Commercial Product, People and Pet Photographer

Hello all
I apologize for my absence from this blog

ya see, every July they have this little cycling event overseas, ya might have heard of it called the Tour De France

well you see, I’m a bit of a fan of cycling and this Tour De France is kind of a big deal
Well…it turns out that all of my free time was consumed watching the race on Versus and left no time for me to post to this blog. I’m still new to this thing and guess I next year I need to do a better job of scheduling so I have time for both.

I plan on getting back into a regular posting schedule very soon.

In my defense. It WAS a FREAKIN’ AWESOME Tour this year.
Congrats to Alberto (Yellow Jersey), Andy (2nd Place and White Jersey), Dennis (3rd), Alessandro (Green Jersey), Anthony (Polka Dot Jersey) and to Team Radio Shack (1st place in the team competition).

The photo above, I’m sorry to say is not from the Tour but from the Chicago Criterium a couple of years ago. If anyone out there needs a photographer for the 2011 Tour, Let’s talk

Great Photos not Great Camera

Here is an excellent video proving that it’s not the camera but the photographer that makes a photo

Although Lee is trying to prove it’s not the equipment, notice that…

1) Fantastic Model
2) Professional Make-Up and Stylist is used
3) Excellent Lights are used (with the exception of the ones he got from Lowes. He still had to use some decent soft boxes to make those work)
4) Professional Retoucher

This really shows that the combined talents of the individuals make these shots great and not the camera

Thank You to David Hobby (Strobist) for turning me onto this

Note: Lee has replied to a number of comments/critques about this shoot here

Two Landing Pages

This web site now has two separate landing pages. Vrbuzard.com for the blog and now voncommercialphotographer.com for the gallery. Both are actually the same site just different ways to access it.

The photo above was part of a PAWS Chicago adoption event. If you or a friend in the Chicago area is looking for a new furry friend I hope you will consider adopting.

Do you use photography?

Bravo to Smashing Magazine for their recent article How to Use Photos to Sell More Online

If you are in business I HIGHLY recommend you take time and read this.

Then take a look how you are using photography to sell your business. It might also help you if you were to print this out and keep it a s a reminder.

The above photo is not in honor of the 4th of July but hopefully sets off some fireworks in your marketing

Do you Lead? Follow? or get out of the way?

Fact: Either you are using Social Media or Not

Question is, if you are on Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…) what are you doing there? Are you Following celebrities, family, friends. Listening to whatever they are broadcasting. Or are you Leading? Are you sharing valuable information?

Personally, I like to share, I am trying to be a Leader, a Supplier of Good Quality Information. At the same time, I am sharing ME. Who Von R Buzard is, that’s my way of being Social.

Recently a friend asked me why I don’t follow them on Twitter. Well truth is, I didn’t see any content that is valuable to me. I like this person, we’ve known each other for years but Honestly, I don’t meed to know what they are doing every second of every day.

Currently I am Following 269 people on Twitter and am being Followed by 237. I have 186 in my LinkedIn network and 220 Friend on Facebook (not going to mention MySpace). Now to some that might seem like a lot, to others that’s nothing. To me, it’s a nice amount. I’m sure those numbers will build, but at a rate that’s good for me.

Just the other day I logged into Twitter and had over 300 new Tweets to read. As I flew thru them and I know I missed some stuff and felt like I had to really dig for any valuable wealth of knowledge. So if I can cut that down by not following everyone who follows me, well then thats what I’m going to do.

Do the math. I follow 269 but only 237 follow me. Not everyone I follow does a follow-back and that does not bother me. So please do not take it personally.

The photo above was just something I found interesting