Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

It's been a really LONG while since I last blogged. Obviously my 365 grateful days project didn't work when life actually happens. I've been busy with many things, work and play both. But here I am back blogging. Trying to put good 15 minutes or so to write or upload something.

If you wish to know what I have been up to the past couple of years, you can check out my Instagram account. I actually found it easier to just post photos and write short captions there.

The photo above is of Nicola, my neighbour kid who constantly calls me as her second mom. I've been making photos for her real mom's fashion brand, Anila Tails. Check my photography facebook page for more photos.

Adios for now!
8:38 am
Day 72 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have finished editing Max' photos that I took last month."

Actually it was already done almost instantly after the photo session. But I only focused on the few chosen ones now since the files were saved in the PC (not the laptop) and we hadn't fixed a place for the PC until just before Vincent left for Thailand. :P

But I'm happy it's done. I posted some on Facebook and some others in my photoblog.

Here's some for this blog. :)
3:56 pm
Day 66 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that I have an open kitchen and living room now, that making food photographs with natural light is not an issue anymore."

I'm not a sweet tooth. But today I wanted brownies so bad. And guess what, my new place is strategically located near Bali Buddha, which allows me to buy some baking stuffs or ready-made fresh baguettes! So I gave it the first visit today and found some cashew nuts offered in very reasonable price. I took a pack and went back home to make my most-savoured brownies.

I found it really fun to cook in this house! The kitchen is freaking small, but since it's in the same room with the living room/dining room, overlooking the garden, it didn't feel that small. What's great too is that I can make nice photographs with the abundance of light coming in from the garden. Look at some of the photos below I made on the making of the brownies.

Not bad, right? In my other houses, I would be very, very lucky if I could get photos that weren't blurred. The other way to do it was by using flash, but I personally don't like it. It'd just make the photos go bleh...

Anyhoo, if you're interested in trying out this brownies a la Carla, check out the recipe here.

8:02 am
Day 52 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have found out this link that lines out why photographers can't work for free."

I'm not a big time photographer. The business started at a very slow pace and although I got tons of requests for photography quotes in the beginning of it, not many were actually meaning to spend much money (or even little) for their event/business or whatsoever. Some even got the guts to ask me to do work for free because we were "friends." And suddenly I've got more people whom I'd never spoken to more than three years claimed to be my "friends" for the free shots. I appreciate clients who try to negotiate my price, but not those who want free work. How could a photographer make a living if everyone wants services for free? Do you go to a dentist, ask him to fix your teeth, thank him for doing it for free then walk away?

This was one of the causes that made me struggle to build a photography business, despite the fact that there are abundant so-called photographers who perhaps have better photography equipments than mine but use merely Auto function most of the time and spend more post work on the computer. This was one of the causes that sadly put me down and forced me to find another way to make money - writing and graphic designing - to actually make a living. Not that I don't like doing those two, but I just much prefer photography.

And if you go to Indonesian photography online groups and forums like fotografer.net, you'll see why this trend emerges. Many, many beginners are willing to shoot for free, which is naturally fine, I guess, for their learning process. But you get what you pay for. And clients should stick with them if they don't want to spend money. The thing is when you ask someone who earns their living solely on photography to work for nothing for you, that's just mean selfish.

Anyway, people can only try, right? If you can get things for free, why not just try? But you see, the problem I was having as the person asked to donate my photos was how I could turn down these requests without sounding rude and ruining my reputation? Well, the link I provided above puts all my thoughts perfectly without trying to overwhelm a potential client. The author, Tony Wu, makes it available for free to use for photographers and also for other creative workers like graphic designers, programmers, musicians, writers (did I tell you that my articles were stolen too?), painters, etc. after they make their own adjustment.

If you find this useful, you can take it too and provide a link back to it as the original source.
5:09 pm
Day 49 of 365 Grateful Days Project:

"I'm grateful that I'm finally done post-editing the photos of APPMI annual meeting."

There were like about 1000+ photographs and after the first sorting, I'd be delivering approximately 900 photos to APPMI (Asosiasi Perancang Pengusaha Mode Indonesia) or Indonesian Fashion Designers Association. That was a lot and exhausting. But as usual, working with visual things, including photography, pump me up. Especially this event... every time I opened a photo file on Photoshop, I'd have to giggle. We have seriously funny fashion designers in this country!!! Check out some of the photos below. I'll post more on my FB page.

