In virtually every Facebook photography forum there’s always a running thread started by a photographer questioning something not covered in the contract with a client. Usually, the client has asked for something a little out of the ordinary. Often it’s a question about attire, wondering what to wear at a black-tie event when you’re the photographer. Then there are those who want to rant and insult each other as well as their clients, as if the forum had a code of confidentiality.
I don’t want this to sound like a rant. It’s meant to be a check-off list to remind you about a few things that help define being a professional photographer.
Being a professional photographer carries a huge responsibility. Recognize the trust your clients and their families put in your skill set. They deserve the very best images, and the power to do that is entirely in your hands!
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This is a Sunday Morning Reflections that's too much fun not to share. If you follow me on a regular basis then you already know I always go off track from photography on Sunday mornings. Well, we're in Gettysburg and yesterday I caught up to my best "roomie" from my college days. Even though we stayed in touch via the phone, we haven't actually seen each other in over 35 years.
I don't want to spend a lot of time on the back-story, so here's the short version. As I've talked about in so many workshops, I was every parent's nightmare as a college student. I was immature; had no idea what I wanted to do and rarely opened a book. I had horrible study habits and went on and off academic suspension over 2 1/2 years at Miami of Ohio. It wasn't that I was stupid, just irresponsible and unmotivated. Years later I went back to school nights on Polaroid's tuition reimbursement program, but my Miami experience was a waste, but not in terms of the start of an incredible friendship. The funniest thing is what kept us in touch all these years. Our freshmen year, on St. Patrick's Day, Rich and I hit the Purity Bar in Oxford, Ohio at 7:00 am drinking green beer. By 11:00 our friends came to retrieve us and literally carry us back to the dorm. It was the first experience with over-doing the beer scene. By 11:30 we were both in the dorm bathroom, sick as dogs! However, the day became one of the funniest memories for both of us. Every year, right up to this past March, we've taken turns calling each other. The goal was always to be the first to remind the other of those two stupid college kids, way back when. Over all these years, I think I've beaten him to the punch only once, but that's never changed the laughs and the friendship. Rich and his family live here in the area. I needed to be in D.C. on Monday, so Sheila and I came in yesterday morning. Nothing beats catching up to old friends. We're older now, and a little more mature but nothing takes away from being able to reminisce and laugh about the old days. There's also nothing that tops just spending time with somebody you've respected your whole life. There's one point to wrap this up today that all of you have, which we didn't back then, cell phones. Rich and I don't have very many pictures from those days. We were shooting "neurochromes". Today, everybody has a cell phone and odds are you've got hundreds if not thousands of images on those phones. So, my point is, save those images! Print a few of them and then file them away for the future. In thirty years they're going to be one of your most valuable possessions. As with every image in photography, there's always a back-story, which like fine wine, gets better with age. Wishing everybody a fantastic Sunday. Hug somebody special in your life for at least eleven seconds and if you want to have some fun, track down one person you haven't talked to in at least twenty years. Take that walk down Memory Lane and appreciate whatever it is that made you think of this long lost friend. And to my buddy, Rich. What a kick it is to have you and your family in our lives. We might officially be two old farts in 2016, but nothing takes away from how much I've grown to cherish a very special friendship that's lasted almost fifty years! Image copyright Jen Rozenbaum. All rights reserved. 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 I can introduce you to some outstanding artists and educators who need to be on your radar.
Jen Rozenbaum joins us on "Why?" today. She's an amazing artist, educator, writer and inspiration to so many people. "Shamelessly Feminine" is more than just a tagline, it's the foundation of Jen's work and as she states in this short podcast, it's something she completely embraces and loves..."it's a lifestyle." Click on the image above to visit Jen's website, her blog and educational products! Image copyright Maring Visuals. All rights reserved. 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 I can introduce you to some outstanding artists and educators who need to be on your radar.
