Intro by Skip Cohen

I got the email below from good buddy Lou Jones the other day and I loved it. I've even shared it with you in the E.E. Cummings stye he wrote it in. Lou's definitely an artist...and an author too!

He was in Chicago to photograph the Little League World Champions, but Mother Nature had her own idea of baseball. She threw him nothing but curveballs with some incredible fog. 

Stay tuned, more images coming!  This is going to be a two-part guest post. We'll be sharing the images he did get and how he improvised, once the images are released for publication. A big thanks to Lou's right hand on this assignment, Mike DeStefano, who sent me the image below. 

There's a terrific lesson here...think about your biggest assignment, the one you loved doing, the one you felt was a signature for the way you'd always love to work. Now, think about what would have happened if something went totally wrong. What if your camera died on you? What if your flash just wouldn't sync? What if the subject was ill? What if there was a fire at the event location and you had to move? What if all your gear was stolen? What if YOU didn't feel good?

Seriously, take the time to think through each question and then always have a backup plan.

One of the things that makes a photographer like Lou, truly great, is knowing what to do when you have to implement "Plan B"...things don't always go the way you thought they would.  

Lou Jones should definitely be on your radar, check out his site and if you see him scheduled to be speaking anywhere on planet earth, run, don't walk to get a seat! You'll never be disappointed. 

Every week we do another Tamron Tuesday post.  Over the last few weeks we've been featuring Tamron's Image Masters.  

This week's spotlight profile is all about Erik Valind and it's a kick to share his work with you. He's been involved a few times on the SCU site with a guest post and a podcast. I enjoyed his approach to photography so much that I went to Amazon and bought his book, "Portrait Photography - From Snapshots to Great Shots". So, he's an artist, a photographer, an educator and a writer.

Even more fun for me personally is the fact that he grew up in this area and I'm hoping we catch up on his next trip to Florida.

On his Image Masters' page, Erik is described as:
 
...a freelance photographer, born and raised on the Florida beaches, now living in New York City. Specializing in commercial lifestyle photography and environmental portraiture - airy and energetic imagery defines the style and vision of this top pro photographer. Inspired by the form, activity and diversity of people, Erik has lent his expertise to shape the public image of numerous personas and national brands. Erik also shares his visual approach, techniques and passion for photography internationally as a speaker at major photo conferences, as an author, and online as a Kelby Training instructor.

Make sure Erik is on your radar and visit his site and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. You won't be disappointed. 

Erik's Tamron Gear Box

SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC (model A007)
SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC USD (model A009)
SP 90mm F/2.8 Di VC Macro (model F004) 

It's always tough to pick out images that represent the work of each Image Master, because they're such a diverse and talented group. I've done my best with Erik's, but to really appreciate his style you need to visit his website.

A few months back we had an SCU Guest Post about archiving your images from one of the industry's leading commercial photographers and Panasonic Luminary, Michael Grecco. Well Michael's back with some great ideas and a system to help you stay on track with your archived images.

HowtoArchive.com definitely should be on your radar, just click any of the articles below to visit the site.

Michael's packed a lot of helpful information into just six minutes. Plus, nothing beats a system created by a photographer for photographers! Check out the full blog post on the new HowtoArchive.com website.

It's Tamron Tuesday and time for another spotlight profile of one of Tamron's Image Masters.  This week, Kristi Bonney is in the spotlight.

On her Image Masters' page, Kristi is described as:

"...a lifestyle photographer, blogger, and social media enthusiast based in Lake Chelan, Washington. She specializes in lifestyle portraiture and landscape photography. Her personal work is inspired by the physical and emotional connections and relationships that her subjects have with their environment. 

Kristi has worked as a brand ambassador for respected companies in the photography industry, had her work featured in various online publications, and has shared her expertise as a speaker and on her photography blog, Live.Explore.CLICK! Kristi enjoys creating personal images for her self-portrait and travel documentary photo projects when she's not busy working on commissioned shoots.  Kristi's passion for photography is eclipsed by her love of parenting, her island home of Hawaii, and the sheer awesomeness of benchpressing more than her own body weight. Kristi hates referring to herself in the third person."

You have to love that last paragraph, because so often we forget that talented artists have some very important passions outside of photography!

Make sure Kristi is on your radar and visit her site and follow her blog. You won't be disappointed. 