Gotta love their styles
Looks like candid, right? But it was not. They staged this pose. Hehe..
And they brought sexy male magazines, which both male and female designers alike loved.
The photographer loved it, too.
As usual, I tried to get at least one photo of myself. This one was inside the elevator with Anastasia Hoeng,
a designer from Jakarta.
This is Eny Ming, inside the hotel room.
She owns a boutique on Jalan Legian, Bali.
The second night was the most fun time during the gathering. These designers went mad on the dancing floor
as well as the stage of G-Terraz restaurant and how my stomach cramped from non-stop laugh!

So... it was tiring, but the post production was more tiring. But then all in all, it was such an awesome experience and I made so many friends in such a short time. Good luck, Indonesian Fashion Designers!!!
4:57 pm
Day 46 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful to have one of my pictures as finalist in Planete Femmes photo competition held by Alliançe Française."

It didn't win to be competed in Paris judging panel, but it was quite a boost for my confidence. Made me want to go out again and make photos.... which was a good timing. I felt like I was losing some of my passion lately. :P

So here is the photo of me and the finalist photo titled "Menunggu Pembeli Poci. (Waiting for Teapot Buyers)." The photo was taken in Tegal when I was teaching there for a year in 2006-2007.

At Alliançe Française Denpasar with the Finalist photo
And here is the chosen finalist photo.

Menunggu Pembeli Poci
9:59 am
Day 42 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful that the APPMI annual meeting I take photos of is almost over."

At G-Terraz, Closing Dinner
7:10 pm
Day 41 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for taking photos of the annual meeting of Asosiasi
Perancang Pengusaha Mode Indonesia today and tomorrow."


10:25 am
Day 39 of 365 Grateful Days Project:

"I'm grateful to have attended my first Balinese wedding."


Kadek and Kadek
I've been wanting to photograph Balinese wedding. For both the experience and the photography portfolio. I've offered this free photography Balinese wedding service in my Facebook page for a while but only a few days ago I could finally complete the wish. Kadek, one of Fabio's domestic helpers, got married to her long time boyfriend, Kadek. Yes, they are both named Kadek. :)

I wanted to be there by the time the ceremony was performed, which according to the bride would take place at 3 or 4 PM. So my sister and I left at around 1.30 to Klungkung, the groom's village. Only half way to Klungkung it started raining very hard and we had to pull over and put on the raincoat. We arrived there at about 2.30, where the ceremony JUST ended. Apparently they held it earlier than planned and it really didn't matter that the guests who lived far away weren't informed. Another funny thing was that in the wedding invitation it was stated that the event started at 5 PM. So this means I still have to attend another Balinese wedding ceremony to get the real portfolio done.

However, I liked some of the photos. It was a very modest wedding. The only people wearing makeup and fancy kebayas were the bride and the groom. Others were wearing white ceremonial kebayas and nothing else artificial. People were relaxed and they threw jokes most of the times. I liked attending weddings like this, when every one was actually happy and not stressed out. (Trust me, a lot of weddings display too stressed, unhappy bride and some others are so business-like) So the following are some pictures I shot during the wedding.
Decoration outside the gate, made of Janur (palm leaves)
Kadek, the Bride
Kadek, the groom - tired from the long procession
Snacks, given to guests as soon as they arrived
Dogs celebrated the wedding, too
Left: Kadek and Gede, a shy boy who didn't want to have his picture taken.
Right: Decoration from Janur
Finally got Gede's face when he slipped
My sister and a black Balinese dog that reminded her of Zwartje. Except that this one bit her on the neck!
All in all, it was a truly fine wedding.
2:20 pm
Day 27 of 365 grateful days project:

"I'm grateful for finally opening an account with Tumblr and getting one step closer to being a real socialista."

OK, that doesn't make sense. Tumblr doesn't make anyone a socialista, but then everyone has it and everyone in Twitter posts some Tumblr link. So it must be something? I suppose it's like a blog like this one, but shorter. I'm just going to put my quote pictures there. Or daily pictures as a matter of fact. Perhaps it'll encourage me to take more pictures than now?

