I couldn't be more excited to be involved in a new educational platform to help photographers raise the bar on the quality of their images, marketing, business and presentations. SPTV is about to launch a whole new series and the first program is coming up Saturday, December 13th, 10:00a.m. – 4:00p.m. MST. It's Sandy Puc’ and Kevin Kubota LIVE, sharing new products, gear, and holiday favorites. Plus, Kevin is going to spend some time taking you through so many challenges in lighting with speedlights. As the author of The Lighting Notebook: 101 Lighting Styles and Setups for Digital Photographers, he's got a full bag of tricks to share along with plenty of a live demos. Beautiful Lighting from One Small Bag Why is speedlighting so popular? For the same reason wearing cotton underwear is better than rusty iron skivvies—they are lighter, easier to move with, and don’t cause chaffing! With the secret skills and a simple collection of the right accessories, you can do amazing things with speedlights. Kevin will be "live" with one demo after another... *Creating the three most important lighting styles with minimal equipment, in studio or on location *Balancing your flash with existing light for dramatic effect. *Learning how to take high-speed sync to the next level *A simple system for metering and balancing light from multiple sources *Using just ONE speedlight to dramatically enhance any images But Saturday is only the beginning! In addition to Sandy and Kevin, I'll be hosting future programs together with Lori Nordstrom, Michele Celentano, and Matthew Jordan Smith. I couldn't be more proud to be working with an all star team like this!
So, what is SPTV.me? It's a FREE all-encompassing training site committed to providing photography professionals and photographic hobbyists with encouragement, information, tips, and equipment and prop recommendations. SPTV.me broadcasts only the most prominent events and compelling educators to assist photographers in refining their craft and advancing their business. ...but just wait until you see what's coming next!
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It's only five years ago, but it's like 7:1 for a dog's life. So many things have changed in the industry, technology and social media. Five years ago I had a few hundred followers on Facebook and hadn't really started on Twitter. I had just left Rangefinder/WPPI and this was the faculty at the first Skip's Summer School in Las Vegas.
What a kick and what a great group of photographers to work with!
"You've got to learn your instrument. Then, you practice, practice, practice, practice. And then, when you finally get up there on the bandstand, forget all that and just wail." Charlie Parker With the year fast coming to a close and a new year about to kick off, it's the perfect time to talk about your skill set. I've written a dozen or more posts about making sure you understand your gear, technique and your clients. While a few photographers have suggested you can "fake it 'till you make it", I don't buy it.
Social media has made the world a very tiny place. One unhappy customer has the ability today to influence thousands of other people. In fact, I found an interesting article written last year on McBee Strategic that helps make the point. Today, there are roughly one billion active Facebook users, 343 million Google+ users, 200 million LinkedIn users and 500 million Twitter users. Now, let’s change the word “users” to “influencers.” That’s more than a billion influencers who have the power to help or harm your business goals. WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU Estimated statistics show that on average, an individual posts 36 Facebook posts per month, which is broadcasted to their roughly 130 connections. Thanks to ample social sharing tools, each time that person publishes an opinion they have the potential to reach not only their own connections, but friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends, and so on. So, this is just a short post, no, a plea - learn all the rules of photography and then let creativity "wail", as Charlie Parker suggests and break any rule you want. But, without knowing and understanding photography, most of your marketing efforts are going to be a waste of time! Be consistent in the quality of the products you deliver, exceed client expectations and just keep making yourself habit-forming. Build a reputation on being great to work with and visiting to your website an experience. And remember, as the authors wrote in the McBee article... Did you use your influence today? Every second there are 650,000 Facebook shares, 100,000 tweets, and 48 hours of video uploaded to YouTube. It's a typical Sunday and while this might get a little sappy, it's really about the importance of a great skill set. There are a whole series of guest posts in Luminary Corner from my good buddy, Bob Coates. We've been friends for a lot of years, going back to my early WPPI days. I'm convinced he's shooting some of the finest work of his career, all under the fine art umbrella, but here's the fun of a friend with a great skill set. His career has taken him through wedding, portraiture, commercial and architectural work. While fine art is his passion today, there's nothing he can't shoot and yesterday was a prime example. I do a lot of volunteer work for the Friendship Centers here in Sarasota. I also do their blog and help them with social media on their BeAwareBetterCare.com site. I met this group of amazing people, because my Dad and I used to attend their Caregiver Support Group when dealing with my mother's Alzheimer's. Earlier this week they asked me to participate in a local ad campaign featuring people involved in many of their community services. They wanted