Charles Maring is in the spotlight today. While Charles' core business is wedding photography, together with his wife Jennifer they make up one of the most diverse couples in imaging today. In fact, they joined me last year as a couple on a Weekend Wisdom podcast to talk about the importance of diversity in your business. Charles never compromises on his skill set, and is constantly fine-tuning and expanding his techniques. This new "Why?" has a little different twist to it, because Charles wanted to talk about lighting and the importance of understated elegance. Some of your most favorite images and those most special to your clients don't always have to be winners in print competition, but be important elements of their story. While the true quality of a Maring image is in Charles and Jennifer's skill set, they both believe in quality products. In fact, the image above was captured with a LUMIX GH4 and lit with Profoto's B1 Off-Camera Flash System. Maring Visuals needs to be on your radar and especially their new workshop series. Just click on the image above to link to their educational site and follow the schedule. If they're coming to a city near you, run don't walk to grab a seat! For the last few years, almost every Sunday, except when traveling, I've written a Reflections post. They've become part of my routine and thanks to so many of you; the feedback has always been positive. So, this morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, as my grandmother used to say. These days if any of you were here you'd say, "What a crank!" I wasn't going to do a post this morning. I didn't sleep well last night and here's a big part of why. I've got a couple of big deadlines and a full plate, or as my pal Julienne Kost likes to say, "I'm out of bandwidth!" The problem is procrastinating on things I needed to do earlier in the month and now being rushed to get them finished. Sometimes to avoid the monkey on our back, we open the door and let him in, along with his entire family! Oddly enough, it's almost noon and posting today is much more for me than for you, my readers. So, here's my somewhat obscure point: Everything always gets done and often works out for the better. It's a lesson I learned years ago but have a hard time remembering. We're all busy. Most of us have a habit of taking on more than we should, but we do it because we love what we do. And, that's the point - when you find yourself on the edge of feeling overwhelmed remember this quote: "Breathe. It's just a bad day, not a bad life!" Our lives, as complicated as we might believe they are, are quite simple. But, we often get tangled up in stress we create ourselves.
So, on this beautiful Sunday - be careful with the heat! Most of you are in some pretty serious temperatures and hard to believe Southwest Florida is one of the coolest places in the country today. Hug somebody very special for eleven-seconds and do your best to put stress on the back-burner where it belongs. There are enough interruptions in the peaceful existence we all strive for without creating our own! Happy Sunday everybody and thanks for being such an important part of my life. It's Sarcastic Saturday and while you'll identify my sarcasm, this week's events, courtesy of Buick provide some solid lessons in how NOT to treat a customer. In fact, I'd have to say; they're second only to Comcast on my list of companies I'd prefer not to do business with in the future. Here's the scenario: In January I made the decision to finally give up my eight year old Solara convertible. I loved that car, but Toyota decided to stop making it. I liked the look of the new Buicks and decided to go American for the first time in at least fifteen years. On Monday I took the car in for an oil leak. It was small, but nonetheless, not something you'd expect out of a new car. The dealership gave me a loaner. On Friday morning I was told because it's a new model, they didn't have the part. The part was on back-order with no confirmation of when it might be in. The dealership is terrific, and this is NOT their fault. However, I called Buick's 800 line, which was answered in the Philippines by a customer service rep who was no help. I wanted to know when the part would be available and wanted to hear there was somebody who could expedite its delivery. I also wanted to speak to somebody in Detroit not another country. He didn't sound familiar with my Buick model either! He kept me on hold an unusually long time, claiming to establish a case number for me, then he switched me to 'Detroit" - only it was a customer service center in Texas. I asked one simple question - how can I speak with somebody in Detroit at headquarters? I was told there wasn't a way. I asked to speak to her supervisor. She told me all supervisors were on other calls, but somebody would call me back in 24-48 hours. I refused to give up and said I'd wait for the next one to get off the phone. I finally got to a supervisor and was told there was no number for headquarters. I gave up on the phone and went after @Buick on Twitter. After two hours I got a response through a DM. I gave them my phone number and asked to please call me since the problem couldn't be explained in 140 characters. I also sent an email to their Facebook page. They took the rest of the day and evening to answer, but last night before going to bed I got the same message from both @Buick and Buick on Facebook: From Twitter: As our team works primarily through GM’s social media channels, I kindly advise you to call 1-800-521-7300 if you would prefer to speak with someone. I hope this information proves to be helpful. Thanks again for reaching out, and for being a Buick customer. From Facebook: If this is an urgent matter, please call us at 1-800-521-7300. Customer Relationship Specialists are available Monday through Saturday, 8 am to 9 pm Eastern Time. Both of them sent me right back to the team in the Philippines. "CJ" on Twitter obviously doesn't have the authority to actually talk to a customer. So, I love finding lessons from companies we all know and using them as examples of how not to run a business.
