Vagabond Digital Imaging: Blog

Give an Inch, Lose a Mile

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:38:51 GMT

Observing and learning from the many inefficiencies and unfair practices at the companies I have worked for has been the greatest spur in my boot to entrepreneurship. Even to this day, I see an age old game in which you give your manager an inch, and they take a mile. It's not always the manager's fault, but it's the way corporate America, as well as government offices, have been. It's amazing how empowering it is to run your own business, because I can take all the crap that I've been through from previous bosses, all the stupid ideas and blatant miscommunication, lies and sugar-coated bullshit, and use it as fuel to make my company better, leaner, quicker, and have Vagabond Digital Imaging stand out from the competition.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, I was on the path to becoming a teacher. That was my course until I learned more about the institution of education. In my experiences, institutions are usually the biggest enemies to the cause and purpose of the principles for which they were established. I spent over five years working for universities, and it is frustrating to see school with the greatest, brightest business students and economists, waste money and resources like a Soviet machine factory in the 1960's.

For example, budget restraints are usually the result of miscommunication between upper and mid management. When you are the manager of an office or a department, and you actually save money, you are punished by having your budget cut down even further the next period. When you spend all the money allotted to you, and even go over the budgetary restraints, you are rewarded with a greater budget for the next fiscal quarter.

With all the meetings, discussions, emails, and conversations that happen between managers in these offices, why is it that this problem has permeated so many organizations, and is allowed to persist? It hasn't been addressed because it is part of the institution. There are certain inefficiencies that withstand the changes of time and technology simply because there is a lot of bloat around to protect it. Hence, with federal budget cuts and the rise of costs to the general public and clients, many offices are forced to spend their budget to the extreme, buying supplies and furniture they don't need, in fear that the money will be cut even further in the next cycle.

However, if you conspire in these lean times to save money for your office, it's often seen as an open invitation to furloughs and layoffs. You are penalized to the worst extent if your office doesn't squeeze every last dime, even though what the money is spent on is of secondary importance.

I have seen this same pattern in big organizations and small, public and private, but always at the micro level. Yet those microcosms built what is the greater structure of the organization, so the waste of money is a virus that is run so deep that nobody knows we are sick.

The only way to conquer this problem is to not see it as a problem at all. It is just another way that I can, as an owner of a business, stand out and stand ahead. As I grow my company and hire employees to manage their section of VDI, I know now what not to do, because of what I have been through. I would love to see my company expand and grow into different territories and into different parts of the world, but I will always hold the reins in case the organization, the institution stands in the way of its own purpose.

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging

Matching the Intensity

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:54:19 GMT

Ice hockey is my favorite sport. I love hockey because often times the most talented team or the highest paid players do not win. You cannot buy success in hockey. The team that wins the most is the team that is most hungry. Whenever I watch a NHL game I always feel like I am watching a battle of intensity. One team comes out firing, 6-7 shots on goal, and the other team then matches that intensity by muscling up, getting aggressive, and putting even more pressure on their goalie.

Last year, the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanely Cup, my childhood favorite team. They are not even close to being the most talented, or the highest paying organization. Before last year, not many hockey fans could name more than 3 players on the Kings.

After barely making the playoffs the Kings went on a tear. They out-hustled, out-muscled, out-shot, and out-matched each opponent. They played against teams that boasted athletes bound for the Hall of Fame, celebrity type players who were household names in the world of hockey.

But the Kings simply wanted it more. They felt the intensity, and not only matched it, but roared back with a greater fire and hunger of their own.

This is how I feel about business. As an entrepreneur, you need to match the intensity of your field. There will be heat and fire coming your way, and either you can escape it or match that intensity with your own flame.

I was sitting at home last Monday looking forward to a day off. I thought I could finally be a couch potato, for just one day. I wanted only to watch movies and drink beer.

Then my phone buzzed.

The field called to me. I was offered a paid gig in downtown Seattle to photograph an event for an organization I have worked closely for over the past two years. Although I was looking forward to finally having a day off, finally resting from work, I knew that this opportunity came to me on my day off because the universe wants me to be successful.

I feel this way when I get a phone call from a client or an inquiry from my website. The field is going to get hot and I need to match that intensity and out-hustle it. It's not about having the biggest company or the most money or the greatest equipment, it's about who wants it more, and if continue to feed the fire in my heart to make my company into a profitable, widely renown enterprise that represents the benchmark in the business in photography, I better have the intensity to match it.

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging
www.vagabonddi.com

The Behavior of Light

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:53:23 GMT

As a photographer, I am constantly playing with and experimenting with the behavior of light. Yes, light has it's own behavior, it's own tendencies, and its own movement. We probably all know this on the surface, but photography is often understanding this fine art at a much deeper level. For example, when I do photography at a special event in a restaurant or ball room, I usually need to make adjustments for low lighting or inconsistent lighting conditions. I also need to pay attention to what people wear. In some group photos, I have one person wearing a bright, white shirt at the forefront of the table, and other people sitting around the table. No matter where I hold my flash, from up high or to the side, tilted up or held as far back as I can, most of the light will blast the white shirt to be far brighter than the rest of the scene. If I adjust the shutter speed or the aperture to reduce the light on the person wearing the white shirt, I will greatly under-expose the rest of the crowd sitting around the table.

The best thing to do in this scenario would be to move opposite of the table of the person wearing the white shirt, or ask him to move. Depending on the space I'm given to work with, or how socially appropriate it would be to ask that person to get up and move to the back of the table for the photo, I would need to adjust the scene somehow to get an even exposure throughout the photo.

Another adjustment I could possibly make is to adjust the exposure compensation. Most DSLR's have this function built into the menu and will allow me to make subtle changes to how the exposure will be captured and processed by the camera.

