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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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Next Level Caribbean Cruise Workshop - SNEAK PREVIEW!

I will remember this workshop as one of the defining moments of 2008 and maybe even my life! It was by far the most productive workshop I have ever attended. I learnt so much from everyone and was challenged not only as a photographer but as a person too. I feel I still have a long journey ahead of me but with the help of these workshops I know I am heading swiftly in the right direction.

Everyone who came was fantastic and the models, well quite frankly incredible! We were like one big photography obsessed family, I miss them all!

I arrived back in the UK on Sunday and that same day made up my mind to return to the US this friday, just for a few days though, honestly! I have the honour of assisting Scott Robert with a two day wedding this weekend in San Francisco! It’s been crazy organising everything to leave the UK once again so unfortunately you’ll have to wait until I return next week before I post all my images from the workshop. Forgive me!

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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Joy, Joy, Joy!

This is short and sweet! I’m setting off to Miami early tomorrow morning for my Next Level Caribbean cruise workshop but I couldn’t leave without posting a few images I shot of my friend and fellow photographer Ingrid Joy. We decided to get together for the afternoon and go out shooting using each other for models. We had a whole lot of fun messing around Old Town Pasedena and Old Town Monrovia here in LA which are both awesome locations despite the fact that most of the images above were shot in an underground car park!

I also jumped at the opportunity to sample the delights of Korean cuisine for the first time that day, although having sesame seed oil accidentally squirted all over my clothes by the waitress was an unexpected surprise!

I now have a five-day shooting frenzy ahead of me under the heat of the Caribbean sun aboard the Carnival ‘Fascination’ cruise ship. Almost straight after I’m making the gruelling journey back to the UK. All good things must come to an end I suppose!

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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NEXT LEVEL TOUR: San Francisco

WOW, WOW, WOW! What a great start to my Next level Tour! San Francisco & Oakland was amazing and so were the all photographers and models I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know over the course of the two days. We spent a day shooting around the famous Jack London Square, Oakland and the next day took a ferry ride across to San Francisco to shoot. I discovered what a beautiful city it is but also how cold and windy the weather can get, just like the UK! The images above are a selection of my favourites from the workshop.

Animated gif created in Adobe Photoshop CS2

Above: After everyone was done shooting our models were cold, exhausted and their feet were killing them so much so that they had to go buy flip flops! The last thing they wanted to do was anymore posing but I just couldn’t pass up the chance of getting a few last shots with all three models on the back the tram, sorry girls, I’m a bad bad person! Huge thanks to Alexis, Chelsie & Johanna who braved the cold weather, wind and 15+ photographers fighting over them for two days! This animation is for you!

Below: Just a few random shots I took over the two days. It was also another excuse to try out the gif animation feature in photoshop which is pretty cool. Thanks Scott for letting me to steal your idea!

I’m constantly look for ways to improve as photographer so I feel truly privileged and very lucky to be able to attend these workshops and learn from the master photographer, teacher and life coach Scott Robert and all the photographers who attend his workshops to learn and share their experiences. We all share a passion for the art of photography and all want to see each other achieve success.  I always get to catch up with old faces and come away with new friends. The ‘Next Level’ family just keeps on growing!

So where to next? Well after the chill of SF I’m enjoying the heat of LA for a few days and the heat of Caribbean is just around the corner for the Next Level Caribbean Cruise workshop! I can hardly contain my excitement, it’s going to be…………..well just wait and see!

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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2008 NEXT LEVEL WORLD TOUR

San Francisco, Oakland, Caribbean, New York, Paris, Spain, if someone had said a few months ago that I’d be travelling to all these locations in 2008 doing what I love most in life I might have been tempted to call them crazy!

So why go through the trouble of travelling around the world to attend all these workshops? Because I want to be the BEST! I want to produce stunning imagery for my clients that will blow them away. With each workshop I do I get closer to achieving this goal.

Now I could easily sink vast amounts of money into a photography education at college/university which would do very little to prepare me for this industry and certainly wouldn’t teach me what it takes to get to the top. Or I could find a photographer who is already at the top and pay them to tell me and show me everything they know. I chose the latter of course.

I have never learnt so much so fast in such a short space of time. Not only do these workshops enable me to grow and develop as a photographer they also help me develop the personality and social skills necessary to be successful in this business. They are an opportunity to network with other like-minded photographers and I always come away with new friends who are supportive of my career. The fact that I also get to travel to all these destinations is an added bonus and something I thought I’d never find time to do.

I hope you will all stay with me for the journey. I have already completed the first leg of my Next Level World Tour in San Francisco and Oakland so I’ll be posting about that shortly. The Caribbean is just around the corner and I can’t wait!

