Back to the Ranch, A Great Success!

Back to the Ranch was a great success! With a support staff of almost 30 people composed of models, assistants, make-up artists, VIP instructors and myself, it was one of the largest events I’ve ever handled and we’re going to do it again. Many thanks to everyone that made it such a great event. An event like no other ever held before that will leave memories burned in people’s minds, in addition to great friendships and photographs.

It began around 2 a.m., Thursday morning, as I drove out to Canton, Texas in my packed Suburban. About 45-minutes down the road on Interstate 35 North, I made a decision that almost sent BTTR into a whirlwind of uncertainty as I opened the sunroof directly above me for some fresh air. First there was that rushing air sound, as I was driving at 70 mph, then a sucking vacuum cleaner sound like something had just flown out the roof.

That something was not planned. After a few seconds, still traveling at a high-rate of speed down the inside lane, I realized, it was the cashier’s check to pay for our lodging for the entire group of photographer attendees, my models, make-up artists, assistants and VIP’s.

A check with a value of two-digits in front of three zeros, right out the window on the busiest Interstate in Texas, often know as the death trap between San Antonio and Austin. I immediately slowed down, panicked, and pulled over inside toward the concrete barrier. I began thinking, as I cautiously, but dangerously backed up looking in my mirror for that now lost check—what if a the check had floated down into another vehicle’s grill or bumper and was head down the Interstate on it’s own? What if it had floated to the other side of the expressway and was now headed back to San Antonio?

Short of a heart attack, my thoughts raced in my head, what do I tell the folks at the Mill Creek Resort, the dog ate the check? It never worked for my teachers with homework. Then after a coming to my senses, I crossed three lanes of traffic to the shoulder side of the road, at the same time noticing a car, backing up on the access road, not just any car, a Sheriff’s deputy car. As I exited my vehicle, I ran through the grassy area between the expressway shoulder and the access road and when the deputy rolled down his window, I said, “Officer, I need your help, I just lost a high-dollar cashiers check on the expressway, and without hesitation the deputy parked, took his flashlight and helped me with the frantic search.

About fifteen minutes later and a quarter-mile of the Interstate thoroughly searched, he crossed the expressway and found it next to the concrete divider. As he crossed back to the safer shoulder, I thanked deputy S. Masters of Comal County profoundly. He told me to put the check safely away and not to place it on the dash or the visor area. As he drove off, I was still in disbelief.

Fortunately, though there were a few very minor glitches, BTTR didn’t follow the early morning format of almost giving me a heart attack, instead, with the help of 14 great models, assistants, make-up artists, the VIP instructors and the attendees, we overcame some minor quirks and pulled it off with great success. Like VIP Shelly Katz stated at the closing ceremony, “Remember, this was the first Back to the Ranch and you’ll always remember it as there will be a second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, etc., Back to the Ranch Event, but there will only be one first and you were here, that’s why I we took that group picture too.”

Harrison Funk added, “I had such a great time, I can’t wait to do it again.” I commented back Harrison with, “we will do it again.” While the attendees were in awe of the VIP’s and all the great talent, it ultimately took 30 support staff, plus the staff at Mill Creek, to pull it off. We all did it as a team, but more importantly, because of the passion. It wasn’t just another event. Like when American Idol Superstar Amy Davis sang to the group at both the opening and closing ceremonies, we felt her passion in her voice just like the passion in photography and modeling filling the air at the Mill Creek Resort in Canton.

There are many memories and more that I’m sure will be talked about for the days and years to come. Great friendships and photographs were created and we all gained some type of experience we’ll never forget.

As I drove away from the “ranch,” I opened my sunroof, though this time I made sure there was nothing in my visor and the sound of the air rushing buy as I drove down the Interstate was like a breath of fresh air, I was satisfied and so were the attendees, models, assistants, make-up artists and the VIP photographers and I thought of Eli Reed’s closing remarks the night before, “This was like a vacation, I truly enjoyed it and look forward to it again.”

Workshops that Don’t Pay Models–BLAH!

