In either case, I’m not going to let something like that get in the way of having a good time.  I called up my friend Maria who just recently moved to New York and hit up a few bars to celebrate.  On just a few hours sleep, I’m ready to make the journey to family in Colorado this morning, to continue the birthday celebration!

Looking back on 25, it really has been an incredible year, with an incredible trip to cap it off.  I’ll be catching you up to speed in the next few days, but today – it’s time to party :)

I know my posts have been spaced out a bit lately, mainly due to the fact that I’ve been enjoying myself thoroughly and haven’t had much time to be on the computer.  (Which is a good thing)

I’ll be rounding up my trip come this next week & you can expect to see these posts within the next 10 days:

-Stockholm, Sweden

-Kiruna, Sweden (Northern Lights spectacular & the Ice Hotel)

-Svenborg, Denmark

-Aarhus, Denmark

-The benefits of having a “main” as a 2nd photographer for events

-A key component of growing your following as a photographer and how to utilize it the best ways possible

And most likely a couple others, so stay tuned!

In the mean time, here’s a quick peek at the Stockholm post:

Iceland is one of the most beautiful, scenic, and culturally rich places I’ve ventured to date.  This trip introduced us to some pretty amazing scenery, and by the end of the 4 days we spent there – we were already conjuring up plans on how much it would cost to buy land in the country.

To give you a little background knowledge on Iceland, it’s part of the Scandinavian countries on the Northwestern end of Europe.  This group of countries I have particularly found to be proud of their heritage, and boast of their vast intelligence, often claiming they’re the smartest people in the world.  Being half-danish, I don’t have much of an issue with them saying so.  In fact, we learned that Iceland is being used as a standard for current research relating to genetic dispositions – the reason being that their population is the most pure in terms of racial homogeneity.  (Basically no one comes to their country and contributes to their gene pool – there are 300k on the entire island.)

The cultural folk-lore includes stories of elves and trolls, and the viking personalities showed evident in the people we had met as well.  If you go to Iceland, I strongly suggest booking a tour with Icelandic Excursions to hear the stories in full detail.

Let’s get on with the story of the trip, shall we?

Meet the players (clockwise) – Yours truly, Ryan, Sully, and Jason.  Sully was a recent addition to our traveling wolf-pack, and ended up being an awesome guy to have along for the trip.

The first morning we got into town – exploring around a bit.

These are my all-around shoes.  The guys made fun of me joking I was going to freeze my toes off, but ended up in a pretty funny situation you will see later on in this post!

Amazing sight.  Doesn’t compare to any ocean/sea I’ve come across before.

Made our way to the blue lagoon to do some swimming.  This is a must-add to your bucketlist.  The experience is like a dream, and it’s like a really cool hot tub during winter.

DAY 2

We set out with our Jeep we had rented to do some exploring around the island, and found some really cool places!

“Pay the toll!”

Talk about a “brisk” walk.

At first we thought we would be driving around in a white blizzard all day…

But then out of nowhere, this crazy sunrise appeared.  The light cast from the angle of the sun is un-paralleled.  Never seen anything quite like it.

Love the symbolism in this photo.

Got bit in the ass by a horse.

And Jason decided to hop on & ride one.  Funniest thing I’ve seen in my life.  I’m still laughing a week later.

It was pretty tricky getting behind the waterfall (see photo above) but you know me – always going for the REAL scenery.

We headed out at night & found ourselves frustrated not being able to catch a good sight of the northern lights.  We found out later that someone had taken an amazing photo only 20 minutes away from our hotel.  The weather is so unpredictable, it can literally change from blue skies to blizzard in a matter of minutes.

Lucked out with a couple shots, but weren’t really satisfied with the experience.  Just a brief glimpse, and then it was gone.

DAY 3

TOUR!  We went out on an Icelandic Adventures tour to see some of the more notable spots in the country.

It was blizzarding, but that wont stop us from getting some killer photos.

It actually started blizzarding REALLY HARD, and with some 50 mph winds, one of the tour vehicles got stuck.  We hopped out and dug out the snow from under the wheels, helped the rescue teams, and pushed the trucks to give it an extra boost on it’s way out.  The wind was blowing the snow so hard it felt like sand paper smacking against your face.

DAY 4

Unexpected tour!  Our original tour for this day was cancelled due to the storms from the previous night, so the company offered us a “SuperJeep” tour that would take us wherever we wanted.

