Photography to me is both a celebration and quiet vindication for all the ways society tries to keep us small.

As the subject, it is an opportunity to presence yourself consciously and step into and be witnessed in your unified greatness.  It is a rare and healing thing.

How often are us grown-ups seen and appreciated for the miracle we truly are?  Photography gives one permission.  Light is the language unity speaks.  Everything else is a bad translation.

This is the start of a new incarnation.
How you presence yourself is a choice.

You’ve earned the right to live
as a triumph of light.

You’ve earned that face
and Life’s weathering upon it.

Why hide it?

Step through and let
your eyes smile with mine.

I see you.

Also see: One Photographer’s Prayer.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?

Doug Ellis Not Wearing Black

They’re grieving what might have been.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
Nostalgia–like being in the darkroom but with a slightly different sour smell.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
So they don’t accidentally bounce light off a lighter fabric.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
Because it looks so artsy and darkly European.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
Peer pressure and habit.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
It is the city color of Manhattan and don’t all photographers want to live in LA or NY?

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
Because it matches their equipment.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
Because they may need to subtract light and can slip it over a fill card in a pinch.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
For invisibility and stealth.

Why do Photographers Wear Black?
To hide the flash powder.

Doug Ellis is a professional light-bringer, photographer, and spiritual/somatic life coach. His life is dedicated to heart-centered expression and the healing power of deeply seeing and being seen. He still wears black, mainly to photography conferences and workshops in New York or LA.

My photographic interpretation of the 2011 Hanuman Yoga Festival, Boulder CO June 16-19, 2011.

Hanuman Yoga Festival Boulder CO – Images by doug ellis

I photographed the Thacher School Gymkhana once again this year, and found myself again in awe of the skill, grace and poise of these young citizens, and pining for a horse to adopt for a year and a chance to return to high school.

Gymkhana 2011 Thacher School CA – Images by doug ellis

Gymkhana is a term used in the United Kingdom, east coast of the United States, and other English-speaking nations to describe an equestrian event consisting of speed pattern racing and timed games for riders on horses. These events often emphasize children’s participation and may be organized by a recognized Pony Club or a 4-H club.

In most of the western United States, this type of competition is usually called an “O-Mok-See” (also spelled O Mok See or “Omoksee”) competition, a term derived from a Native American phrase meaning “games on horseback.” However, the term gymkhana is used in California. This event was held here in Ojai, CA.

Images of Nature – Images by doug ellis

And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything?
And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?
And have you changed your life?

~ Mary Oliver

Who I Am

I behold and am beheld by the beauty and intelligence of light.   I am a messenger, explorer, and spaceholder. I am also an empath/healer/writer/marketing professional/webmaster and spiritual life coach.

What I do

• I express your brand essence and best self in pictures.
• I convey your truth visually and energetically in crystalline light.
• I photograph as an act of devotion and reverence.
• I encourage you to Presence yourself consciously and fully and instinctively cooperate with what comes forth.
• I give voice to silence and a sense of the ineffable.
• I stand for true expressions, in between moments, and the interplay of gesture, color, light and shadow.
• I convey the heights and depths of human experience.
• I lightly hold the moments that matter.
• I photograph portraits and sacred ceremonies and spiritual conferences and events.
• I give people at the thresholds of life a friendly shove by the parachute.

Why it matters

• Because light has its own intelligence and way of loving and wants to be revealed.
• Because its healing and revealing to be deeply seen.
• Because life is never the same way twice.
• Because beauty, humor, and silence crave and deserve our attention.
• Because you aren’t here. Here is in you.
• Because having your light and openness reflected back aligns your inner and outer life.
• Because remembering your basic goodness and soul’s purpose feels good.
• Because its hard being a grownup all the time. Its much more fun, productive and profitable to lead with your being.
• Because your new website, brochure, book jacket, or CD/DVD cover photo will help people “get you” and your tribe to follow you.
• Because it feels better to finance your faith than your fear.
• Because attention and awareness are the deepest gifts we have to offer one another.

See www.dougellisphotography.com and www.dougellisphoto.com for some of my current work.

One of the things I love about being a professional photographer is seeing my photographs get used..online and in print. I also love lists and this post covers both topics.

Let’s say you just took or purchased some great new portraits or event photos. Now you have all these .jpgs on a disc or on your computer and you’re not sure what to do with them so they are sitting there just gathering dust.

Here are 30 fun and generally affordable ways you can leverage the power of your pixel magic and share it with folks who want a better sense of you:

E-marketing/Slideshows/Websites

1. Update (or create) your About page on your website with pictures of you and your staff/team.
2. Update your website header banner. You can even consider an animated slideshow banner.
3. “Knock yourself out” of the background and use it to do a product endorsement or just blend well on a white or solid website background.
4. Update your Facebook Profile Photo (recommended size for FB profile is 525px  wide by 655px high if you don’t know what this means, call me.)
5. Create a fun and free frivolous e-card using JibJab
6. Create a slideshow online using Animoto to promote your next event or conference. Email the link or embed the show on your website.
7. Put the images in a digital picture frame and let them cycle through automatically..as fun as an aquarium and way less work.
8. Use it as a screensaver or desktop on your computer.
9. Use it on a dating site like eharmony or match.com
10. Put them on your Iphone or Droid and show people.
11. Create a digital vision board using a tool like Vision Board Systems.
12. Email some of your favorites to your agent and publicist to create a press kit for you.
13. Add it to your email newsletter.
14. Add it to your logo or email signature.
15. Create an account with Flickr and tag it and share it with people.
16. Update your online avatar/profile in directories like LinkedIn, Bioneers, even Gmail and Yahoo.
17. Use them in an online family tree like My Heritage, and you can play around with the Celebrity Morph feature to make yourself look like a celebrity or see who you look like.

Printed/Products/PR

1. Create your own customized greeting cards/post cards, posters or stickers to send to clients and friends.
2. Get some nice prints made from a good printer and frame them up for table display.
3. Get them printed and mounted on a knockout board or styrene or something more contemporary to make them pop
4. Create a hardcover or softcover book of your favorites using Blurb or a higher end designer and print shop.
5. Add them as a design element to your business cards.
6. Create a printed journal or scrapbook and paste them in.
7. Add them to your paper collage/vision board.
8. Give it to someone you love in a nice frame as a gift.
9. Use it in a promotional poster or flyer
10. Create a photo calendar of your top 12 favorites.
11. Create a t-shirt, mouse pads, mugs, just about anything with it on Cafe Press.
12. Use it on a CD cover or the CD itself with a design.
13. Incorporate it into your resume.

I hope these lists have inspired you to use your new photos. If you would like to add more options or clarify, please feel free to add comments/updates using the post tool below.

Thanks so much and Happy Holiday season.

Light and love,

Doug

Anusara Yoga Immersion 2 Teacher Training with Amy Ippoliti. Solstice Center, Boulder, Nov. 2010

Anusara Yoga Immersion 2 with Amy Ippoliti – Images by doug ellis

These are my most common photography packages and services and a summary of my overall approach and philosophy to writing with light. Call me on the photography Bat Phone (the 805 number) so I can  slide down the banister and jump into the ‘Ru to express your best in pixels.

• Doug Ellis Photography Portfolio
• Doug Ellis Photography Packages and Prices

Ojai Experience at the Ojai Foundation – Images by doug ellis