Sony A7x lounge

Thanks man. Your words are enough for me to decide to go full time in photography. What i'm lacking now is marketing know-how and the balls to value myself more. I can learn for sure. Thank you very much.

El Capitan

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/GZDA​uY

vinmunoz wrote in post #18006423
Thanks man. Your words are enough for me to decide to go full time in photography. What i'm lacking now is marketing know-how and the balls to value myself more. I can learn for sure. Thank you very much.

You are a phenomenal photographer and I truly hope you grow the balls to value yourself more because you are truly a very high value talent.

Pardon my ignorance, but I actually thought you already were doing this full time as you are already a prolific shooter. What I'm trying to say is your work is so excellent as to give the impression that you are a successful professional.

But, yeah, marketing and sales - that stuff is daunting. Very best wishes for success in your new venture!

vinmunoz wrote in post #18006423
Thanks man. Your words are enough for me to decide to go full time in photography. What i'm lacking now is marketing know-how and the balls to value myself more. I can learn for sure. Thank you very much.

Photography is probably one of the easier things to market in the age of social media. Your product is your marketing material, and your clients are your marketers. Of course you'll need to put yourself out there yourself too, but very easy to do these days. I think you'll be fine.

Quick early comparison between the Batis 85 and the GM and some early impressions:

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1459578

Vinz, you go for it. You have the talent and the drive. Best wishes!

Waianapanapa Black Sand Beach on the road to Hana on a dreary day. Sure wish the sun was out to make the water and foliage pop more.

I tried editing in B&W but prefer the muted tones of the color version. The black beach was spectacular. I took a black home for our son.

FE 50mm 1.8 @ F2, straight jpeg to phone via wifi. Neutral Picture profile. Loving this lens, I havent even used my Canon 1.2 since getting it. I will be doing a shoot out with it next week though.

eriet30 wrote in post #18006020
Would you sell

28/2
55/1.8
24TSEv2

For the 24-70 2.8 GM?

When I was shooting with the group this last weekend I was really surprised that some of the guys I really like were 70% on that type of zoom and I was cleaning dust a lot.

I love my TSE but can go a legacy cheaper option or fix in LR from the CV15 i have

Not starting a zoom vs prime here just can you pull what you need from the one lens vs the faster ones

There's a reason why a 24-70 2.8 is such a popular option. The 28 and the TS-E are easy to sell, the 28 can be replicated by the zoom and for me a TS-E is very much a niche lens (but your needs may be more). The hold up would be the 55, I love me a 50ish focal length and a 1.8 is very useful, especially since it's rather small (at least compared to the faster 35 1.4).

vinmunoz wrote in post #18006361
I have a personal question. I really think my portraiture is competitive enoughat least in my area.

Recently i got this job at the sanitation department of sierra nevada beer brewery. It burns me out a lot by waking up 4am 5 days a week. Works starts at 5am til 1:30.

And i'm only earning like $400/week. I felt like i can earn that money with portraiture. Now i wanted to quit the work and and give full time photography a shot.

What do you guys think?

Waking up early is hard, I remember back in college I worked at Best Buy doing stock and during the holiday season it started at 4 am, so I had to wake up at 3:15. I remember falling asleep in the shower many times. I would be getting ready to go to work while my friends were just getting in from partying. I remember finishing at noon, getting lunch, and then sitting in classes till 5 pm.

Having great benefits often exceed the pay for me. While I'm sure I might be able to make slightly more pay in a different job, I value the flexibility that I have to spend time with my kids as well as having affordable healthcare and other benefits.

Working for yourself is much different than working for someone else. You need to be incredibly motivated (not saying you're not) but you have to push yourself to get better, to make that one extra call or to send that one extra email. Self marketing isn't an easy task either. There are many great artists out there but they lack the ability to differentiate themselves from the next talented artist. That's why you'll often see less talented artists find more work than artists who are seemingly more talented.

If you feel like you can tolerate the struggles then I'm sure it'll be very rewarding. Just make sure you have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out. Take it easy and slow. I knew a friend who wanted to start making clothes for babies. She ended up spending close to $25,000 on equipment and materials and signed a one year lease on a space. Guess where she ended up living for the 8 months after her apartment lease expired?

David Arbogast wrote in post #18006434
You are a phenomenal photographer and I truly hope you grow the balls to value yourself more because you are truly a very high value talent.