"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it, but what the customer gets out of it!" Peter Drucker And to the team at Buick - there's very little that matters if you can't service the product! You can farm out where the phone rings, but you can't farm out your responsibility to empathize with customers and resolve issues - including allowing them to talk to the right staff!
Photo Credit: © BlueSkyImages The greatest way to recharge your battery as an artist is to attend a conference like ShutterFest or the upcoming Project Lunacy. The interaction with great instructors and your peers is invaluable. However, too many of you do nothing in between conferences. Just like watering and feeding a plant, as hokey as it sounds, you need to feed your soul every day. You need something to help you remember why you’re working so hard. Often it’s as simple as just reading a great quote. I thought it would be fun to share a few of the ideas that have helped me maintain focus on everything outside my business as well as the daily challenges.
“Don’t tell people your dreams, show them!” Anon “Breathe. It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.” Anon "Unless you try to do something beyond what you already mastered, you will never grow." Ralph Waldo Emerson “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” Winston Churchill
There are obviously days when you need more than just something to read, watch or listen to. Make it a point to keep in touch with that inner you. So often you might be approaching burnout and just refuse to see the signs. The ideal time to give yourself a day off or just a few hours away from the business needs to happen before you crash and burn. Learning to spot the signs of your own burnout is as important a skill set as understanding exposure, lighting, composition, etc. You’re working hard to build a brand and a business – take whatever time you need, whenever you need it and learn to step away for recess! If you think about it, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go right back to the schedule we had in kindergarten - right down to the little nap on the floor and a chocolate milk in the afternoon! LOL "Why?" is all about the unique back-stories that go with every image. I'm sharing images from some of the most respected artists in photography today.
In the "Why?" spotlight for this episode is a long time friend, Jack Reznicki. He's not only a well-respected commercial photographer, but he believes in the industry and over the years has regularly been involved in the three primary photographic associations. He is the only photographer who has had a leadership role as the President of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and named an Honorary Master Photographer; President of the NY chapter of Advertising Photographers of America (APA) during it’s founding years, and sat on the NY board of American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). Recently we shared an extremely helpful podcast with Jack about the importance of copyright and protecting your images. You'll find the podcast in the X-Rite Photo & Video Forum. As Jack points out, it's so important to take the time to protect those images you've worked so hard to capture/create. Click on the image above to visit Jack's website and his newest book, The Copyright Zone, co-authored with Ed Greenberg, is just a click away. I've written a lot about the importance of giving back. Well here's a project with a Kickstarter campaign that leaves me struggling to find the right words. It could well be the most amazing idea I've ever heard, and all under the topic of giving back. It's the Purpose Hotel and Jeremy Cowart explains it all in the 3 1/2 minute video below. It's an amazing idea and a chance to give back in a very special way...all over the world! Imagine a hotel where everything has a purpose and focuses on a different need. The tagline just about says it all - "Change the world while you sleep." Watch the video and then join me in a donation to the Kickstarter campaign. Just click on the image above to find out the many ways you can help. Image copyright Monica Royal. All rights reserved. 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 regularly sharing new images along with short sound bytes about the images from the artists themselves.
