The blog of Mike Tittel, a commercial, advertising and editorial photographer based in Salt Lake City, Utah

PDN The Shot 2011

I’m super excited to share that my image above was chosen as a winner in PDN’s “The Shot” sports photography contest. The image was featured in the “In The Water” category. Be sure to check out some of the other winners in the February issue of Photo District News. Many thanks to PDN and the judges for choosing my work.

*Update* You can now see all of the award winning images in PDN’s online gallery.

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Thursday, January 6th, 2011 News, Published Work 1 Comment

2010

2010. Simply amazing. Kudos to all who inspired and helped to make it one of the most memorable yet. Below are some random tidbits from this year. Some stand out more than others, but I always find it amusing to look back. Happy holidays everyone! Lookin’ forward to a stellar 2011 . .

Number of days “on the road”: 128

Favorite travel experiences: 1. Volunteering in the Olancho Region of Honduras with my wife – the people were amazing. 2. Shooting new work for my portfolio on Maui in February. Is there anything better than Hawaii in the dead of winter? 3. The MANY trips to different cities around the US to share my work with creatives.

Personal highlights: 1. Celebrating two amazing years of marriage. 2. Finding out I was going to be a father and hearing our child’s heartbeat for the first time. 3. Watching my little sister walk down the aisle. 4. Witnessing my mother battle a reoccurrence of breast cancer with such an amazing attitude and grace. She is one of my biggest inspirations. 5. Continued rapid growth of my business despite the economy.

Best purchases: My new custom print portfolio. An Apple iPad. Angry Birds.

Worst purchases: 2nd and 3rd iPhones – what can I say. I’ve got a plumber with slippery hands and I’m pretty good at losing things . . .

Best business books read: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau, Visionmongers by David DuChemin and The Dip by Seth Godin (not all were released in 2010)

Some of my favorite new music: OK GO (Of The Blue Colour of the Sky), Blind Pilot (3 Rounds and a Sound – discovered in but not released in 2010), The Avett Brothers (I and Love and You) and Ray LeMontagne and the Pariah Dogs (God Willing and the Creek Don’t Rise), KMTT’s Live From the Mountain Music Lounge Vol 16 (a great collection of live acoustic performances by some amazing artists)

Most creative music video: OK GO’s music videos are You Tube sensations for a reason. They are highly addictive and ubber creative. My personal favorite from this year is This Too Shall Pass. Make sure to check out White Knuckles as well. Highly entertaining and extremely well done.

Inspiring blog discovery: Yello by Smashbox Studios.

The year in movies: A creative 6 minute edit of clips from over 270 movies from 2010 by Gen Ip. Pretty dope if you ask me.

Smartest business investment: Hiring a consultant to help me take my business to the next level along with the many trips taken to get out and meet creatives in person.

Best advice: It wasn’t given to me directly but the advice from actor Kevin Spacey in the clip above is pretty powerful.

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Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 Miscellaneous 2 Comments

My Greatest Adventure?

Anyone who knows me understands that I consider myself a fortunate man. I’ve built the career of my dreams and feel truly blessed by the places my eyes have seen and the experiences I’ve had thus far in my life. As a photographer, I’ve frolicked with penguins at the southern tip of South America, climbed 20,000+ ft volcanoes in Ecuador, traversed massive glaciers on skis in the Canadian Rockies and sea kayaked with humpbacks in SE Alaska. Heck I’ve even swam with Oscar (the shark) off the coast of Maui. Life has been one big adventure after another, and I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.

It’s been the more personal things that have been the biggest blessings though. Finding and marrying the woman of my dreams. (I love you Brianna.) The love and support of an amazing family. A great network of friends. The list could go on and on. Honestly it’s hard to imagine life getting any sweeter yet somehow I know it will. It comes with great pride that I get to share the next chapter–my wife and I are expecting our first child. Come May, your’s truly is going to be a dad. As cliche as this sounds, somehow I know that nothing in my life thus far will compare to being a father. Call me a “sensey” if you will but I almost get tears in my eyes just thinking about the milestones ahead. I’ve got no clue if my experiences thus far in life have prepared me for the next chapter, and I’m not sure I care. Perhaps there’s nothing that can truly prepare me for being a dad. Maybe that’s what the adventure is all about.