For more details of Scott Robert’s Next Level Workshops -click here-

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI

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Awesome, Inspirational, Surreal, Incredible! These are just some of the words I’d use to describe my amazing week at WPPI in Las Vegas.

I decided only days earlier to make the trip largely thanks to Scott Robert’s very persuasive nature and let me tell you it was worth it! Simply put nothing I have been to previously comes even close. This year saw 11,000+ photographers attending, all sharing the same passion for their craft, all under one roof for a whole week!

On the very first morning alone I met Bob Davis and Bambi Cantrell within the space of five minutes! The second day Dawn Davis, Yervant, Jerry Ghionis, David Jay, Jim Garner and Jasmine Star! It was honestly like the Hollywood of the wedding photography world and got to meet all the superstars! I also attended the awards ceremony on the final night, the equivalent of the Oscars!

It was a week when I got to meet one of my heroes Matthew Jordan Smith who has appeared on America’s Next Top Model and has photographed the likes of Tyra Banks, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson and many more stars. His seminar was truly excellent and definitely one of the highlights of my WPPI.

Another highlight was Scott’s www.redrocketclicks.com launch party held in a 1,600 sq ft. suite in the luxurious Paris Hotel, a great night when I came away with so many new friends.I’m assured next year’s party will be even bigger with a dance floor and top DJ!

In fact there were so many more highlights like the drive to and from Vegas, learning from the world’s top photographers, sharing the week with great friends, viewing incredible imagery, picking up new techniques, seeing new products and technology,eating at Le Café everyday, realising how US hotel rooms are enormous,I could go on forever!

I feel even more motivated, focused and inspired having been to WPPI 2008 so roll on WPPI 2009! I can’t wait!

I’m back in the UK but not for very long because April 2^nd kicks of the start of my 2008 Next Level World Tour! More details coming soon…

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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Desert Shoot

I’m back! If you didn’t already know I’ve been in the US this past week and a half.  I was there for the WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) convention and trade show in Las Vegas. It was truly an amazing experience but I’ll tell you all about that later, my mind is still buzzing! For now I just wanted to share with you these images from a brief shoot in the desert.  We drove from LA to Las Vegas in a two-car convoy and on the return journey had planned a shoot, only thing was we weren’t sure where. Luckily courtesy of a toilet break (thanks Ingrid!) we found the perfect place.  Junshien & Esther were only too happy to model for us. In fact we all did some posing in front of the camera. Good times!
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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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How To Become a Singer
(click on play)
Yelitza is a UK solo artist I did a shoot with a few weeks ago. Her passion and commitment to her art never fails to impress me. It’s incredibly difficult to make it as a professional singer as it is to make it as a professional photographer and I admire anyone who attempts to do either. It got me thinking – Is what it takes to become a sucessful singer much different to that of a professional photographer? A quick search on ‘How to become a singer’ brought up some interesting results! This was one answer I found courtesy of wikihow.com and as I read through it I imagined it being written instead for a photographer. Try it for yourself!

‘Becoming a singer is hard work. Knowing how to sing is only part of it. It takes confidence and dedication to pursue singing as a career. You need to follow your heart and not let anyone put you down because you have to believe that you have a voice of a true singer.’

Step One: Learn how to sing. This is the foundation of your career as a singer. While there are some performers making a career out of singing when they don’t really sing all that well, it’s those people who have their craft as singers and continually improve their form and ability who command the most respect as singers.

Step Two: Study singers whom you admire. How do they sing? How did they become professional singers? What kind of crowd do they cater too? What is their signature style? Don’t totally copy them though, singers have to be unique!

Step Three: Begin taking voice lessons. Having a voice coach can be really train your voice and, if you practice, you will notice marked vocal improvement within a few weeks. Voice training is important in strength and overall quality of your voice. Find which note your voice is most comfortable singing and sing there a lot.

Step Four: Become comfortable as a performer. Get over your stage fright (if you have it) and start gaining some practical experience by singing wherever and whenever you get a chance to do so. Connect with your listeners.

Step Five: Develop your own style. Experiment with different ways of singing and different types of music and find one that fits your personality and makes the most of your voice at the same time. You want people to be able to recognise your voice when they hear it.

Step Six: Get a singing job. No matter how well you can sing, you’ll never be a successful singer if you don’t convince people to pay you to do it. That could mean joining a band, singing at your local cafe, performing on Broadway, or even recording a jingle for a commercial – your goal is to make a living as a singer. Get to it!

Seems like aspiring singers and photographers have a lot in common in terms of what it takes to get to the top!

