Pictures from Earlier 2009 (Sorry so late!)

I’ve been slacking on putting new stuff up. Anyways here is part of a series…

Accountability. Know it. Be it. Live it.

All week I’ve had phone calls from close people in my life, as they complain about their life. I could not take it anymore, so I feel it’s an important topic to address because the same actions relate very much to this business.

The first phone call came from a friend. He complained about his job, about company practices, about the pay, about the employees (that he hires by the way), about the schedule (that he makes), about the traffic getting to the store (that he OK’d when they picked him for that store). And for months, actually years I’ve supported him and other friends. So now it has reached the pinnacle of the complaints. I finally said, “You know what __________, you will probably never ever find a better job. In fact, I am going to say you are stuck in this dead end job and it’s your future because for years you complain but never send out one resume, make one appt to fill out a college app, or see a head hunter.” I told him that he his acting like a person that is stuck in a dead-end position that is exactly where he is now. I told him to get used to it, because all he does is whine about his job but takes no further action and whining accomplishes zilch.

He understood where I was coming from, but had nothing to say because this is truth. I told him I was slightly chubby because I ate like a chubby person and worked out like a chubby person. It’s not the fault of my genes, my parents or McDonald’s. It’s MY fault because I don’t take care of myself like I should.

Then today I got another phone call from someone else. She was complaining about her husband. He is not motivated enough. He is not a doer. He is not one who reads. Yet they are buying a GIANT HD TV this week. Wait a minute? You are broke and you are buying a widescreen TV? Are you that dense? Are you that remedial? 1+1=2 … financial trouble + Expensive TV = Moronic. Figure it out people! You are broke because you walk around, breathe, and eat like broke people! You have no business buying a new TV, and NO YOU DO NOT DESERVE IT! If you can buy it cash, then you DESERVE IT. I don’t care if it’s no payments for 18 months, why would you spend all that money on something that is designed to make you dumber? Please enlighten me. Anyone?

I told this person, that it’s her fault. SHE OK’d the transaction with her husband. She sat back and watched him buy it and the SHE RAN ACROSS TOWN AND BOUGHT THE LARGE TV STAND FOR IT. So PLEASE do not complain about your husband and point fingers at him. Take accountability of your actions.

I told her that you guys are trying to start a business. How about you take the money for the TV payments and put that into your business? That’s a logical thought, right? Maybe even $50 a month could help your new business with cards, a phone line, internet, flyers, etc… see my point? Your business will probably not succeed because you are already behaving like someone who is fiscally irresponsible and does not care to succeed. Harsh? Yes. True? Yes? Do I care? No, because what good is someone who will not tell you the truth. That is not a good friend.

I know there are other factors to people’s demise, their bad chapters, but this is a general statement. If you are unahappy, change it. If you are fat, run. If you are skinny, eat. If you can’t breathe, stop smoking. If you are broke, work harder or shop smarter. If your children are rude, it’s YOUR fault. If you are a renter, you probably don’t act like a home owner. If you don’t have a retirement fund, you probably acted irresponsibly and now have to live with your actions. Just in that last paragraph, I am guilty of two actions. I know it. I am changing it now. But I don’t blame others and the only change I am going to see, is the change I am willing to be.

Another friend called and said her husband is not motivate to work harder and make more money. I said, “hey _____, on facebook you always put your status as shopping til you drop or your husband is going to kill you for  buying so much”. Guess what genius!? Your husband has ZERO motivation to work harder, because my friend, his greedy shopaholic wife, spends all of it!

Taking accountability is not such a bad thing. When I look at the place I live in, I on one hand am so thankful because I have earned every dollar to make it possible. I have bought every single item, so I take accountability for that. But sometimes I wonder if I can go bigger? Can I buy bigger? That’s where accountability comes in also. The answer is no, not yet. That is because I need to work harder and I don’t, so I cannot have it.

For those that visit my blog regularly, thank you, and you will notice the anger in this story but it’s true. The sooner you realize that YOU are the reason for your success or failure, the better off you will be. The sooner you realize the world is not against you, the quicker you can realize that you can make a change. The faster your take responsibility for your good and bad, the more stable you will be. But please, what ever you do… if you decide you want to be chubby, poor, rich or you want to be mean or nice, or a renter or buyer, or an employee or a business owner… just do it. Don’t complain about it. Don’t point fingers. Take the driver’s seat and do it and the world will be on your side.

