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Hi everyone! I know it has seemed that I have been awol over the past few days. Kind of reminds me of the movie ET when he was lost and trying to send a message out for rescue. The past few weeks it's been like getting an audience with the Pope to try to find time to get on here to let you know what's happening. The answer is a lot! We have had several projects in the works and it seems that they are all kind of landing at once. Weddings and movies have been common words around the studio. At one point I was up in a bucket truck shooting wedding pictures. Believe me that would have gotten someone some money if that had been captured on digital.

Along with real estate packages, we have begun putting together some other wedding type packages. We are so honored to have been approached by a area business to team up with them in the development of these types of packages and I hope to present the full details very shortly. Let's just say that if you are looking to get married soon (especially around mid September) you will want to hear about what we're up to. We are teaming up with some great folks in a absolutely gorgeous location and you can bet the moment I get the ok to give you the details I will.

Also, I got to spend another day on the set of the "History of Branson" documentary film on Sunday. I've mentioned so many times how great it has been to be part of the team on this project. I've got to tell you that I have really under stated things. I'm telling you that the movie with all of it's drama and realism couple with the accuracy in detail is cause enough to own this movie. Add in the fact that many of our still photos are use in the movie and that should move it right to the top of the most desired Christmas gift list. But you just will laugh your self silly when you see the bloopers. I've just got to tell you about just one of them that happen on this last outing. One scene depicts the shooting and killing of a man outside a church. The victim has no weapon visible but is wearing a long jacket that is button. While walking towards the church he is confronted by someone with a warrant for his arrest. Upon hearing this he reaches inside his jacket at which time he is shot dead before he can get his hand and whatever he was trying to get out from his jacket. During one of the takes I was standing behind the shooter so I could get a straight on view of the victim being shot. As the scene progresses I am in continuous shooting mode and taking pictures at a rate of 4 pictures a second. It was clear that something wasn't right because the victims hand came out of the jacket about the time he was shot. When the scene was cut we went back and reviewed my stills to find that just before the actor was shot he pulled his hand out with his forefinger and thumb extended in the shape of a gun trying to shoot the shooter. His answer was that he couldn't help it as it seemed the natural thing to do. Now in all fairness he was not the scheduled actor to do the scene. He was a stand in and not a regular actor but it was still funny. It will make a great blooper.

Speaking of bloopers, it's time I get back to work. I will try to get more pictures up in the next few days. In the mean time, have a great day everyone!

Richard

Just another Hollywood moment

Hi everyone. I spent the day working with Bear Creek Productions on their movie set of “The History of Branson". It was a really great day working with the cast and crew again. Mike Johnson, the owner of BCP, has really done his home work and goes to great lengths to get the story right. It has been a great experience let alone a privilege to have been given this opportunity to work on this movie. Mike has given the ok to post some of the pictures I’ve taken and so here are a couple.

Pretty cool, huh? I got to tell you I have had a lot of fun doing this job and then to have several of the photos I've taken used in the movie, well that's just to super cool (pretty hip for such an old dude right). I am really looking forward to the movies' release and I want to encourage you to watch for the World Premier. Our history in the area is not pretty but it is fascinating. I'm looking forward to working with Mike and the whole BCP team on future projects.

We've also shot a wedding and are looking to having many of those pictures posted up on our site in a few weeks. Shooting a wedding is exhausting but really in the grand skeem of things it is fun and rewarding. There is just something about capturing the beginnings of a couples union and the story of the day that is just so neat (will there goes the hipness out the old window).

There is one thing that I have began to notice about weddings that to me is kind of alarming. Now I will have to go into it in depth in a later blog but in brief it pertains to what is missing from the wedding celebration. We all hear and see the love that has grown between the bride and groom but you never hear why they fell in love or how that love came to be and grow. To me those things seem to be just as important if not more so than the union itself. The reason, I think, is that weddings seem to fall under the "but rule". The "but rule" is simply that no matter what is said it is completely canceled out when the word "but" is put into the statement behind it. In short, when the couple says "I do" the memory of their courtship begins to fade. Much like the use of the word "but," all those special things that brought them to this moment looses their value as if the calender is reset to day one. As their life as man and wife moves forward it seems that that the foundation only goes back to the "I do" thing. To me, thats a little like trying to build a ten story building starting with the third floor. When the "why" is forgotten the motivation looses something. Wow, if that's brief I can't wait to see how long the not brief version is.

Well, this post started out great and has ended in a groan. Yep, my work here is done!

Have a great day, everybody!

Richard

Isn't life fun

Hi everyone. Well we have been looking at apps that have been submitted to us online and we have contacted some for a face to face interview. There is time for you to put in your own app if you might be interested, so take a minute to do that before you leave our site.

