A professional photographer has always been highly dependent on the equipment he carries, which leads most people to believe that it’s the equipment that makes the photographer. The reality is that even a semi professional entry level camera has so many bells and whistles that the average photography enthusiast will probably never even touch most of them. They probably don’t even have time to read one page in the manual, and so are limited to pointing, zooming, auto focusing, and shoot. Although he looks like he’s holding professional equipment, he has no clue how to utilize it to the fullest potential, and this is why Uncle Bob has been such an eye sore to a lot of professional photographers today. Uncle Bob by definitions is any person outside an industry who is performing a service in order to save money for themselves or for others. If you’ve ever seen someone at a wedding who looks like a photographer but has a camera that doesn’t quite look professional, that person is probably Uncle Bob.

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In 1982 (Year of my birth), two brothers, Bruce and Winston Dorbowski created a toy camera called the Hipstamatic. This was a plastic toy camera, which is rumored to have sold only 156 units. Looking through ebay, I could not find a single Hipstamatic, so this is obviously a very rare camera. In the photography world, the last few years has seen a rise in retro photography. There are hundreds of Photoshop actions made to achieve the look of a retro photo, in fact it’s being used so much it’s starting to lose it’s meaning. None the less Hipstamatic photography has become a sought after look by amateurs and professionals alike.

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Right around New Years we received a call from Sarah Min at around 8 in the morning. Still feeling groggy from just waking up, we decided to let the call go to the machine. To our surprise, she was our very first referral that actually wanted to pay us to take her family portrait. Her family was in town but they were leaving the next day, so it was imperative that we do the portrait at that moment. I was in a weird dilemma because everything was such short notice, and there was no time for preparation. So I told her that we would be available in the afternoon to take some studio shots for her. That gave us about 4 hours to get ready, so I cleaned my equipment, pre visualized the type of pictures I would take, then headed off to meet with her family.

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It was around 6pm when Curiosity Media arrived at “On The Rocks” at Redondo Beach. It was a chilly night, and a very important night for a girl named Amy Fougy, one of the co-organizers for the Bishop Montgomery High school Reunion. The patio area of the bar was reserved for the reunion, which provided the perfect mix of atmosphere and booze. As guests started rolling in, it was our responsibility to snap a mugshot, aka portrait, of everyone. Overall Amy did a great job planning the event.

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Yesterday I was watching the news and saw this piece on Alan Brent Carruth. Apparently he convinces his clients to pay him thousands of dollars, then he either never shows up to the weddings, or never gives the couples their pictures. But what I’m wondering is how does this guy keep getting people to fall for his scam? From what I know photography is largely a referal business.

Well none of that matters now because a court has ordered Alan Brent Carruth to pay a fine up to $100,000, and possible jail time for this crooked old man. This is why you must always do your research when picking a photographer. Referals are probably the best means of finding someone because the person you know has had experience, and can recommend them.

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Today Curiosity Media had just finished their first newborn baby photography session for the Sarah Min Family and instead of taking down our Black Muslin we decided to have some fun. I had just bought myself a nice new Domo T-Shirt and Jen went on a clothing shopping spree (Early Valentines Day, courtesy of John) with her new “Red Streak”, we turned our little studio into a fashion photography shoot. I’ve posted our favorite images for everyone’s viewing pleasure. As you can see we just got a bonus from work, and we’re celebrating by throwing it in the air and taking pictures of it. Jealous? You wish that those were your one dollar bills huh? LOL…..j/k

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On November of 2009 Curiosity Media had the privilege to take product shots for the Michael Stars Website. We had set up a tiny makeshift studio to display each jewelry on a white background, and there was up to 15 different products which each had 3 different set ups. The photo session was about 3 hours total which left us exhausted.

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Around last December we had the soft launch of Curiosity-Media which quietly went unnoticed. Since that time we have worked on several web projects, were photographers for 3 weddings, 2 birthday parties, and an engagement session. All this was stemmed from pure determination and drive to prove that we could successfully start and run a business. We experimented with many ideas this year, and that experience will be used for future growth of our company, which still has a long ways to go.

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On December 19, 2009, in order to prepare an event located in Redondo Beach we decided to practice some photography around the Pier. Fortunately, there was an outdoor ice skating event called Seaside Ice. While snapping some shots, the Executive Producer of the event approached us and told us how he forgot to book a photographer and needed our help. So we saw this as a good marketing opportunity and agreed to help him out. We went ahead and took about 18 pictures, for free, and made sure we watermark every image before we emailed it to him. I don’t suppose he’ll ever contact us back but at least he’ll realize he can’t get something for free. So here is a slide show we made from the Seaside Ice event. Enjoy!

I just finished watching ‘I Love You Man’ with my lovely “WIFE”, emphasis on “Wife” to make sure no one gets any strange ideas about my sexual preference. But I found myself relating to a lot of the issues in the movie. I mean sometimes I have to make that hard decision between spending time with my guy friends or spending time with my lovely “WIFE (female)”. Before I met my wife I was all about the bromance, I used to go on man-dates every day of the week with some of my close friends. We dined at fast food restaurants, played basketball till we were drenched in man-sweat, and stayed up till early morn discussing who would win in a fight, superman or batman. Now I’m married and need to ask permission to go on a man-date, but the bromance lives on.

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