| Aztec Photography

Happy New Year

Aztec Photography — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 06:30:00 +0000

The new year is upon us. I am not going to make a prediction as to what I would like to happen, I just want to wish everyone a happy new year and a hope that everyone gets a new opportunity to be better than they were the previous year.

Sept

Aztec Photography — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 12:12:19 +0000

If you have arrived here for some reason, I am still alive, Covid has not come for me just yet. Since my last post, it has been ten months and some days and I have been working on my day job, not had too much opportunity to shoot any event so far, no I lie, I shot a small wedding in March, it was fun. In the months since my last post, I have tried to keep myself busy and try to update my website, move things around and try to make some galleries for future sessions I plan to do. They are ideas, nothing concrete yet.

Covid

Aztec Photography — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 11:05:58 +0000

We are now in November, and according to some accounts, nearing the 2^nd wave of covid-19. It has been ten months and ten days since my last post. It is not like I have forgotten about my small commitment to my small blog, but I have been preoccupied with being an essential employee in my day job because let us be honest for a minute, being a full-time photographer does not pay the bills unless you hustle and work non stop. The hustle aspect is for another story, for another day. Let’s continue.

As all you all may be aware, it is a worldwide crisis and as many have experienced, many parts of the day to day things we used to do have either been closed due to covid or have drastically changed. One of such things that were closed for a while were face to face photography. As photographers are not seen as essential, a lot of the photography businesses that I know had to shut down as their current client base were also shut down, they could not make money doing what they like to do, take photos.

I for one was deemed non-essential and as I do weddings and special events, I had a lot of cancellations and a couple of reschedules for next year. Senior portraits for the class of 2020 were very limited and the class of 2021 is non-existent due to high schools remaining closed to in-person learning and a lot of parents still do not want to chance to expose their kids to the outdoor elements.

Covid has been a blessing in disguise, since I am not doing senior portraits or special events, I have been getting back to doing landscapes and other types of photography that I started doing when I decided do begin my venture into photography in 2005.

Hopefully, we can get back on track, I do feel that it may be a couple of years before people are comfortable taking photos outside without a mask on.

Post Processing

Aztec Photography — Wed, 08 Jan 2020 00:43:12 +0000

Although I have been shooting for the past 15 years, my editing style has changed over that period of time. I don’t think it is a drastic change, but I have seen how my eye sees things differently and the way I edit has evolved. When I first started I really did not know what I was doing so all my photos were original and raw. The lighting was not even part of the equation, the composition was not even a thought and sometimes having a blurry picture was part of the path to understanding how the aperture worked.

As my editing has changed, one thing that has remained a constant is the fact that I don’t alter what my clients look like in a photo. Most of the photographers I know photoshop a photo to the point where the person in the photo is not a realistic representation of the person who is in real life. I do not believe in altering someone’s appearance to something that is not the real representation.

With all that said, I do photoshop little aspects such as clothing issues, skin issues, perhaps something needs to be removed from the photo when it helps with the storytelling or confidence with the client’s appearance I am all for it.

I think photographers should be more honest with their clients and share in-sites to their editing process and what the client should expect before the photos are taken, that way when the proofs are submitted, the client already has given their personal input as to how they feel about themselves and how they would like to see the photos be processed. By the time the photos are submitted, the client already knows that their issues have been fixed and all they need to do is curate their photos and start posting them.

Holiday Season

Aztec Photography — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 23:31:21 +0000

As the season draws to a close, thinking back over the past year and all of the shenanigans I got into, I would be mistaken in saying I didn’t have fun. 2019 was an interesting year, I met some interesting characters throughout the year and had some adventures with my assistants.

2020, I am hoping it will bring more of the adventures and less of the headaches. It is too early to tell how the year will be but hopefully, it is something I can remember.

Perspectives by a Photographer

Aztec Photography — Fri, 27 Dec 2019 10:42:53 +0000

I would like to foremost welcome you to my blog. This is basically a spot for me to post my views as a photographer, a place to talk about topics, shoots, give advice and so on that I feel would benefit you as a reader.

My hope is to post once or twice a week. As this is a new venture, I am hoping to make this feature a more recurring part of the website.