Will we’re getting ready to for our main event, "Back to the Ranch" (BTTR) next week, featuring some top, top photographers as guest instructors, so I’m running like a chicken with my head cutoff right now! Whew! As we line everything up for what promises to be the best event of the year, 30 photographers, 15 models, 5 VIP photographer instructors, 5 mentor/assistants, 4 make-up artists and an outstanding location, we’re actually updating the website for the ranch event, though it’s basically sold-out! It sold-out before we could even finish the website and it was just announced after the 4th of July holiday! Imagine that? That’s what happens when you get some great models, though only a few were mentioned. Why are we able to get some great models for all our events? The answer is not hard and I took an excerpt from the BTTR website and put it here for you to see below. Often I see other workshops "poking" fun at my "releases," implying that we suprises our photography workshop attendees–not so, it’s on every photography workshop web page, and the release are always voluntary, though encouraged. Besides, other workshops provide, very questionable promotional releases. So enjoy the words below, and if you want to get in on BTTR 2009, please email me ASAP as we’ll be preselling it at a discounted rate. Thanks, see below and don’t forget our military troops, their families and friends in your prayers! rg sends! Models know in “our” photography workshops they get compensated monetarily, not with half-promises. They know we’re the best workshop to be in, not just because we have more credentials with our host alone, than other workshops have in combined instructors, but because we ensure our models (and our make-up artists) receive more than promises of photos from the VIP’s, mentors and attendees–hence why our models tend to be exclusive to our workshops and why we can provide you top models. We also require you do your part in letting the talent know you’re happy with their hard work, none of this is ever hidden, always upfront on our workshop web pages and email updates. Rest assured, when models know they’ll receive compensation for their efforts, they will give you more than a 110% effort.  Our models aren’t "suckered" into signing "promotional" releases which great attorneys frown on.  Our models will sign "full-releases" (with adult/porn restrictions to protect the model) not questionable promotional releases.  Promotional releases are nasty and if ever challenged in court, well let’s just say, that’s probably why you’re in court. In fact, the Cambridge Dictionary defines promotional as "intended to advertise something." Advertising is a commercial. Our model release system is tested tough in the past seven years and designed to protect you and the model–there is never a question of what is promotional and what is commercial use.   Promotional is the adjective for promotion. pro·mo·tion  (pr-mshn) n. Advertising; publicity. pro·motion·al adj. Advertising is a commercial. ad·ver·tis·ing  (dvr-tzng) n. The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media. Our model releases are always voluntary for our attendees and our workshop terms allow only use of the images in your professional printed portfolio if you choose not to sign releases with our models. We encourage full-releases, which we provide, between you and the model for a small fee–$40 (for this event) paid directly to the model.  We supply the releases for the model and your protection and we never take a dime from the model. In fact, we pay for our model’s transportation, meals and lodging, more than any other workshop today. Our releases allow the use of your images taken at our workshop for your on-line portfolios, websites and commercial use.  For releases to be valid, a model has to receive something of value–what’s $40 for three days of hard work? That’s barely over ten dollars per day! While you’re sleeping in bed, models are usually up at the crack of dawn in make-up.  Note: If you’ve ever attended a workshop or model/photographer event where a model signed a promotional release and you failed to supply her with images or something of value, that release is invalid. Also, if a group of models signed one release for one photographer, especially if it was photo-copied and given to all the photographers, the validity is seriously questionable. Ever wonder why mentors and VIP’s in other events use their own releases and not the promotional event releases? That’s why they’re pros. We do it right for you and the model! Think of our releases as an added incentive for the models to work harder for you verses promises of prints. Knowledgeable attorneys frown on promotional releases because anything of "promotion," like posting photos on model and photography sites, forums, on-line portfolios, personal websites, etc., is in fact a "commercial" for your work and abilities.  Don’t be suckered into these workshops where models are also suckered.  In fact, we’ve heard the horror stories from many models of these (promotional release) workshops and it’s unfortunate. We’ve proven that professional photographers know that models need proper compensation for their talent.  A workshop is a place to learn and being up front with our releases is the way it’s done in the real world of photography and modeling, not promotional promises. Again, while it’s voluntary, we encourage our releases and ask that you budget appropriately for our models so we can continue to keep our costs down and pass them on to you while supplying top-quality models who understand it’s OK to be paid for their hard work.  We settle for nothing less, top models for you, happy models for your camera and models that will work with you again as they respect your professionalism. So that’s it, above, from the BTTR site, and we encourage anyone to boycott any workshop that involves models if the models are not being compensated, including their travel expenses paid for. Thanks, rg sends!

Still a Red Bull Drinker–Headed to Hangar-7!

Still exhausted from the Virgin Islands with only about 350 emails to answer and I’m headed to Houston for this weekend’s one-day workshop, home for a few days, then off to the Chicago Workshop next weekend. (Yes, the DVD’s are on the way, see below.) While my life is exhausting at times, it can also be exhilarating as last week I received permission, personally from Red Bull Billionaire and founder, Mr. Dietrich Mateschitz to utilize his famous Hanger-7 in Salzburg, Austria for a photo shoot.

This is rare permission that came direct from Austria.

One of the last model events held at Hangar-7 was Germany’s Next Top Model hosted by Heidi Klum, so I consider it an honor and we’re going to do it! Hangar-7 houses a restaurant, two bars, a lounge and Mateschitz’s historic Flying Bulls aircraft and more. Made almost completely of glass, the ambience is perfect for photographing models. You can see more about Hangar-7 here: http://www.hangar-7.com/#en/homepage/

While it’s generally open to the public, they do change the operating hours to accommodate private events and did I say I’m honored about this opportunity? We’re putting this together right now for early Sept., before Photokina, with some of my European sponsors.