Anyway, here's the link. http://socialindividualist.tumblr.com/
7:50 am
Day 8 of 365 grateful days project.


"I'm grateful to have at least 1 nice photo from the underwater shots Vincent took when we went snorkeling."


I had the disposable underwater film developed today. And though I did expect to have 27 nice photos coming out of it, I guess one nice photo is still good enough than nothing at all. Nobody had told me that the disposable camera sucked in quality; and if only my stupid toenail wasn't broken that I would be strong enough to snorkel myself without having to hold on Vincent's hand, I wouldn't give the camera to him. He said that he couldn't see the viewfinder well with snorkel on. I think he was just not used to it. But he did take some great shots if only the camera's quality is a bit better.


I tried to play a little bit on Photoshop but it's hard. However, in small resolution, the result doesn't look that bad. And at least now I get to have an underwater photo to put on my Facebook profile picture. Hahaha...


Here goes...
Me

Me and Vincent

Menjangan sea garden

School of fish
Next time, I'll just buy this waterproof DSLR case for my camera. It'd save a lot of money because I'd be using digital camera; and the quality will be so much improved too! Can't wait for our next snorkeling trip!
7:26 am
As an idealist photographer, I'd like to have the final result of my photos as they were originally taken. But it is an unspoken accepted agreement that the post production is as important as the photo shooting technique. Even when it was still the analog/film era, darkroom techniques were used to produce an acceptable end result according to the photographer's taste. Today when things are digitalized, there are more ways to make photos look much more appealing than the original ones, thanks to the photo editing softwares.

Interestingly until yesterday, I only used Adobe Photoshop CS3 and (very rarely) Neat Image. It's not that I am not open to other softwares, but I just think that different softwares have their own pluses and minuses. I've been always using Photoshop since I was working for Excellogix as a graphic designer. I'm familiar with most of its functions, even after it has been upgraded so many times. And there is nothing that Photoshop can't do, really. So rather than following what software is in trend, I kept being faithful to Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 [OLD VERSION]Yesterday, however, I felt that I wanted to try Adobe Lightroom 2. And the result was I was pretty happy with it. In a way, it delivers simpler functions than Photoshop. So if you want to have a minor edit on contrast, brightness, sharpening, exposure and white balance correcting, you can do it in a few clicks with Lightroom. With Adobe Photoshop, exposure and white balance correction is usually applied exclusively for RAW files. But with Lightroom, you can do it for any type of files.

Again, there is nothing Adobe Photoshop can't do. What Lightroom does, Photoshop does, too. It's just that you need to be more closely acquainted with it and it takes longer time and procedure.

However, when post-editing the photos I made of Villa Asri, I used both softwares. I did the initial primary edit in Lightroom as it was faster, then I transfered it to Adobe Photoshop CS3 for the final touch. In the end, I might have taken the same amount of time with when I edited with Photoshop only. But for the first time using Lightroom, the learning process was not that difficult.

One thing, though, I found out that the output from Lightroom could only be in TIFF file or PSD file. At first, I kept using TIFF files. But since I needed to give the final result in JPEG files to the client, I switched the converted image to PSD file for easier saving. 
  1. If you are using Windows, right click the photo you want to transfer, choose Edit in, then choose Edit in Adobe Photoshop 3. If you have another type of Adobe Photoshop, the software will automatically read it as the Adobe Photoshop version that you have in your computer.
  2. Then choose the following details
If you happen to have transfered the photos in TIFF files and you want to convert it to JPEG in Photoshop but can't find the JPEG option in the Save As, don't panic just yet. You can't find it because JPEG is a compressed type of file that normally works with 8 bits while TIFF 32 bits (which explains why TIFF has wider sets of color palettes). In order to save in JPEG file, what you need to do is to click Image/Mode/8 Bits/Channel. It is shown in the picture below.
Now you can try saving in JPEG file. I bet that'll work. :)

However, personally I would do it with the first method (sending the file into PSD file instead of TIFF). When you work with TIFF file and want to change it to JPEG, some colors will be lost in the way. You might end up with a vintage-looking photo if you do it with the second method. 

