More headshots...

The clients keep on rolling in for those headshots. This is a realtor team. They wanted a clasic black and white look for their marketing material. This is what we came up with. Trying to please one lady is hard enough, jeezzz they were tough cookies.

The World's Greatest Black & White Photography

Apparently my water girl photo is being published in the book "The World's Greatest Black & White Photography". I hear it will be available in September '07

Editorial Cover

I did this shot this morning for the cover of a hospitality industry magazine.

Images Of Thailand

I recently went to Thailand on assignment. I had a group of doctors take me along to document their travels and fun.

Here are some images I grabbed along the way. I'd love to go back and spend more time taking photos for me.

See the quicktime movie here

This is iPod size if you want to put it on your iPod.

The Travels of Susan Denice

Wow so many HIPsters! I love it. Well I am a graduate of 1995 (the old days) and my journey has been pretty interesting since those days. I am still a photographer...and I am glad to still say that. I dont think you ever lose that feeling when your behind a camera.
In any case I have been all over the board. I started doing assisting like every fresh face. Weddings, architectural, and still life. Then I moved to NY I assisted for 6mths till I threw myself behind the camera at a production house and I was never the same. I shot catalogs for a couple of years, and then I produced them. Worked with lots of Hallmark students over a 5 yr stint in NY. Yes Timothy Ill do a shout out for you! I love Hallmark students. During all this I went back to Hallmark several times to judge portfolio review, needless to say I think I was a little ruthless. I moved back to Rhode Island in 2002. I decided to go back to school and I am currently in a Masters program for Art Education. Somewhere along the line I felt as though I needed to contribute something back to society what it had given me. The Arts that is, like a disease I cant get rid of. So now...now I am in school full time, just got back from a long trip this summer working for GAIA (Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS) in Mali, and trying to make some kind of difference. I think the end result will be directing a city arts program, teaching, and traveling for non-profit organizations to document each individual situation.
Ok 12 yrs in a paragraph isnt enough, but Ill do some more at another time. These photographs are in the exhibit called "Mali, AIDS, and Hope". It is currently looking for a home in a gallery after being at Brown University for some time.
You can see more at susanjdenice.blogspot.com

Photographer of the week: Taryn Simon

Copyright Taryn Simon
ROY CRINER Alibi location, Houston, Texas, Wrongfully accused- Served
10 years of a 99-year sentence for Aggravated Sexual Assault, 2002

Figured I would start a "Photographer of the week" section. Please feel free to add to it as we go. I have an "Artist of the week" on my blog. It keeps me better in touch with whats going on in the world of art and photography.

Taryn Simon currently has a show at the Whitney in NY titled "Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar". These photos are amazing! Taryn Simon may be one of the greatest American Photographers working and showing right now, or the luckiest (it's a fine line). Her last series, which hit the photo-art world by storm a few years ago is titled "The Innocents". She photographed a number of people who were wrongly convicted of a crime and later released by DNA evidence, many of them were on death row. The photos were taken at the supposed scene of the crime or where they were arrested. (above image)

"Photography’s ability to blur truth and fiction is one of its most compelling qualities. But when misused as part of a prosecutor’s arsenal, this ambiguity can have severe, even lethal consequences. Photographs in the criminal justice system, and elsewhere, can turn fiction into fact. As I got to know the men and women that I photographed, I saw that photography’s ambiguity, beautiful in one context, can be devastating in another." -Taryn Simon

"Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar" documents the places that you an I most likely would never be able to see. There is a great interview with her on Charlie Rose here. Below are a few images from this series.


U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Contraband Room Kennedy International Airport, Queens, N.Y

Marijuana Research Grow Room National Center for Natural Products Research Oxford, Miss

Hymenoplasty Cosmetic Surgery, Professional Association, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
This woman's hymen was reconstructed.

Hibernating Black Bear and Cubs, Bear Den, Monongahela National Forest, W. Va.

Mass MOCA and Bas Jan Ader

Copyright Bas Jan Ader, Broken Fall (organic)

The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is the largest contemporary art museum in the US, and it's only thirty minutes(?) from Hallmark! They have a group show up now called "The Believers". It looks damn cool. Could suck like anything else but if your up at Hallmark and not doing anything check it out.

