Be Outgoing

Networking will forever be an important thing for me and it should be just as important to any other PhotoHustla. They say closed mouths don't get fed. Well, I'm always hungry and I like good food so, often I'm being introduced or introducing myself.

Never be afraid to get up and talk to another person. Let them know who you are, what you do, show them it's not a joke and follow through with whatever you talk about when you meet. Remember that your first impression is the most important. No body knows when they are going to die, make every moment as good as you can because your first impression could easily be your last impression (to be blunt).

Being outgoing is important because it brings new importunities to you and your business. It helps you expand and keep your name out there. We're about progression and this is one of the easiest way to progress.

If you have any questions about networking or things that you need to overcome to help you network better, ask in the commentary below and I'd be happy to help. If you want a part two of this where I show examples of great things that happened when I networked in the pass I'd be happy to write some stories about them. If you have great stories of your own I want to read them in the comments share them with the readers.
--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Reflections and The Sun XIX






--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Editing Photographs Are Complete When...

I'm happy that you're about to read this post, it shows the true spirit of a PhotoHustla. You are here because you want to learn more, you're seeking advice for bettering your photography; you want to know when your photographs are complete while you edit in Photoshop. The two most important words from that very long last sentence are "Your Photography." It is your photography, do what you want with it - without lying to your self.

When you think your done editing your photographs, turn off the music you're listening to while editing, take a five minute break and ask yourself, "Is this the way I want this image to look?" If your answer is yes and you're happy with it then your image is complete, if not, then go back and work at it.
 

The truth is that an image will never really be completed; there will always be room for improvement. Above all of that, it's your image, do what you want with it. If the image is a personal photo it's complete when you're satisfied. If it's a photograph for a client then it's complete when you're client is satisfied / when you think it's finished with a good enough reason, as why to you think it's completed for your client.
 

Before I edit a photograph, before the image is into the computer, before the image is on the LCD of my camera, I have an idea of what I want the image to look like.
 

I'm constantly looking at new images and getting new ideas for images. I get new ideas from listening to music like the ones on my sidebar's Photo-Shoot music playlist, looking in magazines and from taking trips to the mall to see what photographs are shown in the display. I do the aforementioned because doing so excites my creativity level and it makes me want to create more. A new blog to my photography inspiration blog list is: Yimmy's Yayo. It's a collection of awesome photographs found around the internet. I love site because it shares beautiful photo-inspirations.
 

Apply the skills you've picked up from searching the internet for Photoshop skills, apply those Youtube Photoshop video skills and those Photoshop User TV videos; always be practicing new things in Photoshop. Doing so will make you, not only better with the program, but, better at creating better work.
 

Developing your skills takes time and like your photographs it will always be a work in progress. You'll find that things that you like and don't like will change. Sometimes you'll do things and you'll question yourself as to why you did what you did. It's all a learning process. For me - I wrote a guest blog post on Scott Kelby's blog last November, at the time I was killing myself trying to find a technique that would make my images standout from everyone else images. I was trying to please everyone and make everyone else happy instead of doing things the way I really wanted to do it to make me happy. I got stuck in that stage of, "finding your style." I agree that you must have a different look; what I've came to notice is that the style will find you, you won't find it. Your "style" will find you when you continue to do more and more work.
 

It was quite ballsy of me to share the photos I shared on Scott's website. I knew his feelings about noisy images, I'm sure he could tell that they were there purposely, however, I didn't talk to him about why the images were purposely grainy/noisy. I got a feeling that he hates them looking like that; at the end of the day they are my images and it was a good learning experience for me. My goal for that article was to focus on the message, not the images.
 

Photographs are complete within the editing stage when you feel as if they are good enough for you.

Don't be afraid to try new things, don't be afraid whether or not you're right or wrong. The key thing you should be doing as a PhotoHustlaz is trying to better yourself. 


--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Zooming For Smokes








--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Do You Like HDR?


Shout-out to everyone who watched The Grid live just now. The twitter feed was amazing.
A lot of talk about HDR on the show today. Question to everyone was "Do you think HDR is cheating?"


Voice your option in the commentary here; 180 charters in a twitter chat is not enough.


My answer to that is that I don't think it's cheating. Here's the deal, you saw something you wanted to photograph, you photographed it and you made it cool. People are addicted to something that's "cool", so you make a bunch of your friends say "ahhhhhhh-nice".


I have nothing against HDR and the people who choose to make these images. It's your photograph, so do what you want to with it.

To others HDR seems to appear to be creative.
I think HDR is everything but creativity; it's the lack of creativity.
I'm curious to know your thoughts.

P.S. With all that said, I really don't care what you're shooting; it only makes me happy to know that photographers are out there shootin', bein' creative and hustlin' creatively!

DT. Tha Hustla

--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Shoes For A Douchebag?





When was the last time you've spotted a Sperry?


Sperry-Topsiders/ boat shoes should not be identified any longer, solely, as the shoe for a douchebag. However, it should be recognized as the shoe for your feet's comfort fix. The shoes, because of most frat boys' characteristics, are identified, by the younger generation, our generation, as the shoe of a douchebag. I've recently seen them being worn by the asshole/douchebag characters of the Take Me Home Tonight movie (It was an awesome movie).


The same comfortable, durable and fashionable Sperry-Topsider/ boat shoes are my favorite, and the favorite of my friends/ #TeamDT. Playaz / PhotoHustlaz (the people who're down with the Creatively  Hustle or Die movement).

Along with my Nikon, a classy pair of Sperry-Topsiders is a part of my wear-gear for my photo shoots. My logic remains, if you feel good you preform better, and if you preform better you look better; Sperry-Topsiders look and feel great.


The boat shoes shown, that I've photographed, are a sample of the growing collection between my friend (A #TeamDT. Playa and PhotoHustla) Tomas Diego and I.

Whenever you spot a Sperry or if you have boat shoes of your own tweet us a photo @tomasmd and @DwayneTucker along with #TopsiderRider


We've got love for the Sebago-TopsiderRiders as well!
  




<


Above is a photograph of my friend Tomas and I and below is a photograph of a Tucker Blair belt along with some boat shoes. I picked up and fell in love with the Tucker Blair's needlepoint belt when I bought a pair of Sperry-Topsiders from their Boca Raton location.




--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Become A Fan: Dwayne Tucker's facebook
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun
Email Dwayne: Freelance & Private Comments

Photographs of So Serious



<

So Serious and I met up quickly to make some images. He's super talented, an awesome recording artist from my home country (Bahamas) and the president of Deep East Records.

It was nice going back home to the island and meeting up with the guys I grew up with. All of us are somewhere deep in a creative field. Weird that it turned out that way; it's just the way it is. I'm happy all of us are still hustling hard for what we love. Whether it's music or photography. 

Photographing musicians has been on my mind for some time now. Along with buying a place in California so I can fly there to shoot my musicians from that location. Until then I'm available to jet anywhere. Why add musician photography to my basket? I love both music and photography and I've had mentors tell me about the great pay of working with musicians. Simple. It's going to be an interesting venture to see who I end up working with. I'll always share here on the blog and teach you the things that worked for me in the hustle to getting the gigs. 
--

Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun



Every Girl's Dream...










--
Follow Dwayne on Twitter: @DwayneTucker
Follow This Blog: Follow We Have Fun