Challenge vs. Change - Welcome to All Things "Shutter"

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!