by Skip Cohen

​Remember, Sunday Morning Reflections are never about business and marketing. It's my time to have some fun with whatever's on my mind.

A few minutes ago, Sheila looked at me and said, "I need a slug day!" That's all I needed to hear - *poof* the day was thoroughly planned. Because a "slug day" has no agenda except to behave like a slug. No major projects and a day to relax and just appreciate life.

Just for the fun of it, I Googled "slug day."

The day after Christmas, where you make a "slime trail" from the couch to the fridge while watching the movies you received as presents...We celebrated slug day by watching TV and finishing off the leftover Christmas cookies.

It's hardly the day after Christmas, but the definition is pretty much right on the money. It's going to be a day just to chill, enjoy each other and the pups. The cool thing about a declared slug day is that there are no expectations except to slow things down and relax. And as bizarre as it sounds, it takes discipline not to let anything get in the way.

So we've declared "Belle" (above picture) our slug day mascot. She fell asleep as a good friend of ours was scratching her right behind the ears. If you've got a dog, then you know the spot - it's where you can actually see them smiling.

The challenge with slug days isn't so much taking them but knowing when you need them. I'm still a work in progress, but it takes time to recognize when you simply need to slow down, chill and recharge.

Wishing everybody a great day ahead, and if you're joining us in a slug day, make it one that works for you. This is about minimal stress, relaxing, and letting the world entertain you for a change. Those eleven-second therapeutic hugs jump in there, along with a great breakfast and good music playing all day long. Add in a batch of Margaritas and a movie we haven't seen, and the day's covered.

Happy Slug Day!
​

What fools call wasting time is most often the best investment.
Nassim Taleb

by Skip Cohen

​It's "Hump Day," and for whatever reason, I wandered into cyberspace to check out when the expression got started. Here's what Google gave me:

Wednesday first came to be known as hump day since at least the 1950s. The expression figures Wednesday, the middle of the workweek, as the hump people get over to coast into the weekend. Throughout the 20th century, Wednesday was especially referred to as hump day in an effort to liven up the drudgery of the workweek.

If you think about it, there's no middle of the workweek any longer. In the 50s, Saturday was a coast day, and no businesses were open on Sunday. Today most retailers run seven days a week. Plus, if you're a wedding and event photographer working Friday - Sunday, there is no "coasting" into the weekend.

But here's how I use "Hump Day:" I have several ongoing projects. On Wednesdays, I like to waste time. "First and second Tuesdays" (see my previous post) are always a little insane. By Wednesday, I want to look at what I've done and what I have coming up, and I'll often take time to kick back a little to think through my game plan. I review my calendar, check out any deadlines I have coming up, and then do some of the prep work for specific things I'm working on. It's a day to reflect a little and then ramp up for things I want to complete by Friday's end.

We all should have our routines, but sadly, for those of you just starting out, it's natural to be reactionary. You're trying to be all things to everybody. You'll eventually lose focus, and that's when something gets missed. It took me a lot of years to recognize my own limitations versus my available time. I had no choice but work to get a little more organized.

Learn from my mistakes so that you can make new ones of your own. Establish a few standard routines you do each day that involve various aspects of your business. And while marketing is a category that needs to be ongoing all the time - remember, your greatest marketing tool is relationship building. Make sure you have time allotted for customer contacts and building a brand that demonstrates your accessibility and passion for the craft.

by Skip Cohen

​It's going to be tough for today's Sunday Morning Reflections to not sound like a rant. But I'll do my best to at least be relevant. The topic is the USPS, and I wonder if the quote above, known as the Postman's Oath, is still valid.

​Yesterday I went to the mailbox, and there was a holiday card from our good buddies Mark and Tony in Cleveland, mailed on December 23. The good news is in two parts - first, I got it. Second, it was the stimulus for a call to them to wish them a happy new year and find out what they've been up to. However, 5 1/2 weeks travel time for a card from Cleveland to Florida?

I bought Sheila something for the holidays and ordered it online around December 1. From December 15 to January 12, the tracking information showed the expected 12/15 delivery date and simply said, arriving late. The company I ordered from was doing their best and about to issue a refund when it finally arrived.

One of the hats I wear is CMO for Platypod. I'm very proud of our fulfillment department because they haven't missed a day since the pandemic started. Also, orders in by early afternoon almost always ship the same day - but then the mystery begins. And 2-3 weeks after that correspondence from our customers starts, as people inquire about their orders. 