I have also started exploring the flexibility of exposure compensation on product photography. Especially when working with a white background, which I find myself working with pretty often since a lot of my clients want to post the photos on their websites, increasing the exposure compensation just 1/3 or 2/3 will make the white even whiter, cleaning the background and providing more focus on the subject.

Light is a funny thing, but fortunately it is pretty consistent in its behavior. As a famous photography quote states, "An amateur is concerned with equipment, a professional is concerned with time...but a master is concerned with light."

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging

How the Camera can Teach Us to Love Ourselves

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 07:50:40 GMT

As a professional photographer, I have become keenly aware on how sensitive people are to having their image recorded into a digital media. Whether it is because of the rampant amount of images from our media of what "perfect" people should look like, or whether it is from our own personal insecurities, many people are highly critical of themselves when they their own likeness shown back to them on a screen or a print.

I feel like for many people, it's simply an instinct. I constantly see beautiful young women in their 20's look at their own photos and complain about all the nit-picky details they can find about themselves. To me this seems odd. The camera is a wonderful opportunity to fall in love with one's self. This device can take a snapshot of what we look like in a single instant in our lives and capture all the little details, the skin, the hair, the posture, the eyes, the face, the clothing, and show it right back to us as it is. Of course, their can always be photo editing using software like Photoshop to change things, but the camera itself gives us an immediate reflection of what we look like, and how we maintain ourselves at that moment.

At first this sounds daunting for many people, as again I feel that people are conditioned to look at themselves with disdain. It's "proper" to be disappointed looking at your own image, your own reflection. Yet we also talk highly about how we need to love ourselves before we love other people. There are a myriad of quotes that tell us to seek our own happiness and love ourselves first before we can ever try to find it in someone else.

Yet we are also highly conditioned to seek love and approval from others. That's one of the many reasons I left education. Our education system has very little to do with learning. Our schools are primarily fixed on standardized testing in which we give power away, constantly give so much power away, freely, openly, to people who care nothing about us. We allow others to judge our intelligence and aptitude based on stupid, randomized standardized tests that have no ability to test any of those things.

We allow bubble-filling contests to judge us from within; our intelligence, our aptitude, our ability to succeed in college or in real life, our ability to compete with others, our preparation, our way of thinking. We allow this idiotic, mechanized, thoughtless, brainless exams to judge our brains, when there is no real evidence that any of these exams could ever accurately judge our ability or capacity to think.

What a horrible concept for our youth. But this is the reality of what we put them through, and we raise them to believe in putting power in other people. If we do this with our inner selves, what do you think happens with the way we treat our outer selves? Magazines, newspapers, TV shows, advertisements, internet banners, billboards...we are bombarded by images of what we "should" look like, when those actors, models, musicians, and other pretty faces don't look like that in real life. Those images that we are bombarded with are so Photoshopped themselves.

No wonder a beautiful young woman in her 20's will look at her own photo and say "I'm ugly" or "I'm fat". To me, it's a little sad when someone says that. If you cannot look at your own image and see your own beauty, how can you expect anyone else to do that? I see their beauty at first glance, but once they talk about themselves in such a condescending manner, they lose their beauty and, in fact, their youth.

I'd like to use photography as a way to bring back self empowerment, and rely very little on Photoshop or editing tools to try and "perfect" an image. We are perfect in our own right, in our own way, and we have the power and ability to see that immense amount of beauty in ourselves if we chose to.

When I was a child, one of my favorite TV shows was Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. The most important lesson that man ever taught me was that I am perfect just the way I am. I don't need to change or become like someone else. It was so refreshing and welcoming as a child, when I am surrounded by voices from people who have "advice for me" in life, to hear someone else say, "you are perfect, just the way you are." We can all use a little of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood every now and then and hear a voice say those same words.

Ashu Shah

www.vagabonddi.com

Tarnishing an Occupation: Lawyers, Mechanics, Car Dealers...Photographers?

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:19:58 GMT

There is no doubt that certain professional fields carry with it a dubious reputation. Amongst those would be Lawyers, Mechanics, Car Dealers...fields in which some bad apples have managed to tarnish the entire field. These are careers in which someone in this field would have to work a little harder to earn the trust of a client than, say, a doctor or a teacher.

Are photographers doomed to join that category? As photography, especially in tourism, becomes more mass produced and more expensive, I wonder if photographers may soon be dealing with greater skepticism and cynical clients, regardless of what type of photography they are doing.

Since I do photography for the Space Needle, one of the biggest tourist attractions on the entire west coast of the United States, I often feel like many tourists think I am up to something sinister. As if while I take their photo, my colleague will slip out from under the backdrop and pick their pockets. I can't help but notice that many of these skeptics are well traveled individuals who are conditioned to believe that photography is extremely over-priced and laced endlessly with scheming and plotting to weave a little trap for every unassuming tourist who wanders in front of the lens.

That's why they simply cannot believe it that we take photos for free.

I certainly understand their surprise when a major tourist attraction offers free photos. Although they are free in digital format, you can print them at home or at Walgreens or anywhere else you please. There's no watermark across the photos, no gimmicks, no trickery, no legal licensing to fear the phone call of a firm if you post it on Facebook. Of course, the cost of the photo is built into the price of the ticket to visit the tower. However, I have paid tickets to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, the Stratosphere, and several other vista points, and no one ever offered a digital photo with their ticket.

