Oil and Natural Gas Photos...

I admire these men.  They load big rigs, haul water to and from fracking sites out in the middle of nowhere, lay heavy pipelines, get covered in dirt and mud, work long hours in the heat and cold and rain... all just so we can have natural gas to keep our modern conveniences running.  The life of an oil and gas man looks brutal, but I'd secretly love to do it - just let me grab a flannel shirt and a thermos full of hot coffee!

I had a lot of fun photographing the natural gas industry, especially getting a chance to see what's required to successfully complete the fracking process.  I thought the thousands of bottles full of sample water (seen below) stored for testing was pretty interesting, too.  And, of course , a day full of photographing giant semi trucks driving across the back roads of east Texas was a blast!  

With all the natural gas and oil in Texas, you can bet that I'll be shooting more of the industry soon.  In the meantime, check out my other photos at www.janikphoto.com

The Turntable Is My Friend...

This is what I listen to while working on the computer. Sometimes I spend several hours in front of the computer doing Photoshop, invoices, client emails, image archiving, etc... and the turntable can be my best friend! Obviously, the music makes work easier, but it also requires me to regularly stand up and change the record. This short break allows me to stretch and rest my eyes for a moment.

If you have to spend long periods of time at the computer, you don't necessarily have to use vinyl records to time your breaks. Get an egg timer or something else that will help set intervals. Make yourself get up for a minute or so to walk around and reset your body. Your photos will look better, you'll feel better and all will be right with the world!

Weddings? Really?!?

What am I doing? I'm not supposed to shoot weddings, right?!? That's the old stereotype, anyway. Either you are one of those cheesy wedding photographers, or you aren't. You can't shoot commercial and corporate work AND shoot weddings. You can't shoot for prominent publications AND shoot weddings. You can't shoot concerts, album covers AND weddings! You either do weddings or you do the other stuff - with the exception of the photojournalist, who works at his/her newspaper during the week and does weddings on the weekend...

Well, I am not afraid to say that I'm a softy, a hopeless romantic... I like to shoot a wedding every now and then. I like the love, the laughter and the joy. I like the action and the suspense. I like the cake, too.

I only do a handful every year, but I'm not ashamed to say that I shoot weddings. They are just like the huge conferences I shoot, the wild concerts and clubs I photograph, the magazine feature stories I capture on film... with tuxedos and colorful dresses thrown into the mix!

The above picture is from a wedding I did last weekend in Waco, TX.