Will The REAL Expert Please Stand Up!

Wow! I'm concerned about something that I'm actually surprised even came up to my conscious mind! (I was watching TV when this occurred to me.)

Do you ever watch TV? Do you look at and read ads in magazines or the newspaper? What about ads on the internet...Ever see one of those?

My question is: Are there really that many experts?! I mean qualified authorities with proven track records, and who have the solution to whatever problem you might be facing, such as: Exercise; Nutrition; Fat loss; Erectile dysfunction; Sleeping disorders; Dry eye; on and on???

Some years ago there used to be a game show on TV called "To Tell The Truth". They would have one person who really was an airline pilot, a plumber, a professional auto racer, etc, etc, and three other people who would pretend to be that genuine (whatever) and do their best to fool a panel of contestants into believing they were the real deal.

As I recall, (I was pretty young back when that show was on), the fakers would get money for the votes they got by fooling the panel of "guessers" into believing they were the real deal. At the end the host would say, "Will the REAL____ please stand up!" And still the fakers would continue to play the part and pretend they were about to stand up! Finally the real (whatever it was) would stand up.

I think it was the first presidential campaign that JF Kennedy won when it was pronounced that from then on television and the way a person appeared on TV would be the determining factor as to who would win. Interesting, eh? Not the facts, the record or the platform...The way they appeared on TV!

There's certainly no question that television is a major influencer in society today. And so is the internet and even the printed word such as ads in magazines and newspapers. All these ads present their pitch as if they are THE foremost authority on the subject, and their product is the obvious choice. They even have testimonials...Of course they may be from actors paid to give them... They expect us to believe them! But should we?

Have you ever noticed some of the disclaimers and "side effects" associated with the use of their products and advise? Some even include the possibility of causing death! Holy Smokes, Batman!

So, my conclusion is that NO! They don't have the answers...But they present slick, believable appearances, and use proven psychologically intimidating and or convincing statements. But we should not trust and believe them just on their say so! I just want to remind you to use your thinking ability when considering decisions about buying and using products and services being pitched in such high-powered ways.

We should ask questions. Questions such as; What is the Guarantee? How long has the business been in business? What is their track record? Are there unresolved complaints about the business or product registered with the Better Business Bureau?

Those are my thoughts... Be well! Don't be duped!

Specializing in fine portraits of Families, Children and high school Seniors for over 30 years in Hawaii.

November News

Specializing in fine portraits of Families, Children and high school Seniors for over 30 years in Hawaii.

It's been a while since I wrote anything here, but in my defense, I'm the only one working in my portrait business. There are only so many hours in a day, and so many days in the week...and taking care of my clients takes priority over everything else. (Except for golf on my one day off each week!)

So, I cut my hair. I meant to trim it a little and reduce my ponytail from 20" to about 6", but what happened I can't really explain. Anyway it looked ridiculous when I finished, and I couldn't even get it into a ponytail any more. So I went to Supercuts to get it "fixed" so it looked decent.

My haircutter just couldn't get what I was explaining to her about what I wanted, so I left $20 lighter and no happier with my hair than I was when I went in. The next day I went to the barber here in the shopping center where my studio is, and she fixed it for me...for only $15!

Then I got MARRIED! (No, not to the barber! To my sweetheart of the last 15 years!)
Here we are saying our vows at Magic Island park on Oahu.


It was a very short ceremony, and then I serenaded
my new bride with a love song by Neil Young,
"Harvest Moon".

My good friend and fellow photographer, Steve Dantzig manned the camera during our event, then we put it on timer to include him in the group photograph. Unfortunately this Blogger program doesn't want to upload that photograph for some reason...I tried 4 times! But it was a fabulous day, and the food was great as usual at the Price Court after the ceremony.

I will attempt to be more frequent and regular with posing here in the future. All the best to YOU!

Classes, Actors and Videos!

