http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:patricechiniara&section=today deviantART RSS for by:patricechiniara en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:46:17 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/26909233/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/26909233/ Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:03:15 PDT
I also haven't shot much lately, I'm looking forward to getting into it upon my return.

Web site has been updated: [link]

Patrice

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/26047734/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/26047734/ Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:42:11 PDT
Have a look and let me know what you think... [link]

Patrice

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/25584310/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/25584310/ Sat, 27 Jun 2009 09:58:46 PDT
I've been inactive since February, although I've been connecting to DA on a regular basis, I have not been doing much. Due to lots of comments and kind words, I've decided to resume activity. I've even renewed my membership of another few months.

I will be posting my new work in series rather than single pictures.

Thanks to all for the kind words,

Patrice
[link]

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/23079771/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/23079771/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:40:03 PST
I've been looking at the evolution of DA and I'm sad to see that the quality of the work is going down fast. Not that people are not evolving, quite the opposite, but good artists have now huge competition coming from random submitters. You look at the number of deviations posted each second, and at times, it's about 10 deviations a second and most of it is serious crap.

We're overwhelmed with bad work to the extent that I'm having a hard time finding good work in all the crap that's posted. Even looking at my profile, there was a time where I could get about 400-500 favorites per picture and now, if I can get 20 favorites and 30 views, I'm surprised.

I'm looking at the way I'm approaching DA and I can understand these statistics. I don't bother looking at stuff anymore, there's just too much bad stuff out there and the admins are doing a very poor job at sorting out what should be a deviation and what should be scrap.

As such, I have taken down all my deviations, except for my 3 most popular. I will keep my account active to follow people who's work I like. My work can be viewed on my web site at [link] This way, I only have one place to keep up to date.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/22973679/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/22973679/ Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:07:06 PST

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/22297166/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/22297166/ Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:15:17 PST
Now, what a new year without some interesting and crunchy profile extracts? I found a couple more interesting ones that I'm sharing with you, so hopefully, you'll enjoy them. Of course, my crunchy comments are included.

NOTE: If you are a fake photographer just looking to do a shoot with a girl in a dirty motel room just for your own pleasure, do NOT contact me. I'm pretty smart and can easily eye u perverts out!

Well, I don't know a single photographer who has not shot in a hotel room, dirty or not. Why? Because sometimes, this is exactly what you need to get your theme through. And yes, I shoot models for my own pleasure. Hell, the whole idea behind my photography is pleasure and fun, otherwise I won't do it. So, following your comment, if I happen to shoot a model in a hotel room and enjoy it, I'm a pervert and you're smart? Nice going, lady!

Reality check: being a pervert has nothing to do with the fact that you will not shoot with a photographer. I'm sure every model can give a list of photographers that are perverts and guess what: these guys have been at it for years and will still be here. Why? Because YOU, as a model, just happen to shoot with them!!! Some of these photographers will even tell you to your face that they are perverts and you will go shoot with them. And some of them are actually good.

Now on a personal note, why would anyone feel the need to say they are smart when writing a profile? If we cannot pick it up by talking to you, saying it will not change anything. You do not want to shoot in hotel rooms, just say so and move on.

If you Have a problem with me bringing someone then DO NOT contact me PLEASE. I have the right to bring someone with me and I feel if that is a problem for you then you have something to hide.

Ah, now that's another good one. Few years ago, I shot a model while her boyfriend was there. After an hour, he was getting impatient and we had to cut short the shoot. Few days later, I dropped by the girl's house to give her the pictures and she took me to her room and showed me a big hole in the wall punched by the boyfriend after the shoot because he was pissed. The guy ruined the shoot and had no business being there.

Each time someone other than the photographer is in the studio, the girl looks at that person she knows for approval and even the slightest nod will change everything. Approval, that's the photographer's job. If you need an escort to go shoot, stay home, don't bother because the day you get seriously into shooting, no one will be have the time to follow you around full time.

I'm booking for June 2010

I can't remember if this one was extracted from a photographer or model profile. Regardless... Are you really telling me that in the next year and a half, you have absolutely no availability to shoot? Besides, who the hell wants to commit for a shoot 18 months later? 18 months will give enough time for anyone to find someone else to do the job!


Now the following was extracted from a male model profile page.

My 9 Simple Life Principles
1. The law of your mind is the law of belief.
2. Everything begins with a thought, idea, or a desire.
3. For every thought there is a cause.
4. For every cause there is an effect;
5. For every effect there is a sequence of actions.
6. For every action there is a reaction.
7. For every reaction there is a decision made.
8. For every decision made there is consequence;
9. For every consequence there is a sequence of results, which are all, traced back to your original thoughts.

Now you have to remember that we're shopping for a male model here and we honestly could not care less about his philosophy, as long as he looks good and works well.

Then again, we'll humor him. Let's take his approach towards philosophy and we'll see where we get. Let's start with the thought: I want to become a photographer.

Principle #1: useless, doesn't help.
Principle #2: I desire to become a photographer
Principle #3: The cause: It's a fun activity
Principle #4: The effect: errr... I'm buying a camera
Principle #5: Action: Go to the store and get the camera
Principle #6: Reaction: Have less money in my bank account, but I have a camera
Principle #7: Decision: So now you have to decide after the action? Shoot first and ask questions later? Oh, what am I saying, we're humoring the guy. Decision: The... ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/21975420/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/21975420/ Sun, 14 Dec 2008 06:43:58 PST
I'm always on the lookout for interesting (i.e. really, really stupid) comments in profiles. I don't have that many of them but these are really crunchy.

I'm putting as much time as you are, so don't cheat me on the images. I didn't shoot with you for 4 hours so you could give me 3 images of your choosing.

Model part: sleep early, show up for 4 hours (3 hours of shoot, 1 hour of makeup), stay in shape.
Photographer part: find MUA, find stylist, prepare studio and paint, show up for 4 hours, photoshop for 10-15 hours, pay for equipment, pay for rent, pay for film.

Who's getting the better part here?

Besides, having a dozen photos from the same shoot only says one thing about you: You can't get that many photographers to shoot with you! Concentrate on quality, not quantity.

I often travel (particularly but not limited to Florida, Chicago, LA, and Canada)

This person obviously has no idea that Canada is the biggest country in the world and that travelling to Canada means obsolutely nothing. Travelling to Toronto will make it very hard to shoot with Vancouver models/photographers!!!

Also I will be taking my dog to all first time shoots. He is well behaved and will just be there to make me feel more comfortable.

Now that's probably the best one I have ever read and believe me, I try hard! This model has obviously never shot in her life and if she has, she won't be doing it for very long. Of course, there's plenty of room in a studio to put a 100 lbs dog. An no, the concern will not be that the photographer might bite you, but rather that he might step on your dog's tail by mistake and have it bite his leg of. You might as well show up with a shot gun, at least, you won't step on its tail and it'll take less room!

$50-$75 an hour throughout November and December....'Tis the Season to get Nekkid!! PM me if you wanna shoot!