Have you ever heard someone say "If it was easy everyone would be doing it"? Well all my life I've heard that and I guess it's gotten a little old. In a way that has a lot of truth to it but there's not a lot of comfort in that. You would like to think that the more you do something the easier it would get. NOPE! But if that was the case than everyone would be doing it and what you are doing wouldn't be so special. I guess we would all like things to be much like the old Staple's "Easy" button but that's just not what God had in mind when he placed us on this rock we call home. He knows that we only learn and grow as human beings when we have failures and pains that enter into are lives. We never seem to remember the successful and happy things that we have, and when someone tries to remind us about those times we almost always respond with a "yea, but" answer. The fact is that most of us don't like bumps in our road. They almost always cause us to go real slow making a relatively short distance drag on forever. On the other hand the fact is that the most of us don't take the time to appreciate a good road. Why? I think it's because there is nothing there (like a bump) to remind us to be appreciative. After all that's the way the road's suppose to be, right. But let us hit a chuck hole and the whine starts flowing. And if that's not enough, look out when we come into a construction and repair zone where someone is trying to make our road even better because then it's "Mission control, we have lift off!" Go ahead and ask me how I know. Now if I was a betting man (and I'll bet you I'm not) I would bet that I drive over more smooth roads by far than down old bumpy ones. As for the bumpy ones, chances are they didn't start out bumpy. Could it be that they became bumpy because of our lack of appreciation for a good smooth surface when we drove over it then. Are you failing to appreciate something in your life because that's what's expected only to go ballistic when those standards are missed even just a little. I know I do! Well I know I would be better off if I tried to recognize and appreciate the good smooth road. If neglected, additional chuck holes are likely to appear where we can least afford them. There's enough chuck hole in this world without us helping to create a few more! The moral is don't be a chuck hole or be a carrier that causes them.

Well I guess I need to get back to work, so, have a great day everybody! Richard

Hello everyone! We continue to work on several new services to better meet the needs of our customers. I've got to tell you that this 360 degree panoramic photography is pretty cool. If you haven't checked it out you need to do so. Go to our home page and look under our services section and then under the Real Estate sub section. There you will find an example of a 360 degree photo that was taken at a Scottish Rite auditorium in Kansas. Many organization have facilities like these in which they offer to rent out for special events such as weddings, family reunions, hobby and special interest shows, etc. With this kind of a service, these organization can better promote themselves and gain the edge over other similar organization doing the same. Potential customers can actually see the area better than they can with single photos (not that those aren't good and necessary) and with video the customer has no control on the view they are looking at. With this the costumer can zoom in and out, backwards and forwards, and up and down. How cool is that!? Try it out, you'll like it! This service can be used by so many different clients to give them the edge. Real Estate, motel/hotel, convention centers, entertainment venues, churches, civic centers, resorts, and the list goes on. Rates will be posted soon and will be very highly competitive.

So what's coming next!? The suspense is killing me much like the scene in the movie "Willy Wonka" when the kid falls into the chocolate river and gets caught in the tube going to the fudge room. Well, we have several in the works so stay in touch.

By the way, all this reminds me that we have a couple of positions for entry level photographers, so if you or someone you know is responsible, trustworthy, and has a professional work ethics you need to fill out one of our online apps found under the employment section on the home page. But do it quick because we are going to start interviews right away!!!!

Finally, I'd like to take a few minutes to share a little about what has been going on with me in the last few weeks. If you have ever owned and operated a business "you've just gots ta know" that you get the opportunity to run into all kinds of folks and many times the running into turns out to be not very fun. On the other hand there is the other extreme of folks you just seem to feel a deep sense of joy to be around. Some even a sense of being complete by just having them around you. Those who you feel your life is better because you know them and I have several that fall into that category, one or two in particular. On the other side there are a few in particular as well. What I have gotten from those is a few flash backs of things taught to me by a lot of really smart people who really cared for me and I could count as among the few really close friends in my life. They taught me by way of memorable stories, many of which were funny or in joke form. For me that was the best way to learn. It's just to bad that I needed to have a boot applied to my posterior side to get me to apply most of the lessons they taught. One story in particular has been haunting me lately. It's about two statues, Venus and Mercury, who had stood in a park for many, many years, and where granted two hours of life able to do anything a real human could do. The moral of the story is what you sew you usually reap. It may take awhile but it will come back to you usually with a vengeance. I don't want to bore you with the details but if you ask I'll tell you the story.