I've been giving talks and presentations for more then 20 years. I've been conducting classes as an instructor of photography for a few years now. Not long ago, with some help, I made a short video for my website's home page, and that wasn't too tough. Mainly because I was on camera for only two short sentences or so. The rest of the voice over was easy because I wrote what I wanted to say, and I read it. I wasn't ON camera, so reading the script wasn't a bad thing.

Last week I undertook the making of a series of short instructional videos. Actually, I began the process some weeks back, but the actual production began last week. And I say BEGAN, because while I fully intended to make all seven of them at one filming..... That didn't happen!

I had written the scripts for the videos the week before, and I had them to where I thought they were good, and polished to the point I wanted them. When my friend and videographer came to my studio to record the videos I read over the scripts a couple times, and knowing the material, I thought, "This will be easy!"

Hahahah! Not so! According to all the best information out there, videos for YouTube should be about one and a half to two minutes long maximum. So when reading my scripts, I made sure they were no more than two minutes. Shoot! To record 14 minutes of video shouldn't take more than one hour...right?

I suppose that would be so if, and this is a big IF...one has the script memorized! So, even though as I said, I know the material, (heck, I wrote it, and it's stuff I've been teaching for years!), in a matter of three hours we were only able to get three of the videos recorded! And as it was, it would require quite a bit of editing on the part of my friend the videographer!

I'm excited to get them all finished and posted, but I tell you, I now have a whole new respect for actors! They memorize many pages of scripts and deliver them as if it were spontaneous. Nothing to it! That's quite a talent! One that I haven't developed. So, yeah, I have new-found respect for actors!

Specializing in fine portraits of Families, Children and high school Seniors for over 30 years in Hawaii.

The Changing (Digital) Landscape of Professional Photography

Forty years ago nobody would buy a Brownie box camera and think to offer their services as a professional photographer. Around thirty years ago Kodak and a couple other manufacturers came out with “instamatic” cameras. Still, no one would think that with an instamatic camera they were equipped to offer professional photography services.

As camera technology progressed, more and more “bells and whistles” got added to the improving models of what then became known as “point and shoot” cameras. Still, nobody with just a point and shoot camera would consider himself or herself a professional photographer.

You see, back in the days before the advent of digital cameras, film was the medium for recording photographs. And before the invention of instamatic and point and shoot cameras, you had to actually know how to use the controls on a camera in order to properly expose the film to make a photograph.

Instamatic and later point and shoot cameras enabled millions of people to make snapshots and record their lives and those of their families and friends. Professional cameras with changeable lenses and aperture and shutter speed controls continued to be the tools of professional photographers and serious amateurs.

Point and shoot cameras designed for hobbyists proliferated and millions of people began to enjoy the hobby of photography. And certainly many got to be pretty good at composing and creating photographs with them. But even if all their friends told them what great photographs they made, do you think a person with a point and shoot camera would have the gumption to claim to be a professional and offer their services for hire? I think not.

Now days with all the available digital SLR cameras geared to the hobbyist consumer with a price tag that is within the reach of many hobbyists, one cannot tell by looking at the camera whether the user knows what they are doing or not! Why not? Because all the DSLRs have Program modes of operation that enable the user to use them just the same as a point and shoot camera.

The advances of digital photography have been absolutely wonderful! Now days a camera is a complex computer with a lens, and most people with a little practice can make some pretty good photographs with them. Certainly the optics for modern DSLRs are vastly improved over the point and shoot optics of yesteryear.

The downside of all this progress is that more and more hobbyists with nice DSLRs are marketing themselves as professional photographers, and charging for their services without knowing anything about photography except how to frame a picture and press the shutter release. As a result many people are being duped into hiring amateurs, and are buying amateur quality photographs because they think they are getting a good deal because the price is low. And because they don’t know how to separate the amateurs from the pros when choosing a photographer to do a job for them, whether it be portraiture or commercial photography.

Caveat emptor…Let the consumer beware!



Specializing in fine portraits of Families, Children and high school Seniors for over 30 years in Hawaii.

