Happy Halloween - 2013

Another Halloween is here, so it's time to beware of ghosts and goblins and ghouls!  Ya never know where they may be lurking.  Stay safe and enjoy...and hope you get a lot more treats than tricks.  Although...nah, I better not go there, LOL.  Well, here are a few more Halloween photos:

The ghosts and goblins and ghouls better beware of these two, LOL.

And perhaps this one, too.

Photography, Customer Service, and the Holiday Season

I just saw my first Christmas related ad on TV a couple of days ago.  It seems to happen earlier every year.  It's never too early to plan ahead and try to come up with the perfect gift for those special people in your life.  And because this is primarily a blog about photography, well, here's one idea:  a beauty and/or glamour portrait for him (her?).  Something to think about between now and then.

 A little story about the relationship of customer service and a great product, and how it might relate to people in general.  I used to own a vitamin store in the '90s, and was a dealer for Vita-Mix.  One of the reasons I was a dealer was because Vita-mix had an excellent reputation, it did what it was advertised to do, did it extremely well, and came with a 7 year warranty.  Recently, I needed a new blade for one of the Vita-Mix containers.  I was told I needed a special blade because I had an old container, but also I could not buy a blade without a container.  After much researching I found out two things - the standard and current blade would fit my container, and I could buy them separately from a Vita-Mix dealer, but not from Vita-Mix.  I wrote them an email asking why they only sold the blade and container together, and mentioned it would add waste to the environment as the old container would be of no use.  They never answered.  This is an example of very poor customer service.

I have been searching for a replacement for my Vita-Mix because of the above example.  Unfortunately, no one I can find makes a product that works as well.  The Ninja Ultima Blender comes closest, and at half the price, looks good.  But it comes with only a 2 year warranty and can't handle hot liquids, nor grind grains into flour, and I'm guessing it won't blend seeds in my smoothie.

The moral of this story is I wouldn't even be looking for another product if I had gotten the customer service I should have.

What would you do if, for the above beauty/glamour photography gift, you found someone who produced stunning photographs, better than any you had seen with any other photographer, but who didn't guarantee their work, didn't call you back, perhaps was rude, etc.  If it was me, I would keep looking.  With photography, it's important to feel like you just ran into an old friend, or that you just found a new one.  And if you do, then you will get the photos you want.

Health, Vitamins, Nutrition

Today's post is from the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, October 19, 2013.  It is very similar to my story, except I seldom see a doctor, and then it is usually for a sports related injury.  Keep in mind that when you take natural substances (vitamins & supplements) that they take time to work.  Same with changing to a healthy diet.  It can take weeks, months, or even years depending on your condition and what you are taking.

For my "nervous stomach" it took about 6 months to go away after eliminating sugar and artificial sweeteners from my diet.  For colds and flu, it was a gradual decrease each year, going from at least 4 a year to one every 4 - 5 years, perhaps longer now.

Also to keep in mind with vitamins and supplements is that what works for one person may not work for another - everyone is different, so you have to find what works for you.  Hope this helps you in some way and have a great weekend!!

This article may be reprinted free of charge provided 1) that there is clear attribution to the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, and 2) that both the OMNS free subscription link http://orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html and also the OMNS archive link http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml are included.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Steps to Better Health

Are You Sick of Sickness?

by Helen Saul Case

(OMNS Oct 19, 2013) Better health? It takes effort. You have got to want it, and then you have got to work for it. There is no one-step solution. We need to eat right, and drink plenty of water, and take our vitamins, and drink fresh, raw, vegetable juice, and exercise, and reduce stress. All of these things make your immune system stronger, and your body inhospitable to sickness. This isn't easy. But isn't suffering from illness harder?

Know Your Options

I was raised in a household where instead of drugs we used vitamins. They are far safer and often more effective. When I went off to college, I thought I'd give mainstream medicine a try. Not only did drugs not cure my own "feminine ailments," they actually made things worse. I went back to what I knew: vitamins and nutrition work. I'm not a doctor, but I believe you don't have to be a doctor to help yourself. My father explained that medical doctors are trained to practice medicine and prescribe medications. Natural, vitamin alternatives just aren't visible in the medical tool bag. I sought out nutritional cures because I needed to. I go to my doctor, but I don't always get the drugs she recommends. Using vitamins and nutrition to prevent and cure illness works better for me. Sure, we can always go to our doctors with our health problems. But wouldn't it be nice to not need to go?

