A magazine, a nice guy and me...

I don't think I ever shared this pic with you. I shot it for D CEO Magazine a few months back. The photo is of Gil Stricklin, a real nice guy. His ministry helps people all across the country and other parts of the world. I actually shot him and his wife once before, years ago. I was doing a shoot for one of my corporate clients - Pilgrim's Pride - at the time. Anyway, I really enjoyed my time with Gil, and I think I came back with nice image.

Another great link...

I discovered this one while researching better terminology for a contract I need to revise. It s filled with useful tidbits for the professional photographer:

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/

Keep Your Copyright...

The name says it all. Click it. Read it. Do it.

http://keepyourcopyrights.org/

Event photography isn't easy?!?

Event photography may look easy, like anyone with a point and shoot can capture spontaneous moments and classic candids. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in real life. Most clients hire me after they try to shoot an event themselves (or hire some college intern to do it), then end up with sub-standard images to put on their website, in their powerpoint presentation, to give their sponsors, etc...

A good event photographer may be pricey, but it's well worth it in the long run. Take this recent holiday event I shot. The sponsors were major alcohol and beverage companies, and they needed images of the event. They needed detail images and shots of people having fun. These events are usually a madhouse to photograph, and require someone with experience... Someone who can turn that potential madhouse into photos of a wild, fun party:

More old photos...

This time I found some photos of Cat Power performing in Dallas at the end of 2008...

Yet another old photo...

OK, now it's just getting ridiculous! As I was sifting through last year's photos, I stumbled across a photo from 2007. It is Billy Ray Cyrus in concert! Something told me, "put it on the blog... NOW!"

Another photo from 2009...

Maybe I should be posting my very best images, instead of odds and ends that catch my eye. After all, this is a blog that potential clients see. However, I just feel like posting a few random shots that I find to be interesting... for whatever reason. A soft, subtle picture of a local musician or this:

I know, I know. Very goofy. Very, very goofy. I was working in the studio one late night and my middle boy (2 years old in this shot, now 3) came up to visit. He should've been sleeping, but I couldn't resist playing with him, instead. Here he is howling like a wolf.

Digging through photos...

I was digging through photos from 2009, looking for stuff to FINALLY upgrade and build my new janikphoto.com website. While searching, I found this shot. I liked it enough to share it with you all today. It was shot with natural light - very unlike me. I usually shoot with strobes. The shot is of Dallas musician Trey Johnson.

Trey's music is very soft and introspective. Maybe that's what drew me to this photo. It seems like everything is in the subtle details. Or, maybe I'm just drawn to it because it is so unlike what I normally shoot. This picture seems so quiet, simple and straight-forward. Most of my images are wild, goofy and over the top.

Not the best statistics...

This is where most of my business comes from, so this quote isn't really a good thing:

The past few years have been unkind to the publishing industry.

In 2008, newspaper advertising revenues declined by 17.7%, according to the Newspaper Association of America. Meanwhile, average daily circulation at 379 newspapers fell 10.6% from April through September 2009, compared to the same period a year ago, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Magazines haven't fared any better. In 2009, more than 360 magazines shut down. During the first half of 2009, ad pages fell 27.9% when compared to the same period in 2008, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

The morning newspaper has been replaced by a growing online media presence — much of which is accessible for free. The Amazon Kindle — even with its price tag of around $250 — and other eBook readers could increasingly become one-stop sources to access newspapers, magazines and books.

It came from an online story I found on Yahoo News. Maybe that means I am part of the problem, if I'm reading online news?!? I do subscribe to some magazines and the daily paper (Thursday through Sunday, anyway). Here is a link to the whole feature about things becoming obsolete:

finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/108504/10-things-not-to-buy-in-2010

Did I ever show you this video?

I can't remember posting a link to this one yet, so I thought I'd share it now (and possibly again). It's just another fun little interview/feature that I did for BlackWhiteRead.com last month.

lakewood-dallas.blackwhiteread.com/view/articles/17833

Not photo-related, but...

I thought you'd find the magic behind some of your favorite movies and televisions shows to be interesting:

vimeo.com/8337356

Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Demo from Stargate Studios on Vimeo.

A look back...

I wanted to look back on the last decade, so I decided to grab a photo from each year, 2000-2009. I didn't spend too much time choosing the images, as I wanted it to be a somewhat random sampling of photos that I've shot. I decided to thumb through each year and just grab the first image that caught my eye.

In theory, the images should get better from beginning to end. And since I grabbed any and every shot that I saw, you should see a variety of subject matter, not just a bunch of music/concert photography. I suppose I could've easily filled up a page full of band pics, but I wanted something a little different. Everybody knows my music photos...

2000 - Coca Cola Lake, Arkansas.

2001 - A football coach speaks to his team after winning their final game of the season.

2002 - My grandfather's hands.

2003 - Rodeo clown cowboys.

2004 - Venice, Italy playground.

2005 - Heavy metal band Megadeth performs.

2006 - The Black Eyed Peas perform.

2007 - Airplane landing at dusk.

2008 - Turn To Jesus sky writer in Orlando, FL.

2009 - Rhett Miller solo album back cover.