In fact, many of these tourists come from cruise ships. I've never taken a cruise myself, but from their reaction to my camera it seems reasonable to deduce that they are blasted with flashing bulbs every other second and being rammed with endless bills

I believe that this type of cynicism starts small, and once you allow the dark light of dubious distinction to leak into a professional field, it becomes a matter of containment for other entrepreneurs wielding the lens. I understand that becoming a professional photographer is quite challenging, and each photo department must leap at any opportunity to support their cost of expensive gear and photographers, but I'd wish that the salesmen and marketeers respect the level of creativity that each photographer brings, and that the joy is found in capturing the genuine smiles and natural laughter of our subjects.

Ashu Shah

Vagabond Digital Imaging

Shifting Paradigm

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 20:05:05 GMT

There is a theory in psychology and the different responsibilities of each side of the brain. The left side of the brain is said to be responsible for logic, critical thinking, numbers, and reasoning. The right side of the brain is more attuned to creativity, intuition, music, and color (http://capone.mtsu.edu/studskl/hd/hemis.html). Although there is quite a bit of generalizing about the two sides of the brain, this theory has become quite popular in our understanding of the human brain and the responsibilities it handles. Business people and engineers are often considered left brained, and artists and musicians are usually considered as right brained.

As John M. Eger, a blogger for the Huffington Post said in his article, Right Brained People in a Left Brained World, we are in need of more right brained people in the US. Our society has long pushed the importance of left brained dominance; the persistence of math and sciences upon high school and college students, the status of being a doctor or engineer or business person, the CPA's, the logical, math and science driven leaders who we constantly idolize as the leaders of our industry and economy.

However, the fields of math and science is becoming over-saturated. Only 50 years ago, a BS degree almost guaranteed a perfect, high paying job with great benefits, pensions, and enough money to support a family. Now, BS degrees, and even MS degrees have become a dime a dozen. In each field of math and science, there is a deluge of extremely qualified young people eager and ready to fill in any gaps that open up, even for a lower salary. Low skilled, low wage jobs are now going overseas, as workers here are required to come up with something more, something new, something different to offer.

With the drastic rise in population and, therefore, competition, each new member of the working force has to provide and x-factor, a way to stand out above the crowds, the swarms of degree holding, left brain thinkers that all have been conditioned since childhood to rely on the logical, mathematical, and critical thinking skills to apply directly to our economy.

That x-factor, time and again, is proving to be creativity. You must exercise your right brain in order to stand above the crowd, whether you are an entrepreneur, scientist, engineer, or an artist. The right brain is becoming the center of our society, more now than ever.

When it comes to the fundamentals of math and science, the US has always been far behind the rest of the world. It's no wonder that standardized testing proves that US schools rank far below European, Asian, and even some third world countries. However, the rubric that is being used is based on bubble-filling, multiple choice (rather multiple guess) standardized exams. These standardized exams are simply incapable of measuring the potential of the creative mind. There is no bubble filling, multiple guess exam that can truly test the vast power of the creative mind that thinks outside of the box. No letter grade can be assigned to those inventors who generate a whole new industry through their innovation, or the musician who creates a new tune that rocks the entire world of music, or the child that asks the questions that many of us adults never thought of.

Yet the right mind, the creativity and innovation is what is America's salvation. From 2000 to 2007, 2.2 million were outsourced to other countries (http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/worker/Outsourcing.html). The Bush Administration gave vast incentives to US companies that sent jobs to other countries. CEO's in India and China loved George W. There is no coincidence that India's and China's drastic rise to economic dominance in the last 12 years has coincided with Bush's economic foreign policy.

Yet the US unemployment rate actually fell during this time. (http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000). How is that possible? How do we lose more jobs to outsourcing yet watch our unemployment rate plummet? We saw a drastic rise in unemployment in 2008, but that was not because of outsourcing because a dramatic number of jobs were being shipped overseas long before that. The unemployment rate exploded in 2008 because of a burst in the housing bubble.

Furthermore, now that we are somewhat stabilizing from the economic crash of 2008, we are again seeing the unemployment rate fall. None of those jobs sent to India or China have come back. The reason is because we have new industries, new high skilled, high wage jobs that have replaced the ones we lost.

How did we get those new industries and fields that continue to employ Americans even after millions of jobs are continuously sent overseas? Our creativity. Our x-factor has been the innovation of new products and services that did not exist merely a few years ago.

For example, the smart phone industry has erupted in the past 5 years. Although you can call this a left wing field (computer science), it is the creativity of the already existing technology (smart phones and touch screens existed long before the iPhone) that paved the way for a whole new field of mobile technology and applications. These fields require a great deal of creativity, as each developer tries to make an app that stands above the rest, offers something different, and creates a tremendous amount of profit.

Having just a college degree and a strong left brain is not sufficient in today's field. You must exercise creativity to stand out and offer something new. We need to continue to offer the arts, music, languages, and other right brained options for students in the US. Without those right brained thinkers we will never be able to compete in a left brained field with the rest of the world.

Ashu Shah
Photographer and Business Owner
Vagabond Digital Imaging

Inexperience as an Asset

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:43:00 GMT

Far too many times, our companies and organizations stress the importance of experience. Although experience is greatly important in learning and adjusting to new challenges, it also carries with it a great deal of baggage. With experience there is also conditioning, a mental programming that limits your perception and restricts your expectations to only a particular level.

When someone has no experience, they have a completely fresh mind. Their expectations are unlimited and unrestrained, and often times people who are inexperienced will delve into a challenge without fear, pre-suppositions, or any baggage from the past that would hold them back.

J. Krishnamurti talked about death, and how dying is very much like the living we know. In his words, the reason why people are so afraid of dying is because they are afraid to live. We are afraid of living life, pursuing our own passions, breaking free of society's expectations and norms to be who we really want to be deep inside. That fear of living our own life is directly related to our fear of dying.

