“Eventually all things merge into one… and a River runs through it”
Norman Maclean 1902-1990
My last shot of 2014.
A year with so much promise, yet somehow leaves us un fulfilled.
While we yearn to celebrate the new beginning of another year, there are so many whose lives were left in tatters in the waning days of 2014, the recent aircraft crash in the Java sea, the slain police officers in NYC. This holiday season forever etched with sadness for all of these families and their friends.
One can only hope that this new year 2015 brings with it some humanity, some renewed desire for truth, that we become pathfinders and together begin to see the value in one another before we focus on our differences.
This sounds like a tall order, it is for me, as I have always had great difficulty in letting go of past indiscretions, but to save ourselves forward we must go.
So I wish for all of my friends and family a happy and healthy New Year and for all those with a heavy heart that this New Year brings you happiness once again.
SB 12.31.14
It is always the details that matter, in my time as a Sonar Technician in the US Navy. It was the subtleties of sound in the sea that effected success or failure in an arena where failure clearly was not an option.
In my 25 years in a suit, it was the minor details that would decide if a deal closed or if a product would be successful. The long hard pursuit to maintain and ensure complete customer satisfaction coupled with the order of maintaining a profitable bottom line was realized only after every detail was addressed.
Having trained thousands of people in various areas of personal protection and in the arena of security, it was the engagement of the military and the attention to details that created our curriculum which has touched many lives in a straight forward and deliberate common sense approach.
Now in pursuit of a new chapter in my career, my lifelong passion of the photographic image once again calls on all of the skills of a lifetime wrestling with details.
Photography immerses one in Nature’s elements, exposes you to expression and all manners of emotion all of it swirling in a virtual ocean of variables leaving the photographer with the task of freezing a single moment in order to tell a story in entirety.
Creating images whether for Art’s sake or to capture a moment in someone’s life is my ultimate pursuit.
Available for life events, parties, portraits, sports, dance, architecture, cataloging heirlooms for estate protection and fine art commission.
Why Custom Photography Costs More.
The digital camera revolution has brought a wide array of creative flexibility and control in the photographic process. Photographers benefit from the flexibility of the digital darkroom and the ability to create. The cost of this flexibility comes with a price.
Digital camera equipment is still considerably more expensive when you factor in the lifespan of a digital camera.
Advanced computers, hard drive space, backup systems, software and time for processing are all large contributors to the bottom line.
Professional cameras cost between $3,000.00 and $10,000 just for the camera body, Pro lenses required for portraits and events cost well over $2,000.00, I never travel to an event without at least three to six lenses, let alone other equipment, it is not uncommon to have $25,000.00 worth of photo gear at an event.
Another example of digital costs are the memory cards required for a Professional digital camera, these high speed cards can costs as high as $500.00 per card.
There is a savings in film and developing costs, but Digital equipment carry’s a hefty price tag, not to mention the costs of marketing, maintaining a web presence and running a small business.
Sure you can take a selfy and pay $2.99 for a print at CVS, but, when it comes to imagery you do get what you pay for.
So why do Professional photographers cost more?
The answer to this question is multifaceted. Like most any other service business, Time is the biggest factor, add to that equipment costs, Expertise, Experience, Creativity and the reasoning begins to take shape.
A photographer’s expertise comes at no small cost, years spent learning their craft, learning the intricacies of lighting, composition and the Art of Photography.
When you hire a photographer you should be hiring an expert, one that reinvest’s in their business that enjoys a solid reputation of the highest integrity.
In order to produce a quality product, a photographer possesses not only sound knowledge in the technical and creative aspects of photography should also be using top notch Professional gear and reliable back up equipment as well.
In addition any Photographer who wants to succeed in his or her business should already know that having a solid reputation and keen customer service acumen is the key not only to success but to survival.
Please visit my gallery pages. I hope you enjoy the images.
Seth Block
It is the spoon from which we learn to eat.
