My Run-In With Backroads

Hey Peeps,

It has been quite busy this past week and continues to be in the coming one, I was scouting out the Bear River Vineyard, photos below:

I noticed a van and a load of bicyclers at the vineyard.  The van was labelled,"Backroads: The Worlds #1 Active Travel Company".  

Needless to say, I was intrigued.


I'm a runner at heart but I got a sense that bicycling was similar in the nature of comraderie and non-competitiveness.


I grabbed my camera and started shooting while asking a few of these nice people about Backroads and bicycling in general.  They told me that they were from all over, Toronto, Pensilvania, Oklahoma just to name a few.  They were also different groups, some married, some single, some friends, some parents and adult children.  It was impressive and uplifting to see so many different people from different walks of life come together in an activity that was both beneficial to their health and connected a variety of minds.

Gary and I hit it off right away.  He is a photography enthusiast and carries his Canon 5D MkIII - yes, the MkIII - and a 28-300mm lens with him as he rides.  I offered to give him my cam and everything in my gear bag for it, but Gary is a smart man, and refused my offer. :(  Next time Gary, next time.

The Canon 5D MkIII/28-300mm... oh, and Gary lol

Amy and Eric are husband and wife.  They are a sweet couple who seem to have a real partner/team atmosphere about them which can only enhance their cycling and their marriage.

Eric & Amy

Among other things, they told me that this is the 4th of their 6 day ride through Nova Scotia, which started in Halifax, NS.  That they all enjoy the different scenes of beauty, cultures, foods and friendships they encounter and make while on their trek.


It all sounded so similar to running to me - but with wheels, and much farther(for the most part), I realized that it was the social activity in general that brought out all of the goodness in these people and not just the specific activity itself.


Well their trip has been over for a few days now and most are back home, off on another ride or relaxing on the rest of their vacations.  

I hope to see them again next year.  

Especially Gary.  

With his Canon.  *DROOL*


Later,


Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website
Michael Carty Email

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

Hey Peeps,


You have no doubt heard this villanelle, it is considered to be among the finest works by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.


I've always loved his writing and I find it is appropriate for this post.


It's expressive idea is the desire and even need to fight with all of one's life against the spectre of death.


That no matter what walk of life we come from, that shadow is always present and close at hand.


That it is a bond we all share as human beings and from which we should struggle against it regardless of the futility.


There is another shadow that lurks in the hearts of creatives.  A fear, a doubt, a frustrated apathy that makes one feel like a sham, a fake and an untalented poser.


If you have every tried to be creative, especially for a living, you have felt this.


I have felt this.  BIG TIME.


I am not naive enough to believe that this feeling will ever pass permanently.  It is a major element towards keeping the truly determined creatives in the game while pushing the less ambitious to other venues.


It is a scary, daunting, lonely and hopeless feeling in it's full form.


It can cripple a creatives mind completely. 


It has no conscious.  It has no morality.  It is an act of nature with no more malice for you than it does remorse for what it does to you.


But I can promise you one thing.


If you stay in the game, if you keep learning, keep practicing, keep working at your craft.


I promise you will be evolving creatively.


I can't promise that you will be rich or famous or recognized by your peers.  I can't promise that you will be greeted on the streets by friends and fans for your outstanding work or offered multi-international deals from the biggest conglomerates to work with the brightest stars.


I will promise that you will be doing what you love. 


I will promise that you will get better and better at it. 


I will promise you that when that doubt slips into your mind, it's okay to take some time off. 


Go lie down, watch some tv, whatever, because you are putting your time in when it counts.


But always get back to it, it whatever form or scale you can.


Keep doing this and I promise that you will be the creative you want to be within if not without.


You are working it out.  You are learning your craft.  You are making it your own.


Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 


Cheers,


Michael Carty

 








Michael Carty Website
Michael Carty Email

Are You Touching All Of Your Touchpoints? Unrated Version

Hey Peeps,

I'm sure you have all heard the term touchpoints, and if you haven't - well get to it already!

The simplest definition for a touchpoint: where your clients and business connect, and having a business means you have them:  lots of them.

Here are just a few:

  

• email
• phone number
• website
• business card
• face-to-face
• pricing
• workflow
• studio
• office
• blog

Each of them should be well thought out in design, congruent with each others design and highly effective towards inviting and welcoming potential clients into your business.

And yes, things like pricing and face-to-face are touchpoints to your business.  They are just two of the many contacts that your clients have with you and your business. 

You have to understand that every one of your touchpoints is a message to your clients about who you are, what you do and where you fit in to their needs.  Not only that, but the message also tells your clients where they fit in with your business.

If you think this list is a lot to go over, you're right.  Yet this is a relatively small list and is only a summary of what you will actually cover.  

Let me show you.

You build a website.  Check.  You have a welcome page, some of your work, contact info, maybe some fun music playing and a slideshow of your favorite work.  

Great!  You're done with that touchpoint right?  WRONG.

How did you design it to create the message you are trying to convey?  You must go over things like colors used, branding, presentation, navigation, product placement, welcome and a minutiae of other information that is crucial - but worth it.

My website has bothered me in the past.  Something was always missing until I sat down and actually started asking myself the right questions about this important touchpoint(Sidenote:  All touchpoints are important).

First I corrected the color scheme.  My branding colors are white, black and vibrant green.  I knew that I liked the green because it was vibrant but I didn't want the site to come off too "green & grey" feeling, so I decided right away that other colors would eventually be used and those other accented colors would have to be as vibrant as the green to keep the style and feel the same.

That's when I looked at my slideshow.  The website has a built-in slideshow at the top.  Normally I would put in some of my best work, but after watching the images slide by I realized that there was subject matter there that I was no longer looking to shoot - and therefore irrelevant to the slideshow.

I decided to remove all of the slideshow images and do something different.

Realizing that my slideshow was a touchpoint within a touchpoint (confused yet?), I decided that I wanted to use it to show my clients specific products in an attractive way without directing them to a sales pitch.  Luckily, I know Photoshop quite well and within a few minutes I had 3 different images for my slideshow (so far) that show work from each of my relevant genres and display them within multiple products on consistently vibrant colored backgrounds.

Check them out:

For portraits

For lifestyle/commercial

For weddings

How did I feel after these subtle - yet crucial changes?

FAN-DAN-TASTIC!

It's true!  I haven't felt this good about the stability and focus of my website in a long time.  Of course it isn't perfect, but it is getting there and I can actually feel the change of moving forward as I go through these steps.  

One great thing is that when my site needs an update, I won't be floundering on which direction to go with it because I know which questions to ask myself.

Oh, and there was another advantage to this - it made me more creatively inventive.

Right after the update, I began to think of an image that I had shot earlier in the year.  It had always reminded me of the story of Dorian Gray.  

So I took that image and created a movie poster out of it - fun and creative!  Exactly why I got into this business!!

Model: Spencer Robertson.  Also click for a larger view and see who stars in the production.

So check out your touchpoints.  Methodically.  Patiently.  Let them wax over your mind for a while until you can use them best to your advantage and then execute.

What are some touchpoints that are bigger struggles to overcome?  Do you have some unique touchpoints?  Tell me about them and let's try to figure out how to make them work!

Later, 

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website

Michael Carty Email