Pardon the Mess: Blog and Website Updates

Over the next few weeks I’ll be making some design and functionality changes to both the blog and website. So if you see the things in a state of disarray, no need to panic, we’re working over here. I hope to have a bunch of new announcements towards the end of the month and I’m restructuring the website to accommodate some of these changes. You may have also noticed that I’ve returned to a weekly blog schedule. You can expect new posts every Friday, but I’ll occassionaly post throughout the week if something of interest catches my eye or warrants talking about. Those will be more “Mini” posts similar to this one. Eventually I hope to be even more ambitious with a two post per week schedule but for now, let’s stick to once a week.

Big site changes often take time, but even more so in this case since my website is built on Squarespace. Although I love the platform, there are some odd design/website building quirks with the backend. It’s more a matter of working around the limitations of the platform while adding design elements that match the aesthetic I want in addition to improved functionality. It can be hard to strike a balance between both, but I think I’ve found some solutions I’m pleased with.

Not to be completely cryptic, but I’m going to start featuring my work on other platforms, live streaming, and building out my YouTube channel. Maybe some of the blog posts will now be in video form? I like that idea, especially for “Musings”. Additionally, some of my work will be featured in a “Shop” of sorts, but that won’t go live until about mid-June. I took the month of April off for the most part, but now it’s back to work. No stopping till the end of the year!

All for now.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Feel free to leave your thoughts and comments below!

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Going Into Creative Isolation: Some Parting Thoughts

I look out on a vast landscape of boundless opportunity.
To take a single step in any direction will cause ripples across the ocean of time with results I can not fathom.
Dare I ask, “Which step should I take?”

This will be the last blog post for a while as I’ll be taking a much needed break to focus on other creative endeavors. I think as artists it’s important to step away so you can assess your current direction and make any necessary and/or desired changes. I’ve been so busy with client work as of late, I haven’t had adequate free time to catch up on things I’ve been putting off. Things that will improve my work, grow my business, and leave me with more free time for whatever opportunities interest me. I’ve decided to be deliberate about a break and have blocked off the time on my calendar for the next few months.

So no more posts till end of summer.

I will update my portfolio periodically as well as post occasionally on Instagram, but this summer, I’ll be mostly off the grid. It’s time to focus on the work.

But before I go, here are some parting thoughts I’d like to share:

Gear Talk

• Panasonic Announces the GH7

  • Panasonic announced the upcoming release of their GH7, micro four thirds camera. From the specs it is a tour de force of video features. Probably the most interesting of it’s features is ARRI LogC3 which gives Panasonic users the ability to record in the ARRI Log profile to better match their footage with cinema cameras such as the ARRI ALEXA Mini. Outside of that it’s usual video related fair. Faster frame rates, 32-bit float audio, ProRes Internal RAW. At $2,197 it’s decently priced for what it offers, but why would anyone buy this? Today, I mean. If you’re already invested in micro four thirds sure. But there’s nothing about this release that will spur new customers to invest when the other manufacturers have a bevy of full-frame options that are similarly priced. It’s an incremental release, not a “WOW take my money!” release. And Panasonic needs that. From the abysmal Panasonic S9 reveal and now this, the company is currently circling the drain.

• Giving Sony Its Flowers

  • I was on a job the other day with a client who had some very spontaneous ideas. They wanted a few different set ups for portraits, but in a small window of time and in various areas around their building. I know Sony gets a lot of praise by its rabid fanboys, but many of them are just hobbyists. For a working professional like myself, I must say it’s been one of the best systems to work with in my entire career. It just handles any situation I throw at it with aplomb. The confidence I have when going into unpredictable situations like the aforementioned job is amazing. I never have a doubt that the tools at my disaposal will be up for the task. And it does it all with an ease and smoothness that makes jobs fun. The combination of size, speed, image quality, and versatility make it probably the best system on the market today for the professional photographer. It just does it all and then some. My A7RV has paid for itself 10x over by now and it’s as fun to use today as it was the first time. Kudos to you Sony, take a bow. Your cameras and entire ecosystem is so good, I highly doubt I’ll ever switch to anything else. It doesn’t get better than this.