Ho ho ho! Seasons' greetings. Special rebate for models: Buy one get one free!

Will shoot TFP until I build my portfolio but will only go if Photographer has Studio......

That reminds me of a past comment that I got: "Any professional photographer knows that a professional MUA is required to get good shots". Now in that particular case, do I really need to have a studio if we're shooting outdoors? This might actually sound surprising to you, but people do actually shoot on location too and no, they do not need a studio! Then again, who am I to argue?

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/20720298/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/20720298/ Sun, 28 Sep 2008 09:35:27 PDT
Today's theme is: Profiles' worst sentences.

Basically, people copy and paste sentences in their profile. These are the sentences I took while browsing profiles. I did not change a word, a comma or capitals. This is as is, with my comment that follows of course. I am keeping the originators anonymous...

Love is waking up in the morning & being happy with who you see in the mirror!

Congratulations, you're officially a self lover. I guess the love of others is now highly over rated!

I am here solely for networking. I also have NO desire to bang you, no matter how talented a photographer you are, how alluring a model you are, OR how much you'd like to bed a big girl.

Do you really feel obligated to write this in a profile? Instead of looking professional, it looks really, really sad! Not all photographers want to bang models, get over it!

I exist to exercise excellence.

Congratulations! I'm here to exercise mediocrity. But thanks for pointing it out!

Currently am doing LIMITED photoshoots. I am very satisfied with my current port.

Good... You have reached your peak and you can't do better. Please don't try anymore, it's really not worth it. Not having goals in life is good.

Vote for me and give me the five stars I deserve!

Errr... Are we allowed to judge whether you're worth it or not?

Been there, done that... bought the t-shirt and sold it again. I have done the NYC modeling agency thing...

Yeah, you've done the thing and this is why you've created a profile so that amateurs can contact you, right? Oh, by the way, what's up with the t-shirt? Can I get one?

I have been told that I am very fun and easy to work with.

And what do you think?

I am slightly knowledgeable about the business.

I always thought a profile needed to provide useful information about you. This lets me know what?

I'M ALREADY BOOKED FOR THE YEAR!

Are you really telling me that you have no room in your schedule for the next 12 months? Congratulations, but I highly doubt it.

TFP only with exceptional photographers that can showcase my talents.

Which talents are we talking about here?

PLEASE ONLY WILLING TO WORK WITH PROFESSIONALS!!

I've never seen a model ask to work with idiots and amateurs; they all want to work with the best.

I hear fame calling my name....GOTTA GO!

Yes, yes... Please don't let us hold you back...

I am so much more than meets the eye. More than just a pretty face.

This is where you're wrong. On pictures, your personality really does not count. What you look like does.

TFP/TFCD: PLEASE DONT ASSUME I'LL WORK FOR FREE; my rates are BEYOND reasonable right now. Clothes are expensive, especially the ones I like and my TIME is cherished… BUT I STILL ACCEPT SOME OFFERS!

You're right, I'm really sorry to have disturbed you. Please note that my time is not cherished and I don't own thousands of dollars of equipment. All my stuff grows on a tree and it's free, really!

Gas expenses. (you know it's not cheap!)

Thank you so much for making it clear. I really wasn't sure that gas was not cheap, these days. I guess you have to drive around but in my case, my car gas just happens to appear in my tank, I don't pay for it.

Im fairly new to modeling but do not confuse that with my experience.

You're a new experienced model? That's excellent. How does this work exactly?

Please note that if you would like to schedule a shoot (either paid or TFP), there must be an MUA present at every shoot.

Sure, you cover the fees.

If I Take Off All Of My Clothes And Let You Take Pictures Of Me Will You Still Love Me In The Morning?

No comment... But you do realize that you're nude on most of your pictures, right? What's the message here?

A wise girl kisses but doesn't love, listens but doesn't believe and leaves before she is left

Excellent mentality! With this, you're sure to spend most of your life alone and miserable. But please, keep at it...

I model because my ego needs stroking on a regular basis. And I need the dough.

I guess liking what you do is unimportant...

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/19619336/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/19619336/ Sun, 27 Jul 2008 07:55:39 PDT Upcoming projects:

I have some upcoming vacation time soon and I'm hoping to get back into action. I haven't done much photography and whatever I'm posting is well overdue. I'm not exactly sure what I'd like to work on, but I have to rebuild my team in the coming weeks.

Q & A on backgrounds:

I'm getting a lot of strange questions about my pictures, mainly related to background bluring. These days, since everyone is a photoshop artist and does retouching, it's assumed that anything that is not easy to understand can be explained by photoshop. Well, there are a very simple explanation at times: Aperture control. While most people shoot with their camera in P mode and they're not sure what the camera does, I take full advantage of manual control on my camera. My aperture and my focal length is specifically selected to obtain these bluring effects. I do not photoshop my backgrounds and I do not add bluring. As an example, the medium format, with some focal length and some apertures allows as little as 4 mm of depth of field.

Q & A on back and white

My black and whites are actually shot in black and white. It allows a much better latitude for over exposure and underexposure than color film or color slides. In fact, used properly, you can extend the range of exposures up to 11 stops with black and white negative compared to 7 stops for color negative and 4-5 stops for positives and digital.

Q & A on equipment

I'm also getting a lot of comments on equipment: your equipment is so much better than mine. Photography has nothing to do with equipment. For most, you will never reach the limits on your camera. If you're not happy with the quality of your pics, the problem is not with your camera. Just for the record, a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II is about 300$ on ebay. Most of you have cameras 5 to 10 times that price.

Q & A on film vs digital

I shot digital for 4 years so I know a lot about it. Film is more interesting for me. The process is much slower and time consuming than digital, but that's fine with me. I see the difference between digital and film, and I think film is better for my kind of work.

Q & A about how a picture is done

I also get quite a few questions on how a picture is done. I don't have a problem answering questions or inquiries, so please, ask if you want to. Please keep in mind two things:

1. Film does not have an exif, which means that I don't remember the exposure of each shot that I did. I can give an approximate answer.
2. Even if we get down to exact camera settings, if you don't know what your surrounding light is like, these values are of no use.

I've also had questions about how you position each light and where and what are the setting for each light. I don't mind answering the question, but if you're looking for a plan of where each thing goes, you'll be disappointed, I don't have any. I measure my light, I position my flashes, I do test shots and I adjust again. I can't give you a map.

Q & A on pictures delivery

When TFP is agreed, I give out 2-3 pictures from a shoot. For some reason, many models think that if they are not getting the whole shoot on CD, they are getting cheated out of their rights. My question is: what are you going to do with 200 unretouched pictures of a shoot? Answer: nothing! Only retouched pictures are useful for a book. Besides, if you post 20 pictures of one shoot in your book, can you imagine how long it'll take a customer to review your book? Odds are, he'll give it up way before he gets past the first 20 shots. Concentrate on quality work, not quantity!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/18249180/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/18249180/ Fri, 09 May 2008 21:42:55 PDT
I get a call at 9pm and I answer it. My caller ID says it's an 800 number. Fine, they want something. Maybe it's one of these fun surveys, who knows. So, I pick up the phone and the speaker asks for me. Hey, that's an amazing peace of luck, I happen to pick up my own phone!