One of the artists is Bas Jan Ader. They are showing photos from his series "In Search of the Miraculous", which inevitably killed him in 1975. The ultimate exploration of self led to his disappearance after he attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a 13' boat. His boat was eventually found but he was not. I've never seen these photos, they might be weird. The above image represents an example of his other works, he did a lot of "flying/falling" images. Read an article from ArtForum here. He also did some really amazing video work. If you can find them, watch them.

If you go to Mass MOCA Please check out the piece by Yoshua Okun and Fritz Haeg and tell me about it! They have recreated a 70' by 20' mural of Buckmister Fuller's Dymaxion Map. Buckminster was one of the greatest artist/engineers/inventors of the 20th century. His Dymaxion Map is the only map that truly shows the earth in its proper dimensions. Check it out here. It gives a totally fresh perspective to viewing the earth.

Hello form the Photo man.........

here are some images ive shoot after school and i had a blast doing them comment and enjot love them or hate them....

Steel and Glass

Here is my first attempt at architectural photography, well more like my 10th or 11th. After a week of failing at it - I found it rather difficult to balance artifical and natural light on such a large scale (not to mention the color tempature of all those lights!), but finally I captured something I'm proud of. And now I can't wait to do it again!

Old vs. New - Color vs. B&W - Traditional vs. Digital

Timothy Briner, 2000 - Taken while attending Hallmark (4x5)

I've been racking my head about how to transition into a new style of shooting. For 2 years after Hallmark I shot almost exclusively B&W landscapes and portraits. Now, all I shoot is color neg - again, landscapes and portraits, but this time the portraits (and landscapes) are formed within a larger series, usually with some sort of ambiguous story involved. I'm now shooting a series of color and B&w landscapes in Chelsea (NY). I'm still using the 4x5 but going at it in a much different way. There is a theme again but this time its more political - I think its too early for me to really talk about it (only been shooting for two days), but as of now its titled Fuck You Chelsea.

For the last 2 years I have taken a Casio digital camera with me everywhere I go. I have perfected the quick use of this camera: if something happens it takes me about 20 sec to take the shot. I am trying to morph this new style of shooting in with my very patient and stylized way of shooting with the 4x5. See a few examples of this style of shooting, something I am very into and hope will transition into my thinking when using the 4x5. Images below.




Today I'm going through all of the work I have shot since Hallmark. Mostly paying attention to the early B&W stuff to see when and how my focus changed. I'm a fan of my current shooting style but I just don't seem to be owning it. The early stuff I feel was "my own". The closest thing I think I have like that, at least since I got away from traditional portraits, is Lycanthrope (self-portrait series) . Its raw but still very much stylized; I think its a great balance of the old and new. (images below). At that time I was very much into cinema and started using the diptych (definition) as a way to show two sides of the same moment in time. I was trying to emulate the quick edits from short to long shots, seen in film. (Click them to see larger)


Lycanthrope No.1, 2004 - Timothy Briner

Lycanthrope No.2, 2004

Lycanthrope No.3, 2004

Lycanthrope No.4, 2004

One thing I have always said in my artist statement is that I feel its important that an artist is always evolving - I think this is especially important in today's age of "is photography art?" and "Digital vs. Traditional". Mr. Duane Michals, my very first great inspiration (thanks to George Rosa) has put out a controversial new book entitled "Foto Follies: How Photography Lost Its Virginity on the Way to the Bank." One of the things he says in the book is, "Photographers whose next three books will look like their last three-books should quit." A favorite blog of mine has a good article on Duane and the book.

Keep asking the question and keep experimenting, otherwise you may end up on the other end of a Duane Michals' experiment.

Boonville, USA

Timothy Briner, 2007

This August I'm embarking on a six month journey to six towns across the country, all name Boonville. I will be spending one month in each of the six communities, immersing myself in the lives of the residents and their environment. By juxtaposing the images from the six towns I am creating one fictional "Boonville", a metaphor for small town America.

