Blog posts, especially when you're sharing an image, are typically so one-dimensional. However, when you can listen to the artist's words, there's a special significance to seeing a photograph through their mind's eye.
Just click on the image above to read more about Vanessa Joy, but with every featured artist, I love to add a little of my own perception. Vanessa's trademark has become her passion for weddings and marriage. She mentions in this sound byte how once there's an agreement with her clients; it's going to be like the couple is dating her. She's a relationship builder, and that's her secret ingredient to the images she's able to capture. They come out of the trust she builds with all her clients. But, even with the trust of her clients, great images wouldn't happen without Vanessa's skill set. She never slows down on making sure she's on top of technology and ready to take on every challenge that comes up, including photographing nineteen groomsmen as she did a little while back in this SCU guest post.
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by Skip Cohen
A few weeks ago I shared a new podcast of Weekend Wisdom with my guest, Vincent Laforet. As always, Vincent shared a lot of great insight into the challenges of being an artist, staying focused and the importance of special projects. One of the projects we talked about was his new book, AIR. If you know Vincent, have heard him speak or at least know his reputation, Vincent never does anything halfway. The images in the book are spectacular and the Sunday Morning CBS clip below does a wonderful job of sharing Vincent's story, not just the book, but a profile of one of the industry's most favorite good-guys! To find out more about AIR and order your copy, just click on the cover of AIR to the right. It was 2009, and it might well have been the biggest WPPI convention in history. I'm counting everything - from exhibitors to programming, parties, and obviously attendees! We did an email blast a few weeks before the event:
"We told you something BIG is coming to WPPI! Something so BIG that we had to rent out the MGM Grand Arena. We promised—and we delivered. Please join us for a private WPPI performance by Blues Traveler! This is a free concert to all WPPI attendees. Just one shameless flash of your WPPI attendee badge gets you access to this one-of-a-kind event brought to you by Nikon, WPPI, WHCC and Mitsubishi Electric. Don’t miss out on your chance for a FREE performance by the Grammy Award-winning band, Blues Traveler. Doors open for the Blues Traveler performance at 9:30 p.m on Monday, Feb. 16." The image above was back stage after the concert. That's Blues Traveler in the back row with Rachel, Lindsay from Nikon and my daughter, Jaime in the front. Rachel is my buddy Gary Blair's daughter (Don Blair's granddaughter) and she and Jaime hung out that night at the concert. Lindsay Silverman is a product manager at Nikon. That's John Popper himself leaning in on Jaime. While there were other sponsors, the concert never would have happened without Nikon's support. That night we took over the entire MGM Garden Arena and the place rocked. Without question, it was the biggest party in WPPI history, and the excitement in the air throughout the convention was non-stop. There's so much many of you take for granted when you attend a convention or a workshop series. Very few of these events could ever survive without the support of the manufacturers. Very rarely does the cost at the "gate" cover the expenses to bring you great programming. The next time you attend a sponsored convention, conference or workshop, remember to swing by the sponsors and let them know they're appreciated. So, it's Throwback Thursday and the perfect excuse for you to share some old images on your blog. Remember to remind your readership about the importance of professional photography and your ability to help them capture those important memories, especially the ones of their family growing up! I started "Why?" to introduce many of you to the leaders in the photographic industry. Each new episode represents some of the most respected artists in photography today. Plus, there's an incredible benefit to listening to why an image is important to the artist versus just reading about it. Blog posts are so one-dimensional, but nothing tops hearing about the visualization from the artists themselves.