The guy is calling from a company I've never heard of. He's telling me that I'm up for free council. Free stuff? Oh yeah! Don't we all love free stuff?

"Counceling for what?"
"We're financial advisors"
"and?"
"We'd like to meet you to discuss your finances"
"What for?"
"Offer you products and services"
"So basically, you're offering to invest my money"
"Exactly"

Ok, now let me get this straight. Some guy I've never heard of calls me at home from I don't where and wants me to send him my money for investments? Is that how it works? Why not just ask for my bank account, it'll go faster.

Then it hit me... If this guy is actually calling, it's because bigger idiots are actually giving them their money. Who on earth would give them money just because they called asking for it?

Is it me or does this make no sense whatsoever? I mean we're not talking about buying knives over the phone or answering a survey here.

Hell, maybe it's just me...

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/17715081/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/17715081/ Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:16:44 PDT
Just wanted to thank everyone for the nice reactions towards my latest posts. These series are atypical of my usual work, but they were fun to do. I will not be able to thank everyone who added favorites, but I'll do my best. Please know that I really appreciate it!

One of the pictures was relocated from the artistic nude section to the glamour section. I guess the administrators have nothing to do than interpret my postings. I thought about it, but I posted in nudes because it was a bit too nude for glamour. I wish they would take the time to track down copyright violations instead.

I'm also finding that most of the pictures in the artistic nude section are starting to feel like amateur porn, I would like them to start moving these to scraps, because we have really a lot of crap in these categories.

While many might claim that art is an interpretation and varies from one person to another, I still think that cheap porn with a webcam has no room in the deviation sections.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/17614202/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/17614202/ Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:03:47 PDT
This is very atypical of my work, but it was a fun series to work on. I'm still working on fashion shots, but I have to admit that it's nice to try different things, at times.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16826537/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16826537/ Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:05:30 PST
My book is complete, I don't do TFP
Ok, this is quite arrogant. Either you're the best photographer in the world and you don't have anything to learn anymore (quite doubtful!) or you're a model and you have shot with the best of them and you don't need newbies, in which case, you have time for a MM or OMP profile? Everyone needs TFP. It's not working for free, it's exchanging experiences.

This is not a dating site
I'm sure everyone knows that, thanks for the reminder.

Everyone knows that you can't get good pictures without a MUA, so if you don't have one, don't bother contacting me.
Would you run that by me again? Says who?

I have expenses
Don't we all?

I'm busy, don't be insulted if I don't reply
Errr... If you're too busy to reply, what's the point of having profiles?

I work with professionals only
I know a bunch of beginner professional photographers who can't use their cameras. Pro work is not about quality, it's about making money.

TFP for tear sheets only
So, basically, you're saying you'll charge a photographer for shooting, but if you get a publication, you'll do it for free? Isn't that supposed to be the other way around? The publication is able to pay; a testing photographer, not.

I will not do lingerie
But the bikini shots all over your profile, that's ok? What's the diff?

I don't do nudes
I see a bunch of nudes in your profile. So, you do nudes, but for the right price.

I do more than just nudes
That's fine. But really, out of the 20 pictures you have, 19 are nudes and the 20th is implied. What do you expect the offers to be?

I love beautiful women.
Ok, I never quite get the purpose of a comment like this one. I've also never seen a profile with "I love ugly women". So, a model reads this and says what? "Oh my God, he loves beautiful women, I'll shoot with him!"?

I love everything about the arts
Err... Nice... That's like saying, I love eating. What is art?

I don't do fetish or porn
Nice of you to put fetish and porn in the same category, it really makes me feel a lot better about some of my work. Out of curiosity, do you know what fetish is?

I'm very selective about models/phographers I work with
Ah, now that's a good one. Reality check: lots of people are selective. But by phrasing it this way, you're scaring good potential cooperation.

I'm just finding that people are getting more and more agressive in their profiles. Some of these profiles sound like: If you're not angelina jolie, don't bother. Others: If you can't get me into a magasine, don't bother.

The fact and the matter is, your portfolio is what gets you the contracts, not these contacts on OMP or MM. The profiles are aimed towards helping you build a portfolio. Rarely would you get a contract from the internet. There are some, but don't be fooled, it's not the majority.

The best photoshoots I did were with people I have met in person or models that were referred to me. Paid shoots? Unless I've worked with a model before, I'm never giving a contract to a model I've only met on-line. Let's face it, things might not work between us at all and it's too risky. I'd rather call an agency that garantees quality. Of course there are exceptions, but people seldom count on exceptions to get their business.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16638727/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16638727/ Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:00:55 PST
My question is the following: Do you actually get asked on a date through these photography/modeling sites? I mean, how does this work? You just get a random email from someone you've never heard of and he asks for a date?

I'm finding that dating rules are becoming a bit too complex. You shouldn't date someone you meet in a bar because it's not a good catch. You shouldn't date someone from work because it makes things complicated. So what's the proper way of doing it?

If you bump into someone on the street, can you ask them out? That certainly sounds cute. If you're in a meeting with the customer and you find your customer quite interesting, can you ask them out? We spend a good part of our lives on-line, these days. If you bump into someone's profile on line, can you ask them out?

Getting too philosophical that early in the morning, I guess!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16561188/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16561188/ Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:18:10 PST
Are you a professional?
What difference does it make? If you like my work, shoot with me. If you don't, then please don't bother, I'm sure you'll find lots of other photographers to shoot with.

I'd love to shoot with you, but I don't do nudes!
Given the fact that my official portfolio on my site does not contain any nudes and it's the one I use to contact people, I don't understand where this is coming from. Do you see any nudes on my web site?

I'll shoot with you, but I have expenses
If you're an amateur model, what expenses could you possibly have? Gas? I have expenses too: film, cameras, studio...

I'll bring an escort for my safety
And why is that? If you don't trust me, please make yourself a favor and find another photographer, there's a bunch of others who tolerate an escort. I do not. The reason is simple: escorts get in the way even if they are sitting in a corner saying nothing. The models seeks approval from everyone around and the escort does not need to say a word to show disapproval. It just ruins the dynamics of the whole shoot.

I never go to the city without an escort!
Are you telling me that you don't come to town alone? If not, then you get escorted to the shoot location, the escort takes a very, very long walk until the shoot is over.

I can't believe you're so closed minded about escorts!
I am... And I've had problems with escorts in the past and I don't want them around... Period!

I want all the pictures on a CD!
And why is that? You're going to use 2-3 of them anyways, and so am I. What's the point of having none of the retouched pictures on a CD? You do the selection anyways.

I want the RAW pictures on a CD right after the shoot and I want shared copyright
You might want my car keys as well, please?

I want to evaluate the MUA's book before I agree to a shoot!
Now that one I got recently and I found quite funny.