Remember how I told you about my shoes earlier?  Well, since the tour was switched, we didn’t get to stop back at the company’s headquarters so I could exchange my glacier boots back from the day prior.  I ended up wearing them the rest of my trip, and am still wearing them in Denmark.  Was an interesting experience wearing them out to the clubs in Stockholm by the way!

LOVE this shot!  While I originally was thinking of editing out the reflection, I came to really appreciate the way this photo shows what we were viewing while driving along the Icelandic countryside.  Here’s Sully getting a view of one of the long rivers that runs along the middle of the highlands.

We decided on a certain spot to go that night after seeing how clear it was earlier in the day.  Lucked out and got some cool shots of the northern lights featuring some of those Icelandic snow horses you saw earlier.

I’ve been getting about 3-4 hours sleep each night, and each day is jam-packed full of touring, taking photos, and attempting to escape the blizzards that roll through during our driving cross country.

I’m going to try my best to blog some of the photos from these past few days – some amazing scenery for sure…but I’m about to head out to venture out on our 3rd day of touring the country.

For now, I hope you enjoy this photo from the blue lagoon.  The lagoon is a fluorescent blue sulfur spring located in the southern region of iceland.  We went swimming in the lagoon during a 20 mph wind/blizzard storm – and let me tell you…it was INSANE.  It felt like a crazy dream…a huge fluorescent blue hot-tub with steam rolling over your head and snow coming down.  Crazy sight to see, as you could probably guess.

Last night we caught a glimpse of the northern lights, but for the majority – the country was covered with clouds due to the snowstorms, but we’re confident we will see them tonight.  To see a photo from last night, head on over to my facebook page.

Not only about gear, business strategy, or how to take a good photo – but mainly about MYSELF as a person.

If someone were to have told me everything that’s involved in being a photographer when I first started, I would have said they were crazy.  Little did I know!

While I’ve learned a lot lately regarding technical knowledge & business savvy (specific posts on those in the coming weeks) – today I’d like to share with you a little about what I’ve learned about myself throughout the process of being a photographer.

1.  Self-confidence – I’ll admit it – when I first started doing portraits, I was scared sh!tless.  I didn’t know what-the-hell I was doing with my camera, and I was afraid of doing something wrong.  I didn’t know the way things were supposed to be done, and I was terrified my clients would call me out for trying anything ‘outside the norm’.  As I went along, I slowly realized that people will value your work for being ‘outside the norm’ – and having your own distinct style is something that can potentially be sought-after in regards to comparing other photographers.  The more you believe in yourself, the better the results.  And the more you take control of the situation and lead your clients, the more they’ll trust you.

2.  Being a leader – Going with the points above, I’ve slowly realized that creating experiences in life is entirely dependent on YOU.  YOU can be responsible for someone having a good time during an event based off your interaction with them, YOU can make/break creating awesome images based off carrying-out your vision, and YOU can be responsible for helping others achieve success at the same time.  Carving my own path has taken me a lot of time, effort, and long lessons learned.  Now that I’ve experienced a lot of different scenarios – I have the option to be selfish and think in terms of scarcity, or I can give back and help others learn what I did – without having to go through the tough experiences themselves.

3.  The kind of lifestlye/job I want – might sound kind of obvious, but after awhile, you take a step back and think about your day-to-day and realize, “WOW – I can’t believe I used to work in an office 40 hours a week.”  That kind of lifestyle is unimaginable to me these days.  I’ve learned that I love the variety in my schedule, the freedom to take vacations & travel, and the lack of routine in every-day life.  The kind of contrast this kind of work provides in comparison with the corporate world is unreal.

4.  Who I am – sounds pretty deep, but it’s true.  For whatever purpose, we all derive a certain fulfillment from the work we create.  Depending on your ultimate goal with your photography – you have the option to tell a story with your images, depicting your perspective on life.  What you put out there is your choice – and it lets the world know where you’re coming from.  As a gradual process from just learning the basics to defining our style – we as photographers truly ‘bloom’ into our true selves – putting our personal energy out into the world.  I know, I know, got a little “hippy” on you there for a second – but hey – if product photography is what you’re all about – that says something about you.  If you take photos of newborns, strippers, funerals, or flowers – they all say something about your personality & what you choose to contribute to the world.