Meet Rick Sammon. Rick and I go back to my Polaroid days. He's an artist, educator, writer, columnist and friends with so many people in the industry. I'm not sure there's anything he hasn't photographed. Plus, he's dealt with virtually every challenge in imaging and then turns what he's learned into lessons to help us all raise the bar on our own images. Click on the image above to visit Rick's website to see more of his work. From there you should also check out his blog and workshop schedule. Rick is also an X-Rite Coloratti Master. Just click on the link below to learn more about Rick along with monitor and printer calibration - two incredibly important components for consistently beautiful images. If it doesn't challenge you it doesn't change you! Unknown Author I tweeted the quote above this morning. Right about the same time, my buddy, Sal Cincotta posted an image or two on Facebook after missing his flight from D.C., Well, I started thinking about those people we respect the most who actually walk the talk every day. Four years ago Sal asked if I wanted to write for Shutter Magazine. Obviously, I said yes and have loved every issue. Then Sal announced he was taking on one of the biggest challenges in publishing. When the majority of magazines were going to online editions, he and the team decided to go to a hard copy and put Shutter Magazine on the news stand around the world. It was a huge challenge, but that's Sal and his team. Then came ShutterFest, which for many of us has become so much more than just a conference. It's a community, and if you're like me, you're already counting down the days until the next one. In an industry loaded with conventions, associations and workshops, once again the crew at Shutter took on the challenge! Sold out within just a few days of the announcement, I wrote about Sal's challenge quest once again as he launched a second boutique conference with Project Lunacy, taking place later this year. Notice a trend? Another challenge and another opportunity for each of us to benefit, grow and change. I'll admit I've got a bromance going on with the way Sal loves to challenge a paradigm, but that's not the point. Everything in the Shutter family is giving new and established artists a chance to push the edge of the envelope with their creativity. Sal and his team are forcing all of us to challenge the visions in our mind's eye. I've written a lot about my personal definition of success being defined as waking up each morning with a smile on my face and diving out of bed excited to face the day ahead. I've learned from friends like Sal; every day is another blank canvas, and we've got an unlimited collection of choices of what to put on it! But nothing happens if we don't take on new challenges. We can't grow without change, and changes don't happen without taking a few risks. It's a new week of unlimited opportunities for a few adventures in imaging, creativity, business, marketing, and networking. Happy Monday everybody - let's make it a record-breaking week for new experiences! Like I wrote in the beginning...
If it doesn't challenge you it doesn't change you! With any new project there's often a wonderful turning point where an idea takes off and borders on becoming an obsession. Well, this is one of mine! LOL
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'm hoping to share one new image with a short sound byte from the artist. Hearing from artists in their own words, takes what might be just an ordinary one-dimensional blog post and turns it into something special. I started "Why?" after realizing how many relatively new photographers in this industry barely new the icons who blazed the trails of creativity before them. I wanted to find a way some of the most respected artists in photography could share the back-stories on their favorite images. The response has been incredible! It's wonderful to welcome Howard Schatz to the "Why?" spotlight. I first met Howard in my early Hasselblad days and since then he's authored twenty+ stunning books of images, each one a collectible. Over the years, if you had asked me which one of his books was my favorite, it would have always been the one most recently published. Click on the image above to connect to his site, blog and "About" page to see more of his work and know more about him, but as always I like to share my own version. He's an incredibly talented artist who's never without a project to feed his mind's eye. Working together with his wife Beverly Ornstein, they represent one of the nicest and most creative couples in imaging. Sign up for his blog to receive your daily creative vitamin and then wander through his galleries. You'll never be disappointed. It's a typical Sunday Morning and it's Mother's Day. "Reflections" is always off the topic of photography and the business. Being a creature of habit, those of you who know me, know I've got to write about my mother. It's been almost three years since we lost her to Alzheimer's, but I haven't lost one memory or story. In my young adult years, my mother and I weren't always that close. Always loving, but not friends like Dad and I were. When we moved to Florida in 2011, it was to give her and Dad a hand. Mom was fighting the Alzheimer's battle, and Dad was 89 and had his hands full. So, off we went to narrow the gap in what typically had always put me