2-3 pictures is really not enough, I'd like to have 10
Now here lies the problem. A picture takes about 2-6 hours to retouch. If you want 10 of them, that's 1-2 weeks of work, full time. If you want that many pictures, kindly buy them from me.

You shoot film? Owwww But the quality is not the same as digital
Says who??? Film is way better. The process is a bit longer, but nothing matches the dynamics of black and white film. Digital is not there yet.

Fine, but I wanted my pictures on file
That's quite possible since I scan my film and work in photoshop. I admire the work of people who print in a darkroom, but you can get better flexibility with digital processing. I also use high end printers, the quality is there.

I'll shoot with you, but I will tell you which pictures to use
Totally unacceptable. I'm in the business of making models look good, so I know what pictures to pick. If you want to control my work, please find a different photographer. I'll do my own choices. I will not shoot a picture that I cannot use, I don't see the point.

I want a MUA on the shoot
Funny, I get these comments from amateur models only. Pros never bother me with this.

... and comments I get from photographers?

Are you a professional?
Does it really make a difference? I'm better than a lot of pros. I'm not as good as a lot of amateurs.

What's your rate?
What's the job?

Cool picture, how did you do it?
There isn't anything I do that cannot be found somewhere. In other words, most shots people do have already been done by someone else at some point. No, I do not mind explaining.

Can you draw me a plan of your lighting with distances?
Not really, for many reasons. One of them is: I don't have the time to do it. Another reason is, you'll take that plan, do exactly the same thing then come back to me and tell me it didn't work. Photography is not about following recepies, but understanding and feeling the picture. Don't follow plans... Experiment!

Do you only shoot portraits?
Nop, not really, but you were too busy looking at beautiful women, you overlooked my landscapes!

Do you give photography lessons?
Yes, I do.

Can you teach me by email or private message?
Teaching photography by email? There's a bunch of good books that teach you the basics. Once you know your camera well, take a small workshop, you'll learn a lot more! So the answer is No.

Do you... ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16441484/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16441484/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 04:37:35 PST
I was going through my and some of my old pictures and I realized a few things. Some of the models that I have worked with have never requested their photos. In fact, I have contacted them several times and I always get the: Oh, I'm busy, I'll do my selection soon. Many of them don't even reply. And most of these shoots actually went really well and the photos are extremely popular. OR maybe they didn't like them? However, most of these models have completely disappeared and their profiles don't exist anymore.

On the other hand, I got an interesting email from a makeup artist I worked with a while ago. I delivered the pictures a while ago, but I suspect she didn't like them that much (not that she would ever say anything to me!). Ah well, it happens. For that particular shoot, she found a jewelry designer and brought her stuff in. The designer was supposed to send me her selection of pictures, but never did.

So, I'm away from home and I get this huge email where she threatens to tell people about me and recommend that they don't work with me. She says that her designer friend has been waiting for the pictures for a while and blablabla and she never got them. Since I don't have my email archive when I travel, I apologized saying that I must have missed it and that I would like her friend to confirm her selection of pictures so I can retouch them over the holidays and send them out.

The reply comes quite fast: Can we meet and discuss things?

My answer: really hard to do, I'm out of the country. We can do that when I get back, please send me the selection.

In the meantime, I get another answer saying that she can wait and she'd like to meet. Now that's odd, why not send the selection? Meeting is another issue. I fire of a third email asking for the selection and telling her that if I don't get it soon, I will not be able to retouch them during the holidays and it'll go till February. Her answer? That's ok, I can wait.

Well, if you can wait, what the hell was that first email in the first place?

Anyways. I get home, I review my email archive and as I had thought, the designer never selected her pictures. So, I'm not at fault. If people do not want their pictures (really, it does happen!), I'm not going to beg them to take them. It's actuallly less work for me. And since I have no contact with the designer, I can't really write her, can I?

I call a friend of mine who know the makeup artist really well and I ask him to talk to her to see what's going on. He comes back: the photo selection was made using SMS! Now that's original! There's an error in transmission, your phone is off, you're out of reach... Well, the SMS never gets to you! Who the hell does a photo selection by SMS?

Anyways... It's been 2 months and 4 emails. She would still like to meet and I still don't have the photo selection.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16380918/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/16380918/ Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:46:49 PST
I haven't updated my journal in about a month, but unfortunately, there isn't much to say. I'm still in Toulouse, France, and work has not progressed well enough, so I'll probably be sticking around for a little while. I've had to increase the number of hours at the office (close the 80 hours a week) to get things moving, but it's a lot more complicated than I thought.

No need to say that my photography is completely no-existant these days. My camera has been with a friend of mine for well over 2 months, and so are my studio keys.

In order to keep things going, I brought a series of pictures to retouch and I've finished most of them. I have a few left, but I need to scan them and I don't have anything to do this while I'm away.

Needless to say, my profiles have never been as up-to-date as this. Basically, I work from 5pm to about 8:30am. From there, I go back to my hotel, get some sleep, wake up in the middle of the afternoon, shower, find some food and make it to the office. I have a couple of friends here I haven't been able to see. On Sunday, the office is closed and there's no possible shopping around here. I was hoping to get some sleep, but my system is so screwed up that I'm up. I didn't plan anything hoping to sleep, but it's not happening, I guess.

There are worse places to be stuck... Food is excellent and so is the wine. My trip seems to be extended by another month and I'm trying to get a round trip ticket home to see familly and friends for a few days before I get back. We'll see how this goes.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15953050/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15953050/ Sun, 16 Dec 2007 01:45:21 PST
Work is moving really slowly, unfortunately. I thought it would be much easier to complete, but it's not. At this rate, I'll be working through the holidays and I'll be coming back to France on the first of January for another couple of weeks.

As it stands, all my personal activities are on hold: photography and personal life. A friend of mine is leaving Montreal for two years. He'll be out of town from the 16th of december to the 2nd of January, then he's leaving on the 6th. I'm getting back on the 20th and leaving on the 1st. Needless to say, I won't be seeing him.

Also, another friend of mine is leaving Montreal on the 24th and he's not planning to return. Sad reality...

I'm having to postpone all my photography projects. I've had my new studio since November and I've been there once. Few of my friends and colleagues have used it, but not me. There's a bunch of things to do during the holidays, so I'm hoping that I'll get some time to do it while in town, otherwise everything will be differed to February.

I'm also looking forward to next summer since I'm supposed to get a month off. Well, let's put it this way. I have 3 weeks of unused vacation and I'll be getting another 4 weeks this coming May, for a total of 7 weeks. The problem is finding time to take them. With luck, I'd like to take 1 month off really far away from here and I'd like to take another week in Nova Scotia. I have yet to decide when to take all these!

Until then, work, work, work...

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15898097/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15898097/ Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:47:35 PST
Conversation with person #1:

her: I love your pictures, would you consider TFP?
me: Works for me. Just a note: since I shoot film rather than digital, you shouldn't expect your photos on CD, you'll get two prints or two digital files.
her: if you shoot digital, can I get all the files on CD?
me: I don't have a digital camera
her: oww...

