Here’s wishing all of you are enjoying your Holiday Season!
Personally I didn’t send out any Christmas cards this year, but instead put together a special video Christmas/Holiday card for all my friends and family to enjoy.
I figured, why not share it with all my awesome Nick Exposed peeps as well… So without further ado, here is the zany, wacky, personality rich Christmas card for you to enjoy.
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all 
-Nick Mayo
Hokey Petes!! Its that time of year once again!!
With 2012 coming to its pleasant end, and the new year rapidly approaching, its time to sit back and ponder on our goals and visions for the upcoming rotations around the sun (which coincidentally translates to resolutions for the upcoming revolutions lolz).
Now, I know what your saying… “But Big Daddy Nick, goal setting is boring and daunting, and and…”. Au contraire mon ami!! Goals can be super fun when connected to something we love, ie. photography… or ice cream, boy do I love ice cream, but that typically goes against our other resolutions. So, whether your full on professional, amateur or a hobbyist, setting goals for your photography can take your craft, art or whatever you want to call it, to the next level in the coming 12 months and beyond!
To help you get started, Ive put together 5 areas that have helped me drastically improve my photography over the last year, which can be adopted into your goals for 2013.
If you haven’t done so already, make it a point this year to take your camera off of the Auto and Program modes, and really take some time to learn how your camera works. To make the transition relatively easy, I suggest starting off in Aperture Priority Mode (Often marked as AV on your controls dial at the top of your cam), this allows you to control your depth of field (more on these topics to come in future months), while the camera still makes the rest of the decisions for you.
Learn about the different metering and focusing modes your camera sports; what each one does, and which is right for the photography you do.
Once you learn the manual controls, functions and dynamics of your camera, you will find yourself in a whole new world of creative expression. The goal here is to know your camera gear inside and out; what each button and function does, and master it to the point that you can make decisions and changes on the fly without even pulling the camera away from your face. So often we’re trying to upgrade to that next camera, that new lens, a different flash or whatever, before we even have the gear we’re currently working with figured out. Put off buying new gear, and master the stuff thats already in your hand.
Similar to numero uno (Dang Son, were droppin some multi-lingual bombs today!!), take the time to learn the technical aspects of this wonderful art we call photography.
Do you know how to get a proper exposure, or even what exposure is? What part of the day has the best light for shooting? What does good light look like? What the heck was Nick talking about when he said Depth of Field?!?!
Once you get your camera down pat, its time to put it into practice and start focusing on the technical aspects of photo taking. Just knowing how to work our cameras, doesn’t promise us that our photos will be worth a darn. Learning things like exposure, composition and how to see light will help take our photos to that next level.
Its like Harrison Ford says in the latest Indiana Jones movie “If you want to be a good archeologist, you gotta get out of the library”. The only way to practice any of this is to get out there with camera in hand!
Watch out cause Im about to lay down some heavy philosophy right now… you ready for this?! Heres lifes formula for success: Go out, make mistakes, learn from your mistakes, wash, rinse, repeat!!
The only way to improve in this game is to be out there shooting, clicking that shutter, burnin them pixels! You’ve gotta be willing to FAIL (gasp.. the F word). Photography aint rocket science, but at the same time its no cake walk either. Theres a lot of trial and error, meaning it takes 1 part trial and 1 part error to get you to that next level. Embrace failure and keep on shooting.
Make it a habit to take your camera with you and shoot wherever you go. Now days this is simple, as most of us have phones in our pockets at all times that rival some of todays point and shoots. Be on the prowl for good light, interesting compositions and perspectives. Shoot color, light, gesture any chance you can. Shoot Shoot Shoot!
Wha What!?!?!? Now your just being confusing!
Since the release of the digital age, theres a nasty term in photography called “Spray and Pray”. This refers to just shooting anything and everything in hopes that one of the shots will be a keeper. Now days pixels are free, and its easy to just run around clicking that shutter at everything that moves, capturing the same scene a hundred times, hoping to get a keeper or two. DONT BE THAT PHOTOGRAPHER!
Slow down and think about your shots before pulling that trigger! Its like legendary photog Jay Maisel has said “Look at what your looking at”, meaning actually observe whats in front of your lens. Take time to line your shot up, get the right perspective, wait for the decisive moment… theeeennnn hit the shutter. Learning to see The Shot is one of the most rewarding skills you can hone when it comes to your photography. Its what sets stunning photos apart from the rest.