Ditch the Drugs

Adding a chemical to your body doesn't address the underlying cause of illness. No cell in the human body is made out of a drug. You have a real choice: medication or nutrition. One of these two choices is remarkably safer, cheaper, and, in many cases, more effective than the other. Guess which one that is? People put their faith in pharmaceuticals because they are sick and they want to get well. But when drugs don't work, which is surprisingly often, we have to make a decision. We can choose to keep returning to the disease-medicate-disease-medicate spin cycle or we can choose to get onto excellent nutrition and a healthy life style. You may find that your doctor agrees, but simply needs some education about the benefits of vitamin supplements.

Take Your Vitamins

I sure do. There is no single magic bullet in the list of essential nutrients. They are all important. The right dose is crucial. High doses help the body get adequate amounts of essential nutrients when it needs them. Many people do know the value of great nutrition, but knowing how to use high-doses of vitamins to treat our health issues is another story. Which vitamins should we take? How much? (Really, that much?) Do they work? Yes. Vitamins do work, and you don't have to take my word for it. Experienced physicians Abram Hoffer, M.D., Thomas Levy, M.D., Carolyn Dean, M.D., Ian Brighthope, M.D., Ralph Campbell, M.D., Michael Janson, M.D., and many others have shown time and time again the safety and efficacy of nutritional therapy. Clinical evidence is strong. Vitamins and nutrition can prevent and arrest chronic disease.

Know that You Can Do This

Learn about your options, especially those you aren't likely to hear about in the doctor's office. Read studies on effective vitamin therapy, and then check the references. If you don't have time for all of that, orthomolecular books can help. You don't need to be reliant on a drug-based medical system.

(Helen Saul Case is the author of The Vitamin Cure for Women's Health Problems and coauthor of Vegetable Juicing for Everyone: How to Get Your Family Healthier and Happier, Faster!)

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

Find a Doctor

To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)

Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)

Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)

Dean Elledge, D.D.S., M.S. (USA)

Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)

Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)

Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)

William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)

Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)

Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)

Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)

Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)

Peter H. Lauda, M.D. (Austria)

Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)

Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA)

Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)

Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)

Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)

W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)

Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)

Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)

Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

Atsuo Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D. (Japan)

Photography and a Walk in the Woods

When I was 11, my family moved from Jamaica and Forest Hills, NY to Syosset, NY.  Before that time, I had never taken a walk in the woods - the closest thing to that was going to Central Park in NYC and Cunningham Park which was 2.5 miles away from where I had lived.  But the woods by Syosset contained around 50 square miles of woods.  Now I go hiking in some of the canyons and hills around Pacific Palisades and sometimes near Santa Barbara - at Paradise, Red Rock, and Rocky Nook Park, which is in Oak Creek Canyon.

                                                       Rocky Nook Park, Santa Barbara

                                                       New York Wilderness Area

Photographing People

Lighting, posing, perspective are all important; however, in my opinion, the most important item is capturing not only your subjects best expression, but his/her personality.  Years ago, I was visiting a photographer friend.  He was going to have another friend do a guest shoot, but one of the two models didn't show.  So I was volunteered, LOL.  I'm usually not on that end of the camera.  They posed me with a beautiful young lady, and the guest photographer was there with the camera aimed at us, but kept waiting and waiting without pressing the shutter release.  Nobody knew why, and he no doubt missed some great opportunities and photos.  By worrying about missing a great shot (if that was the reason), he missed some great shots.

The lesson is that as soon as you see that perfect expression/image in the viewfinder, you have to be ready to press the shutter release and capture the image.  As that old saying goes, "he who hesitates, is lost."  I suppose the opposite is true, too, "he who is lost, hesitates."  So whether you are shooting a portrait, a wedding, street photography, or whatever, when you see that magic moment, capture it immediately.  And always be ready for the opportunity to appear.  How can you do this?  Practice, practice, practice.  Now, with digital, it's pretty much free to do that.

Below is a photo that happened because all the elements came together, and the timing of the shutter release captured what I feel was the best possible of this group.  It was completely unplanned.

On the other hand, the following photo was planned, but the timing still needed to be just right to capture her expression:

There is much more to getting perfect photos.

When Someone Says, "You Can't...."

When someone says to you, "you can't do __________," there are generally two things you can do.  You can agree with them and give up on whatever it is, or you can continue with your dream or project or whatever it is, and succeed, proving them wrong.  There are stories of best selling authors who were told by their teacher they would never be a writer.