To live life, you have to die each and every day, as Krishnamurti states (http://www.katinkahesselink.net/kr/death.html). This is not an intellectual paradox. To live your life today, you have to die off all the issues, problems, emotions, frustrations, and baggage of yesterday. Then we can be free to live our lives.

We may notice this a lot in our jobs. The ones who are new to the work environment are often times fresh, eager, ready to learn, and sometimes will try something new only because they don't know any better. Many managers in big companies, experts who have been in the field for years, will be surprised at what they learn from their newest workers.

The employees who have been around for a while are often jaded by their experiences. There's a set level of expectation, or a fear of something that has happened to them in the past, therefore they are afraid to try anything new.

I try to go into my work with a fresh mind. I'm a Photographer for the Space Needle! How fun is that? I just tell someone my position and automatically I can sense a bit of jealousy, even if they are making far more money than I am. I work in a world famous tower that has the best view of one of the most beautiful cities in America, and I get to be there almost daily to take photographs of people smiling. I meet people from all over the world who have spent thousands of dollars to travel to the Pacific Northwest, who are looking to experience the splendors of our rich and abundant place.

I try to make each day at work a brand new day, as if I am starting for the first time.

Richard Branson stated in an interview about how inexperience can be used as an asset (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220789), instead of a liability. The Virgin Group often times delves into fields in which they have no experience in, which allows them to see things completely different and come up with ideas that nobody in the industry has thought of. This has helped Branson's company to stand apart and distinguish themselves from the rest of their competition.

As I expand my group in Vagabond Digital Imaging, I will be looking for inexperience. I want fresh minds, people who are able to see things differently from the rest of the industry because I want VDI to stand apart. I want my company to bring something completely new and different to the field of photography. I want to meet models, stylists, designers, and creative minds who simply don't know any better to realize what their limits are. I want to build my company with those who believe they have no limits, who have no fear.

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging

VDI Foundations: A Pledge to Give Back

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Sat, 22 Sep 2012 13:12:00 GMT

Since I started my photography business, I have always tried to answer a higher calling, to offer photography services to individuals and business in my community with a sense of fulfillment and pride. I realize that there's a lot of photography businesses out there, and I want to express a tremendous amount of gratitude for those clients who have chosen Vagabond Digital Imaging over the rest.

That's why I have decided that 5% of whatever I make from my business will go toward Volunteers of America of Western Washington

(http://www.voaww.org/)

I have worked personally with VOAWW and have seen their work in coordinating local volunteers to put hard work and energy into the betterment of our community. What better way to show gratitude?

While photographing a VOAWW food drive earlier this year, I was really moved by the diligence and sweat that these volunteers put into delivering food to those in need. There is a shared compassion and understanding that not all of us are born with all the resources in the world, and there is no reason why we cannot grow and thrive as a community while bringing others up with us. This weekend I just finished another round of photos for the United Way of Snohomish County and their annual Days of Caring volunteer drive

(http://www.uwsc.org/daysofcaring.php)

Again, I was greatly moved to see the effort of these volunteers who were working with the simple motivation to help other people, complete strangers in our county. They were building houses from scratch, gathering dry wall, leveling gravel for pavement, nailing frames together, and putting a concerted effort into each and every detail. Volunteers were at a special education school clearing out weeds from the landscaping, trimming brush and trees, and sweeping the playgrounds and fields so that they would be safe and clean for children.

I met people in our community who were cleaning the landscaping at a neighborhood senior center, pressure washing the pavement and pulling dry, dead branches and leaves while packing trash cans to haul away the debris. People were at a clothing co-op to reorganizing the clothing that was donated to children, without leaving a single piece of carpet, a square centimeter of flooring without being vacuumed or mopped. Finally, I met more volunteers getting their hands dirty in the shrubs and landscaping at a YWCA Women's Shelter.

People of all ages and backgrounds were walking in the dirt and mud, getting their hands dirty, using shovels, saws, clearing brush, painting, vacuuming, reorganizing shelves and making resources for those in need a little better, cleaner, and more accessible.

It's hard not to notice the hard work that these volunteers poured into these myriad of projects all over my community, the community that I live in, just to make it better for other people.

This is the type of energy and drive that makes good people. I have worked in money driven, commission environments where motivation was propelled by financial bonuses and perks. That type of environment cannot even begin to compare to the type of effort these volunteers put into doing good things for their communities.

I love to support the Volunteers of America because it affirms my most basic, precious belief that those who do work out of passion and compassion will always do better work and strive for higher goals than those who are motivated by money. It supports my most sacred belief that when you follow your heart and do the things you love, you are then capable of doing great things. It reinforces that the work that I commit to my business, work that is driven by passion to do great things in the short time I have in this world, will leave a lasting legacy.

Creating a Brand

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 09:31:00 GMT

One of my goals for Vagabond Digital Imaging is to create an everlasting brand, an image that photography does not have to be done in a traditional studio with a limited set of photo packages that are needlessly rigid and often useless to an individuals preferences or choice. I also want to debunk the image that photographers are extremely expensive and often times a gamble when it comes to the quality of the work. Vagabond Digital Imaging is set in motion to change the way photography is done and how it is delivered.

As an entrepreneur I am constantly seeking ways in which I can offer something different other than price. Why enter an industry if you are not looking to shake things up?

That is why I have set out to create a brand. The name of my business should be synonymous with quality, affordability, and passion-driven hard work. As long as I continue to drive the name of my brand it will always be on the table for any individual, family, or organization considering photography services.