So, here's my point, and it's one we all need to remember. I know the pandemic has turned shipping upside down. Tracking information is rarely right because it's not being updated regularly. And if you're outside the US, carriers are limited by the availability of flights. For example, in the early days of the pandemic, I was told there had been a 75% reduction in flights to Australia. 

One side of me understands the challenges the USPS, FedEx, and other carriers have had to deal with. Let's face it - this wasn't a year that thousands of people were going to be waiting outside Walmart for the Midnight Madness sale on Black Friday! But the other side of me can't help but feel these carriers completely underestimated the pandemic's impact on consumer buying patterns this past season.

As I asked the postmaster at my local post office in mid-January, what was going on, he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I've got packages I'm still waiting for!" And if you Google USPS delays, you can take your pick from dozens of articles and videos talking about the backlog, which, based on my card from Cleveland yesterday, they're still dealing with.

And that brings me right to the bottom line. It's not the fault of your mail carrier, Fedex or UPS driver or the companies you've ordered from - Don't shoot the messenger!

Wishing everybody a Sunday loaded with plenty of on-time deliveries of memory-making moments. While the pandemic has created an excess of time, don't waste it on things that don't really matter. Let those people most important in your life know they're on your mind with a phone call, text, IM or email - just don't send a card.

Happy Sunday - or Monday if you're on the other side of the world!

by Skip Cohen

​It's "Sunday Morning Reflections," but while I'm going to be off-track from business and marketing, I want to stay close to the topic of what I love most about the photography industry. I've written many times that the best thing about this industry has nothing to do with photography, but the friendships that come out of everyone's love for the craft!  

Continuing to function through the pandemic would be impossible if it wasn't for my friends. Everybody has lots of friends, but think about those select few who are most important to you - you know, the ones you'd give up a kidney for. Even more important today, the ones that help keep your spirits up when you want to give up! They're your cheerleaders, and conversations sometimes turn into pep-rallies.

Here's a perfect example - my buddy Tony Corbell! We met in 1987 when I joined Hasselblad, and the company was a sponsor of Dean Collins' Tour. Years later, I'd succeed in closing the best sell-job of my career: talking Tony into giving up his view of the Pacific Ocean at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara for a parking lot in New Jersey, to work for Hasselblad.

We've laughed and cried our way through years of adventures working with so many of the artists who set the stage for making the industry what it is today. Dean Collins, Don Blair, and Monty Zucker, for example, are just three of the incredible legacy we both feel responsible for and maintain right up through this very minute. They left behind the standards for quality and excellence we all need to stay focused on, even through the compromises we have to make because of the pandemic.

Well, On November 2, Tony and I join another good friend, John Cornicello, on his podcast, and we're just going to have fun. We're going to share some of our favorite stories about the legends of this industry. "Fun" is one of those lost words today, buried under the stress of business, politics, and the economy. Well, we're going to do our best to bring it back. With John's help, you'll understand even more about why, like so many of you, there is no other industry we could have ever been this happy being in.

Tony and Skip's Awesome Adventures just might top Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - Plus, you can count on plenty of stories about the legends you might have met over the years, or at the very least you should know!

Wishing everybody a terrific Sunday and time to create new adventures with those people most important in your life. It's our friends who keep us going when times get the toughest. Hunkering down is all about your health, not keeping in touch. And as my buddy Bob Coates got us all thinking about early on, "social distancing" is a misnomer - we have to stay social, but physical distancing is the point.

Happy Sunday...or Monday if you're on the other side of the world!

​See you on November 2!

by Skip Cohen

I recently found a series of posts I'd written many years ago, and this one hit me as being just as relevant today, as it was back then. In fact, it might be more relevant today, since the pandemic has us talking and sharing more online. 

I love it when somebody tells me, "I want to share something with you, but you've got to keep it just between us!" I smile and usually say, "If you're really uncomfortable, don't tell me, but be assured nothing ever gets passed on." I'm proud of the fact I've never passed any of those secrets on, but here's my point.

If you have something private and it would hurt somebody to repeat it, keep your mouth shut and keep it confidential. I know every time somebody tells me to "please keep it quiet," that I'm easily the 100th person who's been told. Add to the number of people who already heard the big secret before me; we're in an industry notorious for being way too inbred!

By inbred, I'm referring to the fact that everybody I know has at least one other company under their belt before whatever they're doing now. Use my own experience as an example. I started out working at Polaroid, then Hasselblad, followed by an Internet company and Rangefinder Publishing. At one point in the early '80s, at least five people from my Polaroid days worked at Fujifilm. While at Hasselblad, I wound up on the Board of the Center for Creative Photography. Who was chairman of the board? Peter Wensberg, past VP of Advertising at Polaroid.

