So here I sit knee deep in plastic toy parts and wrapping paper shreds…assembling the toys that I…I mean my son…received for Christmas.

“Some assembly required” is a term that draws one of two responses from fathers across the globe. Either “Bring it on!” or “Jeesh, we should have paid for assembly, what were we thinking!”

I say BRING IT ON!!! Being a technical type of guy, coupled with the fact that part of being a commercial photographer involves problem solving and some level of understanding of advanced technology and engineering.

Thanks to my prior position in design and development at Procter & Gamble, working with and developing new and creative products for brands like Swiffer gave me plenty of experience in this area!

So I spent a few minutes the other day compiling a quick video with my G9 to put my book out on the web for creatives and others to see. It’s a quick video that allows people to view my work withouth having to call my book up or even go to my site.

While it may seem a bit silly on the front side to do a video versus a slick iMovie or Premiere Pro production of slides with jazzy transitions…but this form I think gets to the work versus getting the work lost in all the flashy transitions and effects of a well compiled slideshow.  That said, don’t put it past me to come up with one of those either

I’ve also got another form to share my book with others…I’ll be posting that later this week…

My long time buddy Dean arrived home today from Africa after a long hard 12 months serving in the US Army.
A shout out to him for his time and dedication to our country. I’m glad he could make it home for Christmas.
I know a lot of men and women may spend this holidays away from their family and friends…so let me say thanks for serving and Merry Christmas from a grateful American!

So being a commercial photographer in Cincinnati does not necessarily mean I shoot “just” in Cincinnati.

Here’s a Photo of the week from an assignment in San Diego, California.

Something we’ve all heard in one form or another before – Stop mulling over what you are going to do and “JUST DO IT”.

Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua stated it so eloquently in her Creative Lube Podcast “Do anything, just Do Something”.

In this time of economic turmoil and uncertainty, now is not the time to be complacent.  Now is not the time to sit back and re-order our lists or compile a bunch of to do’s we’ll maybe sorta eventually get to.  We must be proactive, get out there and do what it is you say you’re going to do.  No one is going to come to your rescue and do it for you.

I am to be blamed on one occasion or the other over the past few months.  Whether it’s planning for the perfect promo piece, building a marketing list, mulling over my portfolio, rebuilding my website…etc etc…

All good things to be mulling over, don’t get me wrong.  I think all of these things are worthwhile to give some forethought to…just not at the expense of actually getting them done.

A while ago I started reading the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.  While reading a book primarily focused on productivity,  I got bogged down in listing every important trick and tip he gave in his book.  Don’t laugh, I really did.  I took what was already written out and re-wrote it.  Silly, it seems, but I know a lot of us are plagued with this overwhelming desire to capture every little detail before actually starting out on getting to work on something or another.  GET OVER IT and GET SOMETHING DONE.

So there have been a number of steps I’ve taken over the past several weeks to DO SOMETHING:

• I hired a consultant to work with me on my business plans and direction. Thanks Judy
• That work panned out and my business direction and plans for the year ahead are set.  Thanks Julie
• I’ve had a new website built by a professional – instead of building it myself.  Thanks APF!
• I built a bank of images, eliminated work not representative of my interests, and built my portfolio base.
• I hired Rob Haggart as a consultant to review my work and work with me on what type of photography I market and share.
• I am getting a mailer out this month.
• I built a new book and prepared it to show.
• I submitted my book to a local publication and have a line of three other publications waiting to see it.
• I’m building two other books to “spread the word” and allow myself multiple showings of my book.

While not every one was planned out with Milataristic attention to detail, they are steps that have been actually executed to move my business forward.

So there it is, my thoughts on moving forward, not just thinking about it, actually doing it.

Being a commercial photographer has it’s benefits….

I was recently hired to shoot the photography for use in the ‘09 collateral materials for the Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund.  Being chosen as the photographer was quite an honor and on top of that, I got some unprecidented access to some of the finest Art Museums in the country.

Enjoy….

Cincinnati Art Museum

More to come soon….

Ok so the title is kinda corny…

I worked today with Rob Haggart on rebuilding and tooling out my new site.  I’ll be introducing some new books and lots of new work that has not yet been released on my site yet.

All in due time.

Anyhow on to working with Rob.  He’s a really down to earth guy and has helped me develop some insight and clarity on narrowing down what it is that I do (want to do).  I’ll share more with you as the new site launches, but I wanted to leave you with a thought today….

Figure out what you want to do, then do it.  Sounds simple enough right.  But if you think about it, half of the time we’re making lists…  More on that in the following post.

Enjoy the new site as it goes live and don’t hesitate to drop me feedback.  It’s always welcome.

Cheers, Rick