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Ron Link
Expert Guru
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A 20 year career with the US Army took me across three continents and nearly a dozen foreign countries, giving me a broad base of exciting life experiences. I took up photography and video when my daughter was born in in Germany 1986, and it blossomed into a great profession. My video production company allows me to do some incredibly fun and creative productions, and photography is a wonderful way to capture and share with others the beauty God's creation offers.
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Interview
What books have most influenced your life?
By far the most influential book I have read is the Bible. It is the perfect guide for living a life that is fulfilling, rewarding and satisfying. I have yet to encounter a life situation that does not have guidelines for dealing with it spelled out in the Bible.
Who are your favorite music artists?
I really enjoy family groups like the Isaacs, who sing a Blue-grassy style of Southern Gospel music. I like Nickel Creek because of all the acoustic instruments. There are plenty of little-known singers that I love to listen to, like the Fullers and the Wiggins. What I look for is a wonderful harmonious blend of the voices. And it doesn't hurt a bit to have some great acoustic guitar, mandolin, and fiddle (which is simply a violin that's played properly!)
What are your favorite websites and why?
I probably spend way too much time on Ebay. The gadgetry that is available there boggles the mind! I have made a few bucks there as well, and that sits very well with my entrepreneurial spirit! I also tend to peruse techie sites, always trying to expand my horizons.
Where else can people find you on the web?
I have created a number of commercial websites in days gone by. But have you ever noticed how the house painter in the neighborhood always has a house that needs painting, or the landscaping guy's yard always needs to be mowed?
Well, my website is the same way. All it needs is to be designed and published. I will let you know were to go to log in just as soon as that happens!
What are your professional highlights?
I spent over 20 years in the US Army, retiring as a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer. I traveled around the world, seeing places and things that most folks never see except on TV. I began studying photography and video in Germany in 1986, and it took off from an avid hobby to a profession. I have shot photos and video throughout Europe, the Andes Mountains of Southern Peru, the Middle East of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, West Africa, and even as far away as the Deep South of Georgia, USA! I owned a photography and video studio for a while and now own a video production company. Life can be great when you earn a living by practicing your hobby!
What advice do you have for the journey of life?
You absolutely must make a difference in life. Otherwise, when you get to the end of life's journey and look back, it will be as if you never existed. Making one's mark is OK, I suppose, if all you want to do is leave marks. I prefer to have an impact on the lives of people that permanently changes them for the better.
What are you most passionate about in life?
One of my biggest priorities is to help Christian missionaries. They are willing to leave their homeland, their friends and families, the comforts and familiarity of home, and head out to an unknown, foreign and often hostile environment, live in frequently austere conditions, with not one Wal-Mart within a thousand miles, and eat strange things that would make a billy goat sick. And all to share their faith with those who have never heard the Gospel. It is my desire to help them succeed as much as I possibly can. If I can produce a video presentation for them to help raise support, or help them to clean up a presentation they already have to make it more appealing, then that is my mission. If it involves mass producing copies of presentations they already have for distribution, at a greatly reduced cost to the missionary, then that becomes my mission. Whatever I can do to help these incredible people succeed becomes my passion.
What ticks you off?
Wow! Where to begin? Honestly, bad drivers really get my goat. And litterbugs! What in the world makes people think that they can just toss garbage out of their moving car onto the side of the road?
Oh! One thing that REALLY burns my hide is drunk driving. Drunk drivers are the WORST. I put them into the same category as someone who would randomly fire a rifle in a sports stadium: you might hit someone, you might not. Some totally unsuspecting bystander might get killed or maimed, or they might be missed altogether.
Either way, it is the drunk's fault, and innocent people always suffer because of the drunk's stupid decisions.
And one more thing that really ticks me off is a welfare mentality. No one gave me or owes me anything, and I think that if a person won't work, he shouldn't eat. I didn't say if he CAN'T work, but if he WON'T work. Societal leeches need a big dose of salt poured on them. Wow! Did I really just express that publicly???
Any thoughts or ideas on living a greener life?
I am not a tree hugger by nature, unless I happen to be climbing a tree for a better vantage point, and then slip. Then, I will hug that tree for all I'm worth!