Now, take anybody you know in the industry who's got a big secret and decides it's safe to tell just a handful of isolated people. Within a day or two, there might be hundreds who know about it, and even more damaging might be the consequences if word got out.

It's like playing the stages of the Kevin Bacon game. Take anybody who's been around more than ten years in photography, and I'm willing to bet you can connect them to almost anybody else in 3-4 stages.

So the moral of the story is, don't share your secrets unless you want them released. The best way to spread the news in the industry? Just tell somebody, "Please don't tell anybody but…"

by Skip Cohen​

It's a typical Sunday morning. If you're new to Reflections, be warned: I always go off track, typically writing about something other than business and marketing in imaging. This morning is too good not to share, and if you have fun with this and get involved, then I'll take credit - if you hate the idea, it's all Glen Clark's fault! LOL

Glen and I have been friends since a meeting at Kodak in the early nineties. We've worked on different projects together, caught up at various shows/conferences, and shared a bunch of meals together. And we grab a phone call with each other regularly. We've had a lot of great ideas and laughs over a twenty-five-year friendship, and we're not letting the pandemic slow us down.

Yesterday he sent me the images below and wrote:

​So, I'm running with the idea. Let's start our own gallery of photographers with BP (Before Pandemic) and AP (After Pandemic) images of haircuts, beards, anything fun in the grooming category. Everyone has been forced to let their hair grow through some part of the mandatory or voluntary quarantine. 

Here at our house, I finally trusted Sheila to cut my hair. As Florida's Covid-19 numbers spike again, we're not going to the barber/salon. But I have to admit, she's cut my hair twice, and she's getting good at it. And if she screws up - who cares? Nobody's close enough to see it anyway!

Then I remembered a month ago another great friend, Melissa Ghionis shared her "BP" and "AP" hair. She wrote on Facebook:

​Sadly, Lucy didn't do quite as well as the rest of us when I bought a dog grooming kit. Fortunately, the mirrors are all too high for her to reach and see herself. Otherwise, we'd have a case of puppy PTSD on our hands. I definitely took too much off the top, but she seems to have forgiven me so far.

​So, how brave are you? Let's have some fun with this and share your before and afters...and if you're still in the before mode, share the image anyway. Send it to me in an IM on Facebook. Let's get an industry gallery going, with no other purpose than having fun.

Remember, "fun?" It's a word that's too often lost, especially over the last few months. Time to get it back!

Wishing everybody a day filled with a few laughs and simply having fun. We'll get through this crisis, and while we'll never look back and laugh, that doesn't mean we can't have a few chuckles NOW! Thank you for following me; thank you for your support and, most importantly, thank you for helping me stay focused on what's important - this morning, a little laughter!

Stay safe and healthy!

Happy Sunday!

by Skip Cohen

One of my longest time best buddies in the industry is Bob Coates. His work has been featured regularly on the SCU blog, most recently, last week with "Naked Bob" and a unique project he put together with a group of artists in Sedona.
 
Bob's always been ahead of the times. In fact, 2-3 years ago, after coming home sick after every major convention, he replaced handshakes and bro-hugs with an elbow bump. Within a year, so many of us had picked it up because it just made sense!

Bob is back with another idea and again ahead of his time. In a Facebook post, he wrote:​

I would love for people to change the term from Social Distancing to Physical Distancing. Every time I read or see the first phrase it is like fingernails on a blackboard. We can be social at a physical distance.

Language matters. Social distancing imbues a fully negative connotation and reinforces a negative feeling vs physical distancing, a more friendly way to direct proper safety procedures.

​Well, I don't know about you, but I like it a lot. The truth is, from a purely social perspective, the pandemic has brought me closer to a lot of people. I'm in touch through social media much more, and between Facebook, email, and the phone, I'm keeping in touch with friends more than the usual 2-3 times a year we'd catch up at a conference.

So Bob, as the James Dean of linguistic rebellion, who most readers will have to look up to see who he was, I'm with ya.

by Skip Cohen

Last Sunday, I was on a "staycation," at the end of a week off to clear my head. I needed a break. We didn't go anywhere, just hung out at home, enjoyed each other and the pups, while binge-watching good and bad movies. A tropical storm blew into South Florida, so we spent a lot of time inside.

I'm back this morning, and my post yesterday seems to have sparked opinions from all sides, including one person who gets the Uninformed Jackass Award and runner-up for the saddest use of the F-bomb. He(or she) told me the flu comes the same time every year with the same number of deaths and never shut down the economy. 