Go Big.

I am often inspired by the BIG artists. They are big in style, big in personality, big in success, big goals, big splash, loud noise, bright lights, well… you get it. I like it loud, I like it big, I like it vibrant. That is why I often write about Michael, Madonna, Usher, and those that trail their dust. Recently I ran into a video online (OK don’t ask me why but I am obsessed with concert videos, especially behind the scenes concert videos). In that search for something new I ran into a badly shot video (probably a dancer’s personal cam) of Madonna’s last tour, the record breaking “Sticky and Sweet World Tour”. In it she gave the crew a small speech, and you cannot help but feel inspired by them. I edited out words that will not pertain to you, unless you are one of HER dancers but the overall message rings true to all of us.

“…everybody knows that all ideas come in tiny little seeds. And who knows when they happen. A year ago, ten years ago…the day we were born? We get ideas and we have dreams; and we put them to life and then we send them to people. We are one living body and soul, and we can’t live without each other. Thank you for working so hard and giving so much.

…good energy, good chemistry. The world is a crazy place out there. There are a lot of people suffering and people who cannot realize their dreams. And just think for a second how lucky we are that we can do what we love to do, and we get paid for it; and people clap and cheer and get joy from it and they leave this place feeling lifted by it.

We are not owners of our talent, we’re just the managers. Lets go out there, lets channel light and energy and love and know how much you are loved and appreciated…”

If everyone took a moment to read that statement and took every bit of their energy to believe it, then the impossible will be no more. Remember that thoughts become words, words into sentences, and sentences lead to actions.

Getting Paid (Bigger than the dollar)

The title is easy enough, you need to get paid for your work. But my point is not to state the obvious, because we all need to make money from our craft. However in the start, and we all had to do it, we worked for free or dirt cheap.

You may not be happy with yourself, but you were excited to have had the chance and show your stuff. You tell friends and family that you have the opportunity to do something and they ask, “How much you gettin’ paid?”. You hang your head low and say any number of reasons why you could not get paid but it’s so good for your portfolio or reel!

They don’t understand, they may never understand but that’s not why you do this business. You go at this business because you love to create, to think, to materialize, to make things happen that make others happy and escape! So THAT is your mission statement for Hollywood. THAT is your paycheck if you don’t get paid with the dollar, you must get paid in creativity.

Some may protest that you should always get paid. Yes you should but in the start that is not possible, so you should be compensated in creative ways at least. Isn’t that the reason why we started in this business in the first place? We took chances and risks to create and grow from it, with it, and within. Along the way, some of us are lucky to make lots of money from the creative work we do, but all of us should get paid in other ways. What ever job you do, always ask yourself if you will grow from this creatively? I am not talking about learning a new light or technical aspect. Will you grow from the soul because of this project? Will you push yourself to a new boundary or limit? Can you say you are more confident about a particular style because of this?

For those that have asked me about doing free work vs. paid, that is my advice. Get paid some how. If it is not with the dollar, then it MUST be with creativity. Otherwise you are creating a giant waste of time. Be happy with your product. Have more creative say. Put your foot down. Learn to negotiate. Learn to compromise. Learn to work with other talents. Do not finish the job without getting something back for YOU. That is the way to get paid on non-paid jobs.

 

 

 

GaGa: Bad Romance Video

I did not write for a while because I was not inspired by much lately. Things bored me all of a sudden and the fact that I’m looking for a new place to live takes it out of you. So this morning, after a long day of home-searching yesterday, my friend Hilary forwarded the link to GaGa’s new video. What a body of work! I, like many of you, was Gaga’d out for a bit. Blame it not on Gaga but the radio stations that over played her music. I admire her for ability to maximize on what she has but towards the last few months she left me feeling like she was a flash in the pan. While that remains to be seen, this song helps her avoid the sophomore jinx and inspire an art form that has been suffering a slow death: the music video. The last thing I want to do is critique another person’s art, that’s not my job. I will say that you should look at her video and be inspired by her ability to keep things interesting and done in a flawless form.

New Talent: Malek

I want to introduce Malek, fresh arrival from Florida. Maleck was signed in Florida and currently seeking new representation in California. I shot a few images of Malek to help rebuild his book and bring it to speed with what is expected of models. He’s a great guy, positive attitude. Here’s Malek.