Well, that's a wrap! That's movie lingo (a shameless plug about our working with a movie), or I've eaten at to many fast food places lately. Have a great day everyone. Richard

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a good Memorial Day weekend. I would like to thank Chris our graphics guy for adding the Memorial Day page to the site to honor those men and women who have served and are currently serving our country. No matter what duties you were or are assigned to, you should be proud of the service you have given. There are many who for one reason or another just simply refuse to allow their efforts in the service to our great country to be recognized. For those I would like to say that you're not special. There is no way that anyone can spend any time in the service and was able to get away without doing a military type service for your county that was not essential to the performance of the military. There is not a drill sergeant alive with any kind of self respect at all the would allow any less of you! So get over yourself! Basic training alone has earned you enough for all of us to be in ah of you and give you our respect. Basic training may be a lot of things but easy is not one of them. Thank You ALL for your unselfish service to our country! You are all people of honor and integrity! You are why people like me can have a business and enjoy life to the fullest.

We are going to be offering 360 degree photography to our clients starting this week. In the next day or so the graphic guy will be uploading a sample of what one looks like. You may have seen them before were you can place the cursor over the picture and see a panoramic view of the entire area that has been photographed. I traveled all the way to Kansas to take a 360 degree photo of a Scottish Rite Temple and they look great! We have already had several showing interest in this service and we're looking forward to getting it off the ground. Pricing for this service we think will be very competitive and we should have that service posted soon so watch for it and let us know what you think. I heard that! Someone out there just said "Who would be in need for this?" Well let me take a deep breath and start a list. Real estate, hotel/motels, restaurants, theatres, resorts, entertainment venues, clubs, civic organizations, governmental agencies (city, county, state, fed.), churches, schools, ......gasp, cough, choke, breath. I think the "etc." thing would be appropriate here. We're even going to try shooting one inside a car. We'll let you know how that goes.

Finally, let me ask you how the Pro Pix Tips are doing for you. Has anyone gone out and tried any of the suggestions. If so, let us know. Send us a few you think are the best and depending on how many we have we may just post a few in a gallery somewhere for all to view. Photography gets into your blood if you keep working at it. It's rare when you can do a job that you can just immerse yourself into and real like what you do. Sure, there are times when you have to take a picture of something that may not be your most fab thing to shoot but because of that love for what you do is so strong you still will work very hard to get whatever your subject is to look the best you can. If you're going to capture the moment you need to make it count and make it right. I see a lot of photos on the web, ads, books/magazines, etc. that I wish could have been done just a little different. Then on the other hand I see shots I wish I had taken (jealousy, another virtue of having a passion for photography)! But whether you get that deep into the photo junky thing or just do it as a hobby, I still want you to be pleased with your shots. That's what the PPT posts are all about! So don't be shy. Let us know and see how you're doing. We might even have a job for you. No promises but it wouldn't surprise me any.

Hey I got to get going, so I hope you all have a great day!

Richard

It works in the movie!

Hi everyone! Welcome back to our blog. Have you ever wondered where the name blog came from? I am sure it makes sense to someone but I guess I have missed it. Well something we don't want to miss is the Pro Pix Tips I promised last time we met. Let's get to it.

Pro Pix Tips: Picture composition is a major part of a photography that separate casual photographers from the more advanced photographers (how's that for a little diplomacy). One of the most basic rules of composition is called "the rule of thirds". Now I could go into a great deal of rambling but instead let's just cut to the heart of the matter. Positioning the subject of your picture is tied to what is appealing to the human eye. Rarely does the placing of your subject look the best or most appealing to the eye when the subject is place directly in the center of the shot. So how do we get the picture to be more eye appealing? It starts with tic-tac-toe. Take a piece of paper and draw a tic-tac-toe playing board. Now draw a box around the playing board to represent the view finder of your camera. Note how the view finder is divided into thirds horizontally and thirds vertically. Where any horizontal line crosses a vertical line that is a point where a subject can be placed in the picture and be a more appealing placement to the human eye. Any point of interest can be placed at any of these points and will fit in the rule of thirds for picture composition. One additional point here is if the point of interest is a living thing that has the ability to look at or face something. These should face into the picture and not out of them. If they are looking out of the picture the viewer of the picture will be left with a sense of question or confusion as they wonder what the subject of the picture is looking at. Now as with all rules they do have exceptions and when to use those exceptions is why there is still a need for professional photographers (how's that for a not so subtle comparison).

Now, to help you with with this rule of thirds and the tic-tac-toe board thing many of the new cameras have a display option that will place a tic-tac-toe grid on the view finder itself. Play with this rule of thirds and try to take a picture of someone or something placing it in each of the 4 crossing points and the middle of the picture as well as your subject looking alternately in an out of the picture at each of those point and study each of them your self. Then show them to someone else and get their opinion. If you do I am sure your composition will improve greatly. Try it, you'll like it.

