My name is Stephen Masker and I’m a 23-year-old Dallas photojournalist and a recent graduate from the University of North Texas where I studied photojournalism and political science.

{Why and when did you become a photographer?}

My interest in photography began as a hobby in late 2006 when I was a senior at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. I had actually broken up with someone I was dating, so I was kind of down in the dumps and looking for an activity to take my mind off of it. I remember going with my parents and buying my first camera, a Nikon N55 film SLR, shortly before a family vacation to Big Bend National Park in West Texas. While I mostly used the automatic settings throughout the trip, it was really exciting to see my images – mostly landscapes – after they were developed. I think that experience, in combination with my recent breakup, were really personal and significant events as a developing photographer because they ignited a curiosity to learn more about what I was doing with the camera, which ultimately resulted in the exercise of technical application.

{How would you describe your style of photography?}

I think that my style of photography would most accurately be described as journalistic because of my persistent objective to accurately portray the events of the world we live in. As a photojournalist I give considerable attention to my use of available light, framing, texture, and color, but more importantly I’m constantly searching for sincere and authentic moments. What I’ve learned through interning with veteran photojournalists and through real world application is that most great photography (in the sense of photojournalism) isn’t made simply by chance, because – if you think about it – by the time you realize a moment, it’s already too late to shoot it. Half of being a professional is developing critical thinking skills and creating your own luck. You have to be able to predict when and where a moment is going to happen, which can be difficult to do, but there are strategies that can make it easier. My advice to improving your photography is to always be on the lookout for ‘the moment,’ which means planning and thinking about when and where it’s going to happen. Sometimes this may mean that you’ll be doing more thinking than shooting, but I would rather come back with 5 great images than 10 average ones.

{What is your most difficult challenge in the business?}

Probably the most shared burden for any professional is figuring out how to make a living doing this, and I believe most photographers would agree that there is no one solution. While their will always be a need for professional image makers, I don’t think there will always be a need for photojournalists, which is disheartening because it’s my passion. I think the more flexibility you have a as a photographer the better probability you have at sustaining yourself, and while a good photographer is flexible in what they shoot I think it’s important to develop a niche in photography. It’s important to specialize in a specific area of photography that separates you from other photographers, idealistically in an area that has a need for recurrent and high volume work.

{Where would you like to see your talents take you?}

Although many of the conversations I’ve had with veteran photojournalists have been bleak and highly discouraging, I remain optimistic about the potential success of a highly dedicated, passionate photographer who works hard and who understands the challenges and the reality of this field. If I could have my talents take me anywhere, a staff position at a newswire like Reuters, AP, or Getty Images would be most ideal, especially something based in DC around politics or working on international news assignments.

{Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration?}

My biggest single source of inspiration comes from the advice of a photojournalist who I interned with, Chris Usher, who told me to always shoot from my heart. I think my perceived vision of the world and my outlook on life is almost entirely responsible for the style that I’m currently developing, and I think that outlook is guided by many things, but predominately by my committed desire to connect with the subjects I’m photographing and through my sincere respect and appreciation for the human condition. I’ve always thought it was interesting how one piece of art can influence another. For example, poetry could inspire a play, which could in turn inspire a painting that inspires a song. I don’t think photography is any different, and my diversified interests, my loving and supportive family and my friends are all salient sources of inspiration as I continue to develop as a photographer. If I had to name two photographers as being especially influential, I would certainly name Chip Somodevilla, staff photojournalist with Getty Images in Washington, DC (who I’ve interned with), and Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin, who I would love to intern with (my bags are packed, Paolo).

{What advice can you offer to aspiring photographers?}

There are so many responses I have to this question, but here are a few that I think are really important:

1) Shoot what you love – When you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it shows in your photography, and when you don’t care about what you’re photographing, that shows too. Always shoot what you love and be passionate about your work.