Not to mention you will love yourself that much more when you don’t have a billion and a half of the same photo to edit and sort through at the end of the day.
If you only take one thing from this post, let it be this! Id say one of my biggest gifts in life, has always been my willingness and excitement towards constantly pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I can attribute all the victories I’ve ever experienced to this simple idea.
Make it a goal in 2013 to push your photographic boundaries. Get out there and scare your self shitless over and over, and I guarantee you, at the end of the year you’ll look back in amazement at how far you’ve come.
Try a few of these things to help burst that initial comfort zone bubble
So there you have it!! 5 quick ideas to get you rolling into setting goals for the new year.
Now I want to hear your thoughts!! What goals have you set already? What were the biggest growing points of your photography in 2012? Share your comments below.
OH, and be sure to follow the Nick Exposed Facebook page!! (we’ve got some fun holiday giveaways for our facebook crowd coming up later this month. hint hint)
Holy Camolee, its been WAY WAY too long since last writing on the blog!!! Where has the time gone?!?!
Obviously, as you can see Ive made some changes to the site, once again. With my client based photography business on the rapid uprise, Ive had to go with a more Portfolio centered website design. Unfortunately that has led to a poor format for the blog, which in turn somewhat killed my excitement for keeping up on the blog…
Well all that is going to change!!! Currently we have a team working on a completely custom redesign of the blog!!! Its coming back, and coming back STRONG!! Starting in 2013, focus for the blogging portion of the site will be on tip trick and photography talk for all level photogs to enjoy and interact with. We are also working on setting up a set for a new youtube series dedicated to photography and everything creative!!
With the new direction, chances are back posts from the daily photo challenge of this year (2012) will be removed to take focus off myself, and put more towards moving photographers towards growth and inspiration in their craft.
Now, thats not to say a personal element from my own photography wont be interweaved into the postings here and there. You can expect to see behind the scenes videos, shots and setups, as well as pics that may not have made it into the portfolio, but are worth mentioning and sharing. Speaking of, I just submitted a shot to a Photography Contest and would LOVE IT if you could help vote it up 
http://www.photoswinprizes.com/2012/12/06/michelle/ (click the little red heart above the shot to vote).
But anyways, I just wanted to make a quick update post, letting you guys know the Nick Exposed Excitement is on its way back in!!! Contest, Giveaways, Collaborations, Tech Talk, Interviews, Tips and Tricks, Apparel and so much more in 2013!! Be on the look out.
- Nick Mayo
Wow!! What an incredible summer it has been so far!
I want to start off by giving a big shout out to all of you who participated in last months Community Collab Project! If you didnt see already, the gallery is up and ready to be enjoyed HERE. This months project is going to be absolutely KILLER!!! An enormous thank you to our amazing co-host Shannon Kalahan from Seeing Spots Photography, for coming up with the insanely creative idea! Im seriously on the edge of my seat right now, because I want to clue you guys in on the awesomeness that is to come in this months CCP! (BTW if you havent liked her facebook page yet… well you better do so HERE)
Now, where to start for the rest of the updates… First of all I regret to say, I will be putting the 365 project on hold for the time being. With my increasingly hectic schedule I just don’t have the time or energy to put into the challenge like I did earlier this year. BUT DONT WORRY, this is not to say I wont be shooting anymore! Au contraire, I will continue to shoot as often as I can, and will do my best to bring you the best of the best from my shooting 
Let alone the awesome shots I can bring you from my professional shoots like these. Continue reading
As I lay here in bed, my mind wont let me sleep
so much running between these two ears
Its incredible to think about where we are these days
What did we do before google?
Before youtube?
Before the internet in general?
How did we learn anything?
I feel like we have the world at our fingertips
and I also feel that’s a major part of what keeps me up at night
the idea of knowing I can learn anything
I can do anything
I ask one question and it leads to two more
which then multiplies even further
I have an incredible thirst for knowledge
I wonder if minds where this active years ago?
Did people feel as empowered as we feel these days
With so many resources at the touch of a button
Most of which are available on the devices we carry in our pockets
Excuses are especially invalid these days
There’s no reason for people not to be pursuing their passion and dreams
Its an excitingly possible world out there
Which ironically makes it even more impossible for me to fall asleep
Well its finally here!!