Appreciate Your Good Clients

I’ve had an interesting past few months working with clients. At the beginning of the year, I admittedly was a feeling a bit drained. Unappreciated even. Having a difficult client here and there is normal business fair, but for a while there it seemed unrelenting. Recent events have been a breath of fresh air with clients being positive, friendly, eager to collaborate, fun, and just pleasant to be around. And the feedback from them has been heart warming and really motivates me to keep doing what I do. A client said to me yesterday, “Man these are the best photos I’ve ever had of myself. Thank you so much. I mean that. Thank you!” That sort of response is always great to hear. You’re in the service business to serve and anyone who takes pride in their work will appreciate a response like that. You want to feel the work you’re doing is being valued and appreciated while at the same time clients are genuinely happy because they got what they wanted. The standup creative wants to “earn” their money. They don’t feel entitled to it. They want to do a great job for their clients and hope that clients are satisfied. That’s what it’s about. Making clients happy with your service. I’ll take their positive feedback over any random comment about my work on social media any day.

It’s Easier to Destroy than Create

I’ve been thinking of this popular axiom a lot recently. There’s so much apathy surrounding films and the entertainment industry that it can just turn you off to the entire thing. But I would also like to add to the quote.

“It’s easier to destroy than create. And easier still to critique.”

Don’t get me wrong, I believe critique is good. Healthy even. Especially when it comes to creative work. However, I didn’t sign up to become a critic. You know, the person sitting on the sidelines watching the players and making judgements. “I would have done it this way.” “If it were me….” I’m not interested in that. I’m actually in the arena not on the sidelines. And if you want to see better work out there, the best thing you can do is create it.

With that in mind, I want to spend more of my free time creating, hence my need for my upcoming retreat of sorts. My focus now is more on making things, more experimenting, more study, more shooting, less blah blah blah as one of my mentors used to say.

That’s all for now.

Au revoir.

Discussing Headshots with the Wall Street Journal

Client and design director Christine Aaron looking stylish and radiant in her headshot.
Check out some of her amazing design work here.

If you’re interested in taking your professional image up a notch, check out a small feature I had in The Wall Street Journal discussing headshots and crafting a stylish professional portrait.

View the article here: Is Your LinkedIn Headshot Holding You Back? How to Master a Stylish Professional Portrait

With social media really coming into its own in the 2010’s, having a professional photo of yourself is more important than ever before. Especially if you’re someone working in the corporate sector. Whether you’re applying for a job, a professional with their own website, or a company wanting to project a professional image to their clients, a quality headshot can go a long way in conveying you or your team are right for the job.

You’d be surprised at how often people downplay the importance of hiring a professional or prefer to just snap a photo on their cellphone. If you have an eye for photography, doing it yourself can be an option. But my suggestion would still be to hire a professional. Someone who can help you with posing, selecting wardrobe and flattering lighting, and retouch your image in a way that’s not overdone or…unbelievable. Trust me, the benefits outweigh the cost.

A big thank you to The Wall Street Journal and journalist Ashley Ogawa Clarke for the feature. I’m humbled and thankful for the opportunity. I’d also like to extend a huge thank you to my client Christine Aaron, a brilliant designer, who graciously lent her time and image to be featured in the article.

If you’re in need of a headshot or just want to see more of my headshot work, you can do so here at www.jwheadshots.com.

More to come!

All New, All Different Blog

Welcome to the new blog!

After giving it much thought I decided to redesign the blog from the ground up. Now there’s more space for larger images and text, making the content much more readable and easier to sift through. I love how images are presented, large and in charge on bigger monitors or even on mobile. It makes me want to share more than before.

