I’m Bill Sargent, the photographer and owner of Photos Limited in Milwaukee Wisconsin 53214.
The time for procrastination is over. I have decided to do this blog thing!
Because I think I can contribute and help some people. It is my belief that I can help you appreciate your life and loved ones more and more often while preserving memories for future generations of your family to come.
I’ve had a camera in my hand since I was 16 years old. This passion led me to open a studio a few decades ago. During that time, it was all film photography, so my studio consisted of a camera room, an office, and a darkroom. I did all my own black & white processing and printing and farmed out my color work. I was my hometown’s newspaper photographer and did portraits, sports, and other newsworthy events.
The studio was short-lived, as it existed for a specific purpose. When that purpose had been fulfilled, I closed the doors and returned to my life’s main calling; a musical artist, a drummer, playing with a bunch of famous people.
Over the years, my photography dwindled to point and shoot documentation images. My youngest daughter, Jen, became a gifted photographer; gifted in that she had “the eye”. She saw things, she had vision and perspective. In order to feed her gift, I kept stepping up her quality of camera.
I finally moved her up to a Nikon DSLR system. Handling that camera, I realized what I had been missing and the “addiction” returned; I just HAD to have it.
In early 2014, I started assembling a very full, complete camera/studio/software/educational system. In May of that year, I began to create my first images. Today, I have three visual artistry brands, Photos Limited being one of the three.
My experiences and education in business, music and otherwise,
have taught me the following principles:
Principle #1: Excellence – If it is worth doing, it is worth doing to the very best of your ability. My other pursuits in life taught me to seek out and learn from the very best; that experience is the best teacher – preferably someone else’s!
To that end, I found myself learning from and being mentored by the very top leaders in the industry – literally. I have invested many, many months communicating with, traveling to, and working with legends in the business. There have been conventions, workshops, seminars, programs, books, audios, phone calls, and on and on. Each new discovery charges my batteries because something I do now gets better.
It has also been about assembling the best possible equipment setup for my purposes. When I bought my first DSLR, boy, did that money pit open fast and wide. But, as my wife says, you’ll never regret a quality purchase.
Principle #2: Success – Success is the progressing realization of a worthwhile dream. Success is built upon a series of failures. We don’t learn on the mountaintop. It’s in the valleys where education takes place. Success is not stopping in the valley.
To be successful, one must have a clearly defined dream and goal. I have mine. Mine is to refine my photographic artistry down to two major specialties and be as unique as I can possibly be in today’s tsunami of photo images and “me too” people with a camera. I never did like running with the pack.
Principle #3: Challenge – The challenge is to be better ever day than yesterday, better each week than last week, and to make this year the best yet. While competition is good, the best competition is with yourself. When that is our attitude, everything else falls into place.
You have to know yourself, and I know me. I know, that no matter how good my latest portrait is, 10, 20 30 years from now, I will still look at it and think to myself, “That sucks.” Why? Because to matter how good I get, I’ll always know that it can be better.
That is a good thing, because when I start to become satisfied, the game is really over. No mountain to climb, no challenge to overcome = boring. There is a saying, “Died at age 40, buried at age 65.” Nope, not going there!
Principle #4: - Mastery – It is one thing to nail something once. Mastery is being able to repeat it time after time after time.
In music, I learned that if you have to think about the technical, the brain obstructs the art; the music. The objective is to become so good at something that you could do it in your sleep. In creating images, it is to be able to focus exclusively on creating the vision to the exclusion of the encumbrances of working through the technical.
One must master their equipment, the principles of lighting, posing, and composition, so that they can focus on capturing the personalities and the relationships.
Principle #5: Improvisation – Very few things go “textbook”. Improvisation is being flexible, going with the flow, being creative, and having vision to see what does not yet exist.
As a musician, even though I have performed in a wide variety of genres, jazz is my main area of practice. Jazz really applies to many musical disciplines. My definition of jazz is “spontaneous, instantaneous composition during performance”.
That is what I do with my visual art. I create while I do. Being a mainly “On Location” artist, I have to assess the options, create a vision, adjust to the obstacles, and refine with the personalities.
Am I where I want to be yet? Nope. But, please pardon the pun, “I’ve learned a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two.”
Because I need to. It’s as simple as that. Deep inside, I have an insatiable need to be creative and to make people happy. I didn’t learn it, didn’t ask for it, didn’t go to school for it; I was born with it. It’s the way I’m wired; the way God made me. Along the way, I realized that I was also given the gift of vision.
It’s all wrapped up in God’s purpose for my life; serving others and making people happy.
I do that, by creative images of your loved ones; images you can see every day, images that decorate your home and are legacies to be passed on to future generations of your family.
You’re invited to follow me on this journey. I hope that you will gain some useful knowledge and tips along the way that will improve your life and serve to bring you happiness.
If you ever have any questions, feel free to call me at 414-305-6955.
Thank you for checking this out. I hope our paths cross sometime very soon!
Bill Sargent
https://www.photoslimited.net/
#PhotosLimited
"Let's Talk" a blog about Art, Photography, Portraits, People, Excellence, Vision, and Creativity
by Bill Sargent, CPP, of Photos Limited - Milwaukee Wisconsin 53214