How To Choose Your Professional Portrait Photographer

In today’s market place, with so many amateurs with nice DSLRs claiming to be professional photographers, how does one determine who to hire to create their portraits?

It used to be a lot easier. In times past it was fairly rare that you would see an amateur with a professional camera. They were too expensive, and one needed a working knowledge of the science of photography in order to operate a professional camera. (I’m referring to the days of film and before Program mode was built into pro cameras as an option.) And certainly one would never see a professional using a point and shoot camera on a paid assignment!

Now days, while it is easy to spot the difference between a point and shoot camera with built in zoom lens, and a DSLR, so many hobbyists are carrying “pro-sumer” DSLRs, one can no longer tell a pro from an amateur by the camera they use.

So, why is it important to know if the person you hire is a professional or not if the cameras are the same? Because, simply put, cameras do not create photographs. What?! You say… That’s right…cameras record the light that is reflected by whatever the lens is pointed at! Creating photographs is the job of the person operating the camera.

What’s the difference, and why does it matter? You can have the best camera and lens in the world, but if you don’t know how to operate it, you can’t make a photograph. If you know how to turn the camera on, put it on program mode and press the shutter release, you can indeed make a photograph. Well, one might say, that’s all you need then, right?

The answer to that depends on what you expect from your photographer. If for example a person knows how to turn the ignition of a car on, and put it in drive, that person can make the car move. However if that same person does not know how to use the steering wheel, accelerator and brake, you wouldn’t say they know how to drive a car…and it wouldn’t be long before they crash!

You see, photography and creating photographs is much more than turning a camera on and making a lot of exposures in program mode. With today’s advanced metering systems and computer programs built in, one is likely to get some fairly good photographs that way, but if that’s the extent of one’s knowledge, the law of averages is not with them.

A professional photographer knows their equipment and how to operate it so that the image they have in their mind, they are able to create in the camera. A professional photographer knows how light and shadow affects the image, and how to balance the light to get the effect they want. A professional photographer knows the difference between a snapshot and a portrait, and how to enhance a photograph so as to turn a photograph into a portrait.

Particularly for portraiture, you want to hire a professional, because a pro knows how to light and pose you to accentuate your best features, and hide less desirable features. You do want to look your best in your portraits, don’t you?

So, how do you know if the photographer you are considering is really a professional? You need to ask the right questions. Some good questions to ask are: Where did you learn photography? How long have you been a professional? What is your guarantee? Can I talk to some of your portrait clients? Why did you choose to become a professional photographer?

Besides being competent with their camera and lights, a professional portrait photographer should also put you at ease, and give you a sense of confidence that they will do the kind of job that will make you happy!


Specializing in fine portraits of Families, Children and high school Seniors for over 30 years in Hawaii.

Why Family Portraits Are So Important

I have lots of snapshots of my family. I have snapshots of me and my brothers and sisters at the beach, at parties, etc. And I have snapshots of mom and dad in various places and times. But there are no portraits of my family with my parents and siblings all together. Both my parents and one brother are deceased, so that portrait of my family can never be made.

The tragedy of not having a portrait of my family, (actually there aren’t even any snapshots of all of us together), is the fact that my children and their children, etc will never know what we all looked like as a family. It’s about lineage and family history. If there are any photographs of my grandparents in existence, I don’t know of them. It’s a shame.

I don’t know why my parents never thought to have a family portrait made, but I sure wish they had. All families are different, and my family completely unraveled shortly after my youngest sister left home. Shortly after that I left the roost, (being the youngest child), and then my parents divorced. No getting back together for a family portrait after that!

Just an hour ago a young family left my studio. The husband is a medic in the Army, and will be deployed to Iraq in two weeks for an undetermined length of time. The wife works for the Army doing outreach and helps those families and spouses who have lost a family member. She determined to have a special family portrait made before he deploys. Her main reason, she said is because she works with bereaved families and knows what their regrets are. One that stands out to her is when the spouse or family has no real nice family portrait to hold on to. She’s not about to make that mistake.

