A Few Seniors/Grads from Us.

Being new here I just wanted to share some of our work with everyone. Looking forward to sharing more in the coming days...


1) A great young lady who is one of the best in her field so we showed it off in the studio


2) An American Football Player in the studio - he wanted to look tough so we made it happen for him


3) Great young lady with beautiful features


4) Off Camera Speedlites of a Senior/Grad on an American Football field

Mike Fulton said:

Being new here I just wanted to share some of our work with everyone. Looking forward to sharing more in the coming days...

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1) A great young lady who is one of the best in her field so we showed it off in the studio






Mike, I like the original composition. Well at least it's new to me, LOL! What's amazing is that it also has at the back of it's form a Crucifixion and so she's at once celebrated and also heroic. It's as if she is holdng all her devotion and pain of all the effort needed to win those medals.... for us!

Absence of the big letters makes this work more of an artistic portrait and to me, reaches altogether a different level. However, for a lot of guys, they might want the baseball card manly look!

Asher

Dude Asher you are one DEEP person! I never even looked at the image that way but WOW now that you said it I think that is why I posed her that way cause your right the overall pose makes it powerful I just never really connected the two directly!

I have shown this photo around to several photographers no one has ever mentioned that before, really enjoy getting a new honest feedback on the images here, Thank you for taking the time to reply!

Mike Fulton said:

Dude Asher you are one DEEP person! I never even looked at the image that way but WOW now that you said it I think that is why I posed her that way cause your right the overall pose makes it powerful I just never really connected the two directly!

I have shown this photo around to several photographers no one has ever mentioned that before, really enjoy getting a new honest feedback on the images here, Thank you for taking the time to reply!

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Mike,

I look for the best in people and their work. The problem with earning a living is that one has to be more and more efficient and so variations for the individual can be left behind. An example of beautiful efficiency is the clever use of great props for each newborn. However, here, this image cannot be made with so many young athletes. I've seen such inspiring images in art exhibitions where the allusion to Christ on the cross is specific but there's a woman! Here, it's the pose and the gifts to us that allow us to look up such shapes and triggers in our minds library and then we see her as heroic in the Cathedral of our imagination.

Asher

You have no idea just how deep Asher is. He is one of the main reasons I visit this great forum. He has wonderful ideas and insight and is open to all of the different ways one can go about expressing one's self through photography. And he likes Lady Gaga.
I moved here to Tucsom from Houston about a year ago so I was familiar with your work from there. Good to see you here.
James Newman

Hi Mike, are you looking for any kind of critique here? Or the usual back patting?

Andy brown said:

Hi Mike, are you looking for any kind of critique here? Or the usual back patting?

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To all,

Unless noted otherwise, all image posts are open for critique.

Cheers,
Bart

Andy brown said:

Hi Mike, are you looking for any kind of critique here? Or the usual back patting?

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I never want back patting to me it is a waste of time, To be honest since our business has gotten "a name" I don't post much anymore due to people just want to suck up, its just a waste of my time. I enjoy both positive and negative input on our images, and while I might not agree with some or any of it, getting the chance to view your work from another eyes to me is priceless if used correctly.

So keep the back patting for your children learning to walk or grandma when she gets her teeth in correctly , and just be honest in a professional manner with anything I post! While many times on the surface our images have a story behind them and without that story it can seem quite weird the fact is honest feedback is always fun when done correctly.


Thanks for asking but no worries.

Mike, maybe I'm just too old, jaded and cynical (it's been noted before on this forum) but the posts you've been making in a shotgun fashion smelled distinctly of self adulation.
They are nice shots, you've obviously got PP down pat and it looks like you're busy and doing very well with the business.
My criticism (and you knew there was one coming ) is that in all the highly contrived set ups you miss any chance for spontaneity or feeling from your subjects.

Andy brown said:

Mike, maybe I'm just too old, jaded and cynical (it's been noted before on this forum) but the posts you've been making in a shotgun fashion smelled distinctly of self adulation.
They are nice shots, you've obviously got PP down pat and it looks like you're busy and doing very well with the business.
My criticism (and you knew there was one coming ) is that in all the highly contrived set ups you miss any chance for spontaneity or feeling from your subjects.

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Andy,

I find that when folk get their living from a vertical market segment in photography, outside of fashion and not paid megabucks, there is a tendency to just be efficient and do what clients will buy. There's no need for so much variation just apply the sure and easy to reproduce finishes that will put bread on the table.

That's exactly why I focussed attention on the effects used and then singled out the one picture, (of the girl with medals), that departed from that and that has, (to me at least), real value which we should recognize. So, given the right circumstances creativity is, after all ,not lost! That should be
credited!

Of course, those of us who are lucky enough to have the time and finance to be artistic most of the time by the requirements of the client who pays or our own drive, might look down on those who use the same set ups for many subjects. Well, I can say with some certainty, that a lot of accomplished portraitists use their chosen techniques over and over again.

Is the issue here "not repeating the same techniques" but rather that stars and snow balls are not "high class enough".

Asher

You're right Asher, if the clients like it (love it!) Why change that formula?.

The reason for my 'dig' at Mike was that I felt such a strong degree of self congratulatory rhetoric inherent in his (many) posts that I was compelled to throw a blunt dart at that enormous bubble of self staisfaction. Fear not Andy Brown, that's one tough skinned bubble. I lead with a length of rope for Mike to do with what he might. He grabbed it in two hands and prepared a nice noose of hypocrisy ( "I haven't got time for back patting") and leapt before he looked.

Mike, no hard feelings sunshine, just maybe include a little humility into that broad range of skills you so proudly possess.

