No doubt, nearly anyone who spends some amount of time on the Internet, has had at least some contact with social media sites if they do not have their own presence on line. Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Twitter and so on seems to fill our days with posts both profound and mundane. Of course, the  explosion of usage has come hand in hand with the near ubituquos use of smartphones and their ever present camera.  Now it is not enough that everyone are posting their lives and running commentary onto the cloud; it must come with a photo or illustration of some sort. Millions of photos are posted each day just onto Facebook alone. So against all of that noise, I need to be hear or rather more importantly, seen. So too, I need a vigourous social media presence. The original social media for me is my personal website which has gone through so many changes over the years before settling down to its current focus. It will be dedicated to all things photography and a home base of sorts for all of my other social media forays. which are, also, singularly focused on my photography. Of course, the primary site for […]

After much deliberation and no small effort, I have renewed my commitment in making this website work in support of my photography.  It has been sort of the poor cousin to my other social media commitments but given the limitations to what I can do in terms of displaying my photographic work and sharing of my thoughts on photography on other websites, a personal website is the still best platform. However,  this website, for now, will be supplementing  my social media sites.  Much of what will be on the website will be available elsewhere and vice versa. This is part of my broad push to make photography more of a professional endeavour and less of a hobby. By no means I will be giving up my day job  as a software developer. I can never see my photography as providing that level of income and security. But my day job does allow me flexibility to pick and choose my photo projects and provide the resources to see them through. Of course, I would like also to see my photography be self supporting taking on paid projects will be something I will be doing more of in the future. Journal posts […]

Keeping with the my new social media push for Brian Leon Photography, I am launching Facebook pages to promote the brand so to speak. Brian Leon Photography: https://www.facebook.com/brianleonphotography Launching the Facebook page serves two purposes. First it separates my personal life from my photography which at times seems to dominate my FB Timeline.  Henceforth, all of the photoshoots that do not feature the family, landscapes or personal events, will not be on my personal page. It should also make many people uncomfortable with photos of models and  belly dancers in their news feed a bit more at ease now looking at my Facebook timeline. At the same time, though, a FB page allows for a better focus on my photography which was mixed up with posts on weather, sports and other personal going ons with my life on personal page. The FB page will just be about my photography. Albums will be cross-posted on occasion to the personal page since there is an issue of whether people will see FB page posts on their feed as Facebook is pushing paid promotion of Pages to ensure higher visibility for your content. Not sure if it is worth it right now but it […]

A few weeks back, I worked as an assistant to a photographer doing a wedding shoot. Let me say that shooting aa wedding is HARD WORK! Needless to say, though, I learn a great deal of the process of shooting a wedding which I hope will be reinforced in the future by assisting other photographers in their wedding shoots. Some of the takeaways from the todays shoot: Having a fast lens of f2.4 or better in your kit is a must. Given the low light situation of most interior spaces, you will be using a flash in most every instance but that means the photos have that flash look of them. A fast lens means a more natural photo; just avoid opening the aperture all of the way out  if you use flash, the light stick is a great tool. The speedlight on a softbox on a monopod will give better area lighting than any speedlight on the camera for many situations You can shoot a wedding solo but having an assistant will make the whole job go much smoother. From holding the light stick, fetching lenses, clearing obstacles, the assistant will allow the photographer to focus on the shoot […]