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Here’s the next installment to my portrait project. I took a picture of a good friend of mine, Jake Castillo, who happens to be a very good photographer as well. As good as he is in taking pictures, he’s also extremely talented in the sports of wakeboarding.

 
What’s a better way to start my portrait project than showing a picture of my dad first? He was a mechanic and he moved here in Singapore on 2008 together with my mom to be full-time grandparents.

 
He used to own a small business, a car workshop based in Laguna, Philippines. His specialty is with diesel engines, but he could fix just about everything you throw his way with regards to vehicle problems.

 
He could overhaul the engines by removing the engine block from a car, dismantling it, changing a few parts and assembling them back together and once done, your car’s engine would be running as smoothly as before.

For photographers in business, it’s always been a question of how much would be a fair charge to your clients in terms of your rate or creative fee.  If you had been in the business for a long time and are well-known, then of course you could command higher fees just based on your experience, education (here I mean photography related, which more often comes from experience too), and what you could bring to the table in general.

 
However, if you’re a beginner or trying to be a pro, it’s very important to know how much it costs you to run the business and make it PROFITABLE. It does not matter if you’re running your photography business out of your spare room or a small corner in the house or if you’re renting an actual office/studio. The key is to keep track of your costs or estimate your costs (if you don’t have a previous year income and expense statement) then top-up maybe 10% or 15% whichever you’re comfortable with.

 
Remember, if you lowball yourself, you’re not just killing the creative business but it will be hard for you to justify to that same client a sudden spike in rate the next time they engage you and you feel like you deserve to be paid higher. You’ll soon find yourself out of business too.

 
Luckily, there’s a tool developed to help the photographers to simplify the calculation of the costs involved. I’ll share the link below and just plug the values applicable to your business.

NPPA’s Cost of Doing Business Calculator

 
Hope you’ll find this helpful. Cheers!

The past couple of weeks has been a very hectic schedule for me. I was so busy prepping for my move to my new office, preparing client estimates, and post processing of my previous shoots that I barely have time for myself.

Now that I’ve finally settled into a new office/studio, I’ve got some time to think and plan about my upcoming personal project. It’s entitled “A Story of Migration.” My concept is to do a portrait shoot of people who have decided to move to Singapore for different reasons. I would like to tell a story based on their photographs and get an insight of why they’ve decided to make a bold move of leaving the comfort of their home countries to settle in a small city-state.

I myself is a migrant here and been living in Singapore for the past 7 years and I have my reasons why I’ve decided to leave my home country. However, this story is not about me but more about those interesting people I would meet along the way while working on this project.

So I would like to reach out to all of you out there who’s willing to be photographed and share his story or who knows someone who can be part of my project to drop me a message via this blog or this project’s email at project@leowellgonzales.com.  I will come to you and will shoot you for FREE and your interesting story would be featured here on my blog.

Good morning everyone! Saturdays always excite me, because it means I get up earlier and do the things that I love to do: running, spending time with family, having a slow and good breakfast with family or working in my home office.

Throughout the past week nights, I spent my time bonding with my 3-year old daughter and de-cluttered my office. It’s been quite some time since I last worked with a clear space and I really missed it. A clean work area helps you to focus on the tasks ahead without any distractions like papers flying all over, cables getting tangled with one another, etc.

I am moving to a brand new office soon, but just want to share with you my ‘work in progress’ home office. All photos were taken using my iPhone.

While browsing today, I also found this video which really inspired me. These are the ladies from Manila whom I really wanted to shoot one day. Enjoy the video and have a great weekend everyone!

Here’s the mobile version:

I had the privilege to work with a beauty queen from the Philippines and founder of tameraonline.com, the Philippines’ first online cosmetics store, Ms. Tamera Marie Szijarto. She was a Ms. Earth 2004 Beauty Pageant candidate where she became the first Philippine representative to make it as one of the top 8 finalists.

