Here’s Skateboard Deck Concept Design #1

Let me know what you think ?

and remember … You Have All The Weapons You Need … Now FIGHT !!!

Should Dodgy Dingo be an

a )  Extreme Sports Apparel Brand

b)   Extreme Lifestyle Apparel Brand

Let me know your thoughts

and remember … You Have All the Weapons You Need Now Fight !

Roll on 2011 and the Dodgy Dingo idea is back lol but I suppose I have a little more knowledge (in the words of Paul Daniels tho “not a lot”).  Luckily the domain name was available, obviously noone else has seen it’s potential lol so I snapped it up “again”.  I imagined the brand to be more geared towards Extreme Sports, i.e. skateboarders, bmx, free runners, kick boxing etc.

Now the first thing people will say/have said “there are a huge amount of these kind of brands out there, the market is huge!” this I know  I suppose I just wanted to do a small side project away from Pole Photography and Mobile Apps (thought at some point I’m sure something will cross!) something different to get my teeth into.

So the first thing was to get the logo, after about a week these are the logos :

These two will be the main logos used throughout the brand, but through different designs of apparel there will be slight manipulations to suit.  What do you think ?

So what’s my next step?  That will be the website and COOL video which I’ll tell you about tomorrow.

Adam

Remember :  You have all the weapons you need, now FIGHT !

We all know image is everything, and if you don’t, you should.  We judge the vast majority of our life on image, people, cars, jobs, houses, holidays, clothes and so on.  So why does image 1st constantly tell us image is everything? because they are telling us that self image is very important, especially if you want to land that job, pick up that dancing role or capture that special moment.

I truly believe that what they offer, no other studio (especially in London) comes close to.  They will go the extra mile to find out what you want from your photoshoot, they will give you the time  (no silly rushing around getting images within 30mins, slap dash thank you, actually, no thank you!!!) and the confidence.  We all need a confidence boost now and then don’t we, and true to their word, image 1st deliver.

I have the privilege of saying I worked at the best studio in London with the best team.  So why don’t you check out their website or give them a call on 0207 250 1313 and see what they can do for you.

Social Media is huge and is getting bigger by the day; and Linkedin is no exception.  If you are in the corporate game then you should know that a killer headshot is the way forward to get noticed.  image 1st are experts with a proven track record.

So if you’re a dancer, a model, musician, performer, a couple looking for those treasured pictures together or a corporate business looking to arm their team with the best headshots then image 1st should be at the top of your list.

Don’t call it a comeback – DG

If you like this post or your think someone may be interested in hearing about it, then please use the like/share buttons on the left

So things that have happened in the last few months :

I’m now concentrating on the Pole Dance aspect of photography, with studios in the UK and overseas. In August I am going to Washington DC, Vegas, Phoenix & Vancouver for 3 weeks then  a 4 week trip in Australia in October.  During this time I am hoping to blog (see first paragraph?!) more often !

Pocket Pole Studio is still going well, gad a wee update last week but I am looking at doing a major update in November after I get back from Australia.  So please let me know what you would like to see.

Pocket Pole News has been developed for the iPad (been a long time!) but I think I might wait to release it with the iPhone version.  PPN brings together feeds from dedicated Pole Facebook pages, pole specific twitter hashtags and a blog feed.  This will be a free app.

I have a new app in the pipeline but can’t disclose anything until I have had a meeting with my wingman within the next 6 weeks

Aside from the Pole Photography and Apps I have also started a new brand called Dodgy Dingo.  This will be an apparel brand aimed mainly toward boarders, bmx, skating etc and will consist of hoodies/tees/beanies/trainers etc.  The website should be up and running within the next 6 weeks hopefully.

In the next couple of weeks I will be doing a shoot with James & Ola Jordan, two of the dancers from BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.

So that’s pretty much the update.  Hopefully (again see first paragraph) I will be writing more often !

Adam

Remember “You have all the weapons you need, now FIGHT!”

Met Lou Landers at Miami International to then get a ride on the Tri-rail to West Palm which took about 1hr 40mins. A bit long but hey for $7 I can’t really complain.