View my online proposal here.

*Above image taken in Boonville, NY in 2003 - this trip inspired
the project - four years later its a reality (almost).

Florida

Copyright Timothy Briner, 2007

While I was in Florida last week I took this pic on the beach.
Salt? Sand? See a few more here, here and here.

Gel Test Anyone??

Kassie_color_test_small.mov

...don told us to do it (hehe). With contributes from fellow students Josh Bobb and Philtha Stemplys

Luch Time

Do you carry your camera with you everywhere you go?

I'm trying to do so more often since all I do is shoot client work. I rarely shoot for myself. Gotta break out those Hallmark assignments and start shooting them again.

Here's one from lunch.

Fleetwood Cadillac

This old Fleetwood sits outside of my studio every day.

The parking lot was dead when I went out for a smoke break so I thought I would grab a few shots.

Do you miss Turners?

Images Copyright Timothy Briner 2007.

I moved from Turners Falls to Hoboken in 2000. I then moved to Greenpoint. Then another spot (and then another) in Greenpoint. I then moved to Chelsea, then to the West Village. I now live in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn. The time I spent in Turners was the longest I've stayed still in the last 7 years. In October of 2006 I went back to take another look at what I missed out on in Turners.

My outlook on photography has changed in the last 4 years. I've studied many of the art-photographers that influenced this current generation of artists. My work has been influenced greatly by that generation. I think its time to look back at what I was creating in the past, even before Hallmark.

Check out these art-photographers, many of them revolutionized the art-world. Stephen Shore, Jeff Wall, Philip lorca-dicorcia, Alec Soth, Andreas Gursky, Martin Parr, Gregory Crewdson, Thomas Struth, and William Eggelston. Just to name a few. Now these guys (there are plenty of woman- I'll get to that later), are some of the original color contempory artists.

Also check out these two. Two of my favorites. Tim Davis, Mitch Epstein. Contemporary and conceptual photography is a much different world then what Hallmark exposed me to. Beware.

Above and below are the images from Turners Falls, 2006. Also check out HaveYouSeenMyDynamite.com for links to other great artists, my website and current projects I'm working on.

Protect Our Industry! It's Your Job!

Don't Give Away Your Images!

I've had two clients recently that I had to explain how the real world of photography works and the reasons why they need to pay me for my creative time and for the licensing and usage rights to my photos and why I own them under copyright law.

I contantly tell people about copyright law and how licensing is a standard practice in the industry and any photographer that doesn't charge licensing fees in addition to creative fees is not a professional and does not care about the industry.

I point people to the ASMP pdf on my website about hiring an assignment photographer.

I highly encourge you to become a member of ASMP and follow standard industry practices if you are doing anything outside of portraits to hang on someones wall.

ASMP Guide

hallmark trivia, name these hipsters:

by gabo suarez teschner © 2007

frost bank tower

this was the first skyscraper built after 9-11

Corporate Headshots

I just wrapped up a gig for Harrah's Entertainment here in Vegas.

I did a series of headshots on location for honored employees and put together a slide show of the images to music for their dinner party.

It was a lot of fun and I heard people loved it!

street portrait

originally i wanted to tweak the color a bit more because it bothered me...but the more i look at it i really think it's appropriate. what do y'all think?

Just A Sexy Little Portrait

I did this for a client recently. Kenny Proto, a current Hallmark student, was here in the studio assisting me and I showed him how I turn good shots into outstanding images. I hope you can use some of these tricks in your portfolio Kenny.

Drop & Pop Assignments

Did you like doing your drop and pop assignments at Hallmark?

You probably thought how boring, I'll never do this or I don't want to do this.

Think again, they can make you a substantail amount of money because they usually have good quantities.

I've been doing quite a bit of work for Direct TV and they are just drop and pops some small and some big where they flew me to NY & LA to shoot them.

Disney Adventures Editorial

Last year I did an editorial shoot for Disney Adventures magazine. I just got a copy of this layout that they published last year from the mom. She was in my studio the other day with one of her girls for another editorial shoot for Nestle.

