The Violin and Cello
Whether you like his work or not, you have to admit that Frank Gehry designs his projects to compliment the activities that will take place in them. As someone who has played the flute since 6th grade, to me the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago emulates the waves of sound that will project outwards from its stage.
The Percussionist
The Bold and Loud Trombone
The Soft Smooth Waves of the Flute
The Whole Shebang
Climax
There’s an old saying, “a dog at the park is better than a filet at the Ritz!”
Really, why? If I sat you down in your dinning room and I said either you can have a hot dog or a steak for dinner, what would you choose? Now what if I said dinner is on me, either we can go to the Ritz and get a filet with all the trimmings (asparagus, garlic mash, A1 yum), or we can go to the ballpark, see a game and have a hot dog. Now what would you choose?
Quality can only take you so far; there are plenty of great artist painting portraits on the sidewalk wondering where’s my chance. You need to know how you’re different, how you’re valuable to your clients, and, most important, you need to be able to explain it to your prospects in a why they can understand. Coming up with these answers is not easy, nor should it be rushed.
For instance, this summer I sat down to figure out my sizzle. A couple weeks later I came up with this.
“When I work with a client, I not only want to create images that can be used, but images that defines the work, highlights what is important, and will draw in his/her target audience. This means talking with the client before hand, understanding with that location or project means to him/her. Then I construct my compositions around these aspects and use light (direct sunlight in most cases) to accent those elements. I do not always use light in the most obvious way, but in a way that creates space and draws attention to the principal elements.”
This is my sizzle, explicit, not too long, and easy to follow.
Now that you have your sizzle, it is time to start broadcasting it. Make sure to bring it up in conversation with any new prospect, and tell it to your current clients. Make sure it is on you website.
You can even use it in your social media marketing, as long as it is appropriate. For instance, here I wrote about a valuable issue to any business and used my sizzle as a way to better illustrate and explain my point. It is appropriate, whereas by itself would come off arrogant.
Wish to share your sizzle, share below.
Chicago, the city of skyscrapers, has some of the best architecture I have ever seen, especially the jumbo-sized type. And walking around the city, enjoying the sites, it is so easy to over look the river as the main force that developed the city. The location of the city was picked because of the junction of the river and lake Michigan, with the name of the city coming from the onions that use to grow along the banks.
When I visited Chicago this summer, on the recommendation of a client, I decided to take a boat tour of the city that focused on the Architecture. There are many companies offering this service; the one I took ships off below the Wrigley Building.
The tour focused on most of the buildings near the banks, detailing not only the owners, but also the design style of the architects, differences between eras, and why the building was commissioned. For instance, the Sears’ Towel was built so big because Sears was the largest mail order business at the time. Or the fact that the Wrigley Building is one of the most ornate structures in the city and, since it faced north, helped spawn development near the lake. I must confess though that I was more concerned about photographing the buildings then paying attention to the tour guide, so I am limited with what I can remember, but if you are ever in Chicago, I would highly recommend taking a tour. Below are some more images from the tour.
Photo Tip: when shooting from a boat, it is more important to be concerned with fast shutter speeds instead of the overall sharpness of the image. Shooting at a 50th at f/16 just does not cut it. Try for shutter speeds as fast as 200th of a second or faster.
