Lesson of the day - Things ALWAYS take longer than expected

So, this is something that comes up time and time again at the studio... TIME FLIES! I was once told that you should always give yourself a few extra days for deadlines. SO TRUE. Like my dad always says "you need to meet or exceed your clients expectations". If something comes up (like it ALWAYS does) and you get it to them later than you thought, at least you gave yourself a few extra days. Same goes for EVERYTHING..... hair and make-up (that usually takes much longer than I schedule for and I should know better), meetings, phone calls and websites!!! ....etc. I sat down at the computer today with a few goals to finish. Next thing I knew, the day was gone. It is now 10:45 PM.

Thanks to Erica for modeling. Sometimes being an intern means more than just computer work. And thanks to Sandy for helping out. I could not have held the flash by myself!!

Back to Food Again

Happy Early Birthday to Erica!! And thanks for showing me how to make my blog images bigger.

Landscape is better than food today

I have been talking a lot about wanting to shoot food... and I have been working hard at it, but the past few weeks I have been shooting a lot of landscape for a local landscape company. Today was a great day to be out in Chicago shooting landscapes!!! I love the summers here.

Lesson of the day - CLEAN YOUR SENSOR!

OK.  Here it is again.. another lesson of the day.  My new intern, Erica, started last week and her first day was spent learning this lesson.  CLEAN YOUR SENSOR before every job.  Unfortunately I had to relearn this lesson as well.  I currently (usually always) use the Arctic Butterfly to clean my sensor in my digital camera.  Yes, it does look like a sex toy, but it is a useful tool IF you use it.  You could save yourself hours of dumb mindless work if you just clean your sensor.  DO IT!  Spend the 3 minutes and save yourself or your new intern hours of frustration.  Thanks Erica... I hope to get you off the computer soon!!!

4th of July

Lesson/tip of the day: If you plan on spending your next 4th of July on the northwest side of Chicago, bring ear protection and wear a gas mask!  We had a ton of fun just sitting in our backyard after being away last year.  At about 10 PM the smoke rolled in and the car alarms would not stop but what a show.