Got to the Marriott, checked in, knock at the door and there they were, the boys from the hood, Jack & Tommy from Bad Kitty. After a loooooonnngggggg man hug we proceeded to the bar where for the rest of the night it was a case of chatting with other people who had also come in a couple of days early. Bug shout out to my boy at Mighty Grip, Joel Bretan, who finally got his vodka I had promised him for months ! Cheers!

On the Thursday I had a shoot with Fawnia Dietrich (who is one of the most loveliest girls I know) back up at South Beach. We were shooting with Daniela Baumann & Loft1 at their new exclusive studio over looking the bay. Things didn’t start off to well as the 2 xstages we had were a wee bit too tall for the room ! So as a back up we called my mate Danny from image 1st Miami who had a Platinum Stages Star Standalone from a shoot he had done a while back. Problem solved though I have to say the quality of the Platinum Stages pole is far inferior to that of the xstage, but hey we had no choice at that point.

The shoot went well and I felt I got to know Fawnia a lot more and I truly hope I get to work with her more in the future, a true professional and a legend in the pole industry.

In the evening there was a night hosted at BB Kings but the ice hockey was on and I couldn’t pass up the chance of Tommy talking me through it and explaining what was going on ! Anyway to cut a long story short, the Bruins lost but took the Stanley Cup a few days ago.

Also it would take me an age to name everyone I talked to over the days I was in Miami so if your name isn’t mentioned I do still love you

I have to be honest I wasn’t feeling it on the saturday. It was the first full day at the convention and I wasn’t in the game. I have no answer to why, it just wasn’t there. That is until I started watching the performances on the saturday afternoon. A-maz-ing ! I could feel the mojo flowing back into me and by the the time saturday evening performances came I had my game face on the performances were out of this world ! Performances by Lou Landers, Marion Crampe, Justine McLucas ( who was injured but still gave an outstanding performance, PROUD girl!) Estee Zakar, Jamilla, Zoraya Judd, Karol Helms, Jenyne Butterfly, Rafaela Montanaro and Felix Cane. What made it spectacular is that every performance was so different, awe inspiring and jaw dropping. I am so glad I was there ! Check out some images from that evening …….

Another definite highlight was the performance from Torwa Joe and her girls !  Those girls can shake it !!! and they defo laid the smackdown on me after !!

My main man Joel from Mighty Grip treated everyone to a lush cocktail after the event which gave people the chance to reflect on what they had just seen and also to have a picture with the “Stars” at the X-Pole Media Drop with Sam Green.

Sunday got off to a slow start ( I’m sure some people were hungover!! ) but soon picked up pace. I managed to fire off a few shots here and the but didn’t really go gung-Ho ! My main reason for going to the convention was really to network and to meet the people that I have talked to so often on Facebook.

For me Sunday was by far the best evening. Jack & Trisha invited myself, Tommy, Lou, Karri Mae and Claire out to dinner as a thank you and OMG it was like the best steak I have ever had ! The dessert wasn’t too shabby either! What do you think ?

We then went on to the Opa bar or something like that where we chilled, danced on tables, was joined by another 15 odd people, chucked napkins in the air and just kicked back and enjoyed the last night. Not to mention the aerobics class outside the hotel at 1am ! To all those there that night, thank you for making it awesome !

On the Monday we had time for a quick spot of lunch before the Tri-rail back to Miami International and all the goodbyes.

So where do we go from here, was it a success, was it worth going ?

Firstly, thanks to Jack who was adamant that I should attend, without him I may not of made it. Again thanks to Jack, Trisha & Tommy for making me feel like part of their family, both personal and business. Thanks to my roomie Lou who didn’t snore and was infact not that messy thanks to Fawnia and Daniela for the shoot in south beach making it a fun day ! Thanks to Danny for breakfast and being mine and Fawnia’s superman and saving the day ! Thanks to Jessalynn for organizing a kick ass convention and I look forward to next years in more ways than one I also have a new respect for Stacey who despite our ups and downs in the past, I think does an amazing job and truly hope to work a lot more with in the future. A big well done to Justine for her performance, I was very proud to call you a friend that night, and yes next time I’ll save you that seat on the plane though it’s up to you whether you sit there or not

I made so many new friends this Convention and caught up with a lot of old ones.