Anyway, it was fun to learn something new again. In the mean time, check the photos of Villa Asri here. 
6:22 pm
I should really be updating my website. The design is so outdated now that it's been there for almost 3 years, and I need to add a new section for my writing work. The photography is also old work, too. I had so many new ones to showcase. Will work on that in the coming next fortnight. (Note to self)
Lately I've been busy editing the photos I made of Villa Asri last weekend. It belongs to a guy named Guy whom I met and was connected by Yani, a new friend who reminds me a lot of my old friend Erni. I've been sort of absorbed in this photo work that most of my time has been consumed on that. In the mean time, there are still blog writings to do for the other clients.
I'm not complaining. It's VERY nice to be busy. But sometimes it hits my head and I'll be down for the whole day because of severe headache. I never had too much headache in the past. But it's coming pretty often in the past 6 months. Anyway, that's why this is going to be a short blog post for now.

The blog you need to check out this week:
  • Sweet Fine Day - lovely stories, lovely photography; if you like design, you might as well want to check Jenna's site here. Nice work there.
9:25 am
This year has been going so well in terms of what I do, how I do and how I like it! Relationship is going waaaay much better than last year. Vincent doesn't go out at nights too much anymore and instead spends time with me in the evening. I'm doing more photography than writing (though writing is still going on but it is not the major part of my income so far. And with all the positive moods and doing the things that I like doing, I feel like having more quality life!

That includes having muffins and a big cup of green tea in the morning.
That includes allowing Vincent to buy Wii (he has wanted to buy Wii since he moved here, but I was not in agreement before when we needed to save up for other things in life). Now with the Wii here, I sometimes play my Fitness Wii and do Yoga or other types of exercises. Vincent invited Jerome last weekend to play Wii and they were sooo funny. Of course Vincent won almost everything since he was the real gamer. But then again, even I won against Jerome in Mario Kart.

That also includes taking/making photos everyday, whatever theme it is. I try to stick into one certain project at a time, but it has been proven a challenge with my ever so fluctuating interests. And my interest at the moment is to combine photography and my favourite quotes so that they look and feel more meaningful as you can see some in my previous post. This is another one that I want to share with you.
This post could be summarized in one sentence: I'm happy. :)

--
My Etsy shop
12:21 pm
OK, I signed up yesterday on Etsy (thank you Shierly for the encouragement). It does give me more and more motivation to make photos every day. Valentine is approaching and I am in the mood of flowers and pink. Oh, I am also in the mood of motivation quotes. So I went to the florist and bought these three cute roses of red, pink and white and half a meter of pink tissue paper that I would use as my background. I also bought some rambutans at the traditional market to continue my personal project on fruits (check here).

Here are what I came up with (I haven't done still life photography for the longest time that I can remember, but I'm pretty happy with the result):
One rose says more than a dozen
Bersatu kita teguh, bercerai kita runtuh

There is a charm about the forbidden
that makes it unspeakably desirable

And these are the ones that I put on my Etsy shop (called Lens and Eye).
Hope is the dream of a soul awake

Learn from yesterday, live for today,
hope for tomorrow


Now to get someone to buy them and leave me awesome feedbacks so that I would draw more art appreciators.... It would also do a mention on your blog, my friends, about this new shop. Would appreciate it!

In fact I'm gonna give an opening shop giveaway right now! Leave a comment on this blog with your favourite quote(s), and I'm going to choose one winner to get one FREE piece of any prints I list on my Etsy Shop. Spread the word and I look forward to your submissions! This giveaway will be closed on 14 February 2011.
5:09 pm
Life is so weird. When I was dedicated to photography (the business) last year, it didn't seem to work out that well. When I was ready to let it go and be more rational and steady with my earning on other things that I do well, order by order creep back in.

Not saying that as a bad thing, as I love photography and always will. Just that it's weird.

