Ello there! What's Ello and why you should be on it?

Maybe you've heard, Facebook has a new competitor.  Their name is Ello and they're labeling themselves as the ANTI-Facebook.  I'd say thats a rather large statement to be making.  So what's the word on Ello you may be asking?  What makes them different, and why should you join another social media site you have to check up on and update.  Well first off, you can't just join.  They are currently invite only!  That's right.  Just like good ol' Facebook was when they started out.  I'm sure you don't remember those days.  The days when 100% of your friends / followers saw your posts. Now, for some really cool features about Ello.  First and probably the most awesome thing for us photographers is.... NO PHOTO COMPRESSION! or so it seems.  I'm not sure if it's confirmed there's no compression of our pictures, but they look a hell of a lot cleaner on Ello than on Facebook, even if sized properly for Facebook.   Another great thing related to photos on Ello is, like on google+ we're given a massive header image.  Here's mine -->

The site itself has a simplified Tumblr like feel to it.  It's very clean but also very Beta.  There are lot's of minor fixes that could and will be made by the time they release the "final" version.  Here's what your profile page looks like with your friends list displayed on the left side.  You can find my profile here -->  ello.co/brandontigrett

Stop by and say "ello" if you get an invite to the site!

Things you'll notice on this page.  You've got a friends list, as well as noise.  Noise can be explained as a 2nd tier of friends basically.  When you go to someone's profile, you have the option to either place them in your friends or noise.  Friends will appear as they're shown above, and on the home screen you will see every single interaction your friends make.  This is kind of a cool / unique feature about ello.  When you place someone in noise, they don't show up on your main feed, but you can find their info in a sort of summed up area when clicking on "noise".

A few little tweaks that could be made would be in the Discover section.  I find it hard looking for my friends in there.   When you type in the search for someone, it directs you to a number of different user names, but not specifically the real name of the person you're looking for.

Some quick tips on how to succeed on Ello:

- Interact with people.  Comment on peoples updates and be friendly.  If someone follows you and they have few or even no followers, reach out, and say something kind.  It might make their day and you could find a new friend.  I've met some great people through Facebook while I was in college, or when I moved to a new city.  It's all about making connections.

- Use the site.  This is the biggest thing.  You have to be willing to use the site, and put Facebook aside.  I'm tired of Facebook limiting the reach of our posts, which is why I'm starting to migrate everything over to Ello!  Hopefully within a year, I'll have enough of a community on Ello that I won't need to pay Facebook another dime to spread the news about my photos!

- Give it some time.  Ello is in beta.  It says it right on the top of their website.  Ello Beta.  This means things are going to be buggy, and go wrong.  But, it also means they aren't done with it yet and they will be improving it.  So going back to point number 2, use the site, and find out what needs to be fixed, spread the word, and it shall improve!

- Lastly, spread the word about Ello in real life.  The hardest part for a new social media company to do is come in and gain a steady user base when there are already some major players in the ring.  Encourage your fiends and family to step away from the other sites and give Ello a shot.  Even if they're skeptical or don't enjoy it the first time, encourage them to stay with it.  It will improve!

Anyways, these are just a few points that have come to mind after being on the site for it's first big week!  It's exciting, kind of pioneering a new social network.  Let's do it together though!  Spread the word and lets make this a huge community!  And come find me on Ello!  ello.co/brandontigrett

Lastly, here are a few really cool people I would suggest you follow if you do join.  Besides me of course ;)

Jeremy Cowart - ello.co/jeremycowart

Renee Robyn - ello.co/reneerobyn

Pratik Naik - ello.co/solsticeretouch

Those are just a few.  There are many more joining every day!  See you on the other side.

Photographing the Super Moon | Daily VLOG #21

Today marked the final super moon for 2014, and unfortunately it was a very cloudy night.  But, on the bright side I got some sick photos of a storm coming through, including lighting, and an epic sunset!

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Remember to Think Positive, Make Good Decisions, and Stay Creative!