I’m also back to the usual blog schedule of posting once every Friday. Of course, I’ll be occassionally posting on off days just for fun or if I have a random thing I wish to share.

A goal I’ve set for myself is to have about 100 posts on the blog within a year. I’m committed to writing on a consistent basis so this goal will help keep me on track.

As outlined in this post, the direction of the blog will still focus predominantly on my work, career news, projects I’m working on, and general things that interest me. Think of the blog as more of a glimpse into my thoughts and life as an artist than your typical photography blog.

Being a person of numerous interests, I’m in the midst of rebranding myself as an artist. Before I was “just” a photographer, but I find the moniker a bit limiting now. You’ll notice it’s not “Jamiya Wilson Photography” but “Jamiya Wilson Studio”. ” Studio” in the name is akin to an umbrella that houses all of my creative endeavors. If I write a book, direct a film, etc. simply being “Jamiya Wilson Photography” wouldn’t suffice.

Let’s just say I’m “mainly” or “mostly” a photographer. Marketing says I should say “Multifaceted artist” but that just sounds egotistic.

Yeah, I’ll talk about cameras here and there, but this isn’t the place for gear reviews. There are plenty of sites that serve that purpose and will do a much better job than I ever could. We have enough of that already. Don’t you want something different?

So if you like my work or just want to keep up with what I’ve been up to, this is the place for you.

Hope you enjoy!

— Jamiya, Multifaceted artist

New Days

Model Staci bringing life to the beach.

Welcome to the new website!

I put a lot of thought in terms of how I wanted to present my work and business going forward. Drastic changes in one’s business should never be arbitrary. While I liked the previous site design, I ran into issues when it came to both organizing and presenting my work. It didn’t feel satisfying to look at nor update for me. The new layout is much better, especially for my work as it allows me to present my images in a larger, more eye-catching manner. It’s a design I’ve used in the past, but now I can include my more refined design sensibilities gained from years of experience. I’ve added a couple of new images, with more to come in the next week. I’m currently retouching a large batch of studio portraits I recently completed. Excited to share those. This also means a lot of older work will get phased out. Out with the old in with the new as they say.

You’ll also notice some changes to the blog. That is, this is the only post so far. I had blog posts dating as far back as 2017 and considered whether or not I should include them in my new direction. Ultimately I decided against it and have since archived all the original posts. This is another case of me being fully committed to the new direction in my career.

To veer off onto a tangent for a brief moment, I think the style of photography blog talking about gear is antiquated. It doesn’t attract the most engaging of readers nor does it result in energetic conversation. That is, unless you do reviews or have a rather controversial opinion about a particular camera brand or another. I find it all tired and dull to speak about, so no more of that here.

I want actual clients and/or people interested in working with me to be the main focus of traffic to the website, so I’m not deliberately courting photographers as an audience. Although, I’m sure there will be the odd nugget of insight for the observant reader.

What will the new blog consist of?

• Work

• My writing

• Project plans and progress updates

• The occasional musing about a subject that interests me (non-photography related usually)

The new format will also be very brief. More of a mini-blog format. There will be very minimal long form content with brevity being the priority.

I’m also doing away with the blog posting schedule. Instead I’ll post when the mood strikes me. Since posts will be smaller, it should allow for more frequent posting overall. Nonetheless, I want to spend more of my days shooting and working on projects than writing for the blog.

For existing readers, I do hope you stick around.

For new readers, welcome.

As for my career, what’s the focus?

High quality, compelling photographs. Interesting people to shoot and to work alongside. Cool locations. And work that I believe in. I’m not chasing brands or trying to appeal to the social media market. I’m doing work I enjoy and working with people that I connect with. I’m also transitioning more into directing, but it’s not something you just jump off the porch and do. Making films takes time, money, and lots of planning. I have a few projects currently in the planning stage and once they’re ready to move into production, I’ll share them here.

Overall, I’m excited for the new direction. The new site design I love and the new work I’m creating has been fun.

That’s a great position to be in.