It will be a long day today, another day without sleep and then a three-hour drive to Houston . I stayed up all night working on a proposal requested by an advertising firm for one of their top clients–can’t say much about it, but it involves a calendar, beautiful models photographed with products and the budget on this deal is amazing. The first meeting went well and I’m keeping my fingers crossed they will take my advice and sign the contracts. I might add, the client is not small, they are publicly traded on the stock exchange and they want to move forward with this just like Pirelli did in the 1960’s. I was recommended by name, and get this, by another photographer they first approached. I’ll publicly thank him later as the project is close-hold until contracts are signed–then look out!

My third book is off to the printer for proofing, soon it hits the press then the book shelves. You can read more at this link and workshops too–go here!

On those patiently waiting for the DVD, my apologies on the delays—I will be in Chicago next making sure they go out the door personally. They are coming and I hope you enjoy it is much as I did. Thanks again for your patience. While in Chicago next week we also have a two-day workshop in St. Charles, so if you want in, sign-up now, some great models and a great workshop!

On another note, look for a complete revamping of this entire website from one of the top website producing companies in the world–more on that soon!

That’s it for now, have to run to the airport to pick-up a model then off to Houston! Thanks, rg sends!

Back From Chicago

Well we had another wonderful workshop in Chicago, this time at a new location in the Saint Charles area and though like most workshops a few glitches can arise when dealing with weather and other elements, this workshop was one of the best ever. Many thanks to the talent and the attendees for making a smooth operation along with Stereo and Ken and the staff at Studio 3 Productions for their help and support! As always they are great hosts.

We’re already looking at new dates for the next workshop in Chicago and soon we’ll add Dallas and a new Philadelphia date, as Philly is already sold-out. Other locations were you can still sign-up if you missed out are the Virgin Islands, Maui, McAllen (TX) and Atlanta. We’re exploring Miami, Portland, Los Angeles and more, so keep coming back to our workshop pages for dates and the ability to sign-up.

During all my travels to these workshop locations I do my best to take my laptop and keep up with emails and various websites, especially the my latest venture, ShotCritic.com, and I must say, I’m enthused with all the new registrations, almost 400 members as I write this blog article on the airplane from Chicago to Atlanta. I encourage everyone to sign-up, it’s free and the first 1,000 registered photographers get a few perks others won’t, including additional “credit points,” a point system that will entitle you to cash in on prizes, awards and more!

Well my battery is running low, have to recharge in Atlanta and then start working on the caption information of my third book that’s due out later this year on glamour posing. Stay-tuned for pre-order information, in the meantime, you can pre-order my newest 2-disc DVD, First Steps in Glamour Photography with Rolando Gomez, available later this month. Save $20 now and order here. Thanks and don’t forget our military service members, their families and friends in your prayers-God Bless! rg sends!

What is a Make-up Artist Worth?

I just returned from a wonderful Glamour, Beauty and the Nude workshop in Atlanta where we had some great photographer and model attendees–not to mention one of the all-time, best, make-up artists any photographer could ask for, and like all workshops, we go for the best.

Prior to the fun and exhausting workshop, I had traveled to Palm Beach for an annual, private instruction with one of my best clients of that area. After arriving there and spending the night at a beautiful Palm Beach hotel, we did our first shoot that morning in a Palm Beach courtyard, before heading off to a wonderful resort on Captiva Island. While in Captiva, we moved locations each night before I headed out to Atlanta.

While both the Atlanta workshop and the Florida private instruction were fun and educational, photography based, they both differed in many things, from location to make-up artist budget, to obviously the group size of the photographer(s) involved. My client obviously had a larger budget, hence his decision for the one-on-one training and for flying in one of the top make-up artists from New York at a day-rate some photographers dream of achieving.

For the privacy of my client, I’ll keep the MUA’s (make-up artist) and the client’s name private, but I can assure you, the New York-based make-up artist had more tearsheets and experience than most photographers achieve in a lifetime. She came highly recommended from one of the top beauty and commercial photographers of New York, a photographer who I had introduced to my client back at the annual FotoFusion event held near Palm Beach.

Often people ask, what makes a great make-up artists and why do some, like those from New York and Los Angeles command thousands of dollars per day while others only hundreds or less per day? Well obviously the first answer is credibility, just like photography, the more credits (tearsheets, bonafide assignments, accolades, etc.) the more a creative can charge—New York and Los Angeles provide the breeding grounds for such success in credibility faster than other locations. In addition, this make-up artist from New York had paid her dues, just like the photographer of her caliber that recommended her, she had plenty of experience, she started from the bottom up too, but now she’s on top in New York.

