Help – I don’t know what to wear?

If you have ever thought about getting some publicity shots taken that you can post on your web site or business cards and break out in a cold sweat trying to figure out “What to Wear” here are a few tips that might help.
Business / Publicity Portraits
Clothes & Colors, keep in mind that you want to appear professional but friendly. When in doubt about what to wear, a slightly conservative look is best. A jacket in blue, navy, grey, burgundy, or black are always safe choices. Avoid light pastels, bold stripes, bold patterns or anything that is too distracting, a subtle pattern is fine. Also avoid short sleeves if a jacket is not worn, upper arms always tend to photograph wider than they are in real life. Darker colors are "slimming.” Corporate portraits are just head and shoulders so don't worry about your shoes. Keep jewellery simple unless you are a rodeo queen and then bling bling bling!

The Psychology of Color:
• Green is the “Don’t trust me” color
• "Cheap Image" color is Purple
• The "Unsophisticated or Slob" color is Brown, avoid it!
• Navy says "Success”
• Earth tones appear friendly and approachable
• Black is for the very stern and serious
• Yellow appears positive and friendly
• A dark dusty pink is calming and non threatening “soft”
According to various sources I researched on the internet, so you might want to take those suggestions lightly
Many of my clients are horsemen and women so a formal business attire would really not send the right message.
My best advice is to go for a classy country look, that doesn’t mean what you would wear whilst mucking out the barn - But a nice fitting pair of jeans and boots, avoid white socks and running shoes, teamed with a clean well pressed long sleeve shirt, you might want to team it with a nice vest or lightweight jacked – remember to keep patterns to a minimum. Your portraits will look more authentic if taken outdoors and maybe leaning against a fence or holding onto a horse.
A word of caution regarding hats – they create a shadow over your face, so if you absolutely must wear a hat try to try to wear it slightly further back to allow light to reach your eyes.
Hands: Ladies hands are often included in portraits, they add femininity and elegance. Having your nails done is important. If you have work hands a pair of nice leather gloves will cover up a multitude of sins.
Makeup: Remember to bring along some makeup (lip-gloss and powder) for touch ups. A more natural look is better than heavy make up.
Think about the image you want to project in your portrait, conservative, sporty, professional, friendly, artsy, approachable.
Contact Lens: Some people who wear contact lens tend to blink on a high percentage of photos, it might be a good idea for contact lens wearer to wear glasses and take them off for the portraits.
However The most important thing you can wear is a smile
Last but not least: remember to get a good night sleep for that fresh look.
If you would like help creating a “Sharper Image” in your business or promotional pictures I can help. www.imagineitsold.ca

Wild Mongolian Horses in Alberta?

When I first started work on the Equine Heritage Exhibit - I had a mandate to locate – photograph and document all the different breeds of horses that make up the equine population in Alberta. I was given 2 years in which to complete this project
The initial list included 40 different breeds, however I photographed 43 in the first year and the list just keeps on growing. I can’t take credit for locating all these horses I had lots of help from people within the horse industry. What would typically happen whilst on a shoot they would suggest people they knew who specialized in a certain breed and owned either a stallion and a few mares or in some cases large herds. Some of these suggestions were of breeds that were not even on my list, which made the whole project very exciting. As I really don’t know exactly how many breeds are represented here in Alberta.
Last week I went out to photograph Zebras at Calgary zoo - although it was a bit of a stretch, I know they are not horses but they certainly are equines. Plus it was an excuse to get up close and personal with two very cute female zebras and capture unique images of them in the snow - after all most Zebras should never see snow.
Today I discovered there is a small herd of wild Mongolian horses in Southern Alberta. In all the years I have been an equine photographer I have never seen a Mongolian horse so I am very excited at the prospect of meeting them, and truly fascinated to find out why they are here. Hopefully I can arrange a photo shoot soon – I would like to shoot them in a winter setting.
I wonder how many different breeds of horses there are in the World?
If anyone knows of an official list or unofficial for that matter I would love to see it.
I think I will make it my personal goal to photograph as many of them as humanly possible.

I Thought Sweat Shops were illegal

I Thought Sweat Shops were illegal

All the experts tell you when starting a business your decisions must be based on facts and figures NOT emotions.

So I broke all the rules right from the get go when I started my Business “Hats By Emmanuel”. You see, my desire was to make a difference and help ladies suffering with hair loss due to chemo therapy. I thought my creative styles coupled with soft luxurious fabrics could help them through a very difficult time.

I had no business plan or idea where I wanted the business to go either short term or long term. 12 years ago I just knew there was a need and I wanted to fill it.

Now the experts also tell you when you fail to plan you “plan to fail” but sometimes when your heart is in the right place and you don’t mind working really hard the plan just unfolds as you go along.

I went from creating a couple of dozen pieces per week and selling them down at the farmers market to providing a full line of specialty headwear to hospital gift shops and wig stores all across Canada. Now production is around 8 – 15 dozen per week. So I got my wish, I am making a difference and reaching lots of ladies in what is probably their lowest point.

However I never planned on running a sweat shop and certainly didn’t plan on doing all the sweating. Maybe a business plan wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

Should I give away the Farm?