an image of me and Dad together with me in the foreground and Dad behind me, slightly out of focus. The image will be used in a testimonial ad. As luck would have it, Bob and his wife, Holly, are in Sarasota on vacation and with absolutely no effort I was able to "twist his arm" for a quick shot of me and Dad, but then he did a shot of just Dad for me. So, here's the point I'm trying to make... Bob's got an amazing skill set. He's a Panasonic LUMIX Luminary and is never without a camera. He's passionate about the craft, constantly learning and always trying to expand the boundaries on his comfort level. He never compromises on the quality of an image or for that matter in giving back to the industry, the community or his friends. Photography is a career field dependent on your constant education. No matter how much you think you understand every aspect of the craft there's always going to be something new. Technology is always going to keep us challenged and give everyone the opportunity to keep raising the bar. Just don't forget about the importance of passion! Bob is one of the most passionate photographers I've ever worked with and the foundation of our friendship has been built on our mutual love and respect for the craft. Plus, he's constantly trying something different that he hasn't done before. It's Sunday and for you, it just might be the perfect day to just kick back with your camera and head out to photograph in a way you've never done it before. "I'm always doing things I can't do. That's how I get to do them." Picasso As always. wishing you all a wonderful Sunday and a day to hug somebody you love, but also give yourself a hug for staying focused on being the very best artist you can be! All images by Bob Coates. All rights reserved.
The other day I wrote a post about a good buddy, Arnold Crane. It's worth taking the time if you haven't read it yet, not because I'm the author, but because he was one of the giants in our industry and you need to know about him. Last night I was looking at his book and the very first image you come to is the image below as a two-page spread. It seems so trite to just call it the ultimate "selfie," but in a world caught up in cell phone images and a host of Internet photo-sharing, I just got a kick out of Arnold grabbing this shot. He was obviously ahead of his time! In a post comment from Cynthia Crane she wrote... What an amazing man I married - and luckily married me. We met on August 18, 1987 and have never been apart since that day. His photos do live on. Arnold's images will definitely live on and I know this won't be the last image of his to be shared. His friendship was an amazing gift, so many of us were fortunate enough to have shared.
Best guess on today's "Throwback" is around '95. It was taken in NYC at Scavullo's studio and we were talking about a fund-raiser he was helping us with. Again, without finding this print, which I scanned for today's post, all the memories would pretty much be forgotten. I've often referred to myself as one of the luckiest guys in photography and having an opportunity to meet with Francesco Scavullo was pretty remarkable. He was helping us raise money and awareness for Photographers + Friends United Against AIDS. The event was part of Photo East, now known as Photo Plus Expo. There are two stories that tie to this image that make it so much fun to look back. First, besides the memory of Scavullo's dog trying to bite me when I came into the studio, the way the studio was set up was pretty amazing. Francesco had very bad arthritis and to shoot fashion the way he did, he needed that low camera angle. He was shooting exclusively with Hasselblad. Very few people know that every cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine for over seventeen years was shot with Hasselblad gear. To get around his arthritis and allow him to comfortably shoot at those low angles, they built a pit in the studio. Much like the old gas stations before hydraulic lifts, where you'd drive over a hole in the floor to have your oil changed, Scavullo would walk down a few steps into this 4-5 foot pit. You'd pretty much see only his head sticking out of the floor. The camera was on a short tripod. It was the perfect set up for so many of his studio images. The second story came during our fund-raiser shoot at the convention. Somebody asked him what his favorite Hasselblad lens was. Well, he thought for a minute and then held up his hands about eight inches apart and said, "It's the one that's about this long!" I'm not sure we ever did find out what the focal length was, but it didn't matter. Four hundred or so people got to watch him work that day, not just on the program we had scheduled, but with Brooke Shields for her own fund-raiser at the beginning of the session when she "borrowed" our set. It was definitely a moment to remember. The whole Throwback Thursday thing comes together with one great point...do you know where all your memories are? All those images of past events in your life bring back the most amazing stories. Throwback Thursday isn't just an excuse for me to pull out old photographs. It's a reminder for all of you to do the same and share them with friends. There are few things better than a walk down memory lane to start the day! Just for Wedding Photographers - The Search for the Ultimate Wedding Video - Enter by December 1012/3/2014 Together, Photodex and SCU are searching for the ultimate wedding story. Thanks to technology, photographers today have the biggest selection of creative tools in the history of photography and video/slide presentations are at the top of the list. All of the rules are on the Photodex site, but here's the short version. Your submission has to be told through the creative use of photos, videos and audio. We're looking for your best wedding and engagement videos for a chance to win some fabulous prizes from Panasonic, ProFoto, Colormunki, Resource Magazine and Photodex. Just for the fun of it I pulled four submissions so far at random. They're literally from all over the world. Check them out and then look at your work. The prizes for the winner are outstanding, but even better is the recognition. Resource Magazine will be publishing the winner on their website, we'll be publishing a press release and the winning video has the potential to be seen by thousands of photographers and potential clients. You don't have a shot at winning if you don't submit a video! You've still got a week to enter. So what are you waiting for? All submissions have to be in by December 10! Wilfried Casimiro Bruce Berg Collin Kornfeind camshotvideography