2) Treat every assignment like your shooting for Time – It’s easy to be careless on an assignment when you convince yourself that its being published in a smaller circulation (if it’s even being published at all), and if you treat assignments this way you’re rarely going to have images of portfolio quality, much less anything that will grace the desk of veteran photo editor. The solution is to treat every assignment like your shooting for Time magazine or any other large publication. The ‘come back with the gold or don’t come back at all’ mentality should force you to think critically and intensify your urgency as a photographer.

3) Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t or won’t – Yeah, there are a lot of really great photojournalists who are more than capable of shooting at the White House. So? That doesn’t mean I’m going to give up trying, and you shouldn’t give up on your passion either. Set a goal and work hard for it. If that means driving across the country and working long hours, for free, for weeks (yep, I’ve done it), then do it. Why wouldn’t you? If it matters to you, don’t let anything get in your way. Not geography, not finances, and definitely not opinion. When there’s a will, there’s a way.

4) Practice every day, and intern with other photographers – enough said.

5) Have an online presence – Get a website, social media platforms, blog, whatever, but make your content current and interact with other photographers. Network and promote yourself.

6) Photo credits don’t pay the bills – Never shoot anything for free. Consider everything that it takes to make a photograph: Your camera, your lenses, your tripod, your cable release, your computer, your software, your car, your gas, your time – the list goes on. Don’t believe the false promise that a ‘photo credit’ or ‘exposure’ will make you famous or give you any additional work. It won’t. The only time I will ever make the rare exception to this is when I personally support a specific non-profit organization. Always remember that you and your photography have value and purpose.

7) Prepare for a challenging life with little pay, but with great personal rewards – Being a professional photographer isn’t nearly as glamorous as people think it is. It’s A LOT of hard work and dedication and commitment, and this job is not getting any easier. With 5,000 images uploaded to the internet a minute, how do you plan to stand out? How are you unique? You really have to be on the ball about where photography has been, where it is now, and where it’s going. That means constantly reading blogs, watching other photographers, reading the news (for photojournalists), and adapting to the rapidly changing world that we live in.

Promo info:
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/stephenmasker

Portfolio: http://www.stephenmasker.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stephenmasker

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/stephenmasker

This weeks winner is Miriam Wareham! Congrats!

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In order to get success with Search Engine Optimization, you have to target the market with the right key phrases and consistently build links.

SEO is a continuous process and not just a one shot deal.

Below are the 4 deadly SEO mistakes that you have to avoid at all cost in order to be successful in attracting traffic. These are the mistakes made by many optimizers which limits their success.

1. No hyper-tagging with relevant key phrases – This is one of the most frequent mistakes that many optimizers make. Title tags are words that appear on the top left hand side of your Internet browser. It is essential that your place keywords in your title tag because search engines give a lot of preference to it. The title tags are like a title of your website. It tells search engines what your website is all about. If you are aiming for higher rankings for a keyword but the keyword is not in your title tag, then it is unlikely that you will be awarded with higher ranking of your website. Therefore, make sure that your title tag describes the content of your page and place important keywords right at the front of it.

2. Not enough content or outdated content – SEO is a lot more than just tagging your pages. You have to have to upload content for search engines to read. In order to get a higher ranking on search engine listings, your must incorporate the right keywords in your content. If your website is outdated, it will be out of the limelight of the search engines and it will be scanned a lot less than an updated one. This is also a contributing factor for not getting listed higher on search engines..

3. Wrong Keyword optimization. Trying to optimize common generic keywords will be hard and it would become difficult to achieve SEO success because there will be a lot more competition. Research a bit, look for key phrases which are less competitive which are relevant at the same time. Keep in mind that if your website is optimized by the wrong keywords and even if you achieve high ranking, there will be no conversion.

4. No consistency in link building – Link building is a process of getting more incoming links to your website. Quality inbound links will help your website to achieve higher rankings for competitive keywords. But link building is a continuous process. If you never do it consistently, you will not achieve good result from SEO. So, always build links consistently by using article marketing, blog commenting, directory submissions, and other common strategies that optimizers are using

Source: logodesignhive.com

One winner each week wins a Starbucks or Photojojo gift card. Just post your macro image on our Facebook page to participate…Have Fun!

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