A… B… C! Always be closing!!

You want to get better at something?Â You wanna be the best?Â Then you’ve got to remember a rather simple rule:Â A.B.C. …always be closing!!Â You’ve got to be ready to sell, sell, sell, baby.Â Like this great scene from my another of my favorite movies, Glengarry Glen Ross, you’ve got to me on… ALL THE TIME!!Â You want to be a great photographer, then SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT!!Â Wanna do great post-processing (PP)?Â Then PP, PP, PP!Â Wait that didn’t come out right, or did it.Â How do I live A.B.C. in my photography?Â Well, I’ve always got a camera on me (whether my Nikon D700, my Leica Dlux-5, or the camera built in to my HTC Desire Android device).Â And I shoot, shoot, shoot; and when I’m not shooting, I’m thinking about shooting.Â You do that enough and you will easily recognize new and interesting shots just waiting to be taken.Â In the example below, I had my D700, my 24mm tilt/shift and my tripod with me while waiting for my wife and daughters to arrive on the ICE train you see at the right.Â As soon as it pulled, up…Â BANG!!!Â SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT!Â All done before they even had a chance to get of the train, as easy as A… B… C!!

Ok my friend… Here one of your ABC’s team member :)…. Thanks fot this simply but useful post…. and I love the pic.. 🙂

Seems a very quiet station there, was that late at night? Anyway, another cool shoot as always.

Hi Luis. Thanks for the comment. It was at 1:45 in the afternoon, but downstairs at the far end Berlin’s 1/2 tracks, where things are usually pretty quiet.

Howdy Jacques! Looks like we have the similar kits. For me its a iPhone instead of the droid, but I also carry the LX5 and D700.

I was curious, are there L brackets out for the LX5? If you could let me know I would really appreciate it. If not, what is your tripod set up if any with it. I use a Gorilla Pod with my for ultimate portability while I ride/run.

Thanks!

Justin (over a LightAsMagic.com)

Hi Justin. I’m not sure about the L-bracket for that camera. I usually throw it onto my gorilla pod.

Great as usual, love the mood. What filters did u use?

Hey there Ken! Thanks a ton. Filters wise, I used the usual ones from Nik Color Efex, applied selectively with my Wacom tablet of course: (1) Pro Contrast; (2) Tonal Contrast and (3) Midnight!

Thanks, Oscar!!

Thanks Jacques. I might just get a really right stuff P&S plate for it.

Love the image!

Outstanding processing, Jacques! I absolutely love this shot…the detail in the clock and the screens is unreal. Great work!

I’m in the middle of US immigration and citizenship stuff just now and my first reaction on seeing this image was “what do Immigration and Customs Enforcement have to do with trains?”. It’s funny how your acronym set varies depending upon what you’re doing, isn’t it?

Anyway, trivial aside, this is another great shot. It sounds to me, though, that you are in danger of becoming even more photography obsessed than me (and most of the other commenters). Perhaps you should take a vacation? Don’t forget to pack the tripod though.

Thanks! Dave, for the comments. You’re absolutely right in that we will, more often than not, color what we see with the colors of our experiences. And my wife will certainly agree with you regarding photography as obsession. And, yes, a vacation without a tripod seems unlikely! 😉