However, I am a firm believer in practicing good environmental stewardship. We have to live here for the rest of our lives, and need to take care of our world.
I tend to place a higher value on human life than on snail darters and spotted owls.
I think Greenpeace is a good concept, but I think the practice of placing humans between whales and harpoons is a bit foolish and, to date, has not been an effective deterrent to the whaling nations of the world. Somebody needs to come up with a better way, like arming the whales with torpedoes so they can shoot back.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
I was an Airborne Ranger in the Army, and an instructor in the Army Ranger course. I play a bit of guitar (strictly rhythm, though, no fancy lead guitar rips for me... my fingers won't move that fast or that accurately to do much more than play chords.) I am not a cat fan, but have a rather sizable tabby anyway. Since I cannot legally own a Bobcat, I named my cat Bob!
Philosophy
Two of my favorite mottos are "It doesn't matter how bad it hurts as long as you look good while you're doing it..." and "Pain is simply weakness leaving the body." How does this apply to photography and video? I really have no idea, but it sounds cool so I hang onto them! Actually, they do express my approach to life. It if frequently painful to do things right - either physically ("It hurts my back to stand in one place for this long just to get the shot right...") or mentally ("I don't think I can stand one more minute of these screaming kids that I am recording!") But you gotta look good doing it, or, make what you are creating look good, even if it hurts! And if it does hurt a little bit, just remember that the things that don't kill us make us stronger! (Pain usually is just weakness leaving the body!) These mottos might sound a bit over the top, but think about them the next time you have to stand in the midst of a crowd of leg grabbing, hair pulling, pinching and punching, screaming youngsters at a ball game that you are trying to record, and it might help you get through it with most of your sanity intact!
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6 Tips from Ron Link |
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How to Photograph People Outdoors (when no shade is available)The old common belief for outside pictures is that you need to face your subjects into the sun so that they are well lit. However, if that is the case, then you end up with squinty-eyed people with harsh light in their faces, which is not exactly the most flattering image. (This might not hold true for all people... some folks might look better if their face is all scrunched up! You know who you are!) The right way to do outside photos is a bit counter-intuitive, but if done correctly, you get a great looking portrait instead of just a nice picture. The first thing to do is to turn your subject AWAY FROM the sun. Face them so that the sun is behind them and off to one side, if possible. Then, make sure your camera flash is ON. That's right. In bright outside daylight, use your flash! What will happen is that the sun will backlight your subject, making their faces shadowy, but your flash will light up the shadowy areas of the face. And the sun, if in the right place, will act as a giant natural hair light, and illuminate your subjects' hair, making them glow like angels! |
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How to Photograph People Outdoors (when shade is available)Some of the best portraits you can get are done outside. But unless you are able to take advantage of that warm, golden sunlight that only occurs, at most, twice a day for only about 15 minutes, then you have to be very careful about how you light your subject. Midday sunlight is the worst light you can use outdoors. It is very harsh, overly bright, and very white, which is not very flattering for most people. But sometimes, all you have is high noon sunlight for your pictures, and you have to make the best of it. Here's how: Find some shade! If there is no shade, then MAKE some shade! Use an umbrella, hold up a large sheet of foam poster board, tear up a big cardboard box and hold it up... Whatever you have to do, get that harsh sunlight off your subject! Once you get your subject out of the direct sunlight, you can pose them, using your best background and foreground selection techniques, and compose like a pro. Then, make sure you turn on your camera flash. I know, I know, you are outside, there is plenty of daylight reflecting off everything, and your light meter says you can shoot f5.6 at 1/125 shutter speed. Use that flash anyway. It will create a brighter, more pleasing portrait, and will put a catchlight in your subject's eyes. Nothing kills a nice portrait faster than lifeless-looking rattlesnake eyes looking back at you. Put a catchlight in those eyes to make them sparkle and look lively and gorgeous. This is NOT the time for your lovely niece to look like a Dawn of the Dead zombie! |