A spoonful of sugar which helps us keep.
If lost on the road it is the fork we take.
While the dish ran off with the spoon in haste.
Never Forget ‘Tis the knife that cuts both ways.
Seth Block
The passage of time like the wind whispers as it passes.
That all living things great and small are nature’s own gifts.
It is up to us to open our own eyes and reveal this simple treasure.
Seth Block
The truth is you don’t, no more so than you need a professional chef.
However every time you go into a restaurant you basically are paying for one of those.
Most of us can do nearly everything we pay someone else to do, there is the element of time and convenience and the hope that someone you may hire knows a little bit more about the subject at hand than you do.
When it comes to certain things we don’t even consider an alternative, medicine for instance, my guess we would be a pretty sorry looking lot if we did our own dentistry.
The same can be said for a good number of industries, products and services, today with so much at our fingertips and an almost infinite access to information many businesses are re thinking their approach to the marketplace.
Do you really need a life insurance broker? Maybe not, but it may not be a bad idea to have a financial advisor as the various markets and wealth management tools can have a significant impact on our future, so the value add becomes the intangible question and future considerations.
Using a professional photographer in some sense is a luxury, perhaps you want an image to decorate a home or office, a portrait or head shot to display on a personal webpage or resume, as first impressions always have a significant impact.
You can of course photograph yourself, the “selfie” fad has become all the rage, the term has landed in webster’s dictionary, there was a pop song this past summer called “selfie” the song was as awful as many of the “selfies” themselves.
This brings me back to the question “does anyone need a professional photographer”
Funny thing, the area of intangible quality is perhaps answered most quickly in the business of photography; the results are right there for all to see. There is no mistaking the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.
The Art of photography is exactly that, the Art, the creativity in the use of light, the delicate manner in which a subject is presented, the impact an image makes when you first see it, again those first impressions.
There are so many ways to view ART, Music with its basic set of notes and the infinite sounds that are created, Ballet from its basic positions to the incredible interpretations of the artists as they float across the stage.
So too the image.
November, nestled deep within the Fall season is one of America’s great holidays.
Thanksgiving a time for sweaters, cold nights, great food and family traditions.
This past September I was in Plymouth Ma, yes the famous rock is there presumably exactly where it has always been, but not far away tied up to a pier sits the Mayflower II.
As explained an exact replica of the original Mayflower, built in England in 1955 at the same shipyard as the original hull was furnished some 400 years before.
The Mayflower, with her skipper one Christopher Jones, took 65 days to cross the Atlantic in what had to have been one of the most arduous trips imaginable.
Just over two months too cross the stormy Atlantic Ocean, 335 years later the SS United States would cross the Atlantic in 3 days 12 hours and 12 minutes, Today a typical airliner crosses the Atlantic in 6 hours and the space shuttle would normally take just under 11 minutes to cross that same span in space.
Are we to be thankful that we live in Nation that has accomplished so much in our relatively short history or are we to be thankful for our own accomplishments, our success in life or some other point of the measure of a man?
This morning I visited with an elderly man, 99 years old whose family is far away and who does not get to visit as often as they want too.
The man now frail and diminished was a successful doctor, an ardent tennis player, a stubborn old coot but with a heart of gold.
I did not know this man back in his day, I had never been to his home before and my visit was from a from a request from a fellow congregant, as he seems to perk up when he has visitors and anyone that could spend a few minutes with him once in a while would be very much welcome.
So I went today, he was tired and spoke just a few words, his live in aid was friendly and would sit with him as he liked to hold her hands.
So I am grateful, not for what I have or not, but that someone asked me to visit this man, the few minutes I spent there were a gift to me.
It reminded me that we are here for a very short while, it seems long at times, but the time just leaps past us all.
I have taken many journeys that have lasted days or weeks, I am sure we all have.
Today this quiet journey lasted but a few minutes, but one that may stay with me for some time to come.
Enjoy your Holiday and a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
Seth