And on that note, I set out to write today's Sunday Morning Reflections. One key point I wanted to make yesterday - you've got to take care of yourself and the people you love and care about. I have no idea who to believe about anything lately, so we're going to continue to hunker down. However, I have noticed some interesting discoveries while in hunker down mode:

• Sheila's become an expert cutting my hair and did a far better job on me than I did on Lucy, one of our pups. She would have been the laugh of the dog park if we were going out.
• Fridays have become pizza on the grill day - give it a shot if you've never tried it. You need indirect heat - my grill has three burners, so the pizza's in the middle with the two side burners are on, holding the temp at 400.
• We've learned we can knock off a season from almost any Amazon series in a week. We've also learned it takes us fifteen minutes to realize we've already seen a movie we just paid for...aging is no fun!
• I can get in and out of the Publix Supermarket in 20 minutes for those quick hits of avocados, other vegetables, and fruit. But, I have to do it without my glasses, since they steam up when wearing a mask.
• Shopping without my glasses on means there's no telling what I'm bringing home. It's a repeat of my Bonnie Raitt story...buying her album years ago without my reading glasses, I got back to find out I purchased Ratt.
• I've got the greatest control over my garage, my bedroom, and office closets I've ever had, and Goodwill has seen the largest bags of clothes we've ever donated.

​And to my "buddy" who told me this is just another flu season...no need to put on a mask. With your head where it is, you'll be protected. You just won't be able to drive.

Time to wrap it up and simply wish you a great Sunday and time to think about how to make your life better. None of us know who to believe in where the pandemic is taking us, but we are an industry that watches out for each other, and we can get through this together. 

Wishing everybody a day filled with peace, love, and respect for other people's opinions, even when you want to choke the crap out of them. Never lose your sense of humor.

Happy Sunday, or Monday if you're on the other side of the world. Stay safe and healthy.​

by Skip Cohen

Like most of you, I'm tired of dealing with the pandemic. It's the topic everywhere. Even commercials on TV have changed to a social distancing theme. One company after another wants to assure us we're all in this together...but the reality not everybody is!

All of us as an industry might be in it together, but the number of stupid people on the planet seems to be growing. I had some fun this morning and Googled "stupid things done during the pandemic." I found a treasure chest of gems at buzzfeed.com.

They shared 19 stupid things people have done or said. Here are two more of my favorites:

I'm putting a few of my favorites below:
​

• When it comes to raising the bar on your skill set in lighting, check out this video featuring Bobbi Lane and Tony Corbell. They went through some of their favorite images and the lighting involved in each one. If you want to go straight to Bobbi and Tony's images, they start around 21:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQ8ocJ8wso
• Steven Gotz shared a brilliant idea about turning images into coloring-book pages for your clients with young children. I love this one because it hits almost every specialty. https://www.skipcohenuniversity.com/scu-blog/a-great-shelter-in-place-project-for-photographers
• Just released yesterday, check out the new Tamron Recipes with Erik Valind. The link to the first part of his series is below, but in the new podcast, he talks about how he's gone back to past clients and their images. He's licensing usage rights for his commercial work, and the need for images hasn't slowed down. https://www.skipcohenuniversity.com/scu-blog/tamron-recipes-photography-with-erik-valind
• Todd White, a LUMIX Ambassador, worked with the Project Graduation in his community and put together a program to photograph seniors in their prom attire. "Porch-traits" created an opportunity to help recognize this year's graduates. https://www.skipcohenuniversity.com/scu-blog/photography-spotlight-todd-white-and-porch-traits
• J.P. Elario is doing online portraits, and the idea is brilliant. His Dad Joe and partner in Elario Photography wrote: "New twist on J.P.'s Pop up Portraits & they're waiting in (virtual) line both U.S. & Canada ." https://www.skipcohenuniversity.com/scu-blog/downtime-motivators-theres-so-much-help-available

​
With Father's Day and graduation still in the timeline, there are so many opportunities to start getting back a small piece of your business as a photographer. There's no question it won't be easy, and business has changed, but many of you just need an encouraging first step to getting back on track...and this is where we are, all in it together.

by Skip Cohen

Over the last few weeks, a lot of friends have sent me pictures of strange DIY pandemic outfits. Every one of them has made me laugh, and wondered what was going through their heads when they created their personal safety gear. Well, two hours ago I went out to do a fast, safe shopping. Headed into Ace Hardware next door was this guy. 

We're talking serious DIY skills here and protection. First, he's got a mask on. Then, notice the construction of the plexi window - those are rivets or short bolts down either side. Then on the top is some kind of filter, and I'm assuming fan. Last but not least, the rubber gloves!

