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Interested in a Photo Booth at your next event? Please contact Stacy Martinez Photography for more details!

phone : 1.912.308.1427

email : stacy.martinez@comcast.net

Our newest gallery – ‘Spotlight’.

‘Spotlight’ will showcase new and favorite sessions periodically through the month.

Check back for more new stuff.

This is the style of PIN UP that we are going for here at Stacy Martinez Photography. Interested? Please contact us.

Thank you to our TROOPS! And thanks to Harley Davidson for such a great tribute and deal.

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/home.html

Another great article by Scott Bourne

http://photofocus.com/2009/11/10/three-things-you-should-know-about-creativity/

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Creativity is a big concept for a photo blog. We spend so much time fighting upgrade fatigue, learning new software, working out new techniques that we often have very little time for creativity. But just taking note that we need to think about creativity isn’t enough. How do we go about it?

Everyone goes about being creative differently. What works for me might not work for you, but I’m going to just share these thoughts on creativity with the hope they will help you concentrate on something other than the next lens you think you want to buy.

For me, creativity is about removing artificial limits. And I think most limits are self-imposed. More precisely, these limits are directly tied to low self-esteem. Now I know you might be thinking, what’s that have to do with creativity? In my experience lots.

We put boxes around ourselves and make decisions that hamper our growth because often, as artists, we don’t really believe in ourselves. How many times have you thought you were just faking it? Or have you ever just assumed that you weren’t good enough? These thoughts murder your creative spirit and you get started on a more creative path when you stop that behavior.

The creative process can start to open up once you just trust yourself. If you empower yourself to try something different and give yourself permission to fail, you become more creative. Don’t make the metrics of success or failure the guidelines by which you proceed. Instead make experimentation, expression and joy the metrics.

The second big point of contact for me is authenticity in my work. If you can start to look at authenticity, rather than originality, you will become more creative. I learned this concept best by listening to John Paul Caponigro. He was talking about other art forms and mentioned that in Asia for instance, artists don’t worry about coming up with something new, they work within an existing form and try to expand it. When I read the photographic forums, the younger photographers seem to beat their chests the loudest and proclaim their creativity simply because they did something “new.” Usually what they did wasn’t new at all, but rather new to them. But it doesn’t matter. Worrying about doing something new ends up stunting creative growth. Being creative does NOT require doing something new. It requires doing something that is authentically your real personal and true vision. If you take away anything from this blog post, I hope it’s that.

Lastly, creativity is about choices. The choices can often be based on a few dynamics like tension, juxtaposition, conflict and resolution. These are good tools in a creative environment. But sometimes, you learn most of your creative ideas from pure experimentation. Free-form music – called jamming often lets musicians come up with their best sounds. Writers use free-association and brainstorming to come up with their best words. Why shouldn’t photographers use their own brand of visual experimentation to find their own visual creativity?

To sum up – if you want to be more creative, start loving yourself enough to give yourself permission to fail. In fact, better yet, don’t even worry about winning or losing. Just DO.

Don’t focus on NEW – focus on authentic. Being original isn’t being new – it’s being you.

And riff. Go out there and jam. Try this and that and then invert it all. Go crazy. Do something you’ve never tried.

I wrote this post as much for myself as I did for you.

Trains, Trains, & Trains. These are from this past weekend at the Savannah Train (Amtrak) Station. They were hosting the annual Private Railroad Box Car Association.

 

The photo on the left is from the Georgia 300 and the Inauguration 2009 with the Obama’s and Biden’s. The photo on the right is my ever amazing son and my dad. It’s the same train with a few things back in their normal place. How cool is that? How did Connor get to be up there? Well my dad invited us over to the Amtrak station this weekend during an annual Private Rail Car Association was in Savannah. They were parked on the tracks for a couple days and left this morning. These rail cars are expensive and beautiful…but open to private invitation and guests only. While we were viewing the rail cars, we were invited to view another car (the newest one there, built in 1959), the Scottish Thistle. If you want to charter the Scottish Thistle, the fees start at $2,500 per day. More photos to come.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_300

Today I had the chance to meet Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster. They are out promoting their new movie “The Messenger” and I happen to be able to have lunch with them. It was another great experience and Connor even had a good time being the only kid.

I follow Scott Bourne on Twitter and he is amazing. Just something else from him today! If you aren’t getting this, then maybe another photographer is right for you.

“Here are some tips for improving your relationships with clients. A great deal of this is common sense.

1. Listen. Your clients will give you a wealth of information, if you listen that is. Too many marketers approach selling situations with a script. They have a prepared pitch that overtakes the client’s needs. Sometimes the simplest product pitch is “What are you looking for?” Let the clients tell you what they need instead of trying to sell them what they might not want.

2. Be open, transparent, genuine, authentic, gracious and helpful. People will want to buy your photos over and over if you can do that.

3. Put the client first. That’s it. Just really, really try to put their needs above your own. This may cost you a short term sale, but will almost always lead to long-term business. This may mean saying something like, “I’m not the right photographer for that job, but let me put you in touch with the person who is.” It takes guts to do this and it pays off in spades when you can muster the courage to do it.

4. Do things that positively impact the people in the community where your buyers interact. Be seen as someone who is a helpful resource for people in that community. Be the person that your community turns to in time of need. The visibility this offers makes people want to trust you.

5. Follow through on every promise you make to your clients, no matter how small. This is critical to building relationships. If you say you’ll call them back with a price tomorrow before 4:00 PM, do it. Nothing is more important. In fact, follow through in a way that leaves no doubt you’re committed to the relationship. Under-promise and over-deliver. This leads to long-term business for any photographer.”

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