thousands of miles away on the other side of the country. Fortunately, we had a couple of good years before we lost Mom and those moments when the disease would take a break, became cherished and often funny memories. They still make me smile today. I know so many of you have older family members dealing with different kinds of dementia. It's one of the toughest diseases to deal with, because everything else about your loved one is there, yet they're melting away in front of you and there's nothing you can do. So, we all do the same thing; we cling to memories and moments from the past. We share stories and photographs that remind us of a time when life was so much simpler. My mother was a very classy lady. The key word here is "Lady". Right down to her last days, she still had a sparkle in her eyes and simply loved her family. Even through some of the most painful Alzheimer's days, she was still focused and so funny. One night in 2012 we were sitting and watching the Laker's game and Mom very indignantly looked at me and said, "What exactly do you do for the Lakers?" - "Nothing Mom, they just pay me to watch the games!" - "Well, they lost tonight, and the boys are going to be sad. Get in the kitchen and let's make them some pasta!" Mom became a part of whatever she was watching on TV. On another night, I came over to find her in heavy breathing exercises trying to deliver a baby. "Get your father and tell him he's about to have a son!" - "Mom, you're almost 90, you're not having a baby!" - "Don't you tell me I'm not having a baby. Get your father." Well, she'd been watching Father of the Bride II, and became Diane Keaton. She was having a baby, and there was no arguing with her. Dad looked at me, "What do we do?" My only answer was, "Just like in the old movies, go boil some water!" Dad just burst out laughing. Twenty minutes later we were having Chinese food for dinner and the scene had changed again. Mom was back with us, out of the delivery room and things were status quo. So, here's my point for this Mother's Day. It's our stories and all the moments and memories of the past that make us who we are. None of us would be here without our mothers. And for those of us whose mothers are watching over us instead of heading to Sunday brunch today, cherish all those special moments. Find an old album to wander through and think about what you'd love to say to Mom right now and then say it! There's a very special unique legacy we all share, and it's all thanks to things our mothers taught us. They're all thanks to the memories they created for us or were just accidentally a part of. And for me, even the Alzheimer's didn't change my mother's loving heart or how much she cherished her family. Forty-eight hours before Mom died, I walked into her hospice room, and it was just the two of us. I looked at her and said, "You look great today!" She couldn't have been more sincere in her response, "Why shouldn't I?" Happy Mother's Day everybody and to all of you moms out there - thank you for that piece of your heart you give up every day! And, as always make it a great Sunday and remember Mom gets that eleven-second hug today! Life without passion is a slow way to freeze to death! Author Unknown I love to find a couple of good quotes every day. It's not as much for the purpose of sharing and building content, as it is the way reading something poignant gets my blood circulating. It's a morning workout to feed my brain a little. I put the quote above into my tweet stream but wanted to add my thoughts with a short post. "Passion" has probably become the most abused and taken-for-granted word in our industry as well as our lives. We talk about our passions like they were dietary supplements. We tell our clients how passionate we are about the business, our families, life and our hobbies. But I'm not sure we realize that just like a car out of gas, we're not moving without real passion. Anybody can take a picture. Anybody can start a business from that first lemonade stand you had as a kid to your website today. Anybody can get married, start a family, get a puppy and convince themselves they're living the dream! But when you get right down to it, if you're not waking up in the morning with a smile on your face, then your passion is getting buried under the challenges in your life. "If you can't figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For your passion will lead you right into your purpose." Bishop T. D. Jakes So, here's my point - recognize those things you're truly passionate about. Give them the extra priority they deserve. Don't put off feeding your passions. Recognize you don't just have one, but dozens and at one point or another they all need feeding. And, if today is one of those days when you're just off a beat, then take a break. Take a passion break and just do something incredibly frivolous - recharge your battery and work to find that balance so none of your passions get lost along with the technician from Comcast! I wrote a post last week about your dreams and time being your most important commodity. Doing something without one ounce of passion might well be the biggest waste of time of all. "Those who live passionately teach us how to love.
Those who love passionately teach us how to live." Sarah Ban Breathnack Image copyright Tamara Lackey. All rights reserved. Welcome to "Why?"