I received some sad news last night...Arnold Crane passed away. There are a lot of you who have no idea who he is and even more who have never met him.... Right off the bat, you'll notice I used "is" and not "was"...that's because Arnold has one of those huge personalities. His passion for photography, spending time with other photographers and simply being an artist is unmatched. So, while Arnold may have left us, legendary personalities stay with us forever. I first met Arnold in my Hasselblad days. He used to come to all the conventions and that's where the friendship started. In January '96 he sent me a copy of his book, "On the Other Side of the Camera". It's a pretty remarkable body of work as Arnold set out to "memorialize and honour my friends - both living and sadly gone from our world." From Man Ray to Ansel Adams, Robert Frank to Bernice Abbott, Lee Friedlander, Minor White, Arnold Newman and Gary Winogrand, just to name a few, Arnold documented time with all of these legendary artists. He did what no other artist in photography has done, spend the time to document many of the stories and personalities behind the pioneers in photography who built the foundation for imaging today. In the foreword of Arnold's book, Graham Nash wrote: ...What a daunting task it is to photograph a photographer...My friend Arnold Crane has taken upon himself this difficult assignment with dignity and humor. For several decades he has been acquainted with the finest photographers in the world, individuals who have taught us new ways of seeing and who have brought us closer to one another by revealing to us our common humanity...Much as been written about the men and women whose faces grace these pages. Now we have a remarkable window into their souls. With this exceptional book, Arnold Crane has greatly expanded our insight into the vision and the art of some of the greatest photographers of the twentieth century." Along with Arnold's incredible enthusiasm for the craft and photographers, his passion for his friendships was also at the top of the list. Every time I'd see Arnold it was as if the last conversation just ended in a comma and we'd take up wherever we left off. I guess this is a good spot to segue over to one last point. There's so much we all take for granted and I'm no exception. Arnold and his wife, Cynthia, moved to Sarasota two years ago. As snow birds they'd hit Sarasota in the late fall and head back north in the spring. We got out to dinner with them a couple of times that first year and then missed the second altogether. A few emails over the last year and I figured as soon as they were back down here I'd get time in with Arnold once more. Obviously that can no longer happen. Don't wait to tell people important to you how you feel. It takes a certain amount of effort, but it's so worth it. I hate the fact that it's been over a year since I spoke directly with Arnold, but at the same time, I'm so proud of the fact that he's a friend and even more proud that he considered me one. The image I used in this post was taken by Bob Coates, another good friend and buddy. In the same way Graham Nash talked about Arnold giving us a look into the souls of some of the greatest photographers in the world, I love the fact that Bob's image definitely captures Arnold and gives us a look into his soul. Arnold, thank you for all you gave our industry, your enthusiasm, love for photography and friendships to so many artists. You will definitely be missed!
Photographers are always talking about unacceptable "noise" in digital photography, but rarely do any of you think about the noise in the lives of your target audience. It's a really simple point to make, especially this time of year. You've got to stay focused on all your marketing efforts to get the attention of your target audience. You've got to find ways to get through the noise.
The picture above is fresh out of my mailbox yesterday. We received nine different catalogs and it was a relatively light day! Now combine that with email pitches for "Cyber Monday", television ads, radio and even an annoying telemarketing call here and there and we're already coming close to a "Bah Humbug!" moment. In all honesty, seasonally, this is one of the toughest times to get your message out there and reach your target, but there are things you can be doing all year long to build brand awareness.
No one blog post could have all the answers, but if you're sitting there wondering why your phone isn't ringing this time of year, then take a look at the way you've marketed your business all the rest of the year. The best thing about whatever short suits you have is...nothing is forever and you've got plenty of opportunities to keep building your brand. Rome wasn't build in a day and neither was your reputation! |
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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