Best of all was that he got out of a stunning new white Cadillac SUV. Although, I didn't notice if he had the gear on while driving. My guess is that he's short on clearance with the vent pipe on the top.

The finishing touch, though, is the statement printed on the top.

   "I am perfectly healthy & want to remain that way."

No, sir, I'm not sure you are. LOL

And there you have it - DIY at its very best and original - not some hand-me-down joke circulating the Internet. Osprey, Florida home of the 2020 Danger Will Robinson Play-offs!

If you've spotted any great DIY outfits wherever you are, feel free to share them here! But they have to be first-generation pass-along - meaning you have to have spotted them yourself.

by Skip Cohen

​The only thing still consistent for me on Sundays is how much I enjoy writing Sunday Morning Reflections. As I've written so many times in the past, it's therapeutic and often more for my benefit than my readers. Well, needing a therapeutic moment at least once a week is another characteristic of what's become the new normal.

Over the years, I thought I did an excellent job of adjusting to all the changes. I accepted my loss of privacy as my phone suddenly was with me everywhere I went. I learned not to take it personally when somebody was talking to me, and the call was dropped. I adjusted to all caps in an email, meaning somebody was yelling at me. I ate lower carbs. I changed my vitamins each time research showed that whatever I was taking was no longer a healthy solution...on Vitamin E - off Vitamin E etc. I gave up ties, then suits and sport jackets, then accepted completely casual attire. I even tried to like eating Kale!

Life was so easy just seven weeks ago! 

I now have five masks to choose from when running to the market. I say hi to neighbors, but I don't always know who they are because of their mask. ( I had my first wardrobe malfunction at the register: My mask slipped off one ear and my left cheek was exposed!) The old Jerry Seinfeld "close talker" episode would now be anybody five feet away rather than the social distancing six. I have to pay attention to the one-way aisles in the store - God forbid I should head up an empty aisle in the wrong direction. And going to the mailbox is a process. I get the mail. Open it in the garage, and make sure I don't touch my face before washing my hands.

But here's what hasn't changed...

My love for this crazy community we're all a part of. Even something as fun as my mask wardrobe for today's post brought out another new normal in my life - playing with Platypod. For those of you who have one, Square Jellyfish makes this great little adapter for your cell phone, which I use for "Facetiming" with family and friends.

And I'm actually talking with friends MORE now than before. We're all starving for contact, and my phone as an instrument to talk to somebody directly has never been more valuable. Just when I finally figured texting out, talking came back.

While I miss real contact, bro-hugs, and a firm handshake, this is the new norm. There's a stronger sense of family and plenty of time to be together, but also time to find plenty of moments for personal thought. We've binge-watched one great series after another, but always together - Sheila, me, and the pups.

There's also never been more support for photographers to expand their skill set. The downtime has created one opportunity after another with programs like QuaranCon, Out of Chicago LIVE going on today, the f64 Lunch Bunch every Wednesday, and the list goes on and on. And, there are some great deals out there with discounts for ongoing programs like KelbyOne and Creative Live.

I guess it's time for my point this Sunday - Business will come back, but until then, you've got to protect yourself, your family, friends, and dig deep for every ounce of patience you can find.

Patience is not the ability to wait,
but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.
Joyce Meyer

​This is a time to step outside your comfort zone because it's the only place growth can flourish. Expand your skill set; take time to consider how you can hit the ground running as things slowly get better and do everything you can to stay in touch with your clients and target audience.

It would be an understatement to say what we're all feeling is a pain in the ass, but we really are all in it together. None of us are alone!

So, you know how to hold focus on your subject with a camera in your hands - now it's time to hold focus on your attitude. Keep it together, and on those days when you want to give up and feel weighed down by frustration - besides your immediate friends, there are so many of us out here willing to help - including me.

Wishing everybody a Sunday with more smiles than frowns and hang onto that sparkle you had when you first started in this business. Don't let the politicians mess with your head. Reduce your intake of news and whether you've got somebody there to hug or it's a virtual hug with a friend quarantined miles away - go for it!

​Happy Sunday!

by Skip Cohen

We all need a few laughs these days, and a BIG thanks to my good buddy Bleu Cotton for sending me this video from The Adley Show. It's priceless and clearly identifies everything we should all be doing to stay safe during this crisis!

Just trust me and watch it!

​​by Skip Cohen

​Okay, life is different for all of us. Nothing is the same, as our values shift, living through social distancing and being hunkered down. While some of you will feel it's inappropriate for me to find humor in what we're going through, you deal with the anxiety your way, and I'll deal with it mine.