Cherie Maternity Shoot - Creating Something Different

When it comes to maternity photos I'm not the expert.  I'll start off with saying that much.  Maybe because I'm a guy and have never been pregnant...(not possible I know, unless you've seen that movie where Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes pregnant, which is very improbable.  Maybe a side effect of steroids.)  Ok lets start over.  That was an awkward introduction to this post. I enjoy doing maternity shoots because there is a real connection between the mother to be and her unborn child, a connection so strong you can feel the emotion through a photograph.  So, when Cherie contacted me about doing her maternity shoot and told me the location she wanted I knew I needed to do something different. Of course the Scottsdale Civic Center park is one of the hot spots for local photographers around town, it's so overdone that I needed to do something different here.  Especially since the LOVE sculpture by Robert Indiana is the most over photographed thing in the park.  Here's what I came up with.

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Lucky for me that day the fountains were turned off due to maintenance allowing for a clean reflection in the foreground water!

When Cherie requested this location I knew she would also request a photo with the LOVE statue by Robert Indiana.  The two go hand in hand. But, I wasn't just going to plop her right in front, I needed the focus to be on her, after all that's why we were there!  So we walked around a little bit and I decided to put her on the opposite side of the fountains from me in hopes i could get a nice reflection of her and the statue in the water.  The stars aligned and I came out with a totally unique photo from a non unique location!

Here are a few more photos from the session, by the time of me writing this Cherie will have had her baby.  Best wishes to both of them!

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As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+

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Emily + Shawn Engagement Shoot in the Mountains!

Emily Vincent & Shawn Cohen's Engagement Shoot

Emily and Shawn have been dating for over 3 years now, and little did she know her life would only get better on their family trip to Hawaii.  For that is where Shawn proposed to her, on top of a mountain!  So it was only fitting when Emily contacted me about shooting their engagement photos that we returned to the mountains for the location of their shoot. Below you can find a collection of different photos from the day.

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Emily was very dedicated to getting some amazing photos, so dedicated that it didn't slow her down when she climbed up a bolder getting a few unseen cactus spines in her hand and butt! The image below shows them taking in the true beauty from the base of Tom's Thumb where you can see out over the entire Indian Preserve! It really is breathtaking.

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Overall we had an amazing time on our shoot, walked away with only a few scrapes from the location, but with some amazing photographs they will remember forever! Good luck to Emily and Shawn in their upcoming wedding and marriage!

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As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+

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Mike Ryan Photo Shoot - Behind the Scenes Video & Stills

I was fortunate enough to be hosting Benjamin Wong otherwise known as just Von Wong in the photography community during the week of my photo shoot with Mike Ryan and his lovely girlfriend and her daughter.  Ben's an accomplished photographer already, but to keep his skill set growing he plans to move into video.  So with a generous amount of gear lent from Sony he opted to follow me around on my shoot with Mike, and shoot some awesome behind the scenes footage.  Here's the epic finished product of my first ever behind the scenes video! ***EXCITING!!!**

Luckily Triple Scoop Music has some amazing royalty free music I was able to use, which really added to the awesomeness of the video.

On top of the great video, I also came out of this shoot with some awesome stills. -->

As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+

Recent Work - Portfolio Updates

I've been quite busy these past couple of months so I thought I'd make a short blog post displaying some of my recent additions to the Portfolio!  This is just a select few examples of my recent work click the link to check out my full portfolio.  

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As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+

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Weekend Inspiration -- "Make it Count" by Casey Neistat

Hi all!  Here's a little weekend inspiration for you.  I came across this video back in 2012 by Casey Neistat.  Having just watched it again, I'm feeling very inspired and thought I would share it with you incase you haven't seen it.

Here's the link to the video as well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxfZkMm3wcg

I believe this will be my first post in a new sort of line of posts where I share my inspiration with you!  This video in particular hit home with me because I find myself in creative ruts sometimes.  When I'm not quite sure where to go or what to do next I'll just do something to reinvigorate my creativity! So short story even shorter go out there and do something to mix things up, but most importantly make whatever you do count for something!

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As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+