She had gained the experience of directing, styling, and hair-styling through her career with very established publications and photographers, all an added bonus to those that hire her. Though some assignments call for separate creatives to do all the latter things, this private instruction was only limited by the passenger van we were utilizing for our driving and of course the extended-passenger golf cart on Captiva Island we rented.

Make-up artists day-rates very, depending on their base location, obviously the more expensive markets of New York and Los Angeles command greater rates than someone from hick town, USA. My client had the ability to afford the best and so he sought the best, an attitude he developed from a prior, poor experience.

While my client is no beginner, as he’s got tearsheets in other genres of photography, I have nothing against beginners working with beginners, though I highly recommend that when you can afford to move up the chain in anything photography releated, do so, it will make you better too as you can feed off someone with more experience too.

As far as the day-rate goes for a make-up artist, it all depends on the client and what that client expects the make-up artist to accomplish. I look at my A-list of MUA’s, their actual location, talent, experience and determine who is best qualified for my client while being able to meet the budget requirements.

I look at a the make-up artist’s can-do attitude and avoid those with an attitude. I look for nothing less and like my client, my decisions on who to hire come from my own previous experiences along with the goal(s) I’m trying to achieve. The make-up artist for our Atlanta workshop was as high-caliber as any photographer could ask for and she’s certainly on my A-list and she would’ve made my client proud just like the New York-based MUA, but obviously day-rates varied between the two.

Those variances were based on traditional working location of the MUA’s, their experience, their tearsheets, and their longevity of their established names. I can assure you, both have the talent my client and I would utilize for our needs—though like a patient looking for a heart-transplant would seek a surgeon with more years of experience and a bigger name, my client decided to go that course because of his own previous experience.

Much like photographers and models, make-up artists have to wait for that lucky break too, as the larger clients can afford to go with those at the top of their game, however, on occasion a chance is taken and a talent gets a lucky opportunity. It’s on these opportunities that those at the top of the A-list begin looking over their shoulders and others take notice and the evolution of rising to the top begins along with the ability to demand higher day-rates.

Passion and commitment will help bring that to life along with being at the right place at the right time and some elbow grease, but not everyone gets the luck and like a commodity, that’s why those at the top can afford to charge more—seems like a vicious circle doesn’t it? Well it can be for most creatives and that’s why some endure and others don’t.

Well I’m off to Chicago and we’re at a new location for our next Glamour, Beauty and the Nude workshop, so I hope to see you there, we have only one spot left! Thanks and God Bless, and remember to keep our military service members, their families and friends in your hearts and prayers, thanks, rg sends!

Framing Industry Conspiracy

I’ve lectured and taught photography to thousands of people over the past decade with over 250 workshops and seminars around the world and often people tell me, or I see it when they are shooting while “chimping” with their LCD screen, how they leave room for cropping their images to make the photo fit a matte and/or picture frame.  Obviously this is a problem more inherent to the United States, not for Europe.

My first thought is why? My second thought is you obviously have never worked with a photo editor for publication. My last thought is you probably bought your camera based on mega-pixel hype, or on the Jones’s standard, I have more mega-pixels than you.

Let’s look at the why part first. We’re a society that tends to be programmed as we grow up in life. Most of use grew up with (in inches) 11×14’s, 8×10’s, 5×7’s and the 3 1/2 x 5’s, the latter made famous by the Noritsu one-hour mini-lab explosion of the 1980’s. Though the 3 1/2×5’s graduated to 4×6’s, our problems with mandatory societal-cropping (think frames, mattes and photo albums) still didn’t end with our 35mm format cameras. Part of the non-ending I base on what I like to call, “the framing industry conspiracy theory” to sell us mattes with our frames. And to ground my theory, let’s look how it all developed, no pun intended, or the second part of obviously you’ve never worked with photo editors or editors before.

The first 35mm format camera was invented by Leica in 1913, not Kodak, Kodak invented film and introduced the “135” for film 35mm wide in a cartridge, but the actual images size is 24mm wide (11mm’s are used for sprocket holes and spacing) by 36mm in length. It’s based on metric units, not American and British units of measurement. It’s this format that led to the words, “full-frame” and sometimes “double-frame” in relationship to the “single-frame” 35mm movie format, which is another story in itself.

Now that you know the history of 35mm (135) film, let’s look at full-frame, because it’s this term you’ll hear photo editors tell photographers often when it comes to improper cropping in the 35mm camera in conjunction to the publication of images. A full-frame image makes (in inches) 4×6’s, 5×8’s, 8×12’s, and 10×15’s, thus to fit a full-frame, printed image in a standard picture frame, a photographer would have to purchase a matte, with an opening cut to fit the full-frame image, thus the matte would then go in a larger frame-think costs to the photographer and client here.