I've read stories of those wanting to go into photography who were told not to do it - that they would end up in the poor house.  But they followed their heart, and now earn six figure incomes (without the decimal points, LOL).  I'm sure many people told the Wright Brothers they would never fly.  Probably still were telling them as they flew by.

The point is to follow your dreams if you believe in them strongly enough.  May you have much happiness and success while doing that.

Now, back to some more Halloween Photos:

Hope you enjoy the photos as much as I did photographing them.

How to Fix and Research Practically Anything

Because this is primarily a photography blog (and secondarily a health related blog), I will be talking mostly about these subjects; however, from time to time, if I think of something that might be helpful (or interesting, funny, etc.) for every day life, I will post those things here as well.

If you come by here, and have questions about photography or supplements, please feel free to ask.  If I don't have an answer, I may be able to direct you to someone who does.  For example, have a question about Wedding Photography?  Go to an expert - http://www.jasminestarblog.com/index.cfm - Jasmine Star is one of my favorites.  Boudoir Photography?  http://christameola.com/  - she is an expert on this.

About fixing things - recently, my toilet tank started leaking into the bowl, causing the water flow to turn on, turn off, turn on, turn off, over and over, non-stop.  Pretty annoying, not to mention a waste of water.  So I got on the internet, Googled the problem, got the solution, and fixed it.  Cost was $3.50...a lot less than calling a plumber.

If you shoot a lot of photography, chances are you will need to do some post process fixing of the images.  You can not only find which software is best for the job, you can usually download it and try it out, plus find the instructions online on how to best use it.  That was how I started, and now do a lot of fixing, especially of many of my photographs that were shot with film many years ago, and that have color shifted and/or faded.  Some now look better than they originally did!

There are practically unlimited resources online.  Google is probably the best resource to search for something.  And then embedded links on the sites you find give you more information, such as the links above.

Now for some photos - this is a photography blog, after all.  The first two are of three beautiful women spotted skating on the Santa Monica Beach bike path.  The second two are during Halloween in West Hollywood, which is just about three weeks away.  As always, clicking on the photo will allow you to see a larger image of it.  Hope you enjoy, and are having a great day.

In Photography, as in Life, Timing is Everything.

You never know when opportunity (luck?) will present itself.  As a photographer, you have just an instant to capture that perfect expression that captures someone's personality.  Or at an event (party, wedding, etc.) anything can happen, and you have to be ready.  I remember years ago - I was on the other end of the camera with a beautiful model, posing, and ready.  The photographer was there, aiming the camera, and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, and completely missed the shot.  Timing is everything, even when shooting landscapes (just read about Ansel Adams photographing Yosemite).

In the following photos, of a Halloween Hustler (imitating Larry Flynt), I shot the first photo, and remained ready to shoot more, when the second photo opportunity arose, and caught a great expression for those circumstances.

Click on the photos to see a larger version.

Below are a few more photos from Halloween in West Hollywood (from 2006 - 2012):

Note:  if you've stumbled upon this blog and enjoy the Halloween photos, I will be posting photos from now until Halloween.  If I go this year, then I will be posting some more for a short time afterwards.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back to Photography Today

With Halloween just around the corner (already!!!????), thought I would start posting some photos of past Halloweens.  Hope you enjoy.

Perhaps the best part of Halloween is that everyone is out having lots of fun, being friendly, and totally enjoying themselves.  And I don't think I met anyone who didn't want his/her photo recorded.

Health Statistics and Health Care Reform

I know - this is supposed to be a photography blog, and will be most of the time.  However, as I posted in the past, the state of your health (and I don't mean NY or CA or some other state) will determine, to some extent, the results you get in a photo session, or even if you will be around to have a photo session, not to mention the quality of your everyday life.

Health care reform (aka Obamacare, but should have really been called Insurance Reform or Mandatory Insurance - but probably would not have passed with those names, LOL) would have been something a bit different.  What should it have included?  Education about nutrition, exercise, and supplements (these things you can do on your own, as I did), reigning in health care costs, lessening of environmental toxins, eliminating the use of those drugs that are not needed (DON'T ask your doctor if a drug ad drug is right for you - drug ads are illegal in almost all countries for a reason)  including the over-use of antibiotics, etc.  Obamacare does have some good provisions - like the part about pre-existing conditions.  But does anyone know what else is covered in the 1,000 pages?

