VerveCast

Deb issued this challenge, and the theme was bakery.

It’s been a long time since we’ve done a challenge, and it was great to see that everyone completed it this time.

As always, the challenge is not about technical abilities with a camera or related equipment, but about how you look at things… how you see things.

The photos are below… Enjoy!

Photo by April.

Photo by Deb.

Photo by Cory.

Photo by Dawn.

Photo by Jess.

Photo by Joe.

Photo by Kerry.

Photo by Kevin.

Photo by Kim.

Photo by Lyra.

Photo by Mario.

Photo by Olivia.

Photo by Pete.

So what do you think? Any favorites among these? Think you could do better? Let us know!

While you’re vigorously scraping ice off your car or shoveling your driveway, I’m basking in the California sunshine. No, I’m not on vacation. I’m actually out in Los Angeles for a photo shoot with C. Thomas Howell, an actor on TNT’s “Southland.” We’re working on rebranding him and creating his new website, and I think these photos will work out great.

Oh, and the photo below? Taken in one shot.

We all have what we consider the “tools of our trade” and while the people in our industry tend to use computers (software) more than power tools (hardware) they’re all still tools, and they help us get the job done.

(Disclaimer: Z2 probably has a workshop that rivals many people’s basements. We actually built our first three offices.)

I was thinking about tools recently when I was building a custom camera mount, and as I started to file something by hand, I remembered that I had a Dremel, which could probably do the job in about one tenth the time. Faster is always better right? (Well, not always…)

One thing I’ve noticed about Z2 Photo over the years is that Cory (being our main photographer) has continually refined his technique, and reinvented how we make photographs. We used to do almost everything with continuous lighting, which was great, because we used consistent techniques between photo and video. We eventually started using strobes more and more in our still photography, so now it’s a matter of how we want to control the light being the deciding factor in much of our shooting. We’ve also been working on some new techniques involving small lights set in motion, which allows for some amazing photos.

After thinking about these different techniques, it made me think about how we use the tools we have. While it’s been said that you need to have the right tool for the job, it’s also been said that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. It’s a challenge to reinvent how you do things… to create new ways of using the basic tools, and to get used to using new tools… but that challenge is what makes it exciting, and hopefully what makes our work stand out.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that we’ll be revisiting our Z2 Photo Challenge. If you’re not familiar with it (as it’s been a while) you can check out Photo Challenge #1, Photo Challenge #2, and Photo Challenge #3. Photo Challenge #4 should see the light of day in a month or so.

It’s Summertime!

And that was the theme for the 3rd Z2 Photo Challenge… although we were a bit worried we might not complete it before summer was over. When it comes down to it though, we get it done!

As always, the challenge is not about technical abilities with a camera or related equipment, but about how you look at things… how you see things.

The photos are below… Enjoy!

Photo by Jessica.

Photo by Justin.

Photo by Kerry.

Photo by Lauren.

Photo by Pete.

Photo by Dawn.

Photo by Cory.

Photo by Deb.

Photo by Dana.

Photo by Eric.

We’re all about branding at Z2, and couldn’t help but find it amusing to see a photo that Pete took in our conference room used in a Photopreneur article about how photographers should brand themselves as experts…

Read the article Brand Yourself as an Expert Photographer.