On the other hand, photo editors harp at photographers not to crop in the camera, or not to leave space for placing an image in a frame for several reasons. One, primarily based on the old film days, is that 35mm is so small that pre-cropping in the camera makes the useful part of the image even smaller, so when the image is enlarged, it gets grainy, or in the case of digital photography today,
is more prominent, especially with older digital cameras. This holds even more relevance if the photo editor needs to crop your image to fit a page.

But the other main reason photo editors harp on photographers to fill the frame totally when shooting is the fact that publications don’t place images based on frame and matte sizes, they place images based on column inches and percentages–to test this theory, first, notice how a magazine or newspaper normally has more than one vertical column of text per page.

Second, take a ruler and measure ten images within that publication, any ten. You’ll find various odd sizes and the chance of an image being exactly to standard framing sizes is rare. Not even the cover is a 8×10 inches, more like 8 1/2×11 inches in most cases, and the cover is one of the few cases where the original image is cropped.

Now let’s take this one step further, or the third thought, which is most cameras are purchased on the Jone’s theory of I’ve got more mega-pixels than you. Say a photographer purchases a DSLR, digital single lens reflex camera, based on mega-pixels. And since I’m not the best in math, let’s make it simple for math’s sake even though I know there are cameras with more mega-pixels than what’s needed for publication when it comes to the 35mm DSLR’s. Let’s pretend your camera is like the Canon 5D, approximately 12-mega-pixels. Let’s pretend you haven’t read this article yet, so you do what most amateur, non-published photographers do and leave room in all your images for cropping for that old 8×10-inch frame/print standard.

Now we know that a 35mm camera, film or digital, makes an 8×12-inch print when printed full-frame. But you want an 8×10-inch print, which means you’ll cut-off 2-inches from your full-frame. So 2-inches goes into 12-inches (full-frame) six times, as 12 divided by two is six. So we agree, we’ve lost two-full inches of image, or in the case of digital, 1/6th of the original mega-pixel information. Now we take that our original 12-megapixels and divide that by 1/6th loss of the original mega-pixel information and we two again. We then take that two and subtract it from the original 12-mega-pixels and we have 10-mega-pixels-in other words, we’re actually shooting 10-, not 12-megapixels and we paid for 12!

Confusing? Well it’s really not and I told you I wasn’t good in math, but in simple terms, when we crop in the camera while shooting for the print and frame standards society has programmed us for, we lose 1/6th of our original image which means we’ve paid to lose 1/6th of our mega-pixels. 

In all those years of teaching seminars and workshops I’ve had to explain my framing industry conspiracy theory to over half my students, so don’t feel bad if you spent $8,000 on a 24-mega-pixel camera and threw away $1,333 of your original $8,000 because of your shooting style (before you read this article).  One-sixth of 24 is 4-mega-pixels (24 divided by 6 equals 4) and you roughly paid $1,333 for each 4-mega-pixel block in your camera (8,000 divided by 6 equals 1,333).  Yes, I did 24-mega-pixels because the math is easier and the time of this writing only 21-mega-pixels was available, but hey, you only need 5-mega-pixels for standard magazine and newspaper publication and that’s another blog article as I have to run and see my ailing mother and time is running out today. God Bless, and all the best, rg sends!

Amy Davis–American Idol Top 24

For those that haven’t heard, one my workshop models, including for my exotic Virgin Islands workshops, Amy Davis, has made it to the top 24 of this season’s American Idol television show on FOX.  We need your votes for this seventh season of American Idol to help Davis progress as contestants are whittled down to the final two.

Now the fun begins as I’m being contacted by media sources to provide them with my “sexy images of Amy Davis.”  While I’ve shot hundreds of images of Davis over the past few years, including sexy ones, I’ve never released but a handful of images and I can assure you,
they are all first-class images. Both Davis, and her sister Ashlee have modeled for me for sometime, in fact, Davis is in my second book, Rolando Gomez’s Glamour Photography Professional Techniques and Images, that recently came out in 2007.  She’s also in my upcoming book on posing to be released later this year.

This is not the first time a model from my workshops has gained famed, though short-lived and controversial, April Florio, who did two Philadelphia workshops was involved in a controversy with Brad Pitt,  right before Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split.  Both Pitt and Floria denied the story originally sparked by In Touch magazine.  But unlike Florio, Davis’s rags to Hollywood story is real and not controversial like Florio’s.  

Davis has a captivating voice and I still remember the first time we met during a private photography instruction to a wealthy couple.  Davis showed up with her guitar and as I taught my clients photography, I asked Davis if she could play Jimmy Buffet’s Brown-Eyed Girl.  Though initially shy about singing the song, she player her acoustic guitar and began to sing for us.  When we all heard her amazing voice accompanied by her guitar talents, we forgot about the photography instruction and became speechless. 