If you have a chance to go to next years convention then do everything you can to make it, I promise you will not regret it. The chance to meet people who are passionate about the same thing and to meet those “Stars” you thought you would never meet.

Everyone I met in Miami, onstage and off, are all STARS to me.

Thank you

ps it’s only a plane ride

Anyway, short and sweet, here’s a link to some of the images that I took from my ace Pole Photo Shoot Tour in Australia last month!  Hope you like !

Australia Pole Dance Images

Enjoy !

“Pricing and usage restrictions: an explanation for those wondering.”
01/03/2011
Hi everyone
I’ve had a few people ask me why the usage rights, service and pricing structure of my pole photography work differs from other people who have shot pole, so I’d like to shed some light on this.
Firstly, photography is not an actual source of income for me, and itís not my career. However, I am trying to see where I can go with it.
Each event Iíve shot costs me a LOT to do: I have to use my own annual leave (thatís my own holiday time folks) from my real job to shoot events, and I’m struggling to just cover my costs. I’m doing this all off my own back. If I lower charges for each image sold I simply won’t be able to shoot, period. As a result, you won’t see the major pole events in our country documented in a photoset the same way. From a monetary view, I just want to cover my costs so I can continue to shoot.

So here’s a short version of how my work differs from other pole photography you see:
The main difference between my work and that of other known pole photographers is that at present, my work focuses on pole in a LIVE setting. To my knowledge no other pole photographer in the world currently does this. They specialise in STUDIO shoots, or rather STUDIO PORTRAITURE. Thus, I can’t price my work similarly to that of the other photographers as I don’t offer the same thing they do.

Here’s the long detailed version for those of you who want to know more:
Among other things, I shoot LIVE competition/performance pole. Other photographers shoot STUDIO pole poses, or to be precise, they shoot STUDIO PORTRAITURE. These are not the same things; they are in fact very different. One is a posed studio representation of what is being done live. What is done live is the real thing in motion.

Live pole is far more difficult to shoot than studio pole due to factors such as:
- low natural light: akin to shooting a music gig light levels are low, slowing the shutter speed right down which makes the difficulty of shooting greater. Some photographers try to use a flash, but flash photography is not permitted at major pole events because it is dangerous and can disorientate the performer (aside from how bad it makes performer look by exposing artefacts in the skin and all over the body). Shooting anything in natural light is a nightmare for any photographer. Ask any that you know, and their face will screw up.
- shot placement: for photographers who don’t understand pole it’s almost impossible to shoot tricks at the right time due to not understanding the basics of pole, performance art and dance (yes, all three). On top of this, pole movement is FAST. Thus, a particular method of shooting successfully combined with knowledge of the subject is required.
- respect for the pole dancer’s body form: there are favourable/respectful ways to shoot a pole dancerís body, but most photographers don’t care about what the performer looks like. As a result, some performers have been horrified by what they see online and untag themselves immediately. It’s not easy to get up on stage practically bare and do something akin to extreme sports, this requires a lot of self-confidence! The person with the camera needs to respect this!
- performer’s skill level: the results of live pole photography is strongly dependent on the standard of the performance the dancer delivers. It’s not possible to document a dancer’s most prized trick if it wasn’t executed well: I can’t fake a split which wasn’t straight; I can’t push your Static V / Ayesha away from the pole etc. Hence why sometimes, I have less photo samples of some performances than others. Itís not like a studio shoot where you have a guaranteed number of images to pick from. Things like light, performance style and even costumes can affect the results. I donít have any control over these factors (although sometimes, event Organisers have been very kind to work with me on lighting suggestions).

