Over the last few years of morphing into an almost full time writer and blogger, I've written this at least a half dozen times... "The best part of the photographic industry has NOTHING to do with photography, but the friendships that come out of everyone's mutual love for the craft." At every turn this week, during ShutterFest, there were opportunities for artists to share their passion together. There was a continuous stream of new friendships being started each day! Like many of you, I'm still recovering from ShutterFest. It was an amazing program and already half sold for 2016, but this morning I'm not interested in writing about the agenda or even the amazing venue. Instead I've got the pure joy of networking on my mind. While "networking" effectively is an art form, when you're in an environment like ShutterFest you're constantly meeting new people and planting seeds for new friendships just about every waking minute.
For me it all started out with a couple of cold calls to Melissa Albert, Rebecca Nash and Justin Bassett, three photographers who I asked for permission to use their sites as examples of what not to do. From that first phone call to actually spending time with them during one of my programs, each friendship simply took off. Then there were friends I met last year. What a kick to catch up to Matt, Ed and Amy, Gary, Michael and dozens more whose names I just can't remember on a lazy Sunday morning. Before I get accused of rambling, here's my point... At a convention, just like life, you get out what you put into it. As you plan to attend other workshops and programs in the year ahead, take the time to talk to the people around you. Introduce yourself, exchange contact information and then start following each other. This industry is pretty amazing, not because of technology and the images being captured every day, but because of the passion we all share to raise the bar. I simply love this industry and everybody in my network is the same way! So, as always, hug somebody special in your life...take five minutes to just think about how lucky you are to have a career that's based on capturing the emotion of people around you. Wishing all of you an amazing day!
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A few weeks ago a good buddy, Brian Malloy, posted a copy of a 1965 ad from Modern Photography magazine. It's a classic throwback, but in this case, a little different from what I normally share. Even on something as simple as an ad like this there are throwback memories all over the place... First, is the obvious, I was President of Hasselblad USA for twelve years, starting in 1987. We would have killed to have a few price points like this. Even back then the lowest price to get into the Hasselblad system was the 500 Classic, which launched at $1995 with a 500CM body, 80mm lens and A-12 magazine. Second, is the retailer at the time. Brooks Camera was owned by Joe Dee. In my Polaroid days he was the first retailer I chose for a double page ad campaign in the trade magazines about the profitability of the Polaroid Special Edition camera line. The series of ads ran in the early 80's. A little bizarre spin on the story was a visit I made to Willoughby's Camera in NYC shortly after the first ad was released. Eric Herschfeld, then "King" of Willoughby's, was so angry that he wasn't chosen first and threw me out of his office. I hadn't been in the job more than a few months as manager of Polaroid's photo specialty dealers. There's little that could have happened to upset me more, at least business wise, at the time. I remember calling my boss from a pay phone (There were no cell phones yet!). I called in a state of panic and he laughed and simply said, "You're in good company. I remember the first time I got thrown out!" Third, the ad came out of Modern Photography. It was a great magazine and one of the leaders along with Popular Photography and Petersen's Photographic when I joined Hasselblad. Some time in the late 80's they were bought by Popular Photography for the sole purpose of boosting Pop's circulation. They simply merged the subscriber list and killed the magazine. At the time, another now great friend, Steve Rosenbaum, was the publisher. Steve went on to found S.I.R. Marketing Communications, Inc. and couldn't be more active in the industry today. In fact, we probably talk about something going on in photography ever few weeks. Last on the list of memories, check out the companies also listed at the start of the ad. Most of them no longer exist or have an extremely small presence in photography today. As always the point of TBT is just to have fun looking back for a moment. While it's normally old images we all share, a trip down memory lane is still a great trip and there's very little that beats a look back at the early days of the journey we're all on. I know I need more sleep this morning, but there's something that happens when you're simply pumped. Over the years friends have called it my "show mode". Adrenalin mixed with passion for the craft and the enthusiasm of meeting new people, seeing new products and in this case being absorbed by the ShutterFest experience, simply takes over. You know it's a great convention when you first look in the mirror in the morning and because of the bags under your eyes, you see Yoda looking back at you. Yet, you're not tired and can't wait for the sun to finally come up, so you can justify all the energy you have that's got you chomping at the bit to start your day. Yesterday I was involved in three different programs, one a panel discussion about branding and then two workshops of my own, a short program on social media in general, followed by a three hour "Skip Unplugged" from 9:00 - midnight! I was totally surprised to start off with a standing room only crowd and still have a huge group left at midnight when I finished. The quest to simply learn as much as they can was remarkable. What really impresses me for the second year in a row is the passion of attendees, exhibitors and other speakers to simply put everything they can into the mix. This is much more than just a boutique conference...it's a thriving community. It starts with the attendees, who are like sponges, trying to learn everything they can soak up in three nights and two days. Then come the exhibitors, here not only to show their products, but to share anything they've got to help the attendees raise the bar on the quality of their work, business environment and marketing reach. Keeping it all moving, like the guy beating the drums on an old Viking ship, are the instructors. Their passion and willingness to share, sets the pace for the unbridled spirit of the conference. For me personally, being one of the biggest photographer groupies in the industry, I couldn't be more proud to be part of the team. Last on the list, at least for this morning's post, is the venue. Look closely at the image above. This was late yesterday morning and there are at least three hands on shooting groups with lights and models on the floor of the lobby. The lobby itself is a work of art with an estimated fifty foot high ceiling that simply becomes one of the more stellar places for artists to simply experiment with lighting, posing and exposure. I grabbed the shot with a GH3 from the fourth floor balcony over looking the lobby of the classic Union Station Hotel here in St. Louis. It's the perfect venue to turn 2000 photographers loose with models, lights, equipment and just let their creative spirit soar as they photograph to their heart's desire in every corner of this incredibly intriguing retro location. As I said in one part of my program last night, "Don't should on yourself!" So, if you're not here this year and saying, "I should have gone," the next ShutterFest is only a year away. Get yourself registered as soon as it becomes available and then do everything you can to be here for the third annual ShutterFest. It's a kick! Sorry...I had this ready to go and got caught up in the excitement of ShutterFest yesterday and it never made it to the blog for Marketing Monday. Well, I can't think of a better topic, even though it's not really marketing. Let's address the complete freak out so many of you are doing over Google's announcement regarding their mobile ranking change.