Andy,

It's very hard to digest the work of someone who has a machine for dong jobs n a certain way, whether it's wedding pro dong the same tricks and effects or a guy in a Wild West show who has wigs and clothes to make great fun pics for delightful kids and tourists.

This is all fun and efficiently delivered at a low price.

I have respect for folks that climb telephone poles to fix things, even though they do the same things each time. What counts s that the folk n the houses can chat to each other and enjoy their lives. School photography is hard work and today with digital cameras in the hands of all the parents, the photographer has to have the extra tools and schemes to make the players more heroic. Then one gets pad and can put bread on one's table and that's what the job is for!

Art, new art for that shoot, is a separate matter. That belongs to a much more limited market or just by enthusiasts who don't need to be paid.

I have respect for folk like Mike who make a living providing a photographic service that s able to rise above the work of amateurs and command a price that can support a family.

Now here's the important part. We can learn from folk who are efficient and earn a living from photography! But more important than that, each photographer knows they have more ideas than they are using and would like to refresh and get out new original work. Mike, I believe is in that category.

If he blows his own trumpet a bit, I can filter out that and find what's good. I hope folks might do that with me too when I go over the top!

The part I'm most interested in is the new work we'll see.

Asher

for 15 years I was a Crime Scene Investigator - the evidence I collected and processed took their personal freedom away and even sent several to the death chair, to me that was serious stuff, something which I made sure every step and every action was for a purpose.

Today I am just a photographer and honestly I find WAY too many people feel being a photographer is a serious life changing job. While I am full time and employ other photographers in my business, I enjoy people talking both good and bad about me personal and my business, cause I feel I can learn from the situation, but more importantly I can learn from the people making those statements and posts in my threads.

I find it interesting that I come on to a new board, instead of making the common "hello my name is Mike Fulton, I am a full time photographer here in Texas, USA I truly hope to get to know you better" thread, I choose to put out our work in full view of others to get feedback. Just because I am a professional please do not think I am not able to create art. And yes we do make cookie cutter images many times cause the client pays us, and very well I might add, and as a professional it is my job to make them happy.


I enjoy the feedback on this thread and with only four images posted it seems I am already labeled a non-artists which I find funny since I don't consider professional photography much of an art in the digital era, but more of a business just as selling anything else. While I get enjoyment out of creating photos those are for me, as a professional photographer I choose to run a business and make sure my daughter has her college paid for and my family has a roof over their head. Simply stated thats more important to me than being called orig. or creative or an artist. I firmly believe in the 20 years of doing this, ANYONE today can be a photographer and be called an artist, but very few can run a successful business, making enough money to support more than one individual in the photography field.

I have all the awards and misc. crap I'll ever need, today my job is to make sure others who are wanting to be professionals can take care of themselves and win their award and their dreams come true.

So again give me all you got, honestly I have had worst I promise, its always fun to see what others think about our work and talk about it. Its always better than the Hello Im new thread in my book.


Looking forward to great professional conversation full of insight and photos included in the future. Now I am off to Kansas to teach their state school so I will be gone for a bit but please keep this thread and any other going. I will answer it as soon as I can.

Mike,

I'm glad you do not have paper thin skin! I personally don't doubt your artistic gifts, and right now, you seem to be able to look after yourself very well!

I look forward to more pictures than words from all of us!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Mike,

I'm glad you do not have paper thin skin! I personally don't doubt your artistic gifts, and right now, you seem to be able to look after yourself very well!

I look forward to more pictures than words from all of us!

Asher

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No worries Asher reality is I could care less what people think of me especially when they do not know me or me know them. I know who I am and by someone making judgements on anyone on such limited information I am always curious to hear more on their rational in getting to that decision. Again I learn more about people by their statements which is why in post photos. To me education is everywhere it is just how you take advantages of every situation.

Again I hope to see more on threads and glad to be here. Thanks for the welcome Asher.

Mike Fulton said:

Again I hope to see more on threads and glad to be here. Thanks for the welcome Asher.

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Mike,

I totally respect and appreciate anyone who can take responsibility for folks' dreams, (whether or portrait, wedding pics or sports heroics), and deliver on time and every time. That's the professional and buying lenses and gear does not cover even half way to getting there! Your work is done very well. Without the extra flair of the techniques one has, there's no identity to sell one's work to the market!

I can see that you work at a high technical level. That's obvious. What delights me is to find, casually amongst your shown works even one picture that I admire way beyond its commercial value. I'd encourage that too if you have a space left in your busy life as that has an extra market if you can find a theme for collecting images with a common motif.

Likely, you have more than just a few such remarkable images and so it might be a rewarding experience to review your collections with this in mind.

Asher

Mike Fulton said:

No worries Asher reality is I could care less what people think of me especially when they do not know me or me know them. I know who I am and by someone making judgements on anyone on such limited information I am always curious to hear more on their rational in getting to that decision. Again I learn more about people by their statements which is why in post photos. To me education is everywhere it is just how you take advantages of every situation.

Again I hope to see more on threads and glad to be here. Thanks for the welcome Asher.

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Mike,

I have found that some people think that the only "real" artists are the ones that are starving (like they are) and they are starving because no one "understands" their artistry. This seems to be most true in the photographic world. These same people think that anyone who consistantly turns out images that are actually sellable and they are making a profit on, are traitors to the title of photographer. The truth is they are so stinking jealous of those of us who can consistantly crank out beautiful and sellable work they can't stand it. I hear from them frequently. "There are no rules in photography" is their favorite mantra (supposedly said by Ansel Adams) so they refuse to study the masters or even learn how to take a meter reading) so in their minds they are "artists." In everyone elses minds they are rank amateurs who will never improve because they think they already know it all.

Keep on keeping on!

Benji