The funny thing is the shoots were not connected in any way except for the subject. Both companies selected me as the photographer independently because they found my website and saw my work.

I get editorial calls quite often. I'm sure I'll be seeing these girls again as they are quite popular now.

Wedding season is upon us (in NY at least)....

So the last 4 months i've been in "still-life" mode, where i've been shooting nothing but still life for a company here in NY (which i absolutely LOVE doing...but that's for the next post). However, wedding season in NY is right around the corner and i've been trying to psych myself up for it...get myself back into a more romantic state of mind after shooting nothing but products and jewelry. So in my attempt to get ready for the season, i thought i'd revisit some of my latest wedding work....here are some of my favorites from the '06 season.

redbull gives HlPSTERS wings

redbull gives you wings, originally uploaded by Adrian Cordero Photography.

Rejected Ad design, gotta love Joan wanting more out of it.

self promotion...

hey guys please visit my blog:


photo by Gabo/Bauergriffin.com

PAPARAZZO DAILY.BLOGSPOT.COM

Thanks. Truly,

Bandido

The All New LasVegasHeadshotPhotographer.com!

Tonight I released my new website to the world.

I've actually got many domains pointing to the same html code, but

http://www.lasvegasheadshotphotographer.com

Is the new branding as I'm going after local vegas business mostly and most of my customers that I've queried over the past year have typed this phrase into Google so I got the domain and lot's of keywords embeded into the website.

I already dominate the web in Vegas for many keywords and searches in google but this website is the culmination of much learning about the business of marketing on the web.

If you think your learning stops when you leave Hallmark you're all wrong. I've been educating myself like crazy with various marketing methods and have much to share. If you've got a question just shoot it my way.

Every aspect of this website has a purpose and it's designed as a pure sales tool. If you saw my last headshot website it was primitive in comparison to this one but it worked very well. This new one will do much better I'm sure and will grow to be more over time.

I've got a little more tweaking to do to it but for the most part it's ready to be used by potential clients.

Happy Shooting!

Phase 3: Personal Submission

First off, let me say thanks to Wayne for getting this started. What a great idea. I hope it provides plenty of support and networking to all us Hallmarkers out there.

This is one of my phase three personal submissions. Jacqui and her sister Katie (pictured here) came out from Worcester. I'm graduating with an emphasis in Fashion and Commercial and hope to either assist or work at a rental studio in San Francisco after school. I'm thinking working at a rental studio at first would be great to network with other photographers, assistants, techs and so on in the area, since I really don't know anyone out there yet.

Anyways, there's my two cents for now. :-)

- Josh

French Polynesia

Hello everyone! I just want to start off by saying: Wayne, Raychel - Fabulous idea!!! I love seeing what everyone's up to and how each person has really grown as a photographer. Plus, it's really inspiring (Raychel - i LOVE you images of the coast!). So I've been working as a still-life photographer and also as a wedding photographer, but i thought my first post should be something i considered closer to my heart...my honeymoon. Especially since my love of travel photography was what inspired me to attend photography school in the first place. So here are just a few of my favorites:

Are you getting tired of seeing headshots?

I don't get tired of them! They are lots of fun.

I could shoot them all day long and usually do.

Actor Headshot/Resume

Here's a layout I did yesterday for an actor I photographed. I strongly encourage my clients to let me be their print source as well for comp cards, zed card, headshots and wall portraits. I usually sell them digital files as well.

Mmm Blueberry Muffins..

I saw these muffins while strolling through the Big Y, and thought they would look tasty on a print.. And ofcoarse I ate them.

Make Them Glow, They Love It!

After I retouch an image for printing I send a web version to them with my name on it of course so they can email it around or post it on myspace or whatever. They usually order more after they see how beautiful you can make them and their friends want to look just like that too.

rusty

Let me see... I've been to New Orleans 4 times in the past two years, after Katrina, and this beautiful Chevy Impala has been parked on the same street corner for months, its part of the French Quarter basically, its not an attraction, but to me its a sight you can't just not photograph.


thanks


all images Gabriel Suarez Teschner © 2007

One for the personal submissions...