Darcy Turenne: The New Shoot

Last month I had a quick promo shoot with Darcy Turenne, the current female world champion for mountain biking. We filmed in Brea, CA and got some great lomography styled images of Darcy. Here are some previews:

Manzur Kargar : Artist

I need to focus more on art and I will. I mean everything is art, music, books, photography, etc… but I mean art as in brush to paint, brush to canvas. I am always looking online for new inspiration and one I ran across was Manzur Kargar based out of Germany. I’ve been looking more there because I am going to visit family and want to see a lot of the city.

What he does is hard to describe. It’s part colorful explosion, part soulful, part collage, part pop-culture, and I guess the ingredients can go on for a while. There is a link to his website, go support him. He’s had many shows from Europe to America and sold many great pieces.

His new series is called SPLENDID and it’s part digital, part painting. Here is a sample of his work, one of my favorites. Like a lot of my photography I focus on the face and sometimes extreme close up images are my top picks. His paintings remind me of that style I have for myself. Then again, I just like it because his paintings make sense in my mind.

Once I let go of understanding the meaning of a painting, I started to enjoy them for what they are. The gallery snobs would call me a commoner and look down on me because I look at it in such a simple way, but sometimes that is the best way to appreciate life’s beauty. Hope you have a chance to appreciate Manzur’s work and support great artists from around the globe.

Denied Health Care.

I aim to make this a photography and film based blog, but every now and then it is sprinkled with other bits of information on my mind. This has nothing to do with media, but I found it and think it maybe of interest to some people.

Did you know that most of the time that insurance compay CANNOT deny you coverage? There are specific statuates dealing pre-existing conditions and the insurance companies simply ignore them because it’s easier to deny coverage, hope people can’t afford to fight it or just don’t know any better. Below are some specific guidelines governing pre-existing conditions. Even people with serious illnesses are covered a good portion of the time. The insurance companies have done the math and figured out that if they deny coverage, it will take several years and a great deal of attorney’s fees to recover that money. If you are covered by group insurance (and most people are) ERISA also affects this. If the insurance company doesn’t pay, there are NO PENALTIES. The worst that can happen to them is that they eventually have to pay the claim but often they don’t have to pay the plaintiffs attorney’s fees. That means the insurance company still wins.

42 USC § 300gg sets a max pre-ex period of 12 months, but that 12 months is reduced by any prior coverage. So if you have more than 12 months of continuous prior coverage, no preexisting exclusion applies.

42 U.S.C.A. § 300gg

United States Code Annotated Currentness
Title 42. The Public Health and Welfare
Chapter 6A. Public Health Service (Refs & Annos)
Subchapter XXV. Requirements Relating to Health Insurance Coverage (Refs & Annos)
View the full text of all sections at this level Part A. Group Market Reforms
View the full text of all sections at this level Subpart 1. Portability, Access, and Renewability Requirements
Current Selection§ 300gg. Increased portability through limitation on preexisting condition exclusions

(a) Limitation on preexisting condition exclusion period; crediting for periods of previous coverage

Subject to subsection (d) of this section, a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage, may, with respect to a participant or beneficiary, impose a preexisting condition exclusion only if–

(1) such exclusion relates to a condition (whether physical or mental), regardless of the cause of the condition, for which medical advice, diagnosis, care, or treatment was recommended or received within the 6-month period ending on the enrollment date;

(2) such exclusion extends for a period of not more than 12 months (or 18 months in the case of a late enrollee) after the enrollment date; and

(3) the period of any such preexisting condition exclusion is reduced by the aggregate of the periods of creditable coverage (if any, as defined in subsection (c)(1) of this section) applicable to the participant or beneficiary as of the enrollment date.

The more people know about this, the more they can demand accountability from the insurance companies. They cash your premium checks then refuse to offer the service you are paying for.

New Media: CBS, Entertainement Weekly Ad

Recently fans of technology saw their Entertainment Weekly Magazines in their mailboxes. What they saw were the first of its kind video ads, INSIDE of a magazine! Amazing right? We did the commercials for the CBS/PEPSI/ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY ads on the B2B website. Expect this new technology to sweep across the advertising world as video becomes evident in everything from magazine ads to shopping carts! We were happy to be a part of the photography process and shooting the new media commercials for this great product.

Ad for CBS/Entertainment Weekly Magazine