In addition to that – (I’m about to go even deeper) we are all responsible for our own level of success in life.  The way we approach our work, how dedicated, how bad we truly want success is indicative of how we view ourselves as a person.  Do you want the best for yourself?  Do you think you deserve it?  Would you be comfortable with a huge level of success?  They might seem like obvious questions, but to be honest – I secretly think a lot of people don’t think they deserve it.  (It’s a crazy thing to think about – but when it comes down to it – THIS IS YOUR LIFE.)

5.  What I don’t want – let’s face it, we’ve all had stressful experiences in regards to work.  Whether it be the terms of a project, communicating with a certain client, or filling your schedule with so many shoots that you have no “me” time.  Over time though, I’ve come to realize that those clients – those projects – or that kind of schedule isn’t necessary to life a healthy lifestyle.  I’ve actually ended up learning a lot about what I do want by finding out what I don’t want in the process.  It’s sad to say, but seeing how depressed others are living a certain lifestyle is a great deterrent towards ending up doing that very-same-thing to yourself.

6.  What love is - I feel like Forrest Gump talking to Jenny when I write this item, but it really is true.  Shooting so many weddings, interacting with so many couples – you begin to recognize the characteristics of a solid relationship without even knowing it.  You can just tell.  I can’t say how glad I am to witness this, because moving forward in life – I’ll be conscious (hopefully) of these elements in my own relationships.  Seeing this kind of bond is something so powerful, so divine, it really is a privilege to document it.

*Side note – have you ever been waiting for a ride at the airport, and people-watched to see what kind of greetings/goodbyes are exchanged at passenger pick-up?  It’s a pretty crazy thing to think about, but similarly – wedding photography provides a fast-track look at relationships & interactions.  You can tell the type that squeeze hugs so hard you’d guess that it’s been years since they’ve seen each other – even though it may have just been a week or two.

7. I hold half the value - Another crazy one.  It tripped me up the first time I had a client offer me coffee when I arrived at a photo shoot.  ”What the hell?  Why is the person that’s paying me (aka boss) offering to get me coffee?  Isn’t it the other way around?  Shouldn’t I be the one getting them things?”  And even though it took awhile to get used to, it became evident that my clients valued my work, my time, and my unique ability to bring them product that really helps them.  They want you to come back, they want you to like working with them, and they don’t want to lose you to someone else.  It’s not like an employer/employee relationship where you might feel like an indentured servant.  To be appreciated like that by a client is an awesome feeling – and you can bet that I definitely hold those kind of clients in higher regard when thinking about retaining/letting-go-of certain contacts.  Now I should say, of course – that I definitely appreciate their consideration of me providing them with my services…without my clients, I’d be broke!

8.  Your destiny is in your hands - How much you want to make, what kind of clients you want, where you want to live, who you want to date – it’s ENTIRELY UP TO YOU.  Nothing in the WORLD is holding you back (not even drastic change), and you have a very powerful tool to take you where you want to go.  (Your camera)

If you have any other insights or ideas you’ve learned about life or yourself through your photography, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

(PS – in the coming weeks, I’ll also be posting about 1.  What I’ve learned about business through photography and also 2.  What I’ve learned about technique during January [this entire month I've devoted towards improving quality, lots of practice shoots]  Keep coming back as I’ll be posting 3-4 times per week, and I’ve got a lot more content to share!)

The photo above was taken during my 2 month trip to Europe last winter.  I traveled alone for quite a bit of that trip, and learned a lot about myself in the process too.  [Looking over the west coast of Spain, on the beach during sunset in Cadiz]

PPS – if you enjoyed this article and would like to share with others, please feel free via the links below!

While the night was focused primarily on long-time customers & VIP clientele, I was limited on what I could shoot in regards to invading private party dinners & such.

It was a privilege to not only photograph the event, but to have a chance to sit down with my client and enjoy some of their more notable dishes!

Here are some of my favorite images from the event:

Gotta give the back-story on this image – shot it through the fish tank…came out perfectly with that light flare coming from the back of the restaurant and the fish about to approach it.  Awesome time with awesome company, and can never beat a great meal to go along with it all.

While it may be rare to have a perfect fit, when they’re on your “same level” – it’s SOOOOOO good.

So with that, I’m going to incorporate a little of that twist into today’s blog post on creating & growing an idea.

Earlier today, a friend in Buenos Aires interviewed me over Skype about my ideas regarding blog marketing and creating solid content for online promotion.  While the interview will be available in the coming weeks, I’d like to share with you one of the main ideas we talked about.