For my lighting setup, I used 1 medium softbox directly over the model’s head, with the lower side of the softbox almost touching my lens and two strip lights on each side. To soften the shadows below her nose and the chin, I put a white reflector just below the model’s chest. And finally, I used one light directly behind the model facing the background to give that little glow effect on the image. I shot tethered into my mac using Lightroom so we could review the images immediately. I couldn’t emphasize enough the significance of shooting tethered when possible because it gives you the opportunity to fine tune the lighting and do the necessary adjustments in no time, check for focus, etc. You should remember that you cannot always trust that little LCD behind your camera. My experience with my 5D Mark II is that my LCD is always a third of a stop underexposed, so if I would just try to compensate using what I can see from the small LCD screen, my images would probably be blown out in some areas.

Here were some of the images she have chosen:

Special thanks to Atty. Leif Opina, Councilor of the Municipality of Cabuyao.

Photography is a never ending journey to perfection. The world is constantly changing, the market competition is getting tougher and tougher. So it is important to continue to learn to keep up with your peers.

One good place to learn from the professionals is the yearly event in Dubai — the Gulf Photo Plus.  There are a lot of workshops to choose from. I missed Chase Jarvis’ workshop in 2009 so this time I made sure I have allocated time and money. I registered to Melissa Rodwell‘s Advanced Beauty and Fashion Photography class. But before getting into the workshop, the GPP organizers would need to review and approve your portfolio. I have submitted them the link to my website and was lucky enough to be accepted. Booked my flight via Emirates and off I went.

On the first day of the workshop, Melissa taught us the basics of how to use a beauty dish. We had one young British model on the set and each of the students was given an opportunity to shoot. This shot was done using just one Profoto light on a beauty dish, directly above the model.

In the afternoon, we drove off to a hotel bar for the location shoot. This was where I’ve seen how Melissa works. I’ve watched first hand how she addressed the crew at the beginning of the shoot. She gave directions to the stylist and make up artist and gave them the look she was going for. This is where I met the wonderful make up artist, Toni Malt, who is very gorgeous and can be a model herself.

3 different lighting setups were done and Melissa asked us for some input, given the situation, what kind of lights are we going to use and where to place them. Here, I learned from Melissa and got some valuable inputs as well from the other students who happen to have very strong portfolios themselves.

So why am I sharing all of these? It’s because I wanted to stress out that it’s a very very competitive world out there. You should always spend time and effort to improve yourself and master your craft. Complacency does not have a room in photography, nor in any other industry. You have got to want it more than the next person.

Is attending classes/workshops going to do the trick? It surely wouldn’t hurt. Shoot more photos. Do more personal work. Collaborate with fellow photographers.

I would like to leave this discussion open and would love to hear from you what other things do you think we can do to hone our craft? Please hit the comments and let’s make this interactive. Cheers!

Summer has officially started as proven by the occasional unbearable heat we have been facing on a daily basis. Gone are the light cardigans and long sleeves that we bring out in our coldest months of December-February and out come the sheer fabrics, shorts and bright colors. Instead of buying a whole new wardrobe for the summer, why not stick to the basics of whites (dresses, tunics, tank tops), denim (shorts and skirts) and anything in light material that you already own. You may want to invest in a few killer pairs of summer shoes! Here are the 2012 trends. Take your pick!

Wedges- Instead of stilettos that are usually the culprit when you find yourself with aching feet, wedges provide a more comfortable alternative. If you have any formal functions such as beach or garden weddings to attend this summer, wedges are a perfectly acceptable choice of footwear to pair with maxi dresses or shorter summer wear.

•    Espadrilles- Take a cue from Spain and invest in a pair of these shoes that were originally created to walk on sand with. Aside from using this at the beach, they are also perfect to use in the concrete jungle when you need something quick and casual to slip on.

•    Lace-up Sandals- whether you buy a pair for everyday use, or pick one up for a special occasion, lace-up sandals are hot this summer. Wear them with bright summer dresses or buy them in bright colors and pair with whites.

•    Shiny Shoes- the spring/summer 2012 run ways were filled with gold and sliver footwear, but don’t stop there! Pick a color that matches your personality and grab one in a metallic version.

•    Bright and Pastel Colors- Skip the blacks, browns and other neutrals just for now and opt for a more playful choices of bright pink, teal, lime green or dainty colors like baby pink and powder blue. You can pair these shades with any of the styles that are trendy this summer.