Conversation with person #2:

her: I love your pictures, can we shoot?
me: Works for me. Just a note: since I shoot film rather than digital, you shouldn't expect your photos on CD, you'll get two prints or two digital files.
her: Why do you shoot film it's so expensive
me: I shoot about 30-40 pictures per shoot and I get what I need.
her: But that's not merely enough, I need lots of pictures. Can you shoot digital.
me: Sorry, I sold mine few months ago.
her: Can't you rent one?
me: Sure, if you're willing to pay for it
her: (haven't heard from her since)

Conversation with person #3:

him: I reviewed the pictures that we did together and I love them all.
me: great, I'm glad to hear that. Like we discussed, please choose the two pictures you like and I will retouch them for you.
him: I can't decide on two pictures, so that's a selection of 15 pictures, please pick the ones you like, it's fine by me.
me: I'd rather have you pick to make sure you get the ones you want, the process is time consuming, I can't really do the pictures again.
him: that's ok, I like them all.
me: Fair enough, I'll retouch these two, they are the ones that I like most.
me: *sends the pictures to the guy 3 days later*
him: wow, the pictures are really cool, but they aren't the ones I like. I would like you to retouch these two instead.
me: But we've already talked about it and you did not want to pick.
him: yeah, I know, but I changed my mind
me: You know, I've spent well over 8 hours on these two pictures and you just changed your mind? Fair enough, it's $100 each following picture.
him: (haven't heard from him since)

Conversation #4:

her: Can we shoot?
me: Sure, I've got some free time. (insert comment about her getting 2 pictures or 2 digital files, not pictures on CD)
her: You shoot film?
me: yes, why?
her: Can we get good pictures with film?
me: we've been getting good pictures for a hundred years using film, I don't see the problem
her: But digital is nicer, I can get all the pictures on CD
me: how many pictures do you figure you'd want to use out of the whole CD?
her: 2
me: well, that's what I'm offering. you pick the two that you like
her: but I want the rest on CD
me: ...

Conversation #5:

her: Oh, I would loooove to shoot with you, but I need the pictures on CD at the end of the photo session.
me: Sorry about that. I'm using film, can't do it.
her: (never got an answer)

Conversation #6:

her: I love your black and whites, I'd love to get some of those in my book.
me: that's always possible, I'm interested
her: I love your fashion shots, I'd like some. but can we do a few bikini shots?
me: I haven't done any of those in a long time, I guess it could be fun.
her: Can I do a couple of shoots with my boyfriend? Just a couple
me: sure
her: I also have a friend of mine and she'd really love to shoot
me: sure (from there, I know this is going to hell, so I'm just trying to see how far she'll take it)
her: I'm not very good with makeup, can we get a MUA?
me: sure
her: I really need a lot of pictures, do you think we can shoot digital? I need everything on CD
me: I don't have a digital camera
her: Can't you rent one?
me: Well, it's $150 or so for a day, but it's doable, I guess
her: I also need to do some implied nudity, do you mind?
me: that's fine, as long as I can use them
her: oh no, you can't. These are just for me!
me: err... what am I supposed to do with the pictures then?
her: oh, don't worry. I'll let you know which ones you can use
me: ok
her: oh and I will need the retouched pictures for next week because I'm travelling.
me: ok, so let me get this straight. You want to shoot with me because you like my black and whites fashion shots, but you really want color bikini shots. You want me to rent a camera, shoot digitally, give you everything retouched on a CD in a week, give your girlfriend and boyfriend photos as... ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15842109/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15842109/ Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:58:41 PST and my . But to some extent, I'm starting to wonder how you guys do it.

A person I really appreciate here in Montreal, *EldorGemst, takes the time to thank everyone for their favorites one at a time and he even goes through the favorited items one by one and lists them in the reply. You can't get more customized than this. But knowing how busy he is, I'm wondering how he does it.

On average, I spend an hour on DA per day and I think it's too much. And out of that hour, it takes me about 5 minutes to go through the newly posted deviations from the people I watch and another 5-10 minutes going through the comments that are posted. The rest of the hour is spent thanking people for their and . But I find myself using the cut and paste more often that I would like, simply because there are just some many of them. I do spend some time on each profile to see what kind of work my watchers do and I try to customize for people who a lot, for new comers, and I also try to customize the response language, whether English or French.

I'm just wondering what people's expectations are. I'm sure everyone is happy with they get a personal note. But would a generic thank you do? Do you care about a response at all?

The more time I spend answering and , the less time I have to browse new work and take the time to comment on it.

No matter what the approach is, I'm finding it extremely time consuming...

Patrice

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15768780/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15768780/ Sun, 02 Dec 2007 17:31:24 PST
I had a chance to review a survey that I did a while ago and the result stands as follows: 27 deviants would rather have me shoot portraits, 23 say landscapes or portraits is the same, 8 would rather have me shoot landscapes and 3 think my work sucks. Now what's funny is that 3 deviants took the time to review my work, look for the survey and actually answer. And since I do very little advertisement about my work, it's more than likely that I'm on their watch list. Now that is funny.

Staying on the funny side, a former MUA of mine showed up on MSN not too long ago. I hadn't heard anything from her in well over a year. I offered to go have coffee with her and discuss some stuff. Her answer was, to say the least, puzzling: "I'm sorry, I can't do it". I asked why not and she said: "I understand that you have lots of girl friends and that you're ok with it, but I would hate it if my boyfriend went out with another girl, so I don't have guy friends". I love how a business meeting gets immediately turned into a denied request for a date. Needless to say, I find this narrow view upon life quite sad. There's more to life than the boyfriend or the girlfriend. The kind of thing that would shatter your life if the relationship ends.

I'm currenlty in Toulouse, France. I brought some photos to retouch on a small external drive and with my luck, the disk crashed and I lost all the scans. I have them at home, but it's a pain, I would have had a couple of hours a day to retouch them here. Ah well.

I'll be back home just in time for Christmas, but I get the feeling it'll be a working holiday!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15368182/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15368182/ Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:56:29 PST
Until my departure, I'm not planning any shoots, except one. There are few things in the works as well so I'll keep you posted as they happen.

Now, I have to get back to Trisha's pictures, I'm reaaaaally late getting the pictures to her!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15253813/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/15253813/ Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:14:45 PDT
This young model just joined a small time on-line agency with her friend of hers. Both made it to the agency, so let's call them model1 and model2. So, model1 asks for a shoot with model2. Not having much time, I declined and told her that we'll see in December. She stayed on my case until I said yes. She's nice and all, so, I figured why not, right? Well, I free up my Sunday (I was supposed to be at work) and then, at 7pm on Saturday, I get an msn message:

model1: I'd like to talk to you about tomorrow

me: Fair enough, what's up (at this point, I know she's cancelling)

model1: I can't make it to the shoot tomorrow, I have to leave town (she's leaving town with a girl friend of hers just for fun).

me: Well, I guess your friend is still shooting?

model1: Well, model2 can't shoot either.

me: Why not? She's going with you?

model1: No, model2's boyfriend told her that only bitches get into photography and that she wouldn't be able to get any contrats anyways.

me: ...

model1: I'm also thinking of leaving the agency. Do you think I'll every get contracts?

me: So, because an idiot told the two of you that you're bitches, that's it? You're giving up?

model1: You know how guys are.