I started this new feature to create something different beyond just sharing images from some of the most respected artists in photography today. A post is typically so one dimensional. Rather than just looking at an image and reading why a photographer captured it, created it or simply has it as a personal favorite, I wanted to share the back-stories in their own words with a sound-byte.. Originally I was only going to post one a week on Wednesdays, but I've had so many great artists want to participate that for the moment we'll post a new image each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In this new episode, Tamara Lackey is sharing one of her favorites. Tamara's business profile is unique. Everyone seems to know her under a different expertise or passion she has for life. She's an artist, photo-journalist, writer, educator, a business owner and online TV host with her show reDefine. On the non-photo side she's a super Mom, wife and a great friend. You can read more about her on her "About" page, but for now, just enjoy the back-story about one of Tamara's favorite images as she joins John Sexton, Tony Corbell, Scott Bourne and Joe McNally in another new episode of "Why?" If you're interested in finding out more about Tamara, just click on the image above, and you'll be linked to her website. It's a bittersweet Throwback Thursday story. Many of you knew me when I was president of Rangefinder Publishing and (WPPI) Wedding and Portrait Photographers International. I was there for seven years before starting my own company in the spring of 2009. Everyone knows businesses that have come and gone but rarely do you get the inside scoop on how the business got started. In 2007, Rangefinder Publishing launched AfterCapture, which to this day is still a stunning example of what you can accomplish with a great team and a solid idea. It didn't survive changes in the publishing economy, but for those of you with great ideas but afraid to share them it's still a fun and relevant back-story. The senior management team at Rangefinder Magazine back then was George Varanakis, Bill Hurter, Arlene Evans and yours truly. George, Bill and I were talking one day, and one of them had an idea to start a magazine that only focused on what to do with an image AFTER the shutter clicked. An entrepreneur is someone who jumps off a cliff and builds a plane on the way down!" Reid Hoffman I shared the tweet above earlier today, but it's exactly what we did. We got the idea, pitched it to the owner, who didn't like it. Then we pitched it a few more times. We were relentless in demonstrating how the idea would work. We finally got approval and took the idea to the industry.
At PPE, then known as Photo Expo, we got a private conference room to present a twenty minute power point presentation about the idea. George and I did 15-20 presentations over three days with some key ingredients for you to remember when you're looking for partners in various projects.
Well, we walked to the edge of the cliff and jumped! The response was overwhelming. The large image above was the first cover of AfterCapture, followed by the other issues, every other month, but there's one more stroke of brilliance about the way it was launched. George Varanakis is one of the most creative advertising guys in the industry, and he came in one morning with a copy of Men's Health. That month's copy was two different magazine, paginated in opposite directions. Men's Health ran one way - turn it upside down and one of their sister magazines ran on the other side. "Why can't we do that?" George asked. Within seconds, we were in Bill's office and started to lay out the plan for the first issue. Again, the success of the magazine was all about team sports. Susan Cegarra and Gennie Kiuchi were critical in figuring out how we were going to do this and still keep our sanity. The Rangefinder team of writers both in staff and freelance played a huge part as well. We launched the magazine with the first cover shot being one of Lynn Goldsmith's images, and AfterCapture was officially born. It was an instant success and ran for several years before times changed, along with management and it was dropped from Rangefinder's assets. So, it's Throwback Thursday and an opportunity for you to share some old images and take a walk down memory lane. This is where you can shine with making a point about the value of professional photographs and their life-expectancy, which is often "forever". Remember your target audience in the portrait/social categories are women and more specifically Mom! You've got to keep reminding her how fast the kids grow up and life changes. Happy Throwback Thursday everybody! Image copyright Joe McNally. All rights reserved. I started "Why?" because I wanted to share more than just great images from the most-respected artists in photography. I wanted to find a way to share each unique back-story, as only they could tell.