When creating your brand, it’s important for the elements tied into your business be consistent: branding, marketing, themes, colors, attitude, and style.  Instead of going into a drawn out & lengthy post about my ideas on how to create a good structure, I figured I would demonstrate a running idea of a fake brand some friends & I created about a month ago.

While I wont mention names, some people I’ve mentioned on this blog prior were all together at a friends place talking about life, love, and inevitably – loss.

One of us mentioned that they would want to be cremated and have their ashes distributed into the ocean.  Someone else said they wished the same, but outer-space.  I mentioned how when I die, I’d like people to get together and have an Irish-wake style party celebrating my life & the fun times we shared rather than mourn the loss or sadness.

Then my roommate Evan blew me out of the water with the vision he had for his eventual death & following funeral.

A HAUNTED-HOUSE STYLE FUNERAL PROCESSION.

He mentioned that when he dies, he has told his parents that he wishes to have his body arranged to be controlled via marionette-style so that during mid-procession, he can SPRING from the coffin and give his honored guests the show of their life!

As you might have guessed, the entire room bursted out in laughter at the idea, as you could imagine what a ridiculous scene that would be at such a traditional event.

(1.  I’ll interject to point out the common tie – taking an existing idea and putting your own unique twist to showcase your personality)

While we were all still laughing, someone shouted out that all the lights should be short-circuited and strobe lights should begin to fire, creating a scene of panic to add to the chaos.  I suggested that he arrange to have blood spray from the ceilings, such as the opening scene from Blade. [bonus points if you know what I'm referring to]  To engage the audience more, not only would Evan’s dead body lurch from the coffin, but FLY OVER the crowd in their seats to create that “dream-like” quality.  And then as if our minds were magically in sync with each other, Evan & I both shouted out that the staff at the venue become dressed up as zombies and lock everyone inside the processional room, serving as the capstone to the exciting experience.

(2.  The value in the above paragraph is team-brainstorming.  Utilizing the power of a group setting to build off one-another’s ideas to create a cohesive strategy.  My friend Ashley gave me a killer idea for my promotional materials about a week ago, and I’m excited to share that exact idea in the coming months.  Point in case – it’s great to have a mastermind group to build off each other)

And while the experiential element of Evan’s idea was amazing, we knew that to REALLY succeed in a particular market, you need to cater to an affluent market.  How can you make this product a luxury good?

“Destination Funerals DOT COM!”  Someone shouted in the room.

And *that* is when we knew when the idea came full circle.  All of the sudden, ideas started coming from everywhere on how you can tie the ‘funeral’ theme into the event coordination.  ”Check out” time slips as table settings, sticks as the center-pieces vs floral arrangements, menu titled as “the last supper”, etc – you get the idea.  Promotional ideas relating to your specific target market spring to mind – darwin award deaths receive a 10% discount on their casket, business cards that resemble a funhouse style admission ticket, ghost-buster themed hearse to carry the coffin to the cemetery, the list goes on.

(3.  Finding common themes to tie into the branding help your idea present a cohesive marketing strategy.  Coming up with an initial idea, then building the accessories relating to your business AROUND that particular idea helps people truly receive your message the way you intend it.  The more you can involve each facet of your branding to tie in with this theme, the more cohesive & professional it will appear.  Make a list of everything you can think of that relates to your perception of your brand – even if it’s a little extreme.  Then come up with some ideas on how you can tie that inspiration in with your materials)

While you of course know this post was written in no-way serious, I hope that you at least took some enjoyment in my analogy of this fake brand to bring to light some tools to help the formation of marketing ideas for your own business.  If not, I’d still love to hear from you below.

If you really enjoyed this post – I’d ALSO love to hear from you.  It’s important to me to know whether or not this kind of content is something you guys can relate to, otherwise I’m barking up the wrong tree in sharing this kind of content.  Thanks guys!

*Side note – January has been FILLED with a concentration on quality regarding my work – a lot of shoots with individuals I plan to collaborate with in the upcoming wedding season.  I’ve been busy trying out new lenses, poses, locations, and talking over business ideas with a few people I strongly believe have the same kind of ambition & potential as I do.  A few months ago, I bought a beauty dish reflector for my strobes, but I had still yet to use it.  Rather than just practice on my roommate, why not get paid for it?

While Justin isn’t involved in the industry, I offered a discount if he could do the shoot the very next day at the time I requested.  I mentioned to him I’d be trying this new set-up, and while I promised to get him the shots he needed – I wanted to try out several arrangements, poses, and lighting positions.  I also mentioned I’d be writing this blog post about it, and he agreed.

