Tomas Mendoza Photography

Ever had your camera in front of you and no idea what to shoot, how to compose the shot or even the desire to shoot at all?
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges we face is related to motivation and consistency. In one word: Discipline
How do we refresh the ‘batteries’? How do we keep things fresh and interesting? How do we get inspired or how do we come up with ideas of what to shoot?

One of the pivotal elements in our Digital Photography Workshop is the weekly assignments. After discussing theory, creative application and how to make those changes on each individual’s camera, each week students get a specific assignment. The objective is for us to spent the weekend shooting with a concept in mind.

During class a couple of months ago I was asked what to do after the workshop was over. So, I suggested to cycle through the assignments we had and re-shoot them in the same sequence. However, I ended up making a list of projects to use acquired Phographic skills: PAD (picture a day), a Blog where you write then shoot to illustrate your point, document family history, dedicate the weekend to shoot someone’s hobby, shoot your valuables for inventory and insurance, shoot for online sales, and others

It was such an energizing meeting that when I got home I had come up with a new project of my own: Cleaning, organizing and sale as much online as possible.

In the past I had used my 10-foot backgrounds and lighting setup for product and commercial applications but I had the whole floor so space was not a problem. This time, however, as soon as I begun bringing all those unopened boxes (from the last time we moved) my home studio got cluttered. I had thrown my hat over the fence so I had to jump… I was not going to move those boxes again. So it became apparent that I needed a small setup to take pictures.
Frustrated and tired then I begun checking out accesories for table top photography. Some pretty cool stuff out there but despite their appeal (assuming I could decide on a model) they were not cheap and it would take a while for shipping. By midnight my cleaning idea gave way to a new project: I was going to build my own Table Top Setup.

Next day I begun sketching the requirements and specifications: Light yet sturdy, easy to setup and store, versatile and economic. I debated between wood similar to the posts I used to make some light stands but I settled on PVC because it was easier to cut and adjust without making a big mess (also cheaper). Originally, the table and the background ‘holder’ were going to be a single piece but I couldn’t decide how far back the background should be so it made sense to make two pieces to separate them as needed. I was having problems deciding how tall, deep and wide it should be but the hardware store made it easy for me.

for less than $20 bucks we got:
They sell Plywood in 2×2
Precut 2-feet PVC40
Plexi glass 24×18 inches
10 ft regular PVC for the cross bars and the backdrop holder
A roll of Banner Paper which is also 24 inches (thanks to my wife Kari)

The kids helped on this project and a couple of hours later we built a ‘table’ that is 32 inches tall and the background holder stands 62 inches

And here is the whole setup shooting sample pictures to use in my Digital Photography Workshop

Here is a shot posted on an online auction

What do you think?

Congratulations to Whitlee & Josh!!!

Definitively there is no better Valentine’s present than an “I DO”

We are grateful for allowing us to be there and capture some of your Wedding’s precious moments. Enjoy

Some of us grew up with the notion that if we did something wrong we’d go to Hell and that we’d burn in an endless fire pit

Now, in the past I have said that if Photography was a religion the camera manual would be the Bible, so… what would burn a Photographer the most?

Those who shot film might remember all the precautions we took to protect our precious film such as filling the refrigerator with rolls of film instead of food
It is also true that developed rolls would be placed in archival sleeves to make sure we could print pictures centuries later

For the most part, we don’t shoot film anymore but follow the same logic. We keep our memory cards as protected from physical damage the best we can and transfer the pictures to our computers as soon as possible, organize them and store them away. But is there a ‘Happily ever after’?

It was 1997 when my first laptop crashed and I took it back to the electronics store where I bought it to have fixed. They knew best, right? Well, they sent it to their repair center and a couple of weeks later got a call to come by the store. Two weeks without a laptop was too much so I was giddy as my children on Christmas morning
However when the store clerk informed that my laptop was ‘non-repairable’… Well, hate to admit I started crying just like my one-year-old son

Oh Hell hath no fury… like the loss of Pictures

We use at least two cameras, multiple lenses, redundant flashes, bunch of batteries and several memory cards…if something fails, we have a reliable backup. All because Mr Murphy says everything will fail… and fail they will. It’s a fact of life

We’d like to think it will happen to somebody else but, whether Mac or Windows, computers crash. Don’t need to like it… another fact of life

What we do (or don’t do) before the crash will set us on a Highway to Hell or send us to Picture Nirvana

A couple of weeks ago someone mentioned they had a computer crash and took their computer for repairs. The technician said they had to send the Hard Drive to a high-tech, static-free facility to recover all their pictures and that would cost a couple Thousands… at least
We just shot a wedding and last week was editing pictures and walked away to take a break. My one-year-old decided to play under my desk and turned power to my workstation… Yup, my computer crashed and crashed hard. Spent two hours after the workshop bringing the workstation back to life and deleting corrupted pictures
What if my workstation couldn’t come back to life? Another workstation or even my laptop could finish the job without lossing a single picture

External hard drives used to cost thousands… not so anymore
Next time you are roaming the electronics sections (before drooling over the HD TV sets) check out the External Hard Drives. If a Hundred bucks is too much allow me to ask, how much are our pictures worth?

Can you imagine telling a young bride “Sorry, I lost all your wedding pictures”?

Oh, Hell hath no fury… like the loss of pictures

Wasn’t Christmas just last weekend? Where have the first two months gone to? Have I been able to keep up with my New Year’s Resolutions?
The truth? We’ve been busy to care.  Time seems to fly when you have fun and do the things you love
So, where should I start?
December was packed with Photo Sessions, pictures to edit and prints to deliver that never got to buy anything for my beautiful partner… So, today I ordered a camera for my supportive wife who deserves my heart

Since we got questions about editing pictures we begun offering a Photoshop Workshop (link) this year and these two months we have been busy preparing for classes and printing assignments… We sure had fun at the workshops

So, how come I didn’t get anything for my Valentine

Well, we shot our first 2010 wedding on Feb 13 and have been busy editing all the pictures before deadline

My wife came with me to shoot the wedding


and the best part was yesterday when I came across a nice picture. I actually thought “Man, I’m good” until I saw the metadata and realized I didn’t shoot the picture: My wife did!!! (just don’t tell her)

Everything was fine…until I tried to upload pictures to my server and discovered that my host had updated the web server and I couldn’t connect…until tonight I was finally able to connect :)

We were at a park in Southlake making some family portraits. Even though the weather was not cooperating we were able to have fun while capturing some memories forever

While driving from several places was certainly challenging due to the snow and icy roads, being able to spend Christmas together makes traveling worthwhile

Enjoy