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visit:www.bandelezuberi.com                                                                                                          BANDELE ZUBERI
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Just for Fun.

Click on the image to see the original file before any post processing took place.
I wanted to share with you this shot I took of Tamara a couple weeks back.We met for the first time just an hour earlier over hot chocolates (it was cold outside!) and we got on really well.Tamara is an aspiring model and for such a young age has a level of maturity that really impresses.She is so focused on her future that I have no doubt in my mind success for her will surely come.

Like most busy photographers it’s easy to get bogged down in the daily routine of running a business and if we are not careful the passion that got us into this game in the first place gradually erodes away.So it is important that we set some time aside to play when we can just go out and shoot for fun.It’s an opportunity to be creative and try out new techniques (lighting, posing, composition etc.) without the constraints and pressures of a paid shoot. You also get the chance to put your post processing skills to the test.

Shooting for fun is just one of the many things I do to keep my passion alive but it also helps me develop my photography so that I am able to maintain a high standard of imagery for my clients.

So get out of that uncomfortable office chair, put that paper work to one side, logout of Facebook, switch the answering machine on, pick up your camera and go play, you owe it to yourself!

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AMA.

(click on play)

I had the pleasure of meeting Ama on a stand at last years Adornment London the UK’s largest expo for the Black cultural and creative sector. My ‘Conscious Cloud’ (Afro) was in full effect that day which I suspect caught her attention.We got talking on the subject of art and, well, we’ve been friends ever since!

Ama is one of those rare people, full of energy, full of spirit with what seems like a relentless appetite for the joys in life. She’s an awesome dancer having both Ballet and Samba among her talents and is always out in full effect dancing on the streets of Notting Hill for carnival.

The shoot took place in central London a five minute walk from London Bridge (all those coming to Scott’s UK Next Level workshop take note!) back in August. As you can imagine central London is packed full of tourists fighting for their piece of the capital but I managed to find the artistic Bermondsey village a quiet location in the midst of all the hustle and bustle where we could play without the attention of onlookers. The area is littered with quaint little cafes, boutiques and parks and is home to the Fashion & Textile Museum which is painted in the striking colours you see in some of the images. We spent the whole day there and had so much fun. I really should do more shoots like this one. In fact I definitely will!

This was something new for me so special thanks to Dipa a close friend of Ama’s and a wonderful make-up artist who also doubled as a great assistant on the day. And to the owner of the VW Bug which I spotted in a car park and decided to use without permission (sorry, whoever you are!)

Ama is currently away for six months on a travelling extravaganza which will see her touch down in Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and finally Brazil! I know she’s having the time of her life and is sorely missed back home in the UK.

See you when you get back friend!

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Find Your Area of Excellence

So it’s a new year, fresh start and always a time when I evaluate, plan and refocus for the coming year.

2007 was one of my most difficult and challenging years but somehow against the odds ended up being one of my best (Funny how life can throw you that curve ball!) because I believe I found my area of excellence.

A few years ago I went through what I describe as a mini-life crisis when, having finished university, I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do in life. Although I had a passion for photography back then my main focus was to earn money, something I thought I couldn’t achieve taking pictures of people. When it came to a career choice I tried becoming an engineer, a banker, even an accountant, all good jobs that would guarantee me a decent income and recognition from my peers. However none lasted because really I didn’t have a passion for any of them and instead ended up helping others with their careers whilst sacrificing that of my own.

BIG MISTAKE!!!

WHY? Well I was never going to excel at and be happy doing something I wasn’t passionate about!

I was listening to an audio lecture by Dennis Kimbro author of ‘What Makes The Great Great’ recently and somebody from the audience asked him what he thought they should do as a career and to make themselves money. This was his advice…

“Find YOUR area of excellence!……. And these are four keys you can use to find it:

1. What is it you love to do, what do you have a passion for, what could you throw your whole heart and soul into?

2. What would you do for FREE?

3. What comes easy for you but difficult for somebody else?

4. Ask yourself or ask your friends, family and neighbours – What they see you as, what do they think you’ll be good at?

If you ask yourself these questions openly and honestly you’ll identify YOUR area of excellence!

Now here’s the good news……The market will pay superior awards for superior performance!”

In other words if you are committed to excellence and are truly excellent at what you do people will pay you a premium. In fact they’ll seek you out because they’ll want the best!

Now I’m not saying this method will find your area of excellence and it won’t guarantee you a lucrative career but it’s at least a good indicator.

For too long I ignored my area of excellence and as a result took the long way round to get to where I am now. I still have some way to go but this time I’m enjoying the journey!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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