I told her that day in Michigan that she should capitalize on her photogenic beauty combined with her amazing voice.  I was emphatic on why there was no reason she should not be on a record label at that time.  We had a long conversation about why she hadn’t progressed in her signing career and in my conversations I can tell you, Davis has confidence and most important, faith.  

I was so impressed that I invited Davis to model for my Chicago and Virgin Islands workshop, and at all the workshops she’s done for me I always required her to bring her guitar and sing for everyone–which she politely always did, leaving everyone speechless in the process.

Davis is a conservative model who always gives 110-percent into all she does, modeling or singing. She’s the sweetest person you’ll ever meet with a young, Kathy Ireland, photogenic look and appeal. Once while in the Virgin Islands we did our “all you can eat pizza on Friday night” at Pirate’s Ridge, a local eatery on Water-Island during their karaoke night.  We convinced Davis to go on the make-shift stage and when she did, between her beauty and her voice, while never looking at the karaoke monitor,  as she began to sing she left our group and the local crowd speechless–by the end of her first song everyone was ready to purpose to her.

The irony of it all, Pitt filmed parts of his newest movie last year, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, at Water-Island and the Honeymoon Beach area where we convinced Davis to sing during the July 2007 Virgin Islands workshop on our eat-at-the-beach, steak night dinner, provided by Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill.  Davis teamed up that night with other acoustic guitar player’s including Heidi’s brother to sing to all the locals and our group, again she became the star of the small island off St. Thomas that night.  Perhaps the folks at Water-Island can someday say not only did Brad Pitt stand on Honeymoon Beach, but so did Amy Davis who earned her fame on American Idol. 

Davis, along with her sexy beauty, brings passion to her modeling but even more to her first-love, singing.  You can watch as she closes her eyes while singing how passionate she is about her love for music. In fact, in the last Virgin Islands workshop she even brought a song-list and sang and played her guitar every night at dinner for our group of models and photographers. She’s always kept me abreast about her trials and tribulations including when she made it to the second round of NBC’S Nashville Star last year.

For those that know Davis personally, she’s sweet, wholesome, photogenic and very down-to-earth.  One of the most sweetest person’s you’ll ever meet that loves life and making people smile with her musical and voice talents.  She’s confident in her singing and hopefully her experience last year with the Nashville Star show will give her an edge with American Idol this year.

I wish her well and now it’s time to tune into FOX television as part of the American Idol show anchors on the television audience calling in and voting on their favorite singers, starting February 19th.  Please do your part in supporting Davis by watching the show then watching for the four-digit code that will be assigned to Davis–the girls voting starts on Wednesday–and only enter the word VOTE in your text message to the four-digit code!  You’ll have approximately two hours to place your vote that night, so please do your part and help Davis, she deserves it! 

I’ll do my best to keep you posted on her success in case you miss the American Idol show, as I have a busy travel schedule, but I can assure you, Davis has beauty but more important the musical voice and talent to play musical instruments that will leave you speechless and in awe.  She deserves to win on American Idol and move on further with her singing career.  God bless Davis, her family and friends, thanks, rg sends!  

Calumet & California Sunbounce European Tour Comes to an End…

Well I’m finally back in the good ole U, S of A! While I love Europe, the people, food, culture and the countryside, unfortunately I have family and obligations to return to like everyone else and they reside on this side of the globe.

Words cannot begin to express my gratitude for the folks at Calumet Photographic and California Sunbounce for the opportunity they have given me to share my American photographic style with my European colleagues—whom in return have shared their style with me, a true marriage of the minds.

The European people and photo industry truly greeted me with open arms and impeccable hospitality. The response was tremendous, with press and almost 400 people in attendance. Not to mention the great food, drink and culture they shared with me—I still remember in Belgium where we sat at the table enjoying great beer and words of wisdom as the photographers practiced photographing one another with my camera. From there, some of my new friends from Holland spilled over to the dinner table—now we’re looking at three “Dutch” female photographers all volunteering to be assistants for the next one on one Virgin Islands trip!

After our last stop in Munich, I headed for the Hauptbahnhof to catch an ICE train to Würzburg, the high-speed train ride took 2-hours through the beautiful countryside that allowed me to reminisce about my military days in Germany. Upon my arrival at the bahnhof, I was met by the Managing Director of Hensel Lighting, Joachim Renschke. He would help me with my luggage then take me in his car to the wonderful hotel in downtown Würzburg. After giving me a few minutes to check-in, we headed to a beautiful, at least 250-year old German restaurant where we ate some great food at a reserved table. I’m still trying to remember the name.