Well no, I don't know how guys are. The problem is, the girl would like to keep her boyfriend, so whether he's an idiot or not, she's keeping him. What happened to having your own opinion and to respecting each other's opinion?

While this might seem to be an isolated case, it's not. My best friend of 3 years got herself a new boyfriend. Before I even me the guy, he was already jealous of my relationship with her to the extent that I wasn't able to see her for many months. When I confronted her with that, things went sour: "You have to understand that I'm trying to build a relationship here and that he really feels threated by you". How can a boyfriend feel threatened by a guy that his girlfriend hasn't seen in many months?

Both these girls are building their whole life around a guy, and in both cases, a possessive control freak. The relationship is going to end at some point because both girls are going to realize that they can do much better than this. And by discarding everyone but the boyfriend, they're going to find their lives quite lonely with no friends to count on.

To get back to my shoot, events like these remind me why I decided to work with agency models. There are no cancellations or almost none. They show up on time and you don't get the feeling that you're wasting your time.

I'll stick to agency models and my model friends for my shoots. At least, I'll save myself a few headaches!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14937908/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14937908/ Sat, 06 Oct 2007 08:25:01 PDT
From my trip to Halifax, I started retouching ~amiechelle's and *Trihesta's pictures. I've already posted one from ~amiechelle yesterday.



I did a small shoot with a friend of mine, Dominique, and posted her picture yesterday as well. The negative was damaged during development (it happens) and I had to get a little creative to get the picture together. The following picture is actually a combination of 3 different pictures. I retouched it in such a way that it looks extremely close to the original.



Finally, just before I sold my digital camera, I need to run a light test so I asked ~Madria69 to drop by for a few shots. It's a mix of fashion and latex. It's one of those fun shots. The ambience on the shot is heavily modified, but there isn't much in terms of modifications to the picture itself.



I'm waiting for a photo selection with an model agency I worked with few weeks ago.

With all that, I'm working 60 hours a week and trying to keep up. All in all, a rather busy month.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14609534/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14609534/ Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:30:18 PDT
Actually, I've had 3 trips to Toronto since I got back from Halifax, so it's really impossible to keep up with everything that's going on. Hopefully, I'll have a preview ready for this weekend.

I'm looking forward to getting these pictures out, my turn around time is usually 3 days, not 5 weeks!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14160016/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/14160016/ Tue, 14 Aug 2007 05:06:31 PDT
I had the chance of working with *Trihesta while I was there and the pictures should be quite good. I've dropped everything at the lab and should have it back by the end of the week.

I also drove to Peggy's Cove twice to work on some landscapes. The first day was basically scouting (way too many people there during the day) and the second time at 4am. What's nice about showing up at 4am is that there's no one and you can work in peace. The pictures should be rather interesting. The first person to show up was around 6:30am. Sorry budy, you missed the right light!

More to come this week.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13829594/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13829594/ Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:17:38 PDT
I've had fun reading the comment in my latest survey about deleting or keeping old deviations. I've come to a conclusion over the years on DA and it's the following: too many deviations in one profile will just test my patience.

Let me explain... You get to a profile with 100 deviations. It's possible for you to take a look at the profile and browse through some of the deviations you seem to like a lot.

You get to a profile with 1000 deviations, I find that this is testing my patience. I cannot possibly look at 1000 photos. It's too much and I cannot get an idea of what the artist can do or what his message is.

With 100 deviations, the artist can control the flow and show his message. I cannot possibly see how this could be managed with 1000 images. If that many pictures do test my patience, I'm sure other people feel the same way about my profile when they look at my work.

I do believe that keeping less of quality rather more of quantity is the way to go. I understand that DA is not a portfolio, but it also is, in some way. I believe that an artist work is as good as his worst picture. While DA maintains history for each picture, The pictures that I did in 2003 are no where near the quality of the pictures that I do nowadays.

Yes, I did like these pictures because they are mine. But technically, they do not compare.

However, I have decided to respect your choices, meaning that, the popular deviations, I will not touch. The ones that got very few favorites, I will delete. I certainly do thank my watchers for keeping an eye on me. I would also like to thank you all for your contribution over the years!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13630532/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13630532/ Fri, 06 Jul 2007 06:33:57 PDT

My Daily Deviations:


My missed Daily Deviation:
(A Daily Deviation was given out to this picture the same day as my first one and they had to remove it)


My recend work:

Stephanie


Christine


Alexandra


]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13573948/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13573948/ Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:18:09 PDT
With an amateur model, you have to provide a complete description of a theme, if you have a makeup artist or not, if you have a stylist or not, where the shoot will be, etc, etc, and you're not even sure she'll say yes. Then once they say yes, they would like to know how many pictures they're gonna get, and many would like all the pictures on a CD. Thanks God, not all of them are this complicated, but many are.

That's another thing I don't understand about some models. Why would you possibly want all pictures on a CD? No one will ever retouch everything, and no one will ever use more than 2-3 pictures of a shoot. I actually had a beginner model decline to shoot with me because she wanted to get 5 pictures instead of 3.

With agency models, the approach is completely different. Well, there's prefiltering done by the agency which means that the girls are working with good photographers (nothing an amateur model can't figure out by viewing a website and sending a couple of emails out). Second, the agency needs to know that the model will get good pictures. From there, they have my cell number and they call. They ask where and when. She shows up, she seems eager to shoot, and she knows what she'd doing! After the shoot, I send a selection of 5-6 pictures to the agency and they pick up 2-3 pictures from the lot. Simple and efficient. Oh, and the models do offer to pay for the pictures.

I've done few shoots with agencies so far. The fun part is, almost a one liner in an email can get the whole process running. The advantage is, I don't spend most of my time looking for a model, but rather hunting for locations and concepts. I should have done this a long time ago. And yes, I will still work with amateur models, it's thanks to you that I've been able to get here, but I'm being a bit more picky than I was in the past.

Ok, enough with the philosophical comments. As *cosfrog would put it, here's some self pimping!

My Daily Deviations:


My missed Daily Deviation:
(A Daily Deviation was given out to this picture the same day as my first one and they had to remove it)


My recend work:


]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13306398/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/13306398/ Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:18:10 PDT
I am attempting to thank each person who took the time to add one or many as well as my new

However, these messages are coming in at a rate of 1 per minute and I'm having a hard time keeping up, it'll take me a few days to get back to you. Please be patient with me!


My new DD:


My new features:


]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/12734406/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/12734406/ Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:32:33 PDT
]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/12423307/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/12423307/ Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:39:42 PDT
I have a couple of series to come with ~x-kimberly and ~TheErotik and hopefully, I will be able to get these out in the next few days.