Win-win-win.

Here’s an example of what kind of difference a grid will have on the beauty dish:  (grid on right)

Tried arranging the light in different ways & working with the shadows in relation to his stance towards the dish

Some seated poses

Played around with composition a bit

Some clean black & white shirts work great to accent facial features and bone structure

Found my favorite light arrangement on these next two

Here’s an example of my before & after editing.  As you can see, took out a few bumps, lines on forehead, razor burn on the neck – standard guy stuff.  To help touch these up, I just use a combination of the clone tool at a low opacity (below 30) and low flow rate (below 25) to make them consistent with the rest of the skin tones.  I’ll also use the paintbrush with a color-sampled brush, at a low opacity & flow rate if there’s not enough area to create a good clone to work from.  I love KPD magic sharp for web stuff, but I wouldn’t recommend their pro-retouch.  It never works the way I want it to, and I feel it ends up creating a plastic-looking appearance on the skin.

Hope this helps some of you guys!  If it did, let me know below!  And if you have any quesions, I’ll answer them in the comments as well.

Last night, his venue played host to his very own celebration, and he had asked me to provide personalized photography for the night.  While nightlife photography is a common element of the downtown clubs, I’d like to think he recognized the difference between the standard styles you see & that of my own…which you’ll be seeing on this post.

The night started off at Searsucker with a private dinner with close friends.

Cufflinks are a classy gift any guy will truly appreciate.  It’s a perfect accessory to use on special celebrations, and even better when it’s a gift from a friend.

Getting things dialed in for the crazy night ahead.

Sidebar before the storm.

Ali just moved in to a new spot downtown, what better way to break it in with a pre-party & some good tequila?

Jason comes through with one of the funniest birthday cards I’ve ever seen.  (Can’t show the card, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.)

And it’s time to roll out!

Good friends surprise him with a limo ride to the club.

When you roll in to a club with about 10 guys, you’re gonna turn some heads.  And while a guy that walks in with a few girls is impressive, when people see a guy walk through with his crew of guys, you’ll see a crowd full of people waiting in line with a baffled look on their face.  (And PS – while girls are cool to roll in with, they come & go…having some of your best buds you’ve known for a long time cruise up with you to celebrate your birthday in the right way – everyone with you is going to remember it for years to come.

Wasting no time in getting the party started!

Both Darth Vader & Aladdin made special appearances to deliver bottles of champagne.

Confetti!

A gift of Ace of Spades champagne to add some fuel to the fire.

EVERYONE was celebrating.

Couldn’t imagine a better way to spend a birthday than being surrounded by your closest friends & work “family”.  Happy birthday bud!

Even before we arrived on the beach in Thailand, I knew we were in for an awesome time.  As we were approaching the beach from our boat, the sun had set over the hills of the jungle & filled the sky with a hue of blue, pink, and purple – all seeming to mesh into one.

Our hut that we stayed in was about 100 yards from shore, and we were greeted with complimentary tropical drinks once we walked up from the beach.  Like I said, what an arrival!

We signed over for our room, threw our bags on the bed, and headed right back out to the water to take in the sunset.

While going out at night, we hired our own private longtail boat to take us to & from the “party beaches” where you could drink on the beach, listen to house music, all while enjoying a good fire-dancing show.  There were people from all over the world – all there to celebrate and have a great time.  (As I’m writing this, I know I’m describing the scene the way I remember it, but the feeling of being there was just unreal.)  There was a lack of responsibility, connection to the working life, and all issues you dealt with on a daily basis back at home.  The best way to describe it would be to say that it felt completely free.

While it was some of the most amazing scenery I’ve come across in my travels, it’s ironic I hardly got any photos on my pro camera.  The majority of the time on the island, I was in my board shorts with only 1 pocket.  Either my iPhone or GoPro the only cameras at my side, if any at all!  If I could go back, I wouldn’t do anything differently – as it was a hell of a time.

Here are some of my favorite photos from when I had a camera on me:

The route in to the island, view from the back of the boat:  (5D ii)

Views on the way in towards the beach (shot & edited on my iPhone)

Our room – so welcoming!  (5D ii)

Fire dancers on the beach at night (iPhone)

I like this next shot because it’s out of focus.  Have you ever tried to get a shot out of focus on your iphone on purpose?  It’s TOUGH!  I like this shot because it conveys the vibe – blurry night - after a few drinks…