The next day I toured the multi-million dollar facilities of Hensel Lighting were I was photographed with Mr. Renschke for the German press. I felt honored to finally tour a factory filled with German engineering and precision. We also spent time in the conference room with the Export Manager, Christian Lutz, whom I’d meet before in New York. It was great to see him again and all three of us shared some wonderful ideas that would benefit photographers that utilize Hensel equipment. It was great to see how Hensel is moving forward with improvements, new products and ideas and I can’t wait to be a part of that future.

After spending one more night in Würzburg, I took another ICE train to Frankfurt—this was a quick one-hour ride as the train reached speeds well-over 150 mph, though sitting on this luxurious train it doesn’t feel so fast inside. We had a misconnect with Leica, so we skipped the factory tour for my next trip, but we had a great conversation on new things for Leica and I can’t wait–they were happy to see I brought my new M-8 with me, though my shooting time in Europe was very limited.

All in all this almost two-week trip was exhausting and exhiliarting. It brought back memories of the three years I spent in Europe as an active-duty, U.S. Army soldier.

I enjoyed meeting new people, seeing old friends, and learning about a great future with Calumet Photographic Europe. California Sunbounce, Hensel, Leica and even other fascinating possibilities that involve not only Europe, but other parts of the world and I can’t wait for 2008 to hit! The hardest part of the entire trip was sitting at the Atlanta airport for almost another 5-hours, after an almost ten-hour transatlantic flight, as the airport was shut-down due to bad storms. Most of that time was in the baggage holding area where you reclaim your bags briefly to clear Customs, as no airline ramps were open during these lighting storms.

The Calumet and California Sunbounce European Tour ended for me when I finally arrived home at almost 1:00 a.m. on the 15th. I’m taking at last 12-hours of rest as we gear up for the Chapel Hill workshop this weekend, followed by Philadelphia, then Glamourcon in Los Angeles, then Atlanta before we hit the Virgin Islands again! While my bones and muscles are still sore and the jet-lag is not too bad after a couple of margaritas or mojitos, no words can merely explain this generous experience of the European people and photo industry as they have given me a new outlook in photography—thanks to all involved, you illuminate my world of photographic possibilities and I’m forever grateful. Thanks, rg sends!

The Calumet Tour Continues–Germany, Netherlands, & Belgium

What a week, after Berlin and Hamburg, we drove a few hours down to Düsseldorf then high-tailed it to Amsterdam as the Calumet/California Sunbounce tour continued on through Europe. Out of the nine photography magazines Calumet advertised in, so far I’ve collected three, Photographie, fotoMagazine and the latest, PROFIFOTO, which leaves me one German and five BeNeLux area magazines to find as we continued our travels and the tour begins to wind down. (I’ll be posting photos soon!)

I’m not real worried as yesterday I met the head of Calumet Europe marketing, “Wim,” and he promised he’d get me copies of any magazines I couldn’t find. Yesterday I also picked up a poster from the Calumet store in Antwerp, Belgium, again, Calumet has done some incredible advertising to help promote the workshop series and my name in Europe and I’m very thankful as this was not something I expected—I’m guessing that 18 total full-page ads (2 pages per magazine) costs the company somewhere between $50,000 on up plus with the additional costs of their own in-store posters, fliers, web promotions and even the lunches, chairs, sound system, studio rentals, etc., Calumet seriously went out of their way to may this tour a great success, and so far it’s been fantastic!

I brought my newest book, Rolando Gomez Glamour Photography Techniques up here and they were all sold in the early part of the tour before we ever left Germany, the last 25 books were sold at the workshop in Düsseldorf, thus I was very apologetic to the people of the Netherlands when we arrived in Amsterdam as many asked if I had copies of the new book. That was my mistake as I underestimated the people in Europe wanting to purchase a book written in English by an American photographer—after all Europe is home to many great photographers and other artists. Regardless, the response has been tremendous!

The people in Amsterdam were so nice and it was great to do a workshop were my lecture could flow much easier without the interruption of the translation of English to the local language as most everyone in Amsterdam speaks English fluently. The crowd was our largest so far in the trip, row after row of photographers. The amazing part of this trip, in Germany, the Netherlands and even Belgium, was the amount of women photographers attending, there were at least six women photographers at every location so far and in my conservations with them, they love what I do and they too photograph women.

We had three women out of seven of those attending the Belgium workshop drive in from Holland–not only were they beautiful, they want volunteered as assistants for the an upcoming “one on one” Virgin Islands workshop. Now that workshop is going to rock, seven photographers, seven models and three of the seven assistants are women photographers from Holland! See my workshop pages for more details!