Pardon my ignorance, but I actually thought you already were doing this full time as you are already a prolific shooter. What I'm trying to say is your work is so excellent as to give the impression that you are a successful professional.

But, yeah, marketing and sales - that stuff is daunting. Very best wishes for success in your new venture!

Thanks man. No i have gigs here and there but never really became serious with marketing myself.

Thank you for your kind and inspiring words.

mystik610 wrote in post #18006445
Photography is probably one of the easier things to market in the age of social media. Your product is your marketing material, and your clients are your marketers. Of course you'll need to put yourself out there yourself too, but very easy to do these days. I think you'll be fine.

Thank you. I will use all what the www can offer. I might start buying ads in facebook for a couple of months. Thank you again.

TMaG82 wrote in post #18006610
Waking up early is hard, I remember back in college I worked at Best Buy doing stock and during the holiday season it started at 4 am, so I had to wake up at 3:15. I remember falling asleep in the shower many times. I would be getting ready to go to work while my friends were just getting in from partying. I remember finishing at noon, getting lunch, and then sitting in classes till 5 pm.

Having great benefits often exceed the pay for me. While I'm sure I might be able to make slightly more pay in a different job, I value the flexibility that I have to spend time with my kids as well as having affordable healthcare and other benefits.

Working for yourself is much different than working for someone else. You need to be incredibly motivated (not saying you're not) but you have to push yourself to get better, to make that one extra call or to send that one extra email. Self marketing isn't an easy task either. There are many great artists out there but they lack the ability to differentiate themselves from the next talented artist. That's why you'll often see less talented artists find more work than artists who are seemingly more talented.

If you feel like you can tolerate the struggles then I'm sure it'll be very rewarding. Just make sure you have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out. Take it easy and slow. I knew a friend who wanted to start making clothes for babies. She ended up spending close to $25,000 on equipment and materials and signed a one year lease on a space. Guess where she ended up living for the 8 months after her apartment lease expired?

I'm not making a studio. I will maximise the use only of my existing equipment. All your points are noted. Thank you for taking time adding your inputs.

vinmunoz wrote in post #18006639
Thank you. I will use all what the www can offer. I might start buying ads in facebook for a couple of months. Thank you again.

I don't think you need to buy ads. It's a relationship business and word of mouth referrals are worth more than ads....so tap into your natural market and the people you've shot for in the past....particularly the models you've shot! One of the things I did last year when I got back into this is made an appeal to facebook about this being a relationship business and asked people to share my page and spread the word about me IF they were genuinely fans of my work. That's harder to do than it sounds, takes some humility and some 'balls' (as you put it) to put yourself out there, but I was surprised by the amount of support I got and it spring boarded me to being booked every weekend up until now when things roll off for the summer.

Also keep posting your own photos online as every thing you post is a marketing piece. Instagram compresses photos to hell but is great for marketing. My wife hash tagged one of my photos of our on her instagram and it made it on disney's instagram account when they reposted it. I've been a believer since.

FYI

Purchased the Sigma Adapter MC-11 yesterday
- downloaded and installed a software upgrade that just came out for the MC-11
- it is much improved
- Sigma 24-105 now can AF-C
- tried it quickly with the Canon 24-70 F2.8 II, 17-40 F4, 35L II, 85L II - all work well
- 70-200 F2.8 works just as well as the Metabones (which is basically 95% until you are really at 200mm and then you can have some hunting - but most of the time it is good)
- Eye AF works with the Sigma 24-105


I hadn't heard about this upgrade but saw it posted on FM - easy download - just plug in adapter and quickly updates itself

wallstreetoneil wrote in post #18006696
FYI

Purchased the Sigma Adapter MC-11 yesterday
- downloaded and installed a software upgrade that just came out for the MC-11
- it is much improved
- Sigma 24-105 now can AF-C
- tried it quickly with the Canon 24-70 F2.8 II, 17-40 F4, 35L II, 85L II - all work well
- 70-200 F2.8 works just as well as the Metabones (which is basically 95% until you are really at 200mm and then you can have some hunting - but most of the time it is good)
- Eye AF works with the Sigma 24-105


I hadn't heard about this upgrade but saw it posted on FM - easy download - just plug in adapter and quickly updates itself

Good to hear, I had bought the sigma 24-105 a while back for landscapes, but I got a major dud (haven't tried again since). How do you like it compared to the 24-70ii?

I haven't had a proper chance with it, but build certainly impressive.

Edit: how about the 135L?