Monica Royal is in the spotlight today with a unique image and one of the most important lessons each of us at some point hopefully learns - having confidence in ourselves. From the how-to research to her actual follow-through in capturing this image, Monica couldn't be more open in sharing how this one image became life-changing. Monica is an artist, a writer, an educator, and needs to be on your radar. Just click the image to visit Monica's website and see more of her work. She's also a Tamron ImageMaster, and you can find out more about her on the Tamron site. P.S. In regards to the image above, she recently sold a limited edition version to a private collector who identified with Monica's back-story about self-confidence and learning to trust yourself. It's a pretty typical Sunday morning. As usual, I'm stepping away from the business of photography, but only a little bit. I knew what I wanted to write about, just couldn't find the way to get the post started. I typed "quotes about life" into Google, and the little gem up top came up. Between last week's trip to Nebraska for Marathon's MAP Getaway and my regular online connections with so many photographers, I was with one person after another who have yet to understand the simplicity of life - telling people what we need. So many of us have been brought up on the principles of DIY when it comes to anything with even a glimmer of emotion attached. My Dad used to talk about doing your own laundry. Over and over again if something bothered me, it just stayed locked up inside. Even things that had a solid positive foundation were often not shared. Then Sheila came into my life and shared pretty much everything. She'd say, "Ask for what you want. Ask for what you need!" It was a new concept. I'm suggesting everyone needs to do a better job of stepping out from behind the curtain. We need to tell friends we miss them; make a stronger effort to spend time together, ask questions when we don't understand something and take the time to explain when we think we've been misunderstood. We need to stop apologizing before we ask for something as if it's wrong to need something just for ourselves. The last two points above, for me, go together - I'm still a work in progress, but when I start to feel stressed I let it go. I refuse to let things I have no control over eat away at me. And, most important of all, when we love someone we need to say it - at all levels. Your spouse and your kids are easy - it's friends and associates who watch our backs. They need to hear about the important role they play in our lives. So, on this gorgeous Sunday morning in Sarasota, I'm wishing everybody a "Simple Life" and a day filled with close friends, family and most important of all, the people you love the most. Remember those eleven-second hugs. Take the time to think about how you express yourself on those nine points above. Happy Sunday everybody! Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly,
kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncrontrollably, and never regret anything that made you smile. Anon I've lost track of how many presentations/workshops I've done over the years, but I'll never lose touch with why I love doing them or some of the very special groups I've worked with. Tuesday morning I presented a three hour program on marketing at Marathon's MAP Getaway. The Getaway is a small boutique marketing conference. What makes this group so special is their purpose for being here - they're all in search of answers to build a stronger business. They make up a very special community all focused on solutions for increasing sales, improving work flow and efficiency. Marathon's Marketing Advantage Program may well be one of the most unique marketing support programs in the industry. It's a monthly subscription program giving you marketing support through your own private facilitator all year long. That in itself makes the program a necessity for most photography businesses, but your monthly fee is essentially "rebated" as needed, being applied to all of Marathon's products! The MAP Getaway is FREE to MAP members and this year's program brought together some terrific instructors/speakers - Joy Vertz, Chris Wunder, Suzette Allen and Jon Yoshinaga, Maria Sampaio and yours truly. It's a small conference loaded with strong content. While I got a lot out of all of this year's speakers, I especially enjoyed Suzette and Jon's program, bringing state of the art video technology within reach of everyone's skill set. What I loved the most was the way Suzette and Jon teach. In the image below they demonstrated the technique in making a video business card with Judy Johnston from Johnston Studio in Omaha. Judy was herself inspirational as she shared her passion for memories and family. Note: I was using a LUMIX FZ300 to capture these images in a relatively dark room. I love its low-light capabilities plus the 25-600 zoom, all packed into 1 1/2 lbs of incredible technology. From slide shows, to the Live Portrait App and on to techniques of talking business cards; adding animation to still images and even touching on cinemagraphs, Suzette and Jon gave the attendees outstanding "how to" examples of cutting edge technology in imaging.
Throughout the year Marathon's programs help build stronger businesses. This was my second MAP Getaway and once again the only thing more impressive than the content was the quality of the programming and the enthusiasm of the attendees and staff. Click on any of the images in this post to find out more about the Marketing Advantage Program. This is your chance to have your own marketing department and still make 2016 a record-breaking year! On every podcast we always do our best to stay on one topic and then keep drilling it down during the time allowed. This new Weekend Wisdom is with one of my favorite couples in photography, Bob and Dawn Davis. They're not just a great artistic team, but they're powerful as a couple, and that's where we wanted to go on the podcast - ideas to help you prioritize your life outside the business.
It's not easy working with your spouse and it's even harder not letting the pressures of the business get in the way of your number one priority - your family. Bob and Dawn talk a lot about how they've found that important balance between the business, their kids and especially each other. As I write after every podcast - a big thanks to Bryan Caporicci and Rob Nowell, the founders of SproutingPhotographer.com. Over the last few years they've become very good friends. There's nothing more fun than watching them carve out their own piece of industry history with Sprout Studio. A big thanks to Bob and Dawn for carving out some time for the podcast. They're an amazing couple. Imagine what you'll learn hanging out with them for a week on their upcoming trip to Prague. Bob is teaching together with Jared Platt on an amazing trip, guaranteed to be filled with great education combined with plenty of memory-making moments! Just click the tab below for more information. Register for Prague by July 31 and use the code PRAGUEBOB for a $200 discount. Welcome to "Why?"