Ive been working on doing more on location work since I wont have immediate access to a studio when I move back to South Carolinia.. I really liked this shot although its cropped in a little to tight...

New Orleans...

a place for great colour, personality and adventure.

per Wayne W. our curator...

more about the images:

perfect stranger moment, this was about the 3 or 4th frame i shot, right after meeting this girl, Kristine Cody in the french quarter in New Orleans.

we made eye contact through a window and door, she cracked the door and i asked, "may i take your photograph", she said yes, there was a certain chemistry to the whole thing, plus i was bored, i was supposed to be shooting Brad and Angelina Jolie, not a stranger. Anyway, long story short, I later followed up at night and shot her getting a new tattoo.

natural light, open shade, with a little bit of flash on camera bounced.

so here's another little sample:





ahahah f*ckin wayne...

yep got her number,
yep got some tattoo shots(non-portrait)
no no drinks, it was my last day there.

Who Attended Pauline's Talk?

Did Pauline Rock Today Or What?

I wish I could have been there!

I would listen to Pauline rant any day!

I was a fan of hers when I saw her speak and she was real cool to me during portfolio review. I think she liked my cat portrait.

I like her RAW NY syle and attitude. Being a Bostonian myself I can appreciate her east coast style. Sorry about that little game between our two teams. ;-)

I was supposed to do an interview with her for the blog prior to her talk so maybe I'll do a post talk interview.

Tell us what you liked about Pauline's Talk today. I want to hear all about it.

Make a comment below using that little comment link, see it right down there -->>

Hi Key - Learn It, Love It

If you didn't pay attention in class to Hi Key re-visit and use it.

I can't tell you how much money this little session brings into my studio.

Men! Ladies! Kids! It works with everyone.

They all love it!

Here's one I did for an clinic advertisement.

Thanks Don!

up for grabs

i went out to dinner with a friend (bringing my camera inside with me because i didn't want to leave it in the car) and ended up snapping this shot shortly after we sat down. i was mildly obsessing over the painted pot and couldn't resist. not bad for a natural light interior with a rad plant. perfect grab shot.

Portfolio Time

We're currently working on our personal submissions, so here's one shot that I'll be turning in.



School has been great so far, I know that I made the right choice in coming all the way to Mass from San Diego. While I miss the warm weather and all, the cold is a small price to pay for what I have learned and what I'm still learning at Hallmark.

Shooting models is a lot of fun, while I love doing portraiture and its going to be my real money maker, I know that shooting models is always a great way to get all those concepts that I have in my head into a photograph. Since Wayne took over the headshots in Las Vegas, I think I may try my hand in taking over the headshots in San Diego!

The Hipsters Challenge!

Okay, Hipsters!

Raychel and I are putting you to shame and I had to teach her how to post to a blog. ;-)

I'm throwing down the challenge for you to post at least one new image a week.

Personal, client, archives, it doesn't matter just post along with a little story about the image, how you shot it, why, where, etc.

People are watching this blog more and more by the day to see what we HIPsters are all about.

Make old Don Ayotte proud!!

If you're not posting it means your not shooting.

Are you a shooter or not?

You don't have to shoot it that week but at least post something you shot recently.

Here's one I shot for a client recently. Joe came to me for headshot and he felt like a super star when he left and was very happy with his photos. You can see his testimonial on my blog http://www.waynewallace.com

pic of the week

this past week, i shot a photographer doing what he does best. Rob is an architectural photographer who specializes in interiors. his work is stunning. so, naturally, i was very please to have the opportunity to share this occupational portrait with him. this image was taken with a Canon 1Ds Mark II, 30 second exposure.

past. present. future. from student to professional.

