Metamorphosis (Part 2)

I suppose I could have said everything I wanted to in one post, but I know I sometimes give up halfway through reading something if I don't find it interesting and I'm not sure how interesting my life is to other people.

So besides all the stuff that I mentioned in Part 1, here, there is even more happening and that has happened. My life is changing at a 1000 miles an hour.

As you know I have plans for world domination *insert evil laughter*. Seriously though, I am planning on going to America which you can read about here and here. That being said. Three weeks ago (Monday; March 3rd) I received a reply from Zack reading: "So sorry getting back to you late. C'mon. I don't know what we'll do with you when you get here but we'll figure it out when you do. We'll take part in your adventure"!

How f**ing exciting is that?! Man!

I have to admit though, I had some doubts for a while, because of an opportunity arising here. I have in the meantime prayed about it and I spoke to some friends and that has put things into perspective for me in a big way.

So, it looks like I might be going to America soon if I'm lucky and things work out for me.

Anyway, let me move on. Another awesome thing I did, was a shoot for local acoustic guitar duo CH2. These guys can flippen shred, but not in the sense of how metal guitarists do (well, they could probably do that too), but they play a mix of classical, flamenco and latin influenced instrumental music. We shot in studio - something I wasn't too keen on at first, coz I like doing environmental/on location type shoots, but I am really happy with the results.

They also had a make-up artist come in and man; what a difference that makes. So rad to have worked with Melissa. We met years ago and now our paths crossed again to make something rad. Go check out her work here.

Here are a few images from that shoot.

Thank you for reading

Remember that letter I wrote?

I had another post ready to go, but in lieu of yesterdays events I have decided to push it back just slightly.

For the four people that check out my site, I'm sure you'll remember this post I did at the end of last year; "So Here's The Plan". Remember? Good! Now seeing as I've already told the four of you, there's nothing to share actually, but I'll do it anyway :P

This happened yesterday.

If you're sight isn't too great, it reads: "Well @Bernard_Brand00 you've definitely gotten our attention. Well done. We'll be in touch".

Who is Meghan Arias you may ask and why does this matter? Well, Meghan is the wife of Zack Arias whom I've mentioned before here. And why does that matter?

Well, Zack is the guy I wrote the letter to that I mentioned in that post from last year. He's the guy I want to go intern for and he's the guy that replied to me via email yesterday morning (depending on where you live in the world). Now I haven't gotten a definitive answer yet, but the fact that he replied and said he'd be in touch and that a seemingly meaningless letter made it halfway across the the world and into their hands is just awesome!

I can't even explain how often I would track where the letter was and how often I checked my email - after it was delivered - to see if Zack had replied yet.

So yesterday was a pretty rad day and I am still somewhere outside myself for what this could mean. I met with awesome potential clients and might have a big job coming up. So I am hoping and praying that these things comes to fruition. Thanks to everyone that believes/believed in me when I didn't and the support and kind words. It's all a little overwhelming and I don't always think I deserve it, but I do appreciate it. What a blessing you all are.

Next up will be some shots from my shoot with The Watermark High.

Thanks for reading.

Fighting Personal Demons

It seems that I am constantly filled with self doubt. I find that I question myself almost on a daily basis. It's kind of insane :) Where is it all coming from? I think I have too much time during my the daily grind of nine to five (seven to four in my case) to question and doubt my abilities as a photographer and a "creative".

Last week Thursday I decided; "F**k it! Get over yourself man! Go and make something today even if you fail. Just go out there and do it". This video by Zack Arias is an old one, but it reigns so true to me.
Before you carry on reading. Here's the video.

This is a short film I made for a guest blog entry on www.ScottKelby.com. I hope you enjoy it.

Done watching? Okay. Amazing right?! 

What I love about Zack is, he says it as it is. No BS! No beating around the bush. Just in your face honesty and that's what you need. "Transformation takes time and from what I've seen; it's worth the wait".

I love that last sentence. I am still transforming, still finding my "voice" and sometimes we just need that pep talk; whether it's coming from ourselves or a 4 year old video you've watched 10 times. It seems I need a lot of ass kicking though, especially from myself, but I'll carry on doing it and crafting my skills and getting better even if I have to physically beat my lazy ass into gear, I WILL do it.

Here's my photo from last week. 

This image almost didn't exist. That's a weird thought right? Because here it is. You're looking at it, but think for a moment. If I didn't go out and make this, it would not exist. Maybe in my mind yes, but you wouldn't be looking at it right now.

Even after I had taken the 16 or 20 images this photo is made out of, I almost gave up. Photoshop would NOT merge them no matter what I tried, so I gave up. Then later that evening I decided let me give it one more go and I started manually blending the images together and man, was it glorious! I got so damn excited as the image took shape.

Some have asked me what the story behind it is. It's basically my frustration with myself. This constant battle that I have raging inside my head. Screaming from opposite sides of the fence. I'll be continuing the series, but progress will be slow as I find that I have to be in a certain mind set for the images to not feel forced. In between though I'll be plotting new things and creating new work.

Thanks for reading