Photography is highly sensitive for people. It is very easy to forget this, as the art has become so highly commercialized. But with a camera, you capture one's likeness on to digital film for editing, manipulation, and distribution. When a photographer is taking your photo he is capturing the image if you, your look, your style, your thoughts at that particular moment portrayed by your posture, facial expression, and movement. This is not just a description or representation, it is you, as you are, not as you were or will be. It is the ultimate expression of the now.

I choose to honor the significance of that art through a vehicle that is my brand. If there is no vehicle, then all the passion and talent and investment in the art will go nowhere.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Inside the Big-Time

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:46:00 GMT

The Nordstrom Blog recently posted a fascinating article about what happens behind-the-scenes at one of their giant photo studios. This article gives some special insight on just how much work goes into a Nordstrom photo shoot. The sheer number of talented people who come together to make up one of the nation's most recognized and distinguished looks is a testament to the commitment to quality that Nordstrom has.

You can read it here.

Inspiration is the spark that propels the kind of creativity that changes the norms in our society. It's this type of work that pulls us out of the redundancy of everyday life and forces us to think of possibilities. I wish to be part of something this big one day. Either through Nordstrom directly, or to launch such an enterprise for Vagabond Digital Imaging. Of course, running my own photo studio would be second to none while building a legacy as a well known fashion photographer, but how invaluable would it be to work alongside some of the best in the world. Nordstrom is know for high quality, and I often times use their commitment to excellence as the benchmark for my own work.

Cool Simplicity

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:31:00 GMT

My goal with this photo was to create a vivid, electric spark for the imagination, but with an extremely minimalist approach. This photo displays movement and emotion at the same time, yet does so without trying too hard. I love this photo because I was able to reach that middle ground, and stay in that mindset throughout the photo shoot. This is my goal with all my photos; to say something special without saying too much.

Men's Fashion Resource

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:20:00 GMT

Shout out to men's fashion. One of the best blogs written and continuously updated for men's style and clothing design.

http://www.frenchtruckers.com

2012 Fashion Catalog

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 13:17:00 GMT

I will use this blog to provide a preview of my most recent fashion catalog shoots along with quotes of inspiration that echo in my mind as I work to perfect and post these images to provide a feeling of ravishing style, sensual boldness, and exquisite expression of haute couture.

Taken from an Evening Gown Fashion shoot conducted by Seattle's Chance Fashion (www.facebook.com/ChanceNW). Local designers collaborate to create elegance and gala in style looks. This collection was enhanced by the minimal use of backdrop and emphasis on the design of the silhouette of the clothing cut and work. Glitter and lighting create the mood of quiet excitement and anticipation for that late hour of entertainment.

The Eye of the Beholder

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:02:00 GMT

Since I started this blog for my photography business, my posts have been specifically about photography. I have posted photography basics, key concepts, and experiences using the camera. However, my specialty is fashion photography. That is my goal. I want to be known as a fashion photographer, even while I take portrait photos. Being a fashion photographer means that I see beauty in all my subjects. I can relate their look, their features, their composure with style, colors, looks, clothing, design, and context. This is what fashion means to me.

Throughout my youth, I never cared what I wore. I thought fashion was for sheeple who simply follow trends, copy one another, pretend to be something they are not; a model, a movie star, a celebrity. Fashion never held any significance in my life, or at least that's what I thought.

Yet when I went out with my wife, when I met someone important for the first time, when I went to a job interview, or when I went to meet my buddies at the local pub, I thought about what to wear. I would never wear a three piece suit to the bar where I meet the guys for a few beers. I would never wear jeans and oversized sweater in my first interaction with my in-laws. This is fashion, how you carry yourself, how you present yourself to other people. The clothing that we wear is more than just a reaction to modesty, or a necessity against cold weather. It is our presentation, an inward reflection of how we want others to view ourselves.

This goes beyond the runways and catalogs. This transcends the teenie-boppy blogs about what celebrities wear and why and how. Fashion is about our interaction as humans. Even when you don't care what you wear and you throw on anything you find in the closet, YOU ARE STILL MAKING A FASHION STATEMENT. The faded t-shirt and ripped jeans that are too baggy tells people that you don't care about what you wear, therefore you want to be noticed for what you do or what you say.

When I learned to embrace this fact, fashion become a huge part of my life. I began to dress better as I saw the clothing that I wear as an investment in all of my future endeavors. When I meet a client to discuss the details about a photo shoot, my clothing speaks volumes about my preparation for the meeting. To dress up and think about what I wear when I meet a customer tells people that I am planning my interaction and paying attention to every detail possible. It tells them that I am ready, confident, and will do my best to make the photo shoot perfect. It tells them that I believe in myself and my business, I believe in my talent and my motivation, and it lends credibility in what I do.

My work is not just a way to make money. It is my legacy. Your work is the legacy that matters because that is how people will remember you. Sometimes people say that their children, their family is their legacy. How many children did George Washington have? How many sons and daughters did Mahatma Gandhi have? Abraham Lincoln? Martin Luther King Junior? Amelia Earhart? How many cousins, uncles, sisters, brothers, or aunts did those people have?

Of course, your family will remember you. So will your friends and neighbors, whoever you are close to. But what about breaking that traditional circle of relationships to make a ripple in which thousands of people will remember the contributions of your life's work? This goes beyond doing what everyone else does. This requires following your passion, breaking traditions, defiantly facing all odds to change things. It requires you to believe and follow what you love.

Photography and fashion go hand in hand as far as Vagabond Digital Imaging is concerned. Therefore I am going to balance out my blog and begin to post more about fashion trends, the roll of fashion in society, and what a fashion photographer looks for in a constantly shifting and dynamic field of fashion.

Be sure to subscribe to my blog and check back frequently for new resources and ideas about fashion. I will also post photos from my previous shoots to create a link between the world of photography and the world of fashion.

