Don Crossland Photography » Don Crossland Photography

Photographer Assistant for Fun and Profit

Don Crossland — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:05:16 +0000

A little over 10 years ago I sold my house in Phoenix and moved to (almost) LA to learn about the business and craft of photography and become a pro photographer. I had selected several photographers who were doing the type of photography I wanted to get into and doing it well. I met several of them but never made much headway. I assisted one photographer several times but I think I had more gear than she did and based on my lack of proximity to central LA (I lived in Riverside–don’t ask) it wasn’t very consistent. It was fun … Read the rest

My (Shortened) Wishlist

Don Crossland — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:23:45 +0000

I’ve been assembling a wish list of equipment I think would help me ranging from a new computer to lenses. These are definitely wants and not needs, they would make my life easier and help improve my work but, I have what I need to do quality work right now, so no excuses. I also have resources to borrow some things I might need and I can always rent extra things I need for bigger jobs. It’s not a super-long list and some of it is not too expensive so I think these things are attainable within a reasonable amount … Read the rest

Resolutions

Don Crossland — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 20:39:47 +0000

I’ve never been big on New Years Resolutions, mostly because I feel that people go into it all enthusiastic making grandiose resolutions that never get fulfilled. But, as I’ve set ‘goals’ for myself in the coming year, I think I might be kidding myself with semantics.

Any good goal setting starts with reflection. 2011 was a very tough year for me on a personal level and a very slow year on a professional level. While I am always ready to beat myself up for not doing as much as I should, I’m going to try something new– give myself a … Read the rest

Trouble Focusing

Don Crossland — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 01:09:51 +0000

I'm not talking about a mental thing here, though since it's been over 3 months since my last post, I may need to talk about the mental thing, too. This is about using manual lenses on cameras that have evolved to depend completely on autofocus.

My first SLR camera was a Contax RTS 35mm after I borrowed a friend’s Contax kit for my first trip to New York City. I decided on Contax for the sole reason that the lenses were Carl Zeiss T* (I’m also a bit of an outlier). My next camera was a Hasselblad 503 ELC, which … Read the rest

You’ll Find Me On Instagram

Don Crossland — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:00:27 +0000

Instagram is my new favorite social media platform. Over the past few months, I have been getting tired of Facebook and Twitter considering swearing off of them altogether. I had been introduced to the app while I was still living in NYC when it first came out but was using Hipstamatic at the time and figured I didn’t need another social media network, I could just share my photos via TwitPic. I also was using Best Camera to share iPhone pictures and I was liking the filters on that one better.

I started playing with Instagram one day and really … Read the rest

CreativeLIVE: Lighten Up and Shoot

Don Crossland — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:22:23 +0000

I’ve spent the better part of the weekend watching a CreativeLIVE workshop streamed live on the internet. This workshop was done by Mikey and Andy from Lighten Up and Shoot. I’ve watched several of these workshops, and even bought a few after, but I think this is my favorite one so far.

Lighten Up might be a play on photographic lighting but it also describes Mikey and Andy’s philosophical approach. Throughout the workshop they encouraged everyone to just get out there, shoot and have fun with it.

The workshop focused on street photography, which is their specialty. I had … Read the rest

500px is Poised to Rule the World

Don Crossland — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 23:11:32 +0000

At least the photo sharing world.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the "new" photo sharing site 500px. Not new at all, 500px has been around since 2003. So why all the attention now? I suspect it has to do with some improvements they've been making to the UX as well as the lack of the same from the leader, Flickr. Whatever the reason, photographers like Zack Arias are deleting their Flickr accounts and moving to 500px. I am about to do the same and I am also thinking about disconinuing my Project: 90 Days… Read the rest

The Tao of Personal Work

Don Crossland — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 20:42:01 +0000

Personal projects are important. I’ve heard many working photographers talk about how they landed jobs on their personal work and not on their portfolio. Don’t get me wrong, their portfolio got them in the door. But when Art Directors are looking at 5 portfolios they like, compelling personal work can tip the balance in your favor.

Personal work can also get you noticed and help you stand above the crowd. Japanese photographer Natsumi Hayashi has had a photo blog for over two years posting mostly photos of her cats, food and occasionally friends. About 9 months ago she posted a … Read the rest

Cultural Destination for Photography

Don Crossland — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:11:58 +0000

I have found my new favorite place to hang: the Annenberg Space for Photography. It’s located in Century Park, which is basically the downtown of Century City. There are plenty of tall office buildings with coffee shops and bistros in the area and even Westfield Mall nearby. The building you see on TV shows and movies with the big square hole in the middle is in Century Park.

Climbing up some stairs, away from the grassy knolls will take you to the space. The architecture of the building is appropriately modern; minimalist with and emphasis on function. Proportionately, it … Read the rest

Finding My Niche

Don Crossland — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 02:01:49 +0000

When I decided to leave New York and move to LA, I had a pretty concrete idea of what I wanted to do here and a vague idea of how I wanted to do it. In the four plus months it took me to get from NY to LA, everything has changed. My understanding of the way things work is part of that change but also my outlook on what I want to do.

With the next generation of digital movie cameras able to generate high-quality stills, the job of stills photographer on movie and TV sets will go away. … Read the rest