Kristi's Tamron Gear Box

18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC (model B008)
SP 24-70mm f/2.8 Di VC (model A007)
SP 70-200mm f/2.8 Di VC (model A009)
SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC (model A011)
SP 90mm f/2.8 Macro Di VC (model F004)  

The toughest challenge I always have with a spotlight post is picking out images representative of the artist's work. Well, here are some of my favorites, but visit Kristi's site and decide which are yours. Without question her passion for the craft comes through with each image in her gallery, especially when she's enjoying her role as a parent along with being a photographer.

Intro by Skip Cohen

Right off the bat, let's set stage for this post. Kelly Kopp is a photo enthusiast. He's absolutely an amateur, but his images got my attention when he posted a couple on Twitter. In fact, I even called him, mostly because I lived in the NY/NJ are for a number of years and loved his images of Central Park.

When I asked him if he wanted to do a guest post, his answer was, "Skip, I don't even own a decent camera! These are all off my cell phone."

Well, that made me even more determined to share his images, because today's post isn't about photography, it's about passion. Here's a guy who simply LOVES Central park. He's only been in NYC a little over a year, but has made it a point to know the area better than most of us who have lived there.

I found a quote that's fun to describe Kelly:

Allow your passion to become your purpose and it will one day become your profession.
Gabrielle Bernstein

Now imagine what Kelly's going to do in the next few years if he decides to pursue a career as a photographer or just raises the bar on his game with some decent gear.

P.S. You'll find Kelly on Twitter (@Kellyrkopp) and on Instagram.

And then there's winter - different, but equally beautiful!

The newest episode of Walk Through a Wedding is all about night shots. It's a scene-setter image that should be in in every wedding album when the event is in the evening. While there are a lot of different ways to shoot a time exposure and paint with light, Justin and Mary take you through their technique in this new video.

While I love the video, the challenge in helpful how-to tips is so often showing images that are out of the "classroom" and taken in real world settings.  They don't reflect the challenges of various locations and the total chaos and time constraints during a real wedding.

The images below are all from real weddings...nothing scripted - just Justin and Mary doing what they do best...showing how they can walk the talk! 

A big thanks to Profoto USA for their non-stop support of education and incredible lighting equipment, especially the new B1, the off-camera flash so many people have referred to as a "game-changer"!

Some of the industry's most passionate, diverse and talented artists are part of Tamron's Image Masters. Welcome to Tamron Tuesday. I try and profile one of the Image Masters or tech staff each week and it's fun to be profiling David Guy Maynard this morning. 

David did a guest post last year, which included several outstanding macro shots. I've also got a great video of his on macro photography up in the Tamron Theater.

On his Image Masters' page David is described as:

"...an award winning, internationally published photographer working in Fashion, Beauty, Event, Fine Art, Nature, and General Commercial photography.  His work has been seen in numerous magazines and publications around the world, as well as being featured on respected web based business sites, in galleries, and exhibits.

David is also known to many in the industry for his former work as a Photographer and Consultant for a well known photographic lighting manufacturer, and as an author of articles on photographic technique. David travels internationally delivering Seminars and Workshops on subjects ranging from Studio and Location Lighting, to Color Management and Workflow. These popular events have earned the reputation of being as entertaining as they are informative."

Make sure David is on your radar and visit his site and keep track of his workshop schedule.  His workshops are done for 2014, but there'll be a new schedule for 2015 shortly. You won't be disappointed. 

David's Tamron Gear Box 

SP 24-70mm F/2.8 Di VC (model A007)
SP 28-75mm F/2.8 Di (model A09)
28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 Di VC (model A020)
SP 70-200mm F/2.8 Di VC (model A009)
SP 70-300mm F/4-5.6 Di VC (model A005)
SP 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC (model A011)
SP 60mm F/2.0 Di II Macro (model G005)
SP 90mm F/2.8 Di VC Macro (model F004)
SP 180mm F/3.5 Di Macro (model B01)

I write the same thing every time when I do a spotlight post of an Image Master...the hardest and at the same time, the most fun thing about these posts is picking out which images of the artist to share. Check out David's galleries for yourself and you'll see everything from fashion/beauty to macro to the world around us, beneath us and above us. There are even some beautiful fine art pieces from nudes to the dark side, I'm not sure there's anything David can't shoot!