Ashu Shah Vagabond Digital Imaging Photographer and Business Owner http://ww.vagabonddi.com

Google+ or Facebook for Photography?

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:51:00 GMT

For years I have been a loyal customer of Apple's MobileMe Galleries to share and store photos. The Galleries in MobileMe are beautiful; there are multiple ways to present your photos in a professional and clean manner. The viewer can change the background, chose a carousel, mosaic, slideshow, or standard presentation to view the photos, and my clients, models, make up artists, hair stylists, and associates can easily download high quality, PNG format photos with ease, simplicity, and complete security.

I am in the drivers seat with my MobileMe Gallery. I can disable downloading or enable it with a few clicks. I can completely hide or share galleries with just a few clicks. It was easy, safe, and well worth the $100 a year, especially to have the additional iDisk feature to share large quantities of photos in a password protected, reliable format.

But alas, MobileMe is being wiped out by Apple, along with my two favorite features. I have explored so many different options to find an alternative to MobileMe, and I realized that one glaring feature is missing from the Mac Galleries: a network. What's the use of posting photos online, or even taking photos at all, unless I can share it with many people? For me, that is a huge reward of my work, getting comments, questions, Likes, and re-posts of my work while it reverberates through the depths and heights of cyberspace. I love watching the analytics report on Facebook shake like a tectonic collision on the Richter scale each time I upload a new gallery. I love the fact that more and more people are talking about Vagabond Digital Imaging.

That brings my choice down to two major networks, Google+ and Facebook. I will try to hash out the advantages and disadvantages of each while I sort through the best possible alternative for the MobileMe Galleries.

Google Plus is the new kid on the block. It's fresh, it's new, and it's developing. It has a lot of room for growth and a great amount of potential, as it tries to learn from the mistakes that Facebook has already made along the way. It is adored by photographers from all over the world, as it makes photo sharing easier and more attractive through a collage display of galleries and a faded-black backdrop when you view a slideshow. It's becoming more refined, and I think the display is more clean and professional than Facebook's galleries. It's a quickly expanding network, and it has an amazing ability to edit on site! I absolutely love the editing features that Google has incorporated in its Google Plus galleries. Extremely useful for basic edits.

However, I do take a lot of photography on the go, and the iPhone app is quite lacking. It's not as powerful as Facebook and not as integrated in a lot of other photography apps like Instagram. Almost every photography app I have seen in the iTunes App Store has Facebook and/or Twitter integrated for easy sharing. Not Google Plus.

Facebook still has about 400 million reasons more to use their network for photography display and sharing. Although that gap is closing quickly, it's still a much larger network at the time being. My photography website receives the most traffic from Facebook, as my list of fans and referrals for my page continues to increase. It's far easier to network a customizable Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/vagabonddi, rather than a long, archaic Google Plus page, https://plus.google.com/116915720752518495731. Although I expect Google to fix this soon, it's very difficult to fit this URL on a business card.

The Facebook galleries are pretty clean too. A lot of photographers are even deciding to drop their own website and just use Facebook. The networking power of over half a billion people is more than enough to compensate for a small, cumbersome website that you have to pay more for. The Facebook Page is far more dynamic, as people post regular comments and photos along the way. Facebook Pages are becoming more customizable too, with various features for photos and displays to attract new fans.

However, a major part of my photography business is having a secure way for my clients to download high resolution photos. Generally, I have the photos uploaded in PNG or TIFF format to preserve the most quality. Yet with Facebook, they download as JPEG, which compresses the photo and distorts some of the quality. Also, the download process is extremely cumbersome, as the viewer can only download one at time. There's also no way to "lock" the photos to stop random viewers from downloading. Although piracy is hard to avoid, it's nice to have some sort of password protection in place to at least discourage the use of another artist's work.

It's hard to lose the advantages of either social networking site, despite their disadvantages. At this time I am using a combination of the two, yet I need to incorporate Google Plus more for downloading saved photos. Fortunately I don't have to make a decision to use only one network right now, and as Google Plus continues to evolve and Facebook continues to grow, it will be advantageous to market and stay active on both networks.

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging
www.vagabonddi.com

Distractions

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:58:00 GMT

I recently read an article here about what legendary businessmen have done to achieve the astronomical success that they have. From exercise to skipping meetings, there is some great advice that can be easily learned by studying how the best have done it.

There is one piece of advice, however, that particularly stands out to me. To really be able to focus, you need to minimize your distractions. "There is no such this as multitasking as you are really just switching between two tasks", says Douglas Merrill. There's also advice on minimizing distractions to help you complete a goal and get more done.

What if you work in an environment that has constant distractions? What if your environment is such that you cannot write one sentence without a phone ringing, an urgent email coming in, or someone approaching you? I agree with Danny Meyer's idea on bunching up your interruptions, then setting time aside for actual work. But what if you rarely, if ever have that option?

In fact, that's often the nature of life. There's always distractions. You set goals, you focus on a target, and suddenly, you get laid off, or you have an emergency that can disrupt your entire train of thought.

I believe that true greatness is found not in avoiding these circumstances, but rolling with them and even benefiting from them. Many people who were laid off in the recent recession were forced to rebuild their entire professional lives and some even found something better. Some people found an opportunity to start a business they've always been thinking about, or a chance to think outside the box.

Emergencies and unexpected hurdles that life throws at you can also lead to innovations. The old saying states that necessity is the mother of all inventions. Sometimes accidents also lead to inventions, like the microwave, the pacemaker, or super glue (if you can imagine the mistake that led to that invention!).

