Perez Studios

I finally got my new camera.  I thought it was time to purchase a new camera and after shopping around and looking for the best performance for the best price, I went with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II.  The camera shoots great.  At 21.1 Megapixels the quality is amazing.  After charging up the battery for it yesterday when I got home from work, I hooked up the 28-135mm lens and the 580EX Flash to it and fired up a couple of shots to experiment with the Live View function.  I still have a lot to learn on it.  I was originally using the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, which was only 8.2 Megapixels.  This is a big jump for me, not only in quality but in price.  I originally paid $499 for my Rebel XT back when I bought it in 2005 or so.  I bought it off of this one website that is no longer up and running.  Back then that was a steal for the Rebel.  I had to get the 5D off of eBay for about $2000.  I bought it new, because I just don’t think I would ever buy anything used again over my years of experience on eBay and in real life. 

I plan on taking it with me to the Fresno State graduation this Saturday to see my wife’s cousin graduate.  I hope the test shots are great.

Thanks for reading!

Manuel Perez

I got to join the Firebaugh Police Department last Saturday to experience them shooting to qualify on the gun range.  I must say it was an interesting experience.  I had the Sgt. come by the day before and ask if I would be interested in taking the photos for the officers and the cadets.  I told him I would be glad to.  I arrived at the range and saw how the police officers turn up the heat with their 9mm handguns, AR-15’s and shotguns.  It was interesting. 

I am working with the Sgt. to get some photo release forms so I can post some more photos up here to see but for now this isa ll I can share.

Thanks for reading.

Manuel Perez

Today I have the privilege of interviewing the amazing talented Jill Carmel.  Jill, I really want to thank you on behalf of myself and all the readers out there for doing the interview. 

Perez Studios: When did you decide to become a photographer?
Jill Carmel: I decided to become a photographer when I was 19 and had to choose between becoming a scientist or an artist.
Perez Studios: What does photography mean to you?
Jill Carmel: I believe artists have place in this world – to make it a better place to be through aesthetics or to raise awareness. For me, I’ve found that I can make people lives better and put smiles on their faces through my work.
Perez Studios: How technical is your photography?
Jill Carmel: It is very technical, but I’ve been doing it so long now (nine years) that everything comes almost automatically at this point. I’ve got my technique really dialed in for the look that I love.
Perez Studios: How do you feel about cropping?
Jill Carmel: Cropping is a lot of fun and can completely change an image based on where you want to draw the eye.
Perez Studios: Define the word "beauty"!
Jill Carmel: For me, beauty is that quality that makes you lose yourself for a moment in how good something makes you feel.
Perez Studios: How does your personality change when you look through the camera?
Jill Carmel: Something in me clicks on and I am completely concentrated on what I’m photographing.  I lose myself in the moment and forget about everything other than the subject in front of me.
Perez Studios: Who are your influences?
Jill Carmel: There are too many to mention. I gather inspiration from other photographers, magazine, clothing catalogues, design blogs, people, nature…if I see it and it makes something in my head click, I go with it.

Perez Studios: What are the biggest personal or professional challenges you face on a daily basis?
Jill Carmel: Always being better than yesterday.
Perez Studios: What has been the single biggest obstacle against growing as a photographer in whole? Jill Carmel: Fighting my own fears, but this is also the most exciting part about being an artist.
Perez Studios: What are your favorite subjects to photograph?
Jill Carmel: People
Perez Studios: Do you ever have photographer’s block and if yes how do you deal with it?
Jill Carmel: I look around me on the web, outside, in magazines until something catches my eye and I try to recreate it. By the time I’m done “recreating” it, it’s usually turned into something completely different from the original thing that I saw.
Perez Studios: What types of assignments are you attracted most?
Jill Carmel: Ones with love and interaction. My favorite moments are the “in-between” moments.
Perez Studios: Do you think of yourself as an artist and what do you think of the word artist?
Jill Carmel: Yes. An artist is someone who works to uplift the society through aesthetics.
Perez Studios: How do you describe your photographic style?
Jill Carmel: Fresh, bright, simple and intimate.
Perez Studios: What has been the most surprising or most predictable reaction to your photographs?
Jill Carmel: Crying…

Perez Studios: What would you have done differently during your photography career so far and could this be an advice to others?
Jill Carmel: I would have had more confidence in myself in the beginning.
Perez Studios: What are your thoughts on the paparazzi and their effects on photographers and photography?
Jill Carmel: They are not artists (per my own definition) so they are not relevant to the world of the art of photography.
Perez Studios: How do you feel about digital manipulation and to what extent do you utilize it? Jill Carmel: I think it’s wonderful because straight out of the camera images do not represent what I see out of my own eyes. I use Photoshop in such a way as to bring pictures back up to what I with my own eyes.
Perez Studios: What other thoughts would you like to share?
Jill Carmel: The more artists there are in this world, the better and I whole-heartedly admire anyone who has the courage to embrace the artist inside of them.

Visit Jill Carmel’s websites:

http://www.jillcarmel.com

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sacramento-CA/Jill-Carmel-Photography/115606608078

Twitter: http://twitter.com/jillcarmel

Blog: http://jillcarmel.typepad.com

I am thinking of doing something similar with my interviews that I did with photographers and do something geared towards models.  I thought it would be interesting to see what the models experience in their work and see how they have managed to survive the recession. 

I have only worked with a couple of models and plan to interview them as well but I would love to get some feedback from you readers as to what kind of questions you would like me to ask the models. 

If you or someone you know is a model and would be interested in doing the interview then please let them know so we can get them interviewed and published.

Thanks for reading,

Manuel Perez

Seniors, don’t forget to get your Senior Portraits taken.  If you are interested please give me a call at (559) 933-7355 or contact me via email.  We took this photo of these two girls over by the rodeo grounds.  The colors were perfect in the background.  

Senior Portraits are available anytime at Perez Studios.  We can come to you or you can come to us.  Anyplace you want to take your portraits is fine by us.

Over the years I have hated the fact that I didn’t have the patience to go and touchup people’s faces in Adobe Photoshop.  I gave it up actually and fixed just the major issues with a charge of course.  That was until I came across Portrait Professional which is a very powerful program that allows you to draw the outline or major features of a face and it does all the touching up for you.  If you look at the photo above and look to the left you see a girl with a case of bad acne.  On the right you see the work that Portrait Professional does.  If you are into portraits and need to do a lot of touching up I highly recommend it. 

You can purchase Portrait Professional by going to http://www.portraitprofessional.com/ and paying $69.95 right now.  If you are interested in a free trial they offer that as well.

This is an old photo of myself that was taken on my first field operation while in the Marine Corps.  My job was a Field Radio Operator and I was attached to 1st Tank Battalion, H&S Company, Communications Platoon.  I was in Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California.  My first mission was to create a Re-Transmit Site on the top of an observation point.  It was an easy task and we managed to survive the whole mission without getting killed so that was good.

Anyone have any photos to share of themselves when they were in the military please do.  I would love to see them.

I have a couple of events that are scheduled for this week already.  Things have been starting to pick up.  I have the Quarterly DeVry Graduation Photos coming on Thursday in Fresno and I have a wedding scheduled for Saturday.  I am a little nervous about both events because I don’t have Pictage to use for the DeVry photos like I did before and I know it made things so much easier.  I plan on using a separate blog site for them so that I can keep track of which student wants what.  For the wedding, I am nervous because it is going to be an evening wedding and I haven’t done something like that and its going to be outside.  They promise to have a lot of light and so we will see how the thing goes.  I will upload some photos of both once they are complete.  The photo above is from the graduating class last year.