i graduated from the Hallmark Institute of Photography in june, 2005, and i find myself being continually amazed by how often i think of a past hallmark assignment while shooting. i was one of those annoying hallmark students that took pages of notes, regardless if the lecture was covering information i could do in my sleep. i also saved all of my assignment sheets from the entire year thinking one day i might want to go back and re-do them in the future…it is always fascinating to me to see the progression of things over time; now, as a full-time professional photographer, how has my perspective shifted? on that subject, i saved my phase one portfolio, and though i seem to forget about it most of the time, every time i move (being 4 times since graduation) i come across it in packing…and i always spend a few minutes to look back and smile at how far i have grown as a photographer. it always seems to motivate and inspire me to move deeper into this intensifying love affair i have with capturing light. while i am in the middle of it all, i sometimes feel like i am standing still in my pursuit towards my dreams because things tend to feel like they are moving slowly…and sometimes not at all. but at the end of the day, i look back on the past two years and can’t believe i am actually living my dream as a freelance photographer. i have goals because they challenge me and push me to advance, but sometimes i forget i am already living my dream and it deserves my presence and attention just as much as the future. this brings me to this past weekend. i just got through with a exhausting move where nothing went right. i decided to take a couple weeks off working to make this process as quick and painless as possible. a couple of weeks turned into a MONTH…but i am please to say my home and studio is no longer decked out in boxes, stacks, or piles of any sort. i got invited to the texas coast for the weekend and it was truly a blessing. perfect time for me to cleanse myself, wander the beaches, and take some time to shoot whatever i wanted to shoot!!! i have been living in austin now for a little over a year, but (two weeks ago) FINALLY met my first photographer friend. he was scheduled to stay around austin for the weekend shooting so we decided to do an assignment to create a more dynamic critique and a sense of varied perspective. i pulled out my neatly organized (by date) box of hallmark assignments and decided upon a visual arts assignment our class shot in northampton…

keeping focus on the main subject using…
straight, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved lines
directional lines
contrast of color (or light and dark)
contrast of texture
depth of field

i couldn’t stop shooting…so 800 photographs later, i am here writing this blog and sharing the images with you.

straight, diagonal, vertical, horizontal, curved lines



directional lines



contrast of color (or light and dark)



contrast of texture



depth of field



the images below are other selections i couldn't resist sharing...

In The Studio Today

I thought I would share with you a few images I posted on my personal photography blog today. These are headshots I did recently for people in my studio this week.

When I graduated from Hallmark and moved to Las Vegas I decided I was going to take over this town and become known as the guy to go to for headshots.

I've successfully done that. My phone is ringing off the hook.

Kameron Bayne Joins The HIPsters!

Kameron is a current student at the Hallmark Institute of Photography.

Kameron, what are your plans when you graduate from Hallmark?

A Headshot Session - My Pure Session

I did a headshot session the other day for a model and she picked this one for the 9x12 for her book.

I love doing hi key shots for my female clients, it even works well with some of the guys too. I call it Pure.

I bought two sheets of white flex board from home depot and tacked it into the corner making a 8x8' vertical cove wall. I blast light into it and stand them a few feet from the corner. It turns an otherwise useless corner into a hi key area.

A Photograph From Today

I photographed this guy today. He's a dancer and he was having lots of fun in the studio. This is one of the shots that I grabbed that I liked.

I played around with some textures that I grabbed in Thailand recently and overlayed them on the background.

Would you like to see a tutorital on how to do this kind of overlay technique?

Please welcome CASS to the Hallmark HIPsters!

I'm glad to welcome Natalie Cass my Hallmark buddy to the Hallmark HIPsters clan.

CASS and I spent a lot of time together during Hallmark. CASS has got some great work please check out her website.

I know you will see many great images and find a lot of inspiration in her work as I do.

Charlie Gouin - A Current Hallmark Student

Charlie Gouin, joined the ranks of the Hallmark HIPsters today.

Charlie is an adult student and has been involved in the photographic industry for many years before attending Hallmark.

Here's one of Charlies recent images and most likely one of his Hi Key portrait assignments.

We look forward to seeing more of your work here Charlie.

The Hallmark HIPsters Community Is Growing!

We added several new contributing HIPSters today.

Please help me welcome the new HIPsters...



Ian Aleksander Adams (2005)

---

Juna Cornforth (2005)

---

Raychel Deppe (2005)

---

Susan McManus (Current Student)

---

Paige Brown (2004)

See their website links to the right...