It's not about avoiding or clustering your interruptions, but it's often about managing them. I often use a fun distraction, like twitter, to distract me if I am getting particularly frustrated or having a rough day. It's necessary to break yourself away from a trying moment to walk outside, feel the fresh air, and to remind yourself that there's a lot more to life, like your vision, your goals, and your passion.

Ashu Shah
Vagabond Digital Imaging

Education vs. Learning: What a Photographer can offer the classroom

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 13:29:00 GMT

For years I have been involved in the field of education. I have been a teacher, a tutor, an advisor, an administrator, and a student of the very art of teaching. I was driven, passionate about becoming a teacher and one day running my own classroom and bringing a different light to the world of education.

However, the further I got into the field, the more I became disenchanted. I was growing tired, not of education, but of the institution of education. I soon realized that education and learning are two completely different subjects. I have worked in elementary schools, private schools, high schools, middle schools, state and private colleges, and big name universities. Throughout these different types of the same institution I found that education often is used as a tool of conditioning rather that actual learning.

For me learning is an adventure. Within learning there is an inherent risk. But many of the college students I meet these days go into whatever field is supposed to make money the fastest. The entire concept of college is a rushed and inconvenient hurdle that needs to be done with already so we can finally get out and make money as fast as possible. More and more, I see brilliant, creative young minds submitting themselves to the safest, risk adverse fields of study for the sake of making money fast. Our instant gratification consumerism has reduced education to a mere administrative duty, rather than a time of relative freedom and risk taking to find what truly drives the soul and how far our inherent talents can take us.

Our entire system of capitalism is based on specialization. Why do I specialize in photography and art instead of law or construction? Because through self exploration, through learning about my own strengths, I know I am much more effective as a photographer. I would not enjoy law or construction, and even after briefly learning about those topics I realized I would not be very good at it. Therefore I specialize in what I am inherently good at. If each person follows their own talent, we will have a society of specialized individuals who are making a life out of their own passion, and because those passions stem from creativity and expertise of those who are in those fields, each person would be an expert in his or her own field.

But if people are never allowed to find what they are inherently talented in and instead pursue degrees that are supposedly safe and secure, you will get people who are not very good at law pursuing a law degree. Someone who would be better suited as an artist or designer is instead doing your taxes, and undoubtedly not doing them as well as another individual who is inherently better with numbers. Someone who may be great a music is instead trying to diagnose your disease, and more often than not refers to a generic prescription for an ailment that is unrelated to what you have. Therefore you get a massive degrading of these fields. By everyone going into only one of the safe fields, science, business, or engineering, you've dumbed down the entire field.

As I've stated before, even though Americans live longer than before, we also get old a lot faster. Our younger years are full of freedom and our brains are sharp, in tune with learning and taking risks. While we have no family, mortgage, real estate, or any other major obligations, we have the freedom to take many risks and through trial and error, through networking and experiences, we have the opportunity to find that passion, that field that utilizes our skills and our abilities beyond our perceived limits, while we enjoy the journey of self discovery and learning in that which makes us happy.

Instead, education has become a cowardly thing. People bumble through degrees reading books and memorizing information that has nothing to do with what we truly love. That's why I have broken apart from the entire field of education. I've grown disgusted with the way the institution has cheapened it, degraded it, and fully persuaded the next generation to only find what's quick, easy, and comfortable, as long as you can scratch by with a C-.

When I discovered photography, it was a renaissance in my own life. I discovered an art, a passion that makes my heart beat faster. I have an inherent sense of composure, color, and the way a visually stunning photo should look like. I have a gift, a vision that makes me create art work that touches people. After 30 years of my life, I have finally discovered this. I am grateful that I discovered this passion at all, for far too many people will go their entire lives, bumbling through college and bumbling through a field they are not very good at in the first place, and will go to their graves never discovering their inner passion and talent. Far too many people will go through life not realizing what profession, what field would have suited them best.

One of the greatest lessons I am learning as an entrepreneurial photographer is that in order to really make a difference, you must present something different. I cannot just offer cheaper or better photos, but I have to think outside the box, use my creativity before I ever pick up the camera, and let it be known that my style, my vision can offer something that nobody else can. It's not about being better, it's about being different, standing out and above the rest to deliver my own style of photos that nobody can compete with.

I know that I will become hugely successful as a photographer one day. I will lead a large studio, work with many make up artists, hair stylists, designers, models, and fashion directors to create photos that will turn heads, trigger something in the mind that can change or impact someone's decisions. I realize I have this talent, and I want to live my life to fulfill this, to make the absolute most of it.

When I do, when I've accomplished all that I can, perhaps I will come back to education. Maybe at that time I can step into the front of the classroom as a living example that if your pursue what you love, if you relentlessly chase after where your passion takes you, you can make money. I want to be the living example that people can do more than just survive. They can thrive while living they life that they choose to live.

Ashu Shah

Vagabond Digital Imaging

www.vagabonddi.com

Reverse Yelp

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:39:00 GMT

Since I began my journey in photography three years ago, I have tried my hand in every type of photography I could think of. Pets, families, children, portraits, weddings, sports, events, and lifestyle. But nothing stuck to me more than fashion photography. The styles, the colors, the cut of clothing, the expressions, the creativity...it all seems limitless with fashion. We wear clothes every day. We present ourselves from the moment we wake up and start interacting with others.

When I was younger, I believed that fashion was not but a superficial formula in order to make a lot of money by selling name brands for clothes that have insane mark ups to people who were dumb enough to fall for the same old marketing tricks. However, as I grew more and more attached to the art of photography, I have quickly realized that fashion is much, much more than that.