One interesting note while we spent two nights in Amsterdam, we stayed at the famous Lloyds Hotel which until 1998 was a prison. While my room was not a jail cell with bars, it was obviously a prisoner’s room at one time with the floor plan. Many artists and photographers have stayed at this hotel, in fact the World Press Photo winners celebrated their previous winners there a few years back. While the hotel lacks some amenities, it’s a “hip” hotel for artists, my only regret not having a model to photograph while there, though as exhausting at this trip has been, I’d probably not want do much in the way of photography.

Back to the ranch, from Amsterdam we moved on to Rotterdam were another large crowd attended and I joked with the Calumet folks on how they were making me feel like a “rock star” as they took my Canon camera into their store, directly across from the studio we used, and while I spoke, they professionally cleaned out the dust off my camera sensor. One of the guys there was excited that I let him use my new Leica M8 rangefinder. Later next week I visit the Lecia factory in Germany on the last day before I return back home as Leica is one of my sponsors and I’ve been dying to visit the factory that invented the 35mm format—many people often think 35mm was invented by Kodak, it was not, Kodak invented film—so it will be nice to the see the roots of one of my favorite formats of film I use in my glamour and photojournalism photography.

Well before I get to Leica, yesterday we finished Antwerp and the people were so nice, after a workshop that lasted almost six hours, we had a few local beers and a few of us had dinner with not only Belgians, but folks from Holland that drove in for the event. Such nice folks!

It’s morning now and shortly we pack our “panel tour truck” to head to Munich, that’ll be about a seven hour drive for us, but it’s our last stop on the trip as on Monday we tackle the Munich crowd and I’m looking forward to Sunday’s rest before it all happens again. My voice has held out so far, but it was a bit raspy yesterday and that began to worry me, but that’s what happens when you speak for hours four days in a row. From Munich I’ll be taking the train on Monday night to meet with the owner of Hensel Lighting. Tuesday I get to tour the factory of one of the greatest lighting companies in Europe and I can’t wait. And to encore the trip will be when I take the train toward Frankfurt and we head toward Leica’s factory for their visit.

Hopefully I’ll get to report on those two factory/headquarter visits as the trip progresses, but for now I have to close and hopefully get another great Internet connection to write more. Thanks to everyone in Europe and a special thanks to Calumet and California Sunbounce for making this happen. The European community as a whole is just amazing and I seriously thank them from the bottom of my heart and I can’t wait to do it all again. Thanks, rg sends!

Glamourcon Chicago

Wow, what an experience, Glamourcon in Chicago rocked! This is the only event sanctioned by Playboy of this type, so I was honored that Bob, the owner of Glamourcon, invited me to do my lectures and a workshop along with other greats, like Mystique Magazine’s Mark Daughn. It was great to finally meet Mark, funny, he lives less than hour up the road from me, but we both seem to be on the road more than home.

Speaking of home, I’m finally here, well for at least two days before I head of to Europe for some photography. But back to Glamourcon, afterall, Bob, Keith, Mark and all the others that worked so hard there, made me feel at home. A special thanks to Playboy Playmate Holley Dorrough for sharing a table with me and being one of my models along with Tess and Playboy Special Editions model Kellie Maines. They all three drew a bunch of attention at the show–especially Tess, as she’s a new model in the industry. We’re all looking forward in doing this again in Los Angeles in October.

Glamourcon was interesting this year. First, I arrived early with all the models to work on my upcoming DVD. During that shoot, right before the weekend, Chicago was pummeled with storms, thus causing us to work some long days and evenings, as when power would go out, no filming. When power would come on, we’d have to film in between thunder sounds and lightning strikes—those video folks don’t want any external sounds that can affect the quality of the DVD, so shooting days became long shooting days! All the models and the team survived though.

However, our return to the hotel from filming took almost three hours, which normally would take about 50-minutes to get there from the DVD shooting studio. Part of the problem was closed roads from tornado damage. Not to mention, once at the hotel, no power, which meant generator power for limited functions and no air conditioning. So it was hot and humid for about two days, including the first day of Glamourcon. We survived though, and on Sunday, our last day, we had the cold air conditioning again. The trip almost reminded me of the Virgin Islands, though there we have windows that open for air circulation.

Regardless, the Glamourcon trip was worth every penny. I made some great networking contacts and even had time to spend with the owner of One Model Place. We talked about future endeavors and modeling sites on the internet in general, great conversations and look forward to what the future holds.

Well I’ve got to go back to the 500 or so emails I still have to answer, then I have to pack my old Hensel gear for refurbishment and ship it, since my new gear is in. Then I have to do the grocery store run for the family while also packing out for Europe—oh, did I mention, I have about 24 hours to get all this done (grin). My life, it’s been hectic lately and I can’t wait for the payoff, it’s coming for me and all those that believe—thanks for your patience, rg sends!

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