Look for interesting posts from them here soon.

---

I've also organized a sneak peak interview with NYC Photographer Pauline St. Dennis check back soon for that in the coming week. Pauline is schedule to speak at Hallmark Institute of Photography on March 12th.

Check out Pauline's Website

Why Did I Chose Hallmark?

I've had requests from people that will be attending Hallmark in September to see if they could be added to the official HIPster contributor list.

Unfortunately, only graduates and current students can be added to the list, but you can contribute with comments and I invite you to do just that.

If you're attending Hallmark in September tell us why you chose to attend Hallmark by adding a comment to this post using the comments link below.

Have You Created A Portfolio Quality Piece Lately?

When you get out in the real world of photography and daily create images for people that are not as educated as we are about photography several things happen.

1. You create the images they want because they are paying your bills.

2. You don't always create portfolio quality images. I'd say one out of five clients I work with I get to create images that I'm proud to call mine that I deem worth of putting in my portfolio.

My goal in my photography business is to bring these issues to a point of resolution and no matter who my client is create a piece that I would deem portfolio quality.

My goal in business is to strive daily to create some outstanding images that I can be proud to put my name on. Being in school and having the time and flexibility to create what you want is treasure to be valued, so soak it up HIP students.

I'd like to see some images you've created recently that you deem portfolio quality.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

Man In The Alley

Since I started this blog I'll go first. Once of our first assignments at Hallmark was to shoot things like horizontal lines, vertical lines, colors, etc. We were given 1 roll of film and had to create exactly that many assignments which meant every shot had to count. Try it some time limit yourself to shoot just one shot for a particular subject. Digital photography makes us so lame and lazy. We take test shots, we adjust our exposure, we take another test shot, we work on composition.

If we do this what seperates us from the amaetur photographer? Nothing! This shot above of the man in the alley way was one shot for my vertical line assignment. It was a crappy rainy day and we were all out together shooting in the rain with umbrellas and plastic bags over our cameras. A lot of people were moaning and groaning about being outside shooting in the weather. I walked by this same alley that at least 50 other people walked by and saw my vertical line assignment. I metered it. Then I saw one of our instructors standing just a short distance away and said hey can you go stand at the end of that alley for me? He did and I have the single negative to prove it!

This is one of my favorite shots from my Hallmark experience.

What do you think about and what I've said?

Have you challenged yourself to shoot more quality shots with less actual exposures?

Do you have any similar experiences to share?

Create. Critique. Contribute.

Share Your Creations!

As a Hallmark graduate or current student I know you create great images daily. You're invited to post your images here to HallmarkHipsters.net for critique and inspiration to others.

How Do I Contribute?

You can simply comment on postings by others by clicking on the comments link under the posting or contact Wayne Wallace, the moderator, to be added as an official HIPster content provider and start sharing your work.

Become A HIPster Today
Use my contact form to request being added as an official content provider to HallmarkHIPsters.net.

Welcome To The Unofficial Hallmark Blog - HallmarkHIPster.net!

What's A HIPster?
By definition a hipster is a person who is strongly associated with a subculture that considers itself hip. I'd say that describes those of us that are currently attending or have graduated from the Hallmark Institute of Photography (HIP).

Why A HIPster Bog?
I created this blog as a gathering place for all of us to post and discuss images, share our experiences, and inspire others that want to follow their dream of becoming professional photographers. Hallmark doesn't have an official blog or community for current students and graduates so I'm hoping that this will become the de-facto gathering place for all of us.

Do You Need Some Inspiration?
I know graduates and current students will agree with me that one of the best parts of going to Hallmark is the constant inspiration and feedback you receive from your classmates. Personally I miss that daily experience and interaction and would attend Hallmark all over again just for that experience alone. I'm hoping that this blog will become a home for current students and graduates to gather and inspire and push one another to keep up the Hallmark standard of excellence.

Do You Want To Be A Hipster Blogger?
If you're a graduate or current Hallmark student you qualify as a HIPster blogger. If you would like to be a regular contributor to the HIPster blog contact me Wayne Wallace.