Any photographer with studio experience can do a studio pole shoot because the dancer can instruct the photographer (and yet Iíve still heard many pole people complain about the results of their studio shoots). In a studio setting, what is shot is not an actual pole PERFORMANCE – it’s just statically held poses. All the photographer has to do is set up the lights, and wait for you to hold whatever trick you want shot, and shoot it. Studio shots, while they have more flexibility with lighting, CAN be reproduced. You can hold or do that trick again and again until you get it right. Studio pole shoots are somewhat disposable, and that’s why the pricing tends to be done as a bulk package with unlimited usage because there is no subjective value to the image. Each shot can be generally recreated with any model because it is a pose only. Countless pole shoots have been duplicated by many performers. The same lighting, the same props, same backgrounds, all around the world, just as has been done with standard interchangeable studio portraiture.
I understand that because of this having been the only way pole was photographed previously, some people expected my work to be priced the same way, with usage rights being applied the same way. But my work is not studio based, and I don’t offer the same service as a studio portrait shoot does (because I don’t studio portraits). My live pole shooting is of a single performance at one event. That moment in time is unique. You won’t find anyone else in the world that has that same image shot through the eyes of someone who understands pole at the event which actually mattered.

When Allegra King first stunned the pole dance world her one-handed centre split and spinning Allegra at MPD 2010, it was the real moment when everyone saw it debut: the smile on her face throughout her routine was because the crowd was screaming at the same time. The groundbreaking doubles performance of Ministry Of Pole, all that momentum and atmospheric energy was frozen in time after I’d shot that routine. Matthew Shields’ mind-blowing work at APDC 2010 combined pole dance and indigenous dance for the first time in the WORLD, and the shots from that day are a document of a very historical performance art moment he created. My doubles shots of Suzie Q and Toby J at Polecandy on trapeze shows Suzie staring right into Toby’s eyes, it highlights the relationship required for the two performers in their craft. None of these things can be accomplished the same way in a studio setting. The same pressure, the passion of the dancer’s craft won’t be there.
Because these images are unique moments/are not “disposable”, I don’t sell the copyrights to my live images. I sell my work under a restricted license to people or businesses, and this is as a well known practice – there are many ways an image or artwork can be sold or licensed. Because my work is not studio portraiture, it is not sold “as studio portraiture”. Like studio portraits though, I do post-process the photos. As far as I’m aware, no other live pole photos available are properly post-processed.
To give you an idea:

- after I’ve shot an event, the first step is culling or sorting: this can take several hours, sometimes even a full day, as I have to reduce several thousand photos down to a few hundred or even less. I have to inspect and choose the best individual images which have the potential to become great shots. A bent leg can ruin it. Perfect form, but bad facials? Delete. An exposed breast due to a badly fitting bra during a move (yes, thereís been a few). Goodbye. I will absolutely not release anything which has the potential to ruin the performerís reputation. Any such images are culled and permanently deleted.
- Retouching: wrinkles, cellulite, sometimes even unfavourable lines on a performerís body are “shaved” out. If a performer looks too pale under the light, I’ll fix their skin tone. Moles, pimples, veins, pole bruises. GONE. Event presenters in the background? Bye bye. A backbend which makes the ribcage look too sharp? Fixed. I’ve also had to remove other poles and even other performers from a photo to create a balanced, properly focused atmosphere for a shot. Sometimes this involves actually rebuilding certain parts of the background or surroundings, and as far as I know, no one realises I’ve done this (which means mission accomplished). I treat each photo like an artwork: some take 15 mins to retouch. Others can take 2 hours. When you purchase your images from me, ask to see a before and after snapshot, Iím more than happy to show you.
- an initial small set is created before start of business the very same morning so that the event Organiser can provide images of their event to the media. This means I’m up until around 5 or 6am. And my eyes are badly bloodshot.
- then I have to plan each photoset to release to the public as awareness grows post-event. More sorting, very long hours. Believe it or not, there are actual strategies for releasing photos are particular times.
Most of the above processes repeat themselves over a period of not days, but WEEKS depending on how big the event is and how many photos were successful. And this is while I’m working fulltime in my real job: go to work a 12 hour day, come home, straight into processing. No free time. No, Iím not kidding.
I’ve had other photographers saying I’m badly undercutting myself and should be charging *at least* double of what I do currently. Many photographers charge the cost of one of my images as an additional charge to retouch alone, and they will charge several hundred for a set of unprocessed images anyway. Equivalent live images seen in galleries go for thousands per image.