As I got up and went grocery shopping at 7:00 am this morning, taking advantage of "Senior Hours" at Publix supermarkets, it hit me how many things have changed since we went into self-quarantine.

• Let's start with a question: When did I start using the words "hunker down" all the time?
• My eyesight is terrible without contacts or my glasses. I'm wearing my glasses all the time lately, but with a mask on, they steam up. Therefore you never know what I might buy at the market. 
• My definition of "styling" has changed. We're the envy of everyone at the market with custom masks our daughter-in-law made.
• A neighbor, I think, said hi to me in the market. But he had on one of those commando turtleneck masks to his eyeballs, and while I talked to him for a minute, I was too embarrassed to ask him who the hell he was!
• I've accepted huge bills at the supermarket, but Sheila reminded me that we don't go anywhere except to travel from room to room in the house! Therefore we're spending more at the market.
• I found myself excited they lifted the ban on buying more than one carton of eggs but saddened that all pasta sauces are limited to two items per shopper.
• I was incredibly excited and proud to scoop the last jumbo pack of paper towels - eight triple rolls that I kept an eye on through my entire shopping list. It took me back to the search for a Cabbage Patch doll in the 80's!
• I got yelled at by the supermarket police for going the wrong way in a one-way aisle. But I was the only one in the aisle!
• Both my car and Sheila's have a container of Lysol wipes, and one trip to the market is two wipes - one to wipe down the cart before going in, the other to wipe me down, getting back into the car.
• I broke down and bought a hair-cutting kit after Sheila threatened to shave my head in my sleep. Keep in mind that a standard joke throughout my career has always been my hair NEVER being messed up. She did a great job.
• I'm excited when we get a telemarketing call, although they have changed. The guys from India have stopped calling, and business has been brought back to the states! There's a shift back to Americans who want to keep pitching me on extending the warranty on a car I no longer have!
• Business attire, at least when I have to be on camera, is now a nice shirt with sweatpants or pajamas!
• Going out to dinner is now defined as eating in front of the TV versus the kitchen.
• Now that gas is down to $1.80 a gallon, we've got no place to go.

​
Feel free to add to the list. Life is definitely strange, but you guys are my anchor to what's really important, friendships, laughter, and smiling.


Stay safe and healthy!

by Skip Cohen

It's time for the third installment of photographers finding joy while hunkered down. It's not easy to keep things in perspective, but it isn't impossible either! We'll make it through this if we can all remember we're not alone, watch each other's backs and turn off the news once in a while!

​This has always been an industry of artists who worked together - don't be shy. Send me your images ( skip (at) mei500 (dot) com ) of things that are bringing you joy and creating a little light through the pandemic.

I'll make it even easier - just attach a low res image to your comment, wherever you're reading this, and we'll add it to the list of photographers who've been sharing photographs and videos. 

​And here's mine for this week...Lucy and Belle simply make us smile! They're both nine months old next week, and they definitely keep us laughing.

by Skip Cohen
 
It's Sunday Morning Reflections time, and I doubt my feelings this morning are any different than yours - I'm missing the freedom I took for granted just a few months ago.

​Occasionally watching the news, I'm frustrated with the various arguments regarding the pandemic. For example, mask-on or mask-off? It shouldn't be a question. It's not wax-on wax-off with Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid. I don't get the need to argue - then again, I've never understood bikers who feel the helmet law challenges the Constitution!

I hit Publix supermarket yesterday with my mask and gloves...discovered if I'm wearing glasses, they steam up every time I exhale. So, without my contact lenses, and my glasses off, my vision is horrible. But I started laughing, thinking back to stupid things I've done when I can't see! Years ago I bought Bonnie Raitt's new album. I put it on in the car on the way home from NYC and it was horrible, all bad hard rock. Another look - without my my glasses on I bought "RATT." 

I made it through the supermarket run - didn't touch my face, and washed my hands for twenty seconds when I got home. Welcome to "Normalcy, 2020!"

For those of you too young to understand, "Is it soup yet?" It came out of a Lipton's soup commercial in the 70s and was a slam against Campbells. Suddenly, thanks to modern chemistry and technology, instant soup was there in seconds rather than the incredible struggle to wait a few minutes to cook soup on the stove! The bottom line is - today, it means "Is it time?" or "Is it done yet?"

Sadly the answer, when it comes to the challenges of dwindling patience, we're all facing staying home, is "NO!" And, while this mess we're in isn't over yet - we're getting closer to the end...patience is a virtue, although I found the perfect quote for how so many of us feel:

"Why is patience a virtue? Why can't hurry the F--- up be a virtue?"
Author unknown

​However, there are some very cool things happening if you take advantage of the time you've suddenly got.

