are shown the second one.

[Chris]

Nice pic and story

[KimC]

Thank you for your comment Chris.

Nice pic and story

[KimC]

Thanks for your comment Mike.

Wonderful composition and depth of field, Kim.

You nailed it. Now simply follow through (not as if there is anything simple about that!).

Instagram is somewhat changing. When I went to that Bootcamp with Cliff in April, he talked about that. Said he didn't like it, but had to start posting there since Instagram was such a rapidly rising Application, and his target audience used it.

Ideally, I would like my work appreciated by the experienced and non-experienced eye; however, if I could only pick one, I would select the the experienced eye, as I put more weight on their view.

Consider that the most important part of Instagram is the "instant" part. If you want your photography to be admired only by the people whose goals are mostly related to instantaneous spontaneity and the ease of quickly pushing their photos to the Internet, your photos will never be admired by the people whose goals are mostly related to the attention to the details of your craft and art. Another way of putting it is that you need to decide whether your goal is to have your photographs admired by people who know nothing about photography or by people who understand and appreciate the criteria and examples of master photographers.

Also consider that if you showed the Instagramers both versions of the photo displayed in this thread, be assured that almost all of them would prefer the second version. They don't know the first version is lacking until they are shown the second one.

[Donald]

I think I should prob stop looking at Instagram and focus on finding my own style.

Absolutely. 100%. Or, another way of putting that is - Don't let your style be dictated by what you read is the current 'fashion'. Your style will find you and when it does, you'll know it.

Once you have your style, you can then vary your approaches to incorporate different techniques of approaches ... but that will always be from the baseline of 'your style'.

[KimC]

Thank you for your additional comments Manfred. Please also see the additional comments I made to Mike. In my opinion, photography is an industry in great transition at the moment.

I've never been a crowd follower, so I'm a little surprised by my recent quandary (perhaps it ties into all the change I've had in my life this year & how I'm feeling overall). If I stick to photographing subjects I have a passion about, and then doing PP based on my tastes, I'm fine. There's one popular wedding photographer in my area that has put photos on the internet with the legs of his tripod showing in the picture; nothing is straight in his images, etc, etc. It makes me scratch my head.

The goal of my photography has always been to become as good as I possibly can ~ not to try to copy others, or compete with others (how boring would that be anyways). I just need to keep better focus on my goal.

I suspect that you will be happier and developing a style and growing with it, rather than hopping to trends that you are not comfortable with, but then, I could be wrong...

[KimC]

Oh Miss Izzie, you always make me chuckle! I think you commented on this handler in the past, so here's one more for you :-)

BTW, I'm the official photographer for the K9 Olympics in a couple of weeks, and I know I'll have some special ones for you from that event!

When you said "graduation" in your title I would have thought you would upload quite a few more than one image. It is all well and good but I'd like to see some more if you do not mind...Did that macho man you shot a few times graduated too? Just curious...if I am a bit demanding, please ignore me...I like looking at your work...

[KimC]

Thanks for your comment Donald. See my additional comments to Manfred and Mike. I wish my style would find me a little quicker! I agree that once it's found incorporating other techniques will be an option.

Absolutely. 100%. Or, another way of putting that is - Don't let your style be dictated by what you read is the current 'fashion'. Your style will find you and when it does, you'll know it.

Once you have your style, you can then vary your approaches to incorporate different techniques of approaches ... but that will always be from the baseline of 'your style'.

[Mike Buckley]

Perhaps the most important result of feeling comfortable with whatever style you decide upon is that your images will be consistent. When one is developing a body of work, the consistency of style from image to image is appealing to most viewers. Otherwise, they have less confidence in your quality of work when it displays inconsistencies. Note that one can make photos in various genres and of various types of subjects while maintaining a consistent style.