A couple of people have complained about charges for using my work commercially in printed & cinematic media for advertising. The main thing people need to keep in mind is that copyright to my images is NOT sold so they need to pay for a license. The charge for this depends on the usage, the length of time the license is required for, and so on. It’s not as straightforward as simply buying the image for a fixed price because commercial usage types vary.
Because many people have bought studio portraiture where copyright is also obtained, they are used to having unrestricted usage of their images. I try to align my commercial charges in line with that of the rest of the industry. Using an image for a long period of time with a massive customer audience requires the appropriate charge. One can’t expect such a huge usage requirement to be charged under a private license. If you want extensive use, you’ve got to pay for it. You’re getting the best live pole photography in return.
In light of everything Iíve said here, Iíve had people also ask me why I do live pole photography. Itís because I enjoy it. Seeing the results of shooting as I dump images from the camera over to my computer is one thing. But when you start to work on the images and transform them into a real piece of work, thatís where they come to life. And when Iím finished, I sit back and look at how itís come out, and think to myself ìI hope this performer sees this and likes it, and feels proud about their performanceî. When I see the DVD cover of the Australian Pole Dance Championships 2010, it feels good to know that the hard work paid off and someone liked it. If Bobbi’s Pole Studio uses my work for an advertisement of theirs, it’s flattering because we’re visually on the same page. When Pole Spin magazine decide to use my images in their publication, it’s an honour to be chosen among the peoples’ works they select for this performance art form to be expressed with.
I hope what I’ve written here gives people an idea of how much goes into every single image and what sort of things they need to think about when approaching me for commercial licenses of images. I also hope that people realise that what I produce is very different to studio portraiture. My live pole work is in the best interest of pole as a performance art form: I shoot pole FOR pole and I work extremely hard at the imagery you’ve seen, just as hard as you have to when you deliver your performances.
And PS: there WILL be studio shoots coming hopefully later this year
Thanks to those who have been supportive since I first started this – you’ve been amazing and inspiring. And to those who needed some answers, I hope the above has helped to explain some things.
Mindi

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindipic

http://www.facebook.com/mindipicsofficial

It wasn’t until I met Anthony Lee Winn (from doing my mobile app ‘Pocket Pole Studio‘) that I learnt about STRIPPERELLA. She is an Exotic dancer by night and a Super Heroine by night night ! AND she is a STAN LEE creation! What gives !? The Godfather of comics has given us a tongue in cheek creation that will make you hot under the collar what’s more, Anthony brings her to life with his artistic abilities! (that’s his Super Power, as well as dancing!)

To see a sample you can download the STRIPPERELLA iPhone app here.

A fair while back I was chatting to Anthony and he was saying he would love to bring her to life in the form of a Coffee Table Book ( some of you will remember that Pam Anderson played Stripperella in the tv show ) and completely reinvent her. Gone are the blonde locks and in comes the fiery red !! We discussed who we thought would be ideal to play this awesome red head when Anthony pointed me in the direction of Dana Hamm. POW knockout punch, she looked perfect!

It was going from good to great !  Anthony asked if I would do the Photography which OBVIOUSLY I said YES to ! Being a Photographer at Image 1st has given me the license to try new things and Anthony liked my style

So the first page was written, Anthony had the ideas, the storyboard, he had found the model to play Stripperella in the form of Dana Hamm & myself and  a co-photographer to capture it all.  Now we needed to raise the monies to fund this project.

The money is for fees for production, post production, print and distribution.
Examples:
*Modeling fees
*permit fees
*Utilities/location fees
*Transportation fees
*prop master/ costuming fees
*Set and key visual element building
*Production staff fees
*Film and development fees
*Printing fees

Since Las Vegas is the back drop for our female protagonist, we would acquire a permit in order to stage epic shots of Dana Hamm portraying Stan Lee’s Stripperella as she battles crime riding on her favorite motor vehicle… a customized Quad Runner. We would need 2 photographers (me being one), a moderate support and production staff, and 5 days of production within Las Vegas’ city streets and within one of the prestigious casinos to establish Stripperella’s home base.

SO HOW DO WE RAISE THE MONEY ? ……. KICKSTARTER.COM