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Reducing the Stress of Having an Audience in Front of YouI have addressed crowds that exceeded a thousand people by a large margin. And I have to say that even with plenty of public speaking experience, a huge crowd can still cause butterflies to have wrestling contests in the pit of my stomach! One problem that I encountered many times is suddenly recognizing an old friend in the audience as I was speaking, and nearly losing my train of thought as my mind involuntarily stopped thinking of what I was saying and instead thought, "Hey! That's Jerry! I haven't seen him in years- boy has he gotten fat!... uh-oh, what was I just saying?" To reduce the possibility of this happening, I would use a couple of techniques that prevented me from actually seeing my audience, without them realizing that I wasn't really seeing them. One method is to simply scan the audience, but look just above their heads, not at their faces. To the audience, it seems as if you are addressing the whole crowd, looking left, and right, and center, but you never really make eye contact with them, and therefore, you don't really SEE them. Blurred vision is particularly helpful for these situations! If you wear glasses, but don't need them to read your notes, then take them off. The resulting blurred vision will reduce the audience to vague shapes that will reduce your stress level, but they won't realize you don't see them clearly! The point here is not to ignore the audience, because they will pick up on that, but rather, to make them less distracting to you by reducing how much of them you are able to see, without appearing to do so. Just remember that while you are reducing the appearance of the audience to you, they still see you clearly, and you need to continue to shift your gaze around the crowd so that they will feel that you are addressing them and connecting with them. |
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How to Relax When SpeakingIt will always be a stressful speech if the audience doesn't like you. You will get cold stares, or no one will even look at you. The disinterest can be suffocating! But when you win your audience's affection, they smile at you, and nod in agreement with your points, then public speaking suddenly turns from a difficult ordeal to an enjoyable experience. When you win your audience, the stress level drops off significantly, and you can relax and deliver your speech with confidence. The audience has to be interested in you, and it can take a few minutes to develop that rapport with them if you just jump into your speech. It rarely hurts to begin with a humorous comment or two to "break the ice" with them. But you must make sure of three things: First, the venue must not be one in which humor is inappropriate (and the humor you select must be appropriate.) Secondly, make sure the comments really ARE funny. Finally, and most importantly, be sure you know how to deliver the joke well! Nothing will alienate your audience faster than a dumb joke, or an offensive joke, or a funny story delivered poorly. You will lose them faster than hockey players lose teeth. And THAT is not funny at all! |
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Preparing to EnlistThe Army is a great way to get the foundation needed for a bright future. When you visit your recruiter, be aware that it is his job to sell you on the Army in general, and he rarely gains any benefit from the specific career options you select. You will have a choice of job options offered to you, which will largely be based upon the needs of the Army, and your test scores from the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test. It is crucial that you do your best on this test to ensure that you get the best selection of job training opportunities. Joining the Army doesn't necessarily mean that you will have a job with little application in the civilian world. You can gain valuable training and experience in a huge range of technical career fields as well, such as aviation, medical, electronics, mechanics, etc. All of this will make you far more marketable and competitive in the civilian world because there is life after the Army. The ASVAB will also provide a score that will follow you through your military career. The GT score, as it is known, (or General Technical score) is a major factor in determining training opportunities that will be made available to you now, before enlistment, or later on when you decide that you might want to switch career fields while on active duty. So it is critical that you do your very best when you take the ASVAB. Your future in the Army depends on it! |
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How to Get Ready For Basic TrainingThe single most helpful thing that you can do to help you prepare for basic training is to get into shape now, before you ship out for training. If you wait for the Drill Sergeants to begin to whip you into shape, you will be adding an additional stressor to an already stressful situation. Not only will you be loading your mind with new information in an unfamiliar environment with new people and food and living conditions, but your body will be suffering from stiffness and soreness brought on by a physical fitness regimen that is also new to you. However, if you are already in good shape when you arrive, able to do 50 good pushups and 50 situps without struggling, and can run three miles at a steady pace of 8 minutes per mile without difficulty, then you will have to endure much less suffering during Basic Training. Also, if you have elected to go into a Combat Arms MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) or to a special unit like the 82nd Airborne Division, physical fitness will be a critical part of your lifestyle. There is not a lot that you will be able to have control over in Basic Training, but you can control the level of physical fitness you begin with. Start getting into shape as soon as possible, and make Basic Training a much better experience for you! |
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