Education in Photography: So Much Started Here

by Skip Cohen

Although I shared this over eight years ago, I wanted to bring it back again. Why? Because there's so much we take for granted in education today. I'm pretty sure this was the very first program of its kind in imaging. It was thanks to the brilliance of Ed Pierce (front row, second from the end) and the trailblazers in the photograph with him.

Here's what so many of you don't know:

• ​This event actually led to the launch of PhotoVision, which many of you subscribed to over the years.
• There were four events in the series, with the smallest being 58 viewing locations and the largest at 80+.
• While some of the locations were in theaters, over half were in hotel ballrooms with satellite trucks. Just the logistics alone, which included a few snowstorms, was an incredible accomplishment.
• Ritz Camera had the studio for the production, but Ed Pierce had to help them rig it for the event.
• Each speaker was interviewed live during the event, followed by a 25-30 minute video of them working/teaching, then back to the speaker live again.
• There was a full panel of operators standing by to field phone-in questions for the speakers - much like a telethon.
• The program consisted of 8 hours of live content for each event.

This is where it all started! There wasn't ANY online programming at the time. There were no webinars; even YouTube wouldn't be founded for almost close to ten more years!

But this is another fun aspect of Throwback Thursday. While in one respect I can't believe how old I am to have been around for this stuff, on the other hand, I couldn't be more proud to have been a very small part of it. Hasselblad was one of the sponsors, and Tony Corbell and I flew to Washington, D.C. and were in the audience all day at the live event.

It's hard to imagine a more fun trip down Memory Lane when it comes to photography. To Royce Chenore for sharing so many years ago - thank you again! And to my old buddy Ed Pierce, you're the one who blazed this trail into video education and helped change so many lives in photography!

Happy Throwback Thursday!
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About the photograph above:

Here's a fun quality of Facebook. The image above was shared on Royce Chenore's page back around 2017. I shared it once before, but it was so long ago, and significant, that I wanted to share it again.

Royce originally wrote:

This is Circa 1995... it was a publicity photo for the "PORTRAIT 2000" teleconference.... this was in the VERY early days of "electric imaging" now called digital retouch... the photographers submitted "selfies" on FILM of all formats brands and speeds....(selfie...another term that didn't exist) and ACI composited them into one image.... this was EXTREMELY INNOVATIVE AT THE TIME!! Feel free to share and tag others if you wish....