Now on to the rest of the blog (blog? How did they settle on that?). The title might be a little thought provoking at first and maybe you've already guessed what it's all about. On Sunday we were on location of one of many movie sets of the documentary film of the "History of Branson". Our friends at Bear Creek Video Productions are doing the film and I'm telling you they have gone to great lengths to research the facts and capturing those facts on film. BCV Production owner, Mike Johnson and his entire staff are great to work with and present a professional work ethic that made the entire movie set relaxed and easy to do the job. And not to be left out, the actors and technical director are all classy people who love their work and, like the BCVP staffs' work ethic, professionalism was clearly in their blood. It's one thing to do a good job because you're paid to do it, yet another because it's a passion and clearly that was not lacking in any of the crews. The only negative encounter I had involved a ground hog and maybe I will share that incident in a future post if someone reminds me.

This is a great film and has so much information about the Branson area that I had no idea was a part of this local history. It's been a project in the works for years as I understand it and the research behind it has been exhausting. Some of the stories have been filmed on the location where they took place and some of them are a little difficult to find I'm told. But found they where and I for one am looking forward to its release sometime later this year. Our excitement has nothing to do with the fact that some of our photos are going to find their way into the final project........really nothing to do with that. Over the upcoming weeks I am hoping that we will be able to share some of these photos with you when we have the release to do so. I do know that Mike got video of us taking photos while on the set and will being getting some of that video to us for display on this website. I'm looking forward to that as well, not because I'm on it.....really not especially sense I'm on it....really!

Now I want everyone of you to mark down on your "to do" list to watch for the release of this great documentary movie "History of Branson" and buy one for yourself and everyone you know! They plan to have the movie distributed nationally and I'm sure we will have links to where you can find them. You can bet we will scream the news about the grand release here and I'm sure we will have several more entries to post in the future about our further adventures with this film in this blog (blog? Where, how, ......oh well).

Have a great day everyone! Richard

Paying attention!

Hi everyone! Been a few days since we last talked but we have been getting a lot done and will be bringing a couple of new exciting services online soon.

Now during the scurrying around over the past few days I have had the opportunity to visit a few fast food establishments around here and I have had some experience that I thought might have some things in common with the work we do here at 2C Photography. When was the last time you had your order screwed up at one of those places. If your like me it was the last time you went there. I swear those people use headsets that only hear what they want to hear. I've actually had them screw up my order twice in one visit. Yep, they got it wrong when I first ordered and then after being told again what I actually asked for they attempted to fix it and screwed that up as well. I've attempted to order ice tea with no sugar and have made sure I made the no sugar part real clear and they have even told me that it had no sugar when they handed it to me but you guessed it. It seems to be a trend that is on the increase in almost every walk of life. I haven't even seen the fast food business commercial about getting your food done your way lately. Have you?

We keep hearing about customer service but I think it may be going the way of common sense. In fact that may be because that in many cases the two are interconnected. More frequently we are having to take what we are given and be happy about it. Well we don't want that to be the case around here at 2C Photography. We listen to you and what you want from your photography needs. We want you to feel that you are in charge and have control over what you receive. If your needs are not satisfied than what's the point. When I get sugar in my ice tea I can't drink it cause it makes my doctor very upset. If I get the wrong dipping sauce for my nuggets than my taste buds rebel and that can be very ugly from time to time. If the memory you get from your picture is the memory that you asked for a picture done your way and the photographer found it more easy to do it their way, than the picture didn't do either of you any good.

It is true that your photographer needs to have input into the photography needs you have. It may surprise you to know that from time to time we do have a few good ideas. But those ideas still needs to conform to and satisfy the original goal/need you had. In order to accomplish this it is imperative we hear what your asking for and not what we think or hope you're asking for. We feel that we should join forces with you to meet your expectations and want to treat that as job number 1. And while we will suggest a few extras for your consideration we regret that among those will not be pies or fries unless they would be in picture form and guaranteed to not have near the fat and calories of the real ones.

Any business should be striving to provide the best possible serves to you that they can. But try as they may all of them, including us, make mistakes from time to time. But that doesn't mean we should be ok with that. At 2C Photography we will do our best to make sure that we hear you and do everything we can to get it right. We will listen to you and work to get you the results you want if its within our power to do so. So I guess all that is left for me to say is "Welcome to 2C Photography! Would you like a great portrait today?"

Next time we'll post another Pro Pix Tips for your consideration. Have a great day everyone! Richard