Instead of hitting the panic button, I called an expert, actually on behalf of a friend at first, but then found I was getting caught up in the panic attack as well. John Krazimien at PhotoBiz was the first person I thought of who might be able to help. I met John when I was hosting SPTV at WPPI. John's crew put together a short explanation for photographers. A big thanks to John and his team. The intro is below and links to a more in-depth article on the PhotoBiz site. Google, the most dominate search engine in the world has declared that if your website isn't mobile-friendly by April 21st, then doom and gloom will befall you and your business. You may have even received an automated message alerting you that pages on your website are mobile-unfriendly and need to be fixed before the Google deadline. PhotoBiz has been helping photographers and visual artists grow their audiences online for over a decade now. So we've seen and weathered every SEO change Google has thrown at our customers. We wrote a simple-to-follow, no-nonsense guide to Google's mobile-friendly announcement... How to figure out if Google's ranking changes will hurt or help your website. Why you should ignore Google's advice about mobile-friendliness (and what to do instead). Where to get expert help with your SEO before the April 21st deadline hits. Read our advice on the subject at The Truth About SEO, Mobile-Friendliness, and Google If it wasn't for April 15 and everyone having to do their taxes, April would probably be my most favorite month. Even living here in Florida, things seem to be blooming more. There's a different attitude in the air as the world moves into Spring.
I always go off track on Sunday mornings with a blog post, but in all honesty, there's simply nothing I want to address. I'm totally pumped for ShutterFest and everyone's arrival tomorrow in St. Louis. I'm excited about catching up to old friends and meeting new ones. It's a morning loaded with an almost eerie sense of peace and anticipation. So, whether I should be wishing you a Happy Easter or Happy Passover it makes no difference. Today is simply a perfect day for family, love and definitely staying away from anything business related. It's a day for hugs, smiles and absolutely no reflecting except to wonder what you did to be so lucky. ...and to quote Sherman Helmsley: I'm just an old hippie. You know, peace and love. I don't usually do pitches, but yesterday I got an email from Adorama and they've got one of my favorite bags on sale...just click the banner if you want to find out more. I own two bags from Jill-E and I love them both, but here's what I love the most. I have all kinds of camera bags, but when we travel, there are only three bags I'll consider for my carry-on. The first two are in the picture below and both from Jill-E. The third is a backpack from LowePro, which is light and perfect for short trips.
Remember, my profile when traveling is a lot like yours when you're not taking all your gear. I always have a LUMIX GH3, two lenses, the charger and a few misc pieces...then comes my laptop, adapter, phone, phone charger and often Sheila's Kindle along with the barrage of office supplies we call drag around. Throw in a notebook and a couple of magazines and you've got my full travel inventory. I don't want my carry-on to look like a camera bag and both Jill-E pieces have a whole lot of style. Anyway, I saw $40 off on the rolling satchel and since it's a product I use all the time, wanted to give you the link. Camera bags are very personal things, but for me it's about efficiency, durability, quality and being easy to travel with. The fun of Throwback Thursday for me is going back and looking at one memory-jarring image after another, but the real purpose is to hopefully get you to do the same. As photographers and members of this amazing industry, we tend to forget the real power in the magic we're all involved with - capturing memories. And, for those of you who love to get irritated, because the expression "capturing memories" is so over-used, get over it! Better yet, come up with better expressions and I'll be happy to do a blog post just dedicated to a few new words describing the wonder of what all of you provide to your clients. In the mean time, welcome to our Coco Island dive trip in 2001. It's a 36 hour boat ride from Costa Rica and while virtually none of you have ever been there, most of you have seen it on film. It's the lead in footage for the first Jurassic Park at the very beginning when they're flying into the island. It's also where the I-Max movie, Island of Sharks was filmed and to this day represents some of the toughest diving I've ever done. A month or so after we were there, one of the boats lost two divers to strong currents. It's also one of the most amazing trips I've ever been on, best described as the most fun I don't want to do again. It's an incredible place for diving, but today's Throwbacks are all on land, our last day. Typical of any dive trip, you always have to allow your body to off-gas and get rid of the nitrogen before flying. So, we finished diving on day six and on day seven, spent the day on land doing a zip line tour of the rain forest and then finished with a trip to the hot springs. These images bring back so many great memories. This was a trip with my daughter, Jaime, pictured above. I remember being scared to death as I thought about where we were..."Okay, we're on the other side of the planet, in a country without any safety or OSHA laws and we're about to jump on a zip-line 800-1000 feet over the valley!" As always, take a minute today and find one file or box of old photographs to share with a friend or your family. It's what Throwback Thursday is all about! |
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