Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Mon, Oct 05, 2009 @ 09:09 AM
By the time I enrolled in art school, I had studied perspective drawing, mastering the sable-hair brush and Photoshop rendering. I was determined to become a professional, published comic book artist.
Three years later, instead of the drawing studio, I found myself at the state fair park.
Taking photos.
Of cage-fights.
No, this was not some miserable Twilight Zone twist. This was me finally combining my passions and finding my niche.
I had been a fan of mixed martial arts ("ultimate fighting") for years, and so when I found an opportunity to write for Wisconsin Combat Sports, a website that covered local fighting events, I jumped at it.
Back in the day, reporters illustrated news stories with woodblock engravings. If it had been 1842, then my comic-drawing skills would have come in handy. Today's visual journalistic media of choice is digital photography.
Fortunately for me, photography and comics are very similar. Comics are also known as "sequential art". If you take two photos and put them next to each other, whether intended or incidental, there is a relationship between them, just like there's a relationship between panels in a comic.
A crucial part of the definition of the word creativity is, as Wikipedia puts it, "new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts." This is the essence of finding your specialty.
This is why it's so important to go to school; to dabble in different arts; to take risks. When you bring the right elements together, there's a click, the door to your niche opens up, and you walk in and feel right at home.
View more of Dom's work which includes mixed martial arts and wedding photography as well as illustrations.
View more of Dom's work, including mixed martial arts, wedding photography and illustrations.
Posted by TJ Dinsmoor on Tue, Sep 08, 2009 @ 09:06 PM
This month, Apollo Photo Imagizing interviewed an emerging freelance photographer specializing in lifestyle and environmental portraits. Corey Hengen, owner of Corey Hengen Photography, reveals what sets a quality portrait from a lackluster one. In this interview, Hengen also demonstrates why personality through photography is his ongoing goal. Read the full story here.
Posted by Cory Grassell on Tue, Jun 02, 2009 @ 06:54 PM
Every month, we release an e-newsletter for our current customers and e-subscribers. This e-newsletter spotlights a variety of topics, including monthly specials, product releases, industry news, featured photographers, new employees, marketing tips, social media sites and more. It's easy to subscribe; simply visit our
Customer Sign Up page. For added convenience, we will also include a
link to a PDF file of our e-newsletter each month. Read this month's issue for a wedding special, a free shipping offer, a new way to order digital prints, marketing tips, customer testimonials and more.