As Im sure many of you have noticed by now the site just went through a complete overhaul this weekend, which I must say was quite an exciting yet pain in the… rear (yea we’ll go with that) task!
So… what does this mean for you… the awesome community of Nick Exposed?!? A LOT!! Continue reading
ISO400 50mm f/2.5 1/1600sec
“So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?” -Hunter S. Thompson
Yikes!! Finally getting around to making time to get this post in. What a fantastic project!!! Thanks to all who participated, Shannon and I were extremely pleased with the turn out and amount of creativity that went on over the last couple of weeks. We plan on having the gallery up by the weekend
Now onto my thoughts and process with the quotes I was given! Continue reading
There is no trick to Quotography, but as I’m sure many of you can attest, there are some quotes that are easier to put into images than others. We have decided to tell you a little bit about our process in the hopes that you, our fellow collaborators, can get something out of it! Remember, our way of doing it is not “the right” way to go about it…it’s just a discussion to get your wheels turning and the creativity flowing.
“In the end, it’s not going to matter how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away” – Shing Xiong
The first thing I do with most quotes is look for the obvious, tangible items in it. In this case, I could try to do something with breath…maybe frosty breath on a cold morning…something along those lines. However, I don’t think that would really illustrate the message Shing Xiong is trying to convey. Instead, I would focus on the ‘moments’ portion of the quote.
‘Moments’ could be something with clocks or watches. Maybe a clock involved in an image of something I value. A watch on a couple holding hands or kissing?
However, to me, this quote is special enough that I would want to do better than a first obvious thought. If this were my quote, I would be inclined to do a photo involving other photos of special moments. Maybe a photo of polaroids spread out on a table? Or a photo of a scrapbook. Photos are my favorite way to remember important moments, so it would be an ideal way to both illustrate the quote while still communicating my personal values.
I’ve hinted on some designs for the Nick Exposed Photog Shirts that will be available in the upcoming months. Well… I have a few versions of the first design up for vote right now on the Nick Exposed Facebook Page. I need your help deciding which one you would like to see in print!
You can go straight to the pic for voting by clicking HERE!!
And while your over there, be sure to hit that like button so you can be in the loop when the final shirts come out… rumor has it there may be a contest or two when these come off the assembly line… wink…. wink
Recently I went and got the entire Craft & Vision e-book series, 40+ books, in order to bring you guys reviews on affordable learning material (their books sell for just 5 bucks a piece! I know.. hard to believe in such a costly hobby/profession). If you have been following the blog in the past you know that I am a big fan of David duChemin and gave away one of his hard copy books (Photographically Speaking), signed by David himself, as the last contest prize! When I heard of his involvement in C&V, and seen the massive amounts of awesome e-books he had released through them I jumped on the chance to build my digital reading collection!
BAM! Time for another collaboration photo project!
If you remember last months Luck of the Irish Collab, my good friend Shannon and I took the same concept each and attacked it with our cameras and creative thinking. It was interesting to see how two creatives thousands of miles apart would come to visualizing the same idea and concept. Well.. Shannon and I have been talking and its time to bring another collaboration to the surface, only this time were going to get anybody and everybody involved to add to the excitement and creativity!
If your following either the Nick Exposed or the Seeing Spots Photography Facebook pages you have probably seen the sneak peeks we’ve been posting over the last couple weeks (If your not following our pages heres the hint to do so so you don’t miss out on all the cool shit we post!! Capiche? ;) ). If you happened to miss our awesome sneak peak posts the topic of the collab is “Quotography”, taking famous.. and not so famous quotes and visualizing them in the form of a photo. Simple enough right? Continue reading
Holy Cats!!! Its already mid April, can you believe it?!? Were only a third of the way into the year, and yet so much has happened already! To some this means many good things, I myself have enjoyed the process of growth from my daily project so far, as well as the growing community and excitement yet to come! However, “so much has happened” could be a sore subject for some people with some instances where we feel like we are already so far into the “New” year, yet so far away from our initial “resolutions”.
Yea remember those things? The “stuff” you said you were going to do or not do starting at the beginning of the year?! How’s it going?
First of all, Im calling you out but not calling you out at the same time. The truth is… LIFE happens! Sometimes things just tend to creep up on you and get in the way of whats important. My only goal for this post is to get you thinking about one of two things. How to get back on track if somehow you wondered off the initial path, and second how to stay on track if you’ve been successful so far at following through.
Some quick tips: Continue reading