I've also had a shoot with a very good agency model, here, but unfortunately, the results ended up being a true technical catastrophe! Basically, the exposure is perfect, so is the styling and the model. The problem is, a problem with camera x-sync speed had my pictures cut in half. I took some steps to avoid these problems in the future, but I'm really pissed about the results, everything was working just right, that day. With luck, I'll be able to work with her again soon enough.

This being said, I'm almost up to 50,000 page view. Will I get there?

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11957480/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11957480/ Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:50:17 PST
First model had problems with her husband and could not make it.
Second model wanted to show up to the shoot with her husband and I declined.
Third model could not show up early in the morning.
Fourth model hurt her arm.

The worst part is, the only shoot that I could have done lately, I had to cancel because I was working all day long. I guess there are times when you are really not meant to shoot. I guess the message is clear.

This afternoon, I'm stuck at the studio installing makeup lights, then I have to get downtown to test a few landscapes for a customer. I rented a landscape medium format camera (hell, I don't know if you can call that medium format, the negative is 6cm by 17cm!). I will shoot 2-3 tests rolls to see how it works.

In the meantime, I will be posting a couple of oldies that will be making their way into my book. This is what's keeping me busy the last few weeks, I'm in the middle of reprinting my book. I've done one shoot since January...

More to come!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11465230/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11465230/ Tue, 16 Jan 2007 19:51:46 PST

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11439774/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11439774/ Sun, 14 Jan 2007 20:18:14 PST
I'm running into a problem lately that I did not seem to have in the past and I would certainly welcome your inputs on the matter, especially if you can relate to this.

I've been getting a lot of requests from models to shoot, many of them I shot in the past. But with the evolution of my work, I'm finding that many models either do not fit the profile anymore or that I cannot seem to perform the way I used to, with them.

Viewed differently: I've worked with a very experienced model latst week, someone who does not do fashion at all. She decided that she wanted to give it a try. The problem is, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get anything out of that shoot. Yet, it's a model you have seen in other deviants' book in the past.

A colleague of mine asked me, this morning, to shoot his two girls. I took the exact same lighting used with the model mentioned previously and I redid the shoot in the same conditions, in half the time. The result is simply amazing.

I don't get it. How can a model perform with one photographer or not the other. Or is it me that cannot get it right? Or maybe it's a simple mismatch?

Should you have any inputs, comments or stories, they would be really appreciated. I really feel bad for this model, she can do some really good work, yet not with me.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11351131/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11351131/ Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:19:15 PST
My resolution for this year: to learn how to do a CSS journal to get it a bit more interesting!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11175645/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11175645/ Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:58:45 PST
While getting the camera out of the bag, the holding mechanism of the viewfinder completely disintegrated and ended up on the sidewalk and in the water. Since I had no idea how the internals for the mechanism was done, I gathered all the components I could find: 2 tiny screws, 1 spring, 1 front plate, 1 metal plate and that was it.

Back to a friends' work to attempt to reassemble the bloody thing, we realized that this particular component had been poorly repaired with glue instead of screws. There was glue where it's not supposed to have any. After working on it for about an hour, we finally got it assembled and worked perfectly. I guess the luck was being able to find all the parts with only street lights.

So... No pictures done yesterday. The weather was really nice today, but I was just too lazy to get out... As soon as we get snow, I'm getting out of here to shoot!

More to come!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11175456/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/11175456/ Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:43:47 PST
Take care, my friends, and very happy holidays to you!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/10542950/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/10542950/ Sat, 28 Oct 2006 23:53:43 PDT
While talking about it, I asked if he was willing to sell his RZ67 and he ended up saying yes. Negociations are still in progress as far as the price goes, but I'm REALLY tempted.

I'm looking forward to playing with my new toy!

Patrice

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/10015497/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/10015497/ Sat, 09 Sep 2006 02:12:08 PDT
But this good news is saddened but an unauthorized photomanipulation of one of my pictures that I just found out about. Saddly enough, the author of this violation acknowledges and thanks the model for her contribution, and even links the photomanipulation to her profile, but he completely neglects to mention that the picture is mine, that he did not ask permission to use it and even less post. He does not even acknowledge that fact that it is mine, and that's probably the worst part for me.

This makes it even harder on me to authorize photomanipulation on my work.

To all of you, thanks for your support, and I will keep posting!

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/9172443/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/9172443/ Sat, 24 Jun 2006 19:55:36 PDT

I'm almost done posting my doll series and I'm starting to shift my lighting a little bit towards glamour. In the coming weeks, my strip light will retire for a while and it'll be replaced by my beauty dish that I haven't used in a while. I will also be adding return lights to enhace the hair and features.

I like experimenting with a single kind of lighting until I'm confortable with it and I'm getting good and consistent results with it. So far so good...

I'll keep you all posted... Again, thanks for watching me...

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8842127/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8842127/ Mon, 22 May 2006 07:40:15 PDT [link] with single lighting (strip + black/grey background). I have few sets to post yet, then I will be moving on to another new series. Currently, I am looking at doing some photos outdoors, and in studio, I will revert back to fashion.

For now, I will be posting another 3-4 series with about the same lighting. I think I have started to control this particular lighting quite well and I will be moving on after these series are done.

I wanted to thank everyone for your constant support, and I hope that you will like the new upcoming work.

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8703498/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8703498/ Sun, 07 May 2006 18:07:34 PDT
As of tonight, a new version of my web site is available. The template is completely new, and only the colors are the same. There is a new section for my portfolio with represents my recent work or, should I say the style of photography that I am currently working on.

Please follow this [link] to my web site and let me know what you think...

Again, thanks to all for your support...

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8469739/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8469739/ Fri, 14 Apr 2006 13:35:53 PDT scottb and ^serpentinekiss selected two of my images [link] and [link] as daily deviations, in two separate categories. I can certainly understand why I can't have two of them in a single day, but I feel truly honored to have been considered.

Thanks a lot to everyone for your support!

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8455875/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8455875/ Thu, 13 Apr 2006 05:30:43 PDT From views to favorites

Few days ago, I posted a journal entry indicating that I had 1000 views on one of my pictures. Thanks to my Daily Deviation, I'm up to 8000 views and well over 1000 favorites. This was completely unexpected, but very appreciated.

Again, many thanks for your support, I owe this to all of you watching my pictures and messaging me.

As far as my reply backlog is concerned, I managed to answer about 200 comments last night, and I have about 142 comments pending and 1699 miscellaneous items to action. This will take me a while, but I'm getting there.

Many Thanks

Again, I wanted to thank ~LeyalaShysm for suggesting my picture as a Daily Deviation and ^scottb for making it happen.

Requests to use my photos (Thanks *edaoust)

I've received a few requests now to use my photos for a variety of purposes...

The answer is "No, my photos are not stock, they can't be used, modified, copied or whatever..."

I will explain why...