This all started out with an idea to help get more photographers, especially those of you relatively new to the business, a better understanding of all those artists who have blazed a trail before you. Although, I honestly had no idea just how much fun "Why?" would become. Bobbi Lane, the AKA "Mistress of Lighting," is in the spotlight today. Bobbi and I have shared some really good friends over the years, but for whatever reason, our paths didn't cross very much. Since finally meeting face to face in 2009, while working on a project at Hallmark Institute, she's taught at Skip's Summer School programs, done some guest posts and we catch up with each other at just about every convention. Even more impressive than her skills as a photographer and educator is her pure passion for the craft and her friends. Nothing trumps the importance of friendship, and nothing beats knowing Bobbi Lane is watching your back. Click on the sound bar above and listen to Bobbi's comments as she takes you through the background on one of her favorite images. Find out more about Bobbi at her educational site and view more images with just a click on her image. Bobbi is one of the newest members of X-Rite's Coloratti team. Her profile page isn't up on the site yet, but click on the Coloratti logo below and meet the rest of the team! Oh, how I love Throwback Thursdays! The year is 2008, and this is just one page of a terrific album from Graphistudio!
I think we started in 2006 with a fun idea from Maureen Neises, president of Graphistudio. Together we'd pick four photographers to capture the essence of WPPI each year. From setup to the awards banquet, each artist had free reign to tell the WPPI story. They were then put together in a stunning album. The photographers featured in the 2008 book were Catherine Hall, Jim Garner, Victor Sizemore and Calvin Hayes. The images were printed on a beautiful heavy-weight metallic paper with the design showing multiple images per page, like the above, to full bleeds in single and double page spreads, I got a kick out of Catherine's page that year which features Cherrie Steinberg and Hedley Jones, Mike Colon and David Jay, David Beckstead and Gary Fong and Vicki and Jed Taufer. I'll be sharing more images from this album along with other year's conventions in future Throwbacks. As always, Throwback Thursdays are about memories and nobody captures them better than all of you who are professional photographers. Remember to take the time today and look for a few old images. Share them on your blog as a way to remind your clients of the importance of capturing those memory-making moments in their lives. And don't forget, women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a photographer in the portrait social categories. That means you need to remind Mom that time is her most valuable commodity and what the kids and family look like today will be different tomorrow! Every now and then there's a workshop that comes along that if you knew about it years ago, it would be on your bucket list!
All the information about the Prague Masterclass is just a click away. Click on the banner above to connect with the website and find out everything about the trip. But, don't wait too long - the trip has limited capacity and it'll sell out quickly. Register for Prague by July 31 and use the code PRAGUEBOB for a $200 discount. One of the biggest challenges of being a professional photographer today is building your skill set. Technology never stands still, and neither do your competitors. That means you need to stay on top of new techniques without missing the basic foundation-builders. It's great to have an opportunity to catch up with my good buddy, Sal Cincotta and talk about education in imaging. It was 4-5 years ago Sal asked several us if we wanted to write for a new online publication he was starting, Shutter Magazine. Then came ShutterFest, the fastest growing conference in photography. Next, when other magazines were discontinuing their hard-copies or were getting so thin they could barely stay afloat - Sal launched Shutter Magazine in hard copy. All along the way, Sal and his team have not only developed each of these online, in print and live venues but created unique components. For example, "Rent-a-human" at ShutterFest every year gives artists a chance to work with live models and develop a stronger skill set. Everything Sal does in print, online or in live programming is about education, and now he's launching another venue in November, Project Lunacy. It's another unique opportunity for artists to build their skill set. I'm talking with Sal in this short podcast about education and how photographers can take full advantage of the new program. Listen to the short podcast and get to know Sal a little better, Then, click on the Project Lunacy link above. This is a you-snooze-you-lose scenario. Remember, one of Sal's trademarks is never to oversell any conference, which helps to make sure the time you're investing is well worth it! It's already two-thirds full, so check it out today and reserve your spot! Image copyright Kevin A. Gilligan. All rights reserved. Welcome back to a new "Why?" sound-byte. Joining me today is Kevin A. Gilligan. Kevin is no stranger to SCU. In fact, he's responsible for one of SCU's most read guest posts to date, a three-part series on planning and implementing your own photographic exhibit. Complete with a podcast, Kevin shared every detail of the recipe for a successful DIY exhibition of your work to your community.