Health Care Reform should have been aimed at changing the following statistics (I'm just reporting the highlights - the full article can be read here:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/05/us-health-care-system.aspx?e_cid=20131005Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20131005Z1):

Americans spend twice as much on health care per capita than any other country in the world; in fact, according to a series of studies by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co, the US spends more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain, and Australia.

Other astounding statistics include:

• The US spends more than 17 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare1
• If the US health care system was a country, it would be the 6th largest economy on the entire planet2
• While the US makes up only five percent of the world’s population, Americans consume over 50 percent of all the world’s pharmaceutical drugs
• Overall, Americans also pay 50 percent more than other countries for identical drugs, as a result of laws and regulations preventing the US government from reining in drug prices like other nations do

Despite all of this spending and pill-popping, the US ranks dead last in terms of quality of care among industrialized countries, and Americans are far sicker and live shorter lives than people in other nations.

In 2000, the Institutes of Medicine reported that medical errors were the eighth leading cause of death in the US, killing between 44,000 and 98,000 people each year. This was followed by a 2003 article aptly titled "Death by Medicine", authored in two parts by Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, which described in excruciating detail how the modern conventional American medical system has bumbled its way into becoming the leading cause of death and injury in the United States, claiming the lives of nearly 784,000 people annually!

In 2010, two additional reports published in New England Journal of Medicine9 and the Journal of General Internal Medicine10 respectively, showed just how little things have changed since 2003. For example:

• Out of 62 million death certificates dated between 1976-2006, almost a quarter-million deaths were coded as having occurred in a hospital setting due to medication errors.
• An estimated 450,000 preventable medication-related adverse events occur in the US every year.

Will Obamacare change the above statistics?  Or will it add to them?

Always Carry a Camera (Phone?)

I've been pretty much taking a camera with me wherever I go - you never know what you might see.  Or what, or who, you might want to photograph, as the following illustrates.

Two very nice hitchhikers I picked up while driving from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara in the late 1970's. They were so nice, had to take their picture - who knew that one day it would end up on FB, or a blog, LOL? In fact, who, back then, could have imagined the internet?

When this photo was shot, there was no way to share it with more than just a few people.  You photographed something, got your film processed and had prints made, and that was pretty much it, unless you could get it published somewhere.  Now, here it is for anyone who stops by to see.

The following image was a bit more planned, at the beach in Malibu:

Sun slightly off to the side and behind, reflector in front.  Simple lighting with beautiful results.  

Taking Time to Relax

The following photo is the area where a young lady was relaxing in Century City, in the main courtyard.

Below is a closer up photo of her.  This is a fictional (or perhaps not) account of the what might have lead up to this image.

It was a warm sunny day and she had been hard at work all morning.  She needed some time to enjoy what little window of opportunity she had to enjoy this day and get in some relaxation, not caring who might see her (including any photographers).  It was time to just enjoy and recharge and get ready for the rest of the afternoon.

It doesn't take much time to take a relaxation break, whatever you do, but it does make a giant difference in how you'll feel and what you will accomplish, whether having an extended photo session, driving while on vacation, or whatever else you may be doing.

Another Way to Have Fun...and a Few Words About Scanning

Assuming you don't get seasick, going for a boat ride is always enjoyable, as long as safety concerns are taken care of.  The following was shot on a small boat off Venice Beach, California, sometime in the early 1980's with a Nikon film camera, then scanned.

If you have old slides or negatives, or photographic prints, it may be a good idea to scan them, as I found out - many of my old slides either faded or color shifted, or both.  This is the result:

This was originally shot sometime in the mid 1970's.  No scanned until around 2003 or so.  Digital files never fade or color shift - unless they are edited as .jpg files.  However, this can be avoided in a few ways, either using nondestructive editing, or editing a copy.

Hope you've enjoyed today's post.

Today is a Good Day for.....

Visiting Venice Beach during this beautiful Fall weather.  Here are two young ladies from Rhode Island who were doing just that:

A good day for photography - well, every day is good for that.  I always bring my beach camera when I go to Venice Beach - you never know what you might see, or who.  Some days there are film crews, paddle tennis tournaments, body building and fitness contests, dare devils, etc.

For some it was a difficult day because of the government shutdown.  But knowing these things will happen from time to time, it pays to plan ahead and prepare for them, so you can enjoy yourself no matter what happens.  As that old saying goes, don't worry, be happy.