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Start a Photography Business in a Destination Location

Starting a photography business in a destination location can be one of the easiest ways to get off the ground for a new portrait photographer. People flock to vacation destinations all over the globe because of their unique beauty and breathtaking backdrops. Capitalizing on the built-in tourism draw of these destinations can make a profitable portrait business and pay huge dividends over the life of that business. A new niche in portrait photography is emerging as I write this article. Are you one of the few tapping into this brand new market?

As someone just starting your photography business in portrait photography, let me ask you a question to shed some light on this amazing marketing opportunity. If you had a choice of where to get your portraits taken, in your local portrait studio or in your vacation destination which would you choose?

Your local portrait studio is the same place all of your friends and family have had their pictures taken for years, sounds pretty boring to me, because frankly it is.

Your vacation destination is where you have wanted to go for some time. You have a picture of the vacation destination in your mind. Is your picture of white sand beach in Maui, sitting next to Mayan Ruins in Mexico, the bright red arches of Arches National Park in Utah, the green foliage of California wine country, the massive columns of Greek ruins in Greece? What I am getting at is, there are niche destination photography markets all over the world you can capitalize on.

People are going to have their photography done somewhere and it is not always in a stuffy portrait studio. If you start your photography business next to travelers favorite destinations, and you get your marketing just right, you can catch a steady stream of these happy vacationing customers with open wallets just waiting to spend. Vacationing customers are so happy when they find you, because often they had no idea it was even possible to get their photos taken in their dream destination.

I recommend getting some additional information from the front runners in this field before starting a photography business in your destination. You can waste a lot of money very quickly on advertising and you need to set up your web presence very specifically to get them booked in.

Go ahead, start your photography business in your home town studio; I know where I will be starting mine.

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Putting Tips – Learn The Secrets and Putt Like The Pros!

Think about this for a second. On a standard par seventy-two golf course, thirty-six of those shots are designated to be putts. This equates to relying on your putter for half of your game! You are looking for putting tips, here’s the first one – Practice your putting. Most amateur golfers will spend many hours at the driving range working with every other club in the bag, but little or no time putting on the practice green. Make use of this facility before your round, and you will at least have some idea of the speed of the green.

The Putting Stroke

Every club that you use is swung back and through on an arc (swing plane), except your putter. Putters are the most upright clubs and are designed to swing straight back and straight through in a pendulum-like action. Practice this pendulum swing, and you will find that the club face is always square at impact, and the ball will start off on the correct line.

Reading Greens

No written golf putting tips can teach you how to read a green, there are too many variables. Your green-reading skills will come from experience, (or paying a caddie to read them for you!). I can, however, give you a few general pointers. Almost every green that you play on will have a downward slope from back to front. Golf course designers do this to make them more receptive to approach shots, and to allow for good drainage. If your putt is from front to back of green, you will be putting uphill. It may not look it, but it will be uphill.

Try to judge the speed of your putt first, before allowing for any break. If you get the speed right but mis-read the break, you’re most likely gonna be left with a tap-in. Get the speed majorly wrong and you’ll be struggling not to three-putt.

Putting Tips Finale

Practice makes, well almost, perfect. Practice your putting stroke – straight through, pendulum-like to start the ball off on the right line. Practice getting the length right – aim for no more than two putts per green. Practice reading the breaks – you will get better with experience. When these three elements come together, your game is taken to a whole new level and you’ll see your scores tumble. Get more putting tips and all-round online golf tips to help improve your game and lower your scores, fast.

Enjoy your golf.

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How Does Learning a Foreign Language Help With Cultural Awareness?

Contrary to popular belief, learning a foreign language is not simply about being able to speak it. It is about understanding and experiencing another culture and society, and, through this, broadening your own perspectives and outlook on the world.

Many prospective language learners greatly underestimate what it means to be culturally aware. No matter how familiar you may be with your native culture, you cannot be fully worldly aware unless you have an understanding of other cultures on the globe, no matter how insignificant the country, and what it may have to add to global society as a whole. A nation’s words are one of the most telling representations of its society; for example, coming across a word in a foreign language which has no direct translation into English reveals an entirely new series of meanings, exposing what is considered important to speakers of that language.

Learning a language creates empathy in the student, who begins from scratch to learn an entirely distinct sound set; the learner must listen incredibly carefully to pronunciation and verbal cues, and in doing so becomes a far better listener, often developing greater patience with others. This all amounts to better communication skills, together with the opening up of communication pathways between learners and those fluent in the culture and language. A bond is developed between the culture and the learner, who feels welcomed into other cultures and at liberty to explore them.

However, cultural awareness stretches still deeper than this. In becoming familiar with an entirely new culture, the learner explores what it means to be a part of a distinctive culture, to speak the language, and even what it means to be themselves.

In today’s increasingly globalised society, awareness of global affairs has become crucial. In order for businesses to maximise potential, they must be aware of not only the state of the market in foreign countries, but also understand the deeper culture of nations in order to help predict how the market will change in the near future. Negotiations between different countries require some sort of bond, and cross cultural awareness should help in achieving just that; an understanding of the specific attitudes, approaches and decision making styles of someone from another culture will doubtless make discussions so much simpler and more successful.

As a result, many jobs and careers on offer have a multicultural or international aspect to them, and many of the new openings becoming available are in this sector. As a result, one way in which learning a foreign language is beneficial is that you will almost certainly have many more job opportunities available to you; it may even be what stands between you and a promotion.

Although various cultural awareness training programmes are readily available, learning a foreign language is truly the best way in which to gain this skill. Through an understanding of the language, you can really immerse yourself in the culture and experience so much more than you would if simply exploring the culture in English. Competence in the appropriate language allows you to read and listen to indigenous texts and really connect with native speakers, who are the best indication as to what the culture really is about.