Living on the west coast, storms don't come in very often. As Kevin talks about in this new sound-byte, when a storm does roll in you'll find him on the beach, always with a camera in hand. I first met Kevin through Tamron's Image Master program, and you can find more of his work with a click on the Tamron logo below. Check out more of Kevin's work with a visit to his website. Just click on today's "Why?" image. His passion is landscape, but as you'll see in his galleries, quality and diversity are also his trademarks. Focus on the things you can change and let go of the things you can't. Anon Over the last few years I've grown to love Sunday mornings mostly because there's nothing on the list I have to do, including talk about business. I've got great music playing in the background; Molly the Wonder Dog at my feet and I had one of those perfect night's sleep - the kind when you wake up with a solid boost of energy.
Thanks to encouragement from so many of you, Sundays are almost always off track from business and marketing. When I found the quote above one morning last week, I scribbled it on my whiteboard to save until Sunday. It might be one of the hardest lessons in life to learn. I know it's taboo to get overly personal in a blog post, but it makes such a great point. Here's the thirty-second version of my story. I've spent most of my life being a "right fighter". Yes, it's a Dr. Phil expression, and I admit to having watched a few shows and read a few of his books. Well, I come from a whole family of right-fighters - it's the way I was brought up, and I used never to give up trying to prove I was right. The challenge with being in the Right-fight Club is, in the process, we wear ourselves out. We become obsessed with issues that have crossed into the "What difference will it make?" zone. We put all our energy into the battle and on any given day we might have several fights going on at the same time. Some are internal with our personal demons and others, external with people we think care about us. Well, a couple of years ago I realized life was simply too short. I realized I was spending so much time dealing with the daily storms I forgot to "dance in the rain." I started focusing on things I could change and stopped wasting time and energy on things I couldn't. There's another expression from Dr. Phil I love - "I'd rather be happy that right!" And that brings me full circle to where I started with the quote above. I've given up on those friends and family members who just don't get it. They've brought nothing but pain and chaos into our lives over and over again. They battle it out on the field of righteous indignation passing judgment that just isn't their right. And that's my point on this peaceful beautiful Sunday morning - let go of the negative people in your life. Stop wasting energy on battles that won't make a difference and focus on things to make your life better. Life is too short to waste a minute on people who have decided it's their way or the highway. It's Sunday of a holiday weekend. Make it a great day with family and friends. Always go for an eleven-second hug with that person closest to you. Most important of all, put your energy into things that truly mean something to you - those things you carry in your heart that put a smile on your face. I'm still work in progress, but the smile I wake up with every morning speaks far louder than those challenges I just can't change. Happy July 4th - It's Independence Day - and time to celebrate your own independence as well! It's not only Sarcastic Saturday, but it's a holiday weekend. The combination has taken me, laughing all the way, to a very dark place - dealing with online scammers.
There are few topics more fun than talking about the boneheads who insist on filling our email boxes with stupidity! From the Nigerian scam letters, offering us a share in millions of dollars sitting in surplus accounts to women claiming they need help with their deceased husband's estates, if you have an email address you've read them all. Sadly, before the Internet, the physical letters were at least fun to collect because of the stamps. I pulled a screen shot of part of a new one, at least for me, I received a few weeks ago. It came with a subject line telling me my American Express card had been blocked, but it was pretty obvious this wasn't even close to what Amex would have sent out.
The rest of the email was loaded with typos and they've now sent it to me twice. It never made it to me directly, but was worth sharing from my spam box. So, here's my thought today - There's nothing worse than a lazy scam artist. Is it time to start a Kickstarter campaign to help them raise money to subscribe to Grammarly.com? I just feel if they're going to fill my mailbox with trash then at least make it a challenge. Reading their emails, even if you never got "A's" in English, is like being stuck in a pediatrician's office, and the only thing to look at is the "Where's Waldo?" puzzles in a children's magazine. Finding a scammer's mistakes are just as entertaining. On a serious note - any scams you do get regarding American Express, just forward to spoof@americanexpress.com. Wishing everybody a scamless day and a terrific July 4th weekend! |
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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