• Phone a friend: Several times during the day I'm picking up the phone and calling friends I haven't talked to in a long time. It's been great and reaffirms the importance of all of us being social animals.
• Clean your office: I took the time this week to clean the closet in my office. In the process I finally found some of the connectors I misplaced along with lens caps, memory cards, and even two lights I can now use for online video.
• Step outside your comfort zone: Yesterday, with Sheila's help, Lucy got her first haircut. Instead of a professional groomer, I took on the challenge. As long as Lucy doesn't see herself in the mirror, I'm safe. I got the job done, but I couldn't help but look back to the one and only time my Dad cut my hair when I was 12 - I didn't take off my baseball hat for two weeks.
• Experiment in the kitchen: Not going out and being paranoid about carry-out, all our meals are at home. While it's something Sheila and I have always enjoyed together, it's more fun now. And we're going through more wine, even those gifted, dusty, we-never-heard-of vineyards somebody brought as a gift.

And last on the list - I've got at least forty images to share in a few upcoming posts based on the post I shared Friday and yesterday about sharing Joy. A few of you couldn't figure out the email address of skipatmei500dotcom. It's done that way to avoid spammers and spiders...so replace the "at" with a @ and "dot" with a .  Send me a low res image of something in your life right now, making you happy and bringing a little joy into your life. I'm going to be sharing all week long.

Wishing everybody a Sunday of peace, patience, safety and good health. Those long therapeutic hugs are still valid with whoever you're quarantined with, and if you're solo - give yourself a big pat on the back, stay safe and call a friend. We'll get through this.

Dawn Davis said it best in a comment to one of my posts yesterday:

Stay safe everybody...Happy Sunday!

Going back twenty years ago, these letters were a lot more fun to receive via snail mail. Always from Nigeria, and if nothing else the stamps were fun to collect. The letters always went home with somebody from the office for their kids.

Well, there's simply no place we can hide. Sooner or later they find us, but at least it was in my spam folder. This morning's email below could be one of my most favorites, and certainly deserves points for creativity!

I NEVER respond, but if I was, Sheila suggested the following:

Dear Mr. Braunwalder, Mrs. Virgie Brown is correct. I died in a car accident last week. Please send her all funds that were due me!

Just keeping it light on a rainy Saturday morning in Florida. Wishing everybody a great weekend!

Keeping in mind my level of sarcasm this morning, I need to go someplace different and special. Well, there's only one place to go this time of year, and that means I have to warn you I'm about to get sappy.

Whether you celebrated Hanukah earlier in the month or you're looking forward to Christmas Eve tomorrow, I've always been the leader in holiday spirit. It's my favorite time of year, and my appreciation is nonstop. But it all goes well beyond loving this industry and what photographers give the world every day.

This is also a time when Sheila's going to join me in today's post. We've been a couple for eleven years and married for over eight, and we're grateful for all your support, feedback and inspiration. It's been a fantastic year, and it really couldn't have happened without you.  ​ 

December is always a time when all of us focus on the importance of family, friends and the love in our hearts, instead of the craziness of the world around us. And, it's not exclusive to just the United States!  So, in a crazy world of chaos, our wish to all of you is for peace, hope, good health and a time filled with memory-making moments with those people you love most in your life.

I also want to wrap up today's post by keeping it light. I wrote the poem below in 2012 and have modified it almost each December. I'm putting you in an awkward position, dealing with me thinking of myself as an amateur poet laureate.  I bring it out of mothballs every year believing that somebody will recognize my talent and help me launch a reputation right up there with Robert Frost or at the very least a junior Dr. Seuss!

Here it is out of the archives but updated just a little:

Wishing all of you a wonderful holiday season filled with love, compassion and appreciation.  Sheila and I feel so fortunate to know so many of you and have your support.

And as always, go for those eleven-second therapeutic hugs with those people most special in your life. With each hug think about how lucky we all our to simply have each other. It's a time to appreciate our own little piece of the world around us.  

Happy Holidays!

Over the last ten years, I've repeatedly shared Bleu and Alison Cotton's holiday card. Every year I get their card, laugh and think, "There's no way they'll top this one next year!"  Well, a new year rolls around and *poof* they do it again.

Most of you are professional photographers, and while it's too late to do much for this year, it's perfect to think about your 2019 card. No professional photographer should ever be sending out a store-bought holiday card!

