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Wise man knows he knows nothing

I've been interested in photography for the better part of 12 years now and extremely serious about it for about eight. I've taken everything from photography classes at the university to seminars at photo stores. I've watched countless hours of training videos and listened to photography podcasts on my daily commute for the last several years. I own MANY books on the subject, not to mention magazines but I will never kid myself into thinking that I know everything there is to know about this art that I love.

Which brings me to my friend and colleague, Michelle Perry. Let me start out by saying that I think Michelle is an amazing photographer whose work and style I admire. I had the good fortune of meeting her at one of the weddings I was shooting last year and we've remained in regular contact, both for support and advice. Funny enough, I was actually warned by the bride that she might be trouble and how right she was! 

I was able to sit down with Michelle this past weekend to talk shop for a while. We swapped stories and techniques along with business practices. I cherish the opportunity to network with a peer whom I respect. Long story short, we were going through some of the images from one of my recent shoots and she saw something that I hadn't. She saw an image within an image. After recomposing and editing, we took an image that was good and made it great. The new image, I feel is striking and tender. The emotion was already there, I just needed a different perspective. You can see below the original image straight out of the camera and the recomposed image.

Michelle definitely has a wonderful vision for beautiful images. You need look no further than her portfolio to see some wonderful examples.  I can see that I've got a lot to learn. As a matter of fact, I'll probably never stop learning as I try to continue to improve my skills and provide higher quality images.

Tony Llerena - Student of Photography Forever

Patience: Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything

Miyagi: Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.
Daniel: Ever catch one?
Miyagi: Not yet.

So I haven't blogged in a while since I've been back because I've been trying to catch up with life and family. There are a few travel photography tips that I've been meaning to share. I'll be posting about a couple of tips and techniques that I used on my trip to Japan and how they helped me to create the best possible images given the opportunities that were afforded to me.

The first tip is have patience. Benjamin Franklin once said that "He that can have patience can have what he will." There are photographers that have waited 12 years to get the perfect shot. Scott Bourne had a specific image in mind when he created "Cranes in the Fire Mist." I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone wait that long to take a picture but I will suggest that you wait a couple of minutes for the other tourists and sightseers to leave the scene so you can get a pure shot of the monument or site you are visiting. The shot above was taken along the Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto. There were many other people around and I do have some shots with folks looking at the shrine. What I noticed is that I was standing in between two groups of tourists and if I waited for the right time, the first group would move on before the next group could make it into the shot. I would only get about 45 seconds of this unobstructed view so I was patient and waited for the opportunity.


Patience applies to all forms of photography. Whether it's shooting wildlife, sunsets, children or weddings, patience can be the difference between a good shot and a great shot.

~Tony Llerena Photography~