Ok - I am not talking about “Farmville” what I am thinking of doing is giving away all my trade secrets.
Allow me to explain!
If anyone has ever tried to take pictures of their animals it doesn’t matter whether they are horses or dogs you will have realized that there is a certain amount of expertise needed to achieve those beautiful animal portrait you see printed on calendars.
For many many years I have worked with horses and dogs - honing my skills as a Professional animal photographer, and I feel it is time to pass on all those gems of information that will ensure other people can capture stunning images of their pets.
So I have designed a one day “hands on” workshop on How to shoot horses like the pro’s – Photographically of course. This workshop will include live animal models and cover things like understanding natural light and how to pose – style and prop using whatever you have available. I am still working on the accompanying workbook, but with just a few more hours at the computer it should be ready to launch.
My husband - Tom – thinks I am crazy to share all my hard earned secrets, he says I am training my competitors. However I don’t agree – I know everyone has digital cameras and if they have animals - whatever size they are - they like to take pictures of their fury friends so I feel it would be unfair not to share my knowledge. Not only that I feel there is plenty of Sunshine for everyone and if I can also help an amateur photographer take the leap and launch themselves into a career of photography – that is OK with me too.
I have one riding school interested in hosting a Photo workshop so it looks like this new venture will launch very soon.
The work book will be available on my web site www.imagineitsold.ca
As soon as it is completed, I will keep you posted

From Boring to Brilliant

I want to encourage you all to embrace boring chores – you know the ones you procrastinate over but know you have to do.

In my specialty headwear business “Hats By Emmanuel” there are lots of very boring repetitive steps to producing turbans and scarves. The fact that these items really do help ladies undergoing cancer treatments feel better about the way they look helps – but only a little. There are still hours and hours of repetition.

Until I discovered that boring is a door way to brilliant - now I welcome the tasks I used to avoid. Allow me to explain;

As you do mindless repetitive jobs it fee’s your mind up to think very creatively – its all about your attitude and willingness to allow creative thoughts and ideas in.

The best way is to before you start your job, to think of a problem or situation you need solving – then begin your tasks with an open mind.

That is the key if you are saying to yourself - things like I hate this job or are wishing your time away your mind is full of negativity and is blocking all the potentially brilliant ideas.

Ps. Keep a pen and paper handy to write them all down.

Or use this time to daydream about desired outcomes - one of my dreams is to be an official photographer at the Olympics in 2010, so I would visualize the whole thing from buying my plane ticket, and packing up all the equipment I would need to standing on the rail waiting for the first dressage rider to enter at “A”. This little daydream allows me to see areas that need work – and steps I can take to move closer to my goal.

I hope this helps get you through the dull day-to-day stuff

Are Zebra's Equines?

Are Zebra’s Equines?
A Horse a horse my kingdom for a horse cried Richard 111 in Shakespeare play, but would he has been happy with a Zebra?
Probably not! But I certainly think they deserve a place in the Equine Heritage Exhibit.
The criteria of the project are to locate - photograph and document all the animals that make up the equine population in Alberta.
Like all the other breeds of equines I have had the privilege of photographing they too came from somewhere for some reason. Plus they are very cute, this mother and daughter pair live at the Calgary zoo and form part of the African savannah display, they have a lovely enclosure that they share with a few ostriches and the giraffes during the summer Although the zebras have adapted very well to our cold snowy winters and only stay inside if the temperatures dip below minus 15.
They will be bred to a stallion in the spring and hopefully produce some new members to the herd. Mona Keith - their keeper explained that the male zebras are very territorial and aggressive so they are kept separately at another facility and the mares will only travel to visit him at breeding time. I was curious to know how keeping a zebra would differ from keeping a horse, Mona explained – Not much really they eat the same foods are wormed regularly and have their hooves trimmed, she did say their temperament was more like a donkey than a horse, and at the zoo they do not try to tame or handle the “wild” animals. But as I followed Mona into their enclosure to take pictures and get up close and personal, they were just like all the other equines I have photographed - inquisitive and sure I was bringing them a treat. Did I mention incredibly cute.
If you would like to see more pictures of the zebra’s and track the progress of the Equine Heritage Exhibit please visit my web site www.imagineitsold.ca and click on Heritage

The Virtues of Virtual Friends

If you were one of those popular kids growing up - you wont be able to identify with my story so you can stop reading now.
I was very lucky as a child and learned to ride a pony before I could ride a two-wheel bicycle. Now you would think owning a pony would score some popularity points with the other kids. But mine was a show pony so I wasn’t allowed to have friends down at the stables. So I got labeled a snob.
Plus I had to feed my pony on the way to school which was nice for me as I got to see her first thing every morning and felt her warm breath nuzzle me for the treats I kept in my jacket pocket. Our really morning visits seemed to have a lingering effect that the other kids on the school bus didn’t react too kindly too. I guess I always smelled kind of funky and had bran mash under my fingernails. Which never helped me make it into those popular kids circles.
But the computer has changed all that - our virtual friends have no idea if we are wearing the latest fashion or thrift shop hand me downs, we could be groomed to perfection or looking like something the cat dragged in. In our virtual world of face book it really doesn’t matter and even the funky smelling kids are accepted and can gather a following of friends.
Another plus for technology
Oh and if you were wondering I am wearing polka dot PJ’S and bunny slippers