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Sunday, October 31st, 2010 Miscellaneous 6 Comments

iPad as a Portfolio?

Confession time. This will probably come as no surprise, but I’m an Apple fan boy through and through. My wife thinks I am a bit obsessed but it is true. I love all things Apple and am starting to think I should buy stock in the company. In the last 18 months I’ve purchased several new computers and 3 iPhones. Yes 3. What can I say? I’m hard on gear, and our plumber has slippery hands. It was no surprise then when the iPad was released earlier this year I was immediately enamored. The technology is changing how media is consumed while opening new doors for photographers. It wasn’t until my latest round of portfolio reviews in California that I took the plunge and purchased an iPad.

As many of you may know, I recently invested a truck load of money into a new print portfolio that has been getting great response from creatives. So what then possessed me to add an iPad to the mix? Simple. The cost of updating my printed portfolio to show my latest work and images tailored to a specific project/client was simply too great. Now that I’ve used the iPad in numerous portfolio reviews I thought I would share some pros and cons based on my experiences and feedback from real-world, in-person meetings.

Pros:

Portability – nothing beats having a portfolio with you at all times for those chance encounters
Ease of updating/customizing presentations
Multiple “portfolio” apps available. I personally use (and highly recommend) FolioBook.
Ability to share motion/multimedia presentations through a medium less bulky than a laptop
Cutting edge technology and slick user interface keeps the photographer looking up-to-date
Great way to supplement a print portfolio with your latest work or show images tailored to a specific client
Option to show personal work in a personal setting. For me this meant creating a portfolio of portraits taken on a service trip to Honduras last February. I definitely didn’t show these to all clients but when it felt appropriate it was a great way to show more of my personality and the things that are important to me.
Cost is minimal when compared to the traditional custom print portfolio.

Cons:

In my mind an iPad will never come close to the wow factor of a custom built portfolio with high-quality prints. There is something to be said for the tactile feel of fine art paper and beautiful prints.
Surprisingly intimidating for many users. Some had never used one and were unsure how to navigate.
Liability for the viewer. Most art buyers I met enjoyed reviewing work this way, but commented they wouldn’t want someone to ship them an iPad for fear of theft, damage etc. I found this interesting since my printed portfolio cost 3 times that of the iPad, but understand their point given the universal appeal of an iPad.
Viewing size – a little small.
Finger prints – must clean after each use.
Cost is significant, if used in conjunction with a printed portfolio.
Since many photographers are starting to use iPads it will become increasing difficult to make presentations stand out and leave an impression during meetings. While it’s true a photographer’s work should be enough to garner attention, there are other factors to consider too, like branding and the overall experience.

All that said given my own experiences thus far I would not personally feel comfortable showing just an iPad at a formal “meet and greet”–especially for the high-end advertising and commercial work I am after. To me it simply doesn’t have the same “wow” factor as my printed book. However, I do believe the iPad is an excellent tool to supplement my custom print portfolio and share more recent work than what is in my printed book. It is also a great tool for sharing motion/multimedia and is great for those chance meetings.

For those looking for more opinions, check out A Photo Editor’s recent post on this very topic.

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Thursday, October 21st, 2010 Miscellaneous, Photo Education 8 Comments

San Francisco/Los Angeles Portfolio Reviews

It’s time to hit the road again. I’ll be in San Francisco and Los Angeles later this month to show off my current portfolio and meet with local creatives. If you are in either metro area and would like to schedule an appointment please call 801-560-6136 or e-mail mike@miketittel.com. I’d love to meet in person . . .