It all started when I moved to Seattle in April of 2010. Before, I would care less for what kind of baggy pants and oversized sweater I threw on. Now, I shop at very specific stores for exclusive brands and pay a premium price for clothing that is fitted and tailored exactly for my size. Furthermore, my health became my top priority in life. I exercise more regularly than before, and I am very particular about eating balanced meals continuously throughout the day, so that I can maintain a lean and strong frame to compliment the high fashion brands that I now wear.

Why such a sudden, drastic change? Why such meticulous attention to detail on what goes on, and in my body? What caused this complete awareness of my presentation, the first, second, third, and three thousandth impression I make?

The answer came from Yelp. My favorite restaurant in Seattle is an Italian place called Il Fornaio. My first vacation to Seattle ended with a very memorable and sumptuous meal that forever left an aftertaste of high quality, sophistication, and presentation of fantastic food. This, to me, summed up the city of Seattle. Not only do we take our food seriously, but it must be presented well, and we love our sophisticated, world class restaurants that bring the flavors and fusions only found in the Pacific Northwest.

However, I was intrigued by one particular comment on Yelp. He was extremely frustrated with the slow response from waiters, the cold treatment, and the lack of attention to detail to the needs of that customer. Then I looked at this particular reviewer's profile. Specifically, I looked at his clothing and the way he seemed to carry himself. Forgive me for sounding judgmental, but he did not present himself as someone who would ever wear a suit, or even a sport blazer, no matter the quality of the restaurant. In fact, in every one of his photos he looked as if he just woke up from bed. From his previous comments and from the photos he had posted online, I would not be surprised if I saw him in a high caliber restaurant wearing only his pajamas.

As much as we would like to believe that we are not a superficial society, we very much are. Psychologically, we are wired to judge people from the way they dress. The entire reason you dress up professionally for an interview, or for your wedding, or for your first date, is because dressing well is a sign of respect. When you are well groomed and well dressed for an occasion, you are sending a signal to your audience that you put effort into preparing for this event, therefore you were thinking about it in your spare time. This sign of importance is taken as a symbol of respect, and that can only be show through what you are wearing.

That is what led me to explore the roll that fashion plays in our every day lives. There is no doubt that the clothing you wear plays a tremendous roll on how you are perceived, and how you may be treated in a restaurant, an office, or at an interview. Your style of clothing shows what you are willing to prepare yourself to be in the presence of people who will build relations with you. Those relations will become stronger the more you put respect and attention into your presentation, the very first part of every single interaction you have with your friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances. From the waiter at the restaurant to your bosses annual review, the way you dress can say a great deal about yourself and how much preparation you are willing to devote to any particular event.

That is why fashion has taken such a firm hold of my style of photography. At UC Santa Cruz, I majored in Economics, a social science, because I have always had a fascination with society. As we depend on our eyes as our primary sense of perception of the world around us, fashion is simply the visual statement you are making in every one of your daily interactions.

Ashu Shah

Photographer

http://www.vagabonddi.com

Setting the Bar

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:15:00 GMT

With any project I have taken on in my life, I always try to set the bar with an example, a high enough benchmark to compete against. I realize that many times competition leads to imitation. In face, by trying to best someone else you are at some level walking in their same footsteps. Competition is a form of imitation, as people use a similar set of comparisons to reach the same goal.

However, without a benchmark for guidance, it is very difficult to gauge what styles and tactics can garner the greatest audience. In a field like photography, this type of guidance can be extremely helpful. I can never condone imitation when it is a blatant rip off of an original idea with superficial adjustments. But when someone seeks inspiration from one of the best in the business in order to create a better product from their own vision, I see that as an important process in the work of art.

For when we look into ourselves, when we really try to understand who we are as humans, aren't we an entire series of imitations? From the day we are born, we imitate our family, our parents, our friends, our idols, our mentors, our peers, and our competitors. We fill out resumes that look just like a resume should, imitating the formatting, language, descriptions, and following the same process that thousands of others have walked through. But it is within that realm, that field of boundaries that we can truly make our own character known. The creative ones are the ones who can work within a set realm yet find a way to stand apart.

That is what I've done with my photograph work. By studying the advertising catalogs and presentations set by some of the best in the industry, I have found the reigns to which I can guide my creative energy towards my vision. The horse is still mine, the training, the trials, the method to coax it beyond its perceived limitations, that is all my doing. I realize that, and I hold that realization, for without my vision, it's not my creation. It would belong to someone else.

Direction

ashu@vagabonddi.com (Vagabond Digital Imaging) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:57:00 GMT

I spend a great deal of my free time doing research for Vagabond Digital Imaging. Not just research about photography or how to run a business, but to really come face to face with what I'm up against. I research about my competition, and what they're doing that leads to their success. I research about what type of photography people are interested in. Most of all, I do research about my own photography, my style, and how I want to convey my vision of how a photography business should run.

The main goal I keep in mind is how to keep my photography business different. I don't want to simply mimic the thousands of other wedding shots and portrait photos that are found in easy abundance to most customers in my target audience. At the same time, I don't want to dig myself so far into a niche that I find it difficult to appeal to more than a few dozen people. I am constantly walking on a tightrope with confidence and style that exudes a bold new take on photography.

The further I get into photography, the more I learn about the direction I want to go in with my business. There certainly is the creative aspect of making beautiful images stand out and bring a large, unforgettable smile to the people I work for. I want to make myself easily available, but carry a measure of professionalism that brings comfort and confidence to those who chose Vagabond Digital Imaging.

Furthermore, I want to be different. I want to bring the type of photography that nobody can compare with. That has always been the goal with my art work and always will be so long as I can take photos.

Ashu Shah Photographer and Business Relations Vagabond Digital Imaging http://www.vagabonddi.com