Beautiful, sensitive family portraits certainly portray the family members in the most complimentary way possible, but they also give a sense of the personality of the family, the individuals, and the relationships within the family. The love and connection.

As with many other families, my older siblings left for the military, university, and marriage, and went of to various parts of the world to start their own families. And as many of my clients do, having a fine family portrait created before the children go off to college or other pursuits can bring back the added warmth and comfort to the empty nest. When going about your daily business in the home, you can look at your family portrait on the wall and see the expressions, all the personalities, all the love of and for your family members is called to mind, and warms the heart.

Family portraits also preserve the record of your heredity. Looking at older family portraits you can likely see where you got your nose, or who you inherited your jaw line from, or your eye color, or curly hair. Portraits are a wonderful way to remember your ancestors, and a wonderful heirloom to pass on to your children and grandchildren.

Fine family portraits can give “life” to ancestors from past eras, and give proof to your inherited features. They can fill an empty home with warmth when family members are away. They can bring comfort and preserve precious memories when family members have been lost.

Hawaii Family Portrait Photographers

I am a Hawaii Family Portrait Photographer based on Oahu, but that hasn't always been my specialty.

First let me sat that 90 to 95% of all pro photographers in Hawaii are Wedding photographers. There's good reason for that. Hawaii is the world's number one wedding destination! While I've always been a Family Portrait photographer, for the first half of my career I was a "generalist". That is I did every kind of photography that one can do...above water. After 1991 I began to specialize in Family Portraits. That was the year my dad died. And that's when I realized I had no family portraits - not even a snapshot of my parents and siblings all together. And now it can never be done. Sad.

I have always been an artist, and people have always been my favorite subjects. I moved away from my family as a young 20-something to Kauai, Hawaii, and at that time I just didn't think about my own family portraits. And mortality was absolutely the furthest thing from my mind. I was on a life adventure to Hawaii!

I was a young man with a passion for art and photography living in Hawaii! I free lanced as a photographer for some time, then I took a position as a staff photographer for a Maui advertising agency. It wasn't long before I became the head of the photography department for the agency. Eventually I started my own promotions company and handled all the photography myself.

Then my dad passed away.
It was then that I discovered I had not one single family portrait, picture, snapshot. And that was when I learned the real value Family Portraits. That's when I understood what a treasure a fine family portrait truly is.

You see, no portraits exist of my family, and since my dad died there can never be one made. As a result my grandchildren and great grandkids will never know what my family looked like together. Even if we did have a snapshot of all of us together, it wouldn't be the same as having a fine, professional family portrait.

As a family portrait photographer here in Hawaii I create a lot of photographs at the beach, and so do a lot of other photographers. What I've noticed is that 99% of the beach photographs I see being made by other photographers are being made as if it were a wedding or other editorial type event. What I mean by that is the photographers are using only available light, or only one flash unit mounted right on the camera.

Available light can be very nice, but out on the beach in Hawaii, unless you set up with the sun shining in the subject's face, which will result in squinting, uncomfortable expressions, the sky will always come out white, because it will be way overexposed.

When using just one flash on the camera, the light is flat...but NOT flattering! (You can learn a lot more about location lighting by signing up for my class, "Little Lights - BIG Impact" at www.HawaiiSchoolofPhotography.com).

As a lifetime student of art, and a fan of the "Old Masters" paintings, and with my experience in creating family portraits in Hawaii, I want you to know that I truly care. When you place your trust in me to create your Hawaii Family Portraits, I will take the time and care to make sure you will have the very finest portraits possible. I will invest all my experience, talent and artistry, I will put my heart and soul into creating the most beautiful and sensitive Family Portraits you have ever had....Made in Hawaii!

I invite you to view my website at http://www.ParamountPhotography.com, check out my work and see what my clients have to say.