Our December Featured Photographer of the Month

Check out Josh’s Website

1 What equipment you do you use?
Canon: 1DSmk2, 5Dmk2, 1Dmk3, .  Lots of lenses -almost all L - series.  Old Photogenic monolights with basic modifiers (New Profoto D1 Air lights on order, I’m very excited!!!).   Mac computers with BIG monitors.   Epson printers.

2 How long have you been shooting?
Technically since high-school, 1984.  In intended to be a photographer way back then, but it took untill 2003 to only have “Photographer” under my name on my business card.   It’s always been part of my jobs, but not the only part.

3 Where are you located?
Salt Lake City , Utah.

4 What type of photography do you take?
I refuse to specialize: I do Advertising & Editorial work, but Family and Pet photography pays most of the bills.  I also do weddings, mostly because I have fun shooting them.  I try to do it all (I’m in Utah, I have to do a bit of everything.)

5 Price range of events?
Anywhere from $300 to $30,000 (…not kidding)

• Weddings: $1500>$6000+
• Family and/or Pet Sittings: $400-$2500
• Advertising & Editorial jobs: $2500-$5000+

6 When did you notice that you had passion for photography?
When I took over my mother’s 1976 Nikon Fe in ‘84. 

(I have visual art sensibilities, but no real skills…I can’t draw, paint, etc… I’m really good technically and on the computer. It just fits, especially in the digital world.)

7 Is there anything unique about what you do?
I do my own thing and don’t follow the “rules.”

8 What’s the funniest thing that ever happened during a shoot?
I’ve been pee’d on, thrown-up on and one time I was attacked by a Bischon Frise named Coco.

8.5 Most awkward moment during a wedding?

Multiple Choice:

a. Dropping a 15mm fisheye lens onto concrete during the ceremony, having the aluminum lens cap fall off and roll on the floor towards the couple, making that loud, tinny, squiggling aluminum sound.

b. Splitting my pants in the crotch area (No , I don’t need to loose a few pounds… I don’t know what happened).

c. Doing both at the same wedding.

9 What’s the scariest thing that ever happened during a shoot?
Main camera malfunction…. (but I cary double-redundant systems).  Or photographing the wrong event….  don’t ask….  yes…  wrong event….

10 How many events do you photograph each year?
It varies from year to year, but last year I did the following:

• 20 commercial gigs
• 138 family sittings
• 92 pet sittings
• 11 weddings

I generated over 100,000 images in 2008.  I assume 2009 will be about the same, with the exception to my personal projects.  I’m trying hard to be more “creative,” and the only way to do that fairly is to do it on your dime.

11 Have you had to changed anything to adjust in current economic times?
No.  I stuck to my guns and promoted more.

12 Describe your shooting style?
Totally freeform:  I don’t follow the rules.  I have fun & laugh constantly.   I interact with my clients all the time.

Past Featured Photographers
2009
February :: March :: April :: May :: June :: July :: August :: September :: October  ::  November

What is It?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via “natural” or un-paid (”organic”) search results as opposed to paid search engine placement.

There are a number of factors that impact search engine optimization.  The most key thing to remember is that the search engines want pages with useful, relevant content that will be easy for a human reader to use.  You may have read some books or attended a seminar about SEO and heard about different things you can do to increase your page ranking.  We want to help you develop a good SEO Strategy – and equally important, avoid a bad one.
read full blog entry…

We have found the Best Background!

We were on the search for the best background built within the PhotoBiz Community.  After, almost 50 entries of our (+)13,000 clients, we have narrowed down the competition to 10 finalists.  And the Votes are in…

Congratulations to Smittee’s Airbrush

Smittee Zack with “Smittee’s Airbrush has won the Competition with the BEST BACKGROUND!  (Results Below)  They are going to be awarded with a Free Sub-Site.

Check out the Smittee’s Airbrush

Also, the Lucky Voter to Win a Free Sub-Site is Edit Crabtree who also happens to be a PhotoBiz Customer.

Check out Crabtree & Co.

**NOTE: You can click on each individual photo to view a larger version of it!

What is a Contributing Photographer?

With over 13,000 photographers using PhotoBiz, we realized that there is an abundance of talent and knowledge here.  The goal of our blog is to share our news, share industry news, and educate.  With that said, what better way to educate than to utilize some of the best photographers in the world.

Visit Hiram Trillo Art-Photography

About Hiram: I have been involved with photography for about 15 yrs.  I have always been infatuated with  photography.  From childhood I use to love the photography of the  1920′2 thru 50’s.  All the images where so captivating, from cinema to the great depression every image told a story.  I bought my first camera at the age of 17 from a pawn shop.  Most of my early photography was shot and developed guerilla style.  I would buy old film (yes film) from camera stores and would develop them at the univeristy campus darkroom even though I did not have a photography class. I got caught a few times, but I paid my way in by helping clean the room or anything they needed. I finally ended up taking a position at the university news paper and worked my way to becoming one of the sports editors.  A professor at the university saw some of my photographs and added me to an art exhibition that his senior students were having at a local gallery.  It was there that a soon to be bride approached me and asked of I would do a bridal portrait, I had never shot a bride before, but I gladly said yes.  After that I decided to learn more about the industry and just felt in love with the idea of creating art pieces for such a great occasion.

After working and learning under some great wedding photographers I decided to do it on my own.  I began honing my skills by learning everything in sight about wedding photography the likes and dislikes of it all and how I would take my artistic approach to this industry.  We created a couple of stand alone pieces for a friends’ wedding soon after that we had our first client and Hiram Trillo Art-Photography was born.

Your Brand  ::  Your Name

In this economy, business can get a bit frustrating.  From low balling customers to outrageous demands, we all want our money’s worth.  Although I love photography it can get hectic at times.  Photography is a very competitive business in which the competition increases by 21% each year according to Forbes November 2008 issue.  The good and bad news is that about .5 percent of those are actually good.  With an over saturated market and clients bombarded with bad photographers, you need something that is going to give you the edge over the competition. Building a brand is that edge.
read full blog entry…

Given the fact that today is Friday the 13th, we didn’t want you to be scared so we are bringing joy by introducing 3 great new features! 

1)  Enhanced Paging

You will now have the functionality of scrolling pages of your images.  This is extremely useful when uploading hundreds of images.  Before, if you uploaded hundreds of images on a page, you would see the pages go all the way across the screen.  Now, only 16 pages will display at a time.  You will have to click the arrows to see the next set of pages.

You may not even notice this unless you upload hundreds of photos in one gallery (we recommend about 15-20 NOT 250), however, this will also enhance the overall speed and effectiveness of the control panel.

2)  Splash Page accepts PNG files

With the addition of some recent splash page upgrades such as Backgrounds, we have realized the need to facilitate PNG (transparent) images.  We recently updated this feature for the logo on the splash page and now have opened this functionality to all images on the splash page.  Whether it is a “main” image that links to your website or blog, or an image uploaded in your footer; PNG transparent files are now widely acceptable by the PhotoBiz Splash Intro page!

3)  Enhanced SEO on Splash Pages

We have recently included a new Enhanced SEO section for the Splash Page similar to every page/gallery of your website.  As we are leading the advancement of Search Engine Optimization in the Flash Industry, we continue to innovate and enhance this for you!  Here are some step by step instructions to help you out with a screen shot from your control panel:

**Remember to take advantage of the incredible team of SEO Specialists that we have here available for you by phone for FREE!