Create your own card using one of your images for the front, or put your creativity into staging a photograph like Bleu, Alison and Fisher do every year. Then, include a message that extends your wishes for the holidays with a tie-in to your URL, address, phone number - anything to link people back to what you do as an artist.

Just to add to the fun, the return address on this year's card was from the Marx Brothers! So, to one of my favorite families in photography, Happy Holidays and thanks for never slowing down on the creativity from year to year.  And, to Fisher - thanks for feeding your parents all these creative ideas - I know they'd be boring without you! LOL

Here are a few below I've saved over the years and in fact, featured in previous blog posts.

The problem with political jokes is that they get elected.
Henry Cate

It's the perfect topic for Marketing Monday - all the BS from this year's politicians in Florida. I can only talk about what we've gotten in Sarasota, but I know it's the same everywhere. As a result of this year's direct mail campaigns, entire forests have been turned into wastelands as one tree after another has died in support of another politician's campaign.

And, I'm only sharing the direct mail pieces I collected over the last two weeks, which completely covered our dining room table. But, let's not forget the phone calls. In this past week, we've been averaging a dozen a day with at least five so far from Kelsey Grammer!

It's the perfect time to point out a few marketing basics:

Don't negative sell - The majority of the mailings so far in the race for Governor take turns negative selling Gillum vs. DeSantis. There's almost nothing that's honestly from the heart sharing why either one feels they should be governor.

Don't put your competitor first - A number of pieces kick the competition before they talk about their candidate. In the battle between Scott and Nelson, they sent out an 8 1/2 x 11 heavy stock card. I got two different cards on the same day. On one card Nelson's supporters chose not to say anything about their candidate and on the other only 1/4 was dedicated to Nelson. Both messages completely put Scott in the spotlight, and neither ever tell you what office Nelson is even running for!

Years ago Rollei ran an ad in the US about a new camera. The headline read, "While Hasselblad has slept, Rollei has turned dreams into reality!" Then it had a picture of a Hasselblad camera on a pillow. The ad put Hasselblad into the spotlight so much that, as president of Hasselblad USA at the time, I offered to pay to keep it out there!​

Easy on the overkill - Between the same message over and over again, combined with phone calls and television ads, we're sick of all of them. Keep your message simple and pay attention to when you're doing a mailing. You've got to help people understand the value of your offer.

I know this is more of a rant than a post, but my frustration with this nonsense is over the top. I can't help but wonder how many school lunches, shelters for the homeless, meals on wheels for the elderly and better medical care for our veterans could have been supported, instead of the money spent on the nonstop flow of paper in our mailbox!

I'm a proud American, but the world has run amuck, and while I'm so grateful for the right of free speech, that shouldn't extend to the right to fill our mailboxes or interrupt our lives with the constant dribble of robocalls. ​

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere,
diagnosing it everywhere and applying the wrong remedies.
Groucho Marx

​Most people who walk their dogs always have a poop bag with them. Wherever your dog does his/her business, you respect your neighbors and pick it up. However, now and then there's one fool who thinks if the dog poops in the street, it's no big deal and we've got one of those in our neighborhood.

Well, the analogy of pet owners and poop got me thinking about business owners and how, instead of taking responsibility for the problem, point the finger the other way. If it's not their fault then why try and fix it?

Here are some typical scenarios:

• A client contacted you via email. You saw the correspondence but never replied. Now they're upset to have not heard from you and in an attempt to dodge the problem your spam filter gets blamed.
• You were already booked on the date a potential client asked you about, but you promised them a referral. Weeks later you find out the photographer you contacted about them never followed up. 
• Business has been slow, but you blame the challenges on the competition, customer trends and some less than ethical competitors.

Well, let's solve all three scenarios, with or without a poop bag!

• These days blaming your spam filter on anything is the equivalent of the dog ate my term paper. Spam filters do create a problem but get in the habit of a fast run-through every day - before you delete everything.
• You contacted another photographer and gave them a referral - so, it's still your client, and you have the potential for so much goodwill. All it takes is a phone call a day or two later to find out if they heard from the photographer you suggested, and if not follow up.
• There are obviously times when business is slow, and the problem is outside your control, but it's rare there isn't something proactive you can do. Take responsibility for your business and marketing - it's the face in the mirror each morning that has the responsibility to be creative and look for help when there's a problem.

It's only a little rant this morning, but the comparison between photographers who blame every challenge on somebody or something else fits right in with people who don't pick up after their pets! 

Responsibility finds a way. Irresponsibility makes excuses.
Gene Bedley

Photo Credit: Cantrell Portrait Design