•    Pointed Shoes- for a few years now; pointed shoes have been put in the back of everyone’s shoe cabinets in favor of the daintier round toe. This summer, women who must wear more formal shoes for work or whatever reason will be pleased at the return of the sophisticated and feminine pointy show.

Post written @yahooshe

Transcript

Hi everybody. I’m Dana Spitz, Global Shopping Editor from Reter.com and I’m here in Singapore. I’m really excited to be here, it’s my first time here and from all the research I have done, Singapore is a shopper’s paradise. They have around 250 miles on this small island, so that basically says everything and you can find every international brand here, Versace, Chaps, Tiffanys and everything in between but I wanna concentrate on the local brands, check out young new designers. We’ll hit the massive malls, so we also gonna go to small more Bohemian areas like Little India across the street. Let’s check it out and get started. So we’re here in Haji Lane and one of the shops we’re gonna in is called Green Posses. These bags are actually great. This bag is the larger version and I want it even more bigger, the bigger the better. Oh my god I love this. Now that is a fun play on [unknown]first effect.

but it is so cute, I might have to get it. Okay it’s my first time in Singapore, why not get low?

Two bags, that’s a really good score.

But you’re not a concept stock and its okay and they carry clothes, men’s fashion and women’s fashion and some accessories.

Check out this compass, this is so cute.

Let me look.

And it works.

It’s a Singaporean designer but it specializes in [unknown]

It’s all based on sailing. By invite only.

It looks like you can’t swim…

Hey looks like I’m moving… Could this work?

This piece is $45.

$45? I’ve never seen anything like it.

It’s a perfect accessory.

Okay great, I love this, I’m gonna get this.

We’ve actually heard a lot about your store?

Well I’m gonna look through and I’m gonna see if there’s anything I wanna try on. I mean I love how this is just drapery and then it’s just finished. It’s so comfortable.

and how much is this again?

$119. Okay I think I’m gonna get it. I’m in a little boutique called Egg3 and it’s an adorable shop and they have everything from fashion accessories and home goods. This seems to be a really big trend here. They have all of these frames I’ve been seeing; they are made out of wood. This looks like [unknown] and it shoots like this, in glass and I have my eye on them. So we’re about to go in and meet a design you all can call life in vanity. I love their jewelry. So I’m really excited to check it out. So your team obviously needs to know.

This is cool device.

You too made everything.

Really?

Yeah.

Very beautiful, that was on a bling dollar on hair.

Yeah.

Oh my, it’s good to be a hard decision. I made my hardest decision in Singapore.

We’re here in a shop called Hong Kong which is a local designer, she’s Chinese, and so it’s from Singapore. It’s very kinda of kitschy mixed western-eastern style. Like this dress, the bottom is purple denim with this little patched pockets and then with the typical Chinese style dress in the neckline and then these little characters. It’s around $356 Singaporean Dollars, which for a dress like this, I think is well worthy.

Well as you can see I shop my way through Singapore. It really is the shopper’s paradise. And I’m even wearing my new Life in Vanity new necklace. So of course I have to have to finish off my trip with Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore swing of events to 1950s. Bye everybody.

Read more: Global Shopping Guide: Singapore Video Clip – Marie Claire

Written by: @Ideeli

If you’re anything like us, the first signs of spring signal one thing and one thing only: A mad dash for the season’s hottest trends (you know, before they sell out). That’s why we kicked off February with a motherload of ideelSTYLE trend picks to carry you through the season. Didn’t have a chance to stock up on all your must-haves? No worries, we’ve got you covered with today’s Spring Trends Roundup sale.

Here now is a handy recap of the season’s biggest (and best) trends:

Bright Stripes

You know what they say, bright lights lead to bright nights, so kick it up a notch with bold color combos this season.

Neo-Neutrals

Neon accents paired with anything-but-basic neutrals are spring’s freshest color combo.

Romantic Notes

Vintage-inspired lace and ladylike silhouettes are perfectly suited for a sweet spring.

Trend into style here!