1. The agreement I have with my models (a lot of whom are also close friends) is that the photos will not be used or modified by someone other than myself or the model. I value the trust they have put in me to make sure that the portrayal of them or the concept we created together will remain under our control. If I gave permission to use the photos I lose part of that control and in a sense I violate the trust of my friends and creation partners and I will never accept doing that.

2. I feel that the images I create with the models are very personal... I and the model put a lot of ourselves in the work and I can't stand to see it modified, copied or used... When that happens I feel it is no longer as much mine and that I lose the part of myself I've put in the project and in the photo.

I hope everyone now understands why I refuse to have my photos used but whether or not you understand or agree with my reasons, this answer is pretty much final... Just to be clear, this applies to all my photos on my gallery here, and all the sites to which I or my models have posted photos...

Of course, I am available to create commissioned photos that would be created especially for the requester/client to use.

Thank you for your understanding and respecting my wishes! ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8451143/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8451143/ Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:04:43 PDT A Daily Deviation

I have to admit that I am overwhelmed by the attention that my first Daily Deviation got me today. I wanted to thank ~LeyalaShysm for suggesting my name and ^scottb for selecting my picture.

I have gotten more than 1500 messages from you all and I promise that I will do my best to answer every favorite, comment or friend request that I got. This being said, please be patient with me since it will probably take me a few days to get everything sorted out and answered.

Again, thanks to all of you for your support and to my model for her beautiful work. Feel free to visit her web site [link]

Requests to use my photos (Thanks *edaoust)

I've received a few requests now to use my photos for a variety of purposes...

The answer is "No, my photos are not stock, they can't be used, modified, copied or whatever..."

I will explain why...

1. The agreement I have with my models (a lot of whom are also close friends) is that the photos will not be used or modified by someone other than myself or the model. I value the trust they have put in me to make sure that the portrayal of them or the concept we created together will remain under our control. If I gave permission to use the photos I lose part of that control and in a sense I violate the trust of my friends and creation partners and I will never accept doing that.

2. I feel that the images I create with the models are very personal... I and the model put a lot of ourselves in the work and I can't stand to see it modified, copied or used... When that happens I feel it is no longer as much mine and that I lose the part of myself I've put in the project and in the photo.

I hope everyone now understands why I refuse to have my photos used but whether or not you understand or agree with my reasons, this answer is pretty much final... Just to be clear, this applies to all my photos on my gallery here, and all the sites to which I or my models have posted photos...

Of course, I am available to create commissioned photos that would be created especially for the requester/client to use.

Thank you for your understanding and respecting my wishes! ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8435311/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8435311/ Tue, 11 Apr 2006 06:29:27 PDT Derviches) with a less sexy one from the Chinese lanterns, here in Montreal. It's the avatar I've been using everywhere else, so it will probably look familiar to a bunch of people.

As of the reste, I'm starting to get back on track with my retouching. I still haven't starting working on my website, but I hope that I will, soon enough.

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8386327/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8386327/ Thu, 06 Apr 2006 16:32:19 PDT
On another note, I'm starting to rebuild my book by retouching my older work after my computer crash... I still have a looooot of work to do, but I can retouch between 2 and 3 pictures a night, so, hopefully, I'll be able to get my website back on track no later than the end of the month, and post of of my work as well.

To all who supported me, many thanks! ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8274300/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8274300/ Sun, 26 Mar 2006 11:54:19 PST )

I've decided against data extraction from the old drives, the fact being that:

1. It's way too expensive (they are asking between $500 and $2000 just to recover the data).
2. I'm still stuck with a backup problem.

Instead, I'm restoring all my originals from my DVD backups and Ive restored all my system drives from a backup dated November. I've suffered very few losses with the system files.

I've reconfigured my RAID array in stripping mode. I will allow double the performance and double the size of the old configuration (my PC boots up in under 10 seconds), but compromises security. As such, I'm willing to forget about a redundant backup on the array itself.

I've also ordered a huge external drive (1 Terabyte, that's 1000 Gigabytes or 1000000 Megabytes). The external drive will contain a ghost image of everything and will allow me to backup all my data in under 90 minutes. In case of another major crash, the down time should be under 2 hours, with a complete restoration of all the data with no loss. It's an important investment, but I don't think I have much of a choice, here.

I'll also keep a secondary limited backup on my old 120 gigs drive, off site.

It's all getting rather complicated, I'll have to sort out all the details.

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8248481/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8248481/ Thu, 23 Mar 2006 17:17:27 PST
As such, I'll have to rebuild my whole web site as soon as I'm done reinstalling everything. A major pain in the butt, a huge investment in time, and it's going to take a while to get all the work redone.

I'm hoping that a recovery company will help me recover the last 6 moths of work and if not, then I will have to start from where I left 6 months ago... Either ways, I guess I needed to retouch my old work...

For all of you waiting for pictures, I hope you will be patient with me...

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8182640/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8182640/ Thu, 16 Mar 2006 20:31:28 PST
I'm also realizing that a lot of my shoots are turning from complex themes into very simple portraits with one light, and the results are remarkable. Either my themes suck terribly, or my portraits are really working well.

Again, I wanted to thank all of you for watching my work on a regular basis. It's nice to see that it's appreciated, after all... ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8071478/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/8071478/ Sun, 05 Mar 2006 06:06:21 PST
While I really dislike these watermarks, I believe I don't have much of a choice. While there are work arounds against easy thefts on my web site, DA offers little protect, other than removing the pictures and maybe banning the individual.

This being said, I took the opportunity to edit some of the photos, reprocess the color on a couple of them, and increase their resolution for better viewing.

I hope I don't get too many negative comments about these watermarks, but I would certainly appreciate any inputs you might have, or even suggestions as to how I could improve upon these protections.

Patrice

]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7892424/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7892424/ Tue, 14 Feb 2006 08:01:53 PST

So, to all of you in couples, happy Valentine's day... And an Anti-Valentine's day to all who will just be having fun! ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7843600/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7843600/ Thu, 09 Feb 2006 04:53:42 PST
I have a couple of photoshoots in the coming days, and I will be looking forward to seeing what we come up with.

I'll keep you posted... ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7776505/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7776505/ Wed, 01 Feb 2006 23:39:36 PST
But what it also means is that you seem to be appreciating some of my work, and this will keep me going. I have had many comments in since I have joined DA, and I hope that many others will come as well.

Thanks to all who viewed my work, and there will be more pictures coming in, as soon as I get back to shooting, in a couple of weeks. ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7748794/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7748794/ Mon, 30 Jan 2006 07:09:27 PST ]]> =patricechiniara http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7734769/ http://patricechiniara.deviantart.com/journal/7734769/ Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:35:30 PST
I wanted to thank everyone for following my profile, for your encouraging comments, for your congratulations and also for these valuable inputs you provide me with on a daily basis. Even after 15 years of photography, there is much for me to learn... especially from you...

I will attempt to write a bit more often. That might be wishful thinking, but I'll work on it.

Again, to all of you, many thanks...

Patrice ]]> =patricechiniara