Every image has a story behind it, and this is truly a fun one. This new image is by Joe McNally, one of the industry's favorite great guys. We all have our heroes in this industry, and Joe is one of mine. He's a photographer, artist, educator, writer, friend and never stops sharing his insight into imaging, business and here and there, even life. I wanted to share a few of the highlights from Joe's "about page" and pulled a couple below. If you don't know a lot about his background, just click on the image above to link to his website. "Joe McNally is an internationally acclaimed photographer whose career has spanned more than 35 years and included assignments in 60 countries...He has been honored numerous times by Communication Arts, PDN, Graphis, American Photo, POY, and The World Press Photo Foundation. His prints are in numerous collections, most significantly the National Portrait Gallery of the United States and National September 11 Memorial & Museum." Click on the sound bar above and you'll hear an incredible story about how Joe met Wynton Marsalis. And, to attend one of Joe's workshops a link to his schedule is just a click away. In a recent post I wrote:
I started "Why?" as a new feature on the SCU site to help more photographers understand the stories behind the favorite images of some of the most respected artists in our industry today. I can't turn back the clock and chase down photographers who are no longer with us, but stay tuned. I'm going to be sharing a new image every week along with a short sound byte about the images from the artists themselves. Every image has a story behind it or a vision of the artist. Scott Bourne is in today's spotlight. In 2009 I met Scott at Skip's Summer School in Las Vegas, not remembering we'd met close to twenty years earlier, back in my Hasselblad days. Since 2009 we wrote a book together, GoingPro. Then we launched a website and podcast by the same name which ran for several years and is essentially the roots of SkipCohenUniversity.com. Recently we launched a new podcast series, "Mind Your Own Business" as part of Photofocus.com. Besides being a great friend, artist, writer, educator and entrepreneur, Scott is a visionary. You'll understand why that's so important as you listen to him talk about one of his most recognized images, "Cranes in the Fire Mist." Click on the sound bar above and you'll hear an incredible story about Scott's quest to capture this image. And, to see more of Scott's work just click on the image to connect to his website. For educational information about Scott, visit Photofocus.com. "We've only got one life. Why aren't we running like we're on fire towards our wildest dreams?" Unknown It couldn't be a more typical Sunday morning. I'm in my home office, Sheila's making coffee and Molly the Wonder Dog is trying to decide whether to sleep in longer or get up and start the day. I started thinking about what I wanted to write as I fell asleep last night. Early last week I tweeted the quote above. I typically tweet twice a day, but not just to have content. These quotes get me thinking about my business and often my life. That point about one life got me thinking. We've all heard the expression about life, "This isn't a dress rehearsal!" So why is it so many of you squander time? Why waste a single minute not working to always be at the top of your game? I recognize we all need to take a break now and then, but the rest of the time, why would you waste it? I know it's hard to keep dreams alive when you feel like you're in the trenches of a battlefield with the naysayers in your life keep hurling grenades your way. And, it's even tougher trying to follow the path you've chosen when it's so crowded with others who appear to share the same dream. Let me try to help you get it all in perspective this morning. First, every dream is important, unique and it's yours. Nobody can take it away unless you let them. Second, Dreams only become reality when you "wake up'. So, stop procrastinating and take the steps you need to get a little momentum. It's not rocket science and yet most of us remember Newton's Law of Motion, "A body in motion tends to stay in motion." So, let's get a little motion going! Third and most important, this is the only life you've got and time is your most valuable commodity. Invest some time into thinking about where you want to be at the end of this year. You don't need to do long-range planning right now, just think through the review of the year you want to be doing, just before that glass of champagne on December 31, 2016! So, here's the point - you know how to focus your camera. Well, your life isn't that different although there is no auto-button to push, it's all manual. Think through why you started this journey and then attack it with all the energy you've got. Take it one step at a time; pace yourself; appreciate the friendships along the way along with each accomplishment and just like that quote keep your focus on your wildest dreams! "Life is too short for fake butter, fake cheese or fake people!" Seth Godin Wishing everybody a wonderful Sunday and time with those people most special to you. Take time for those eleven-second hugs and above all, stay focused on your dreams - they're what makes life so worth living!
Happy Sunday everybody. |
Our Partners"Why?"Check out "Why?" one of the most popular features on the SCU Blog. It's a very simple concept - one image, one artist and one short sound bite. Each artist shares what makes the image one of their most favorite. We're over 100 artists featured since the project started. Click on the link above and you can scroll through all of the episodes to date.
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