Anyway, I've got several paid photography projects in January, all of which are of hotel/villa shots. That meant I needed a wider lens since I kind of broke my 18-55mm lens kit (sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't; and I don't want to look unprofessional in front of the client when it chooses not to work). Thinking ahead of how a new lens could make money in the future, I ordered this sweet prime lens Canon EF 28mm f/2.8. It is not the widest but definitely wider than 35mm and it is in my budget range for now. What I didn't know is that my camera (EOS 400D) was a cropped camera. So although the lens is called a wide-angle lens, it is not THAT wide for EOS 400D. If you put this very same lens to an EOS 5D, you will get a MUCH wider view. So yeah, given that the hotel I was shooting had very narrow angles, it was hard to produce a wide-angle photo. But on the quality side, I'm pretty happy with it. It produces almost as awesome shots as my nifty-fifty EF 50mm f/1.8. Luckily the other project I am about to do is of a villa that has more shooting space. So my present EF 28mm f/2.8 will definitely do.

And another good side of having a new toy is that I can't get away from it. I take daily photos, which I have stopped doing for a crazy long while, and experiment in a lot of ways. I browse and learn more from online tutorials of how to make the best of my new lens. And this excites me a LOT. I'm feeling very happy that I almost neglect my writing job(s). :P

Anyway, here's a thought for today.
And here's an awesome link that inspires me lately. It also inspires me to open a shop at Etsy. Carol once suggested me to do it, but I had doubts. But then again, why not try it and see if it does have a market? :)
7:05 am

I have decided to make an annual contest, starting this year, by selecting one photo I made of EVERY one of my clients the year before; in this case 2009. There will be two winners; i.e. one of the last year’s clients who gets the most votes and one random VOTER. Prize for the winners of this contest? A free session with me this year entitling the winner to run the next year’s contest again with it + 20 hi-res digital files + 1 canvas print (mounted).

HOW IT WORKS:

  • Check my facebook fan page for the candidates’ photos.
  • Vote your favourite photo(s) by clicking the thumb-up (like) button. Of course to do this, you will need to be the fan of the page.
  • You will be given a month to vote starting from today so ask as many of your friends to vote for you if you are one of the candidates.
  • The contest ends on May 12, 2010.
  • The winners of the contest (2009 candidate + 1 voter) will be announced on May 18, 2010.
  • For winners outside Surabaya and Bali, travel and accommodation fee of the photographer is to be paid by the winners.

This contest is ANNUAL. So to reserve your place as a candidate in 2011, book your session with me this year ASAP.

9:21 am
The city of great, super tasty, cheap food!

So far I've had my food orgasm having eaten Bebek Goreng Palupi, Tahu Campur and various delicious Chinese food. My mum's brilliant cooking is also the highlight. It's good to be home!

My second day here was crazy, though. I started the day attending Vitria's wedding, then off to photograph Tre's first birthday, then only had half an hour to take a short shower and freshen up at home then off to Sisca Maya's to photograph her beautiful daughter, went home for another short shower then off to Rahma's wedding. The 13th of December was obviously a good day to get married. Also proven with at least two house weddings in almost every alley I passed!

It was very tiring, but a good one. Parties and great food all the time.

A few days to go before I'm back home in Bali and still got some time to meet other friends. Photos will be posted later when I've got my home internet. My connection is very limited here.

Cheers.
3:52 pm
So I finished my commitment on the book project in the end of October. December marks the month as my new baby business was born - Carla Ardian Photography.

Some mock me to be turning into a housewife since I work mostly at home now. But really there are so many things to do. Redesigning a namecard (see below), branding a new website (now still the same old design of BukuCarla but I am planning to redesign everything there), optimizing my photoblog, taking care of my facebook fanpage, in the mean time still collecting ideas for the next possible photoshoots. I am having difficulty in getting the best marketing strategy, but I hope to get to it soon. It's a lot of things to do on my own though. Now I understand why people hire employees!

Anyway, it's good to be busy. I still need to synchronize the new logo above to all of the websites I use (blog, etc). And I just got an idea to design a small booklet summarizing the services I can do so that I can take it in my bag just in case one day I need to show my stuff to a prospective client.

I'm so full of ideas my head can burst open anytime now. It's crazy but exciting. I'm open to new ideas though. So my friends, if you have anything to advise me, please comment here or leave me a message in my email. :)

Wish me luck!
6:53 pm
This post is to give you an advance notice that I will be submitting posts in Bahasa Indonesia in the next couple of weeks in relation with my wish to enter the Festival Jajanan Bango blog contest. I mean, combine food and photography and writing, how can I possibly get away from this Rp 100 million in total prize contest?

Okay, wish me luck.
11:08 pm
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