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Photofocus Podcast with Special Guest Skip Cohen

Posted by Richard Harrington on May 15, 2013
Posted in: Audio Podcast. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE NOTE: The Photofocus Podcast Feed HAS CHANGED!

Here is the new feed: feed://feeds.feedburner.com/photofocuspodcast
Get the show here  or get it on iTunes

PLEASE BE PATIENT – OUR SERVERS SEE LARGE LOADS ON PUBLISHING DAYS. THE DOWNLOADS MAY GO SLOWLY BUT THEY WILL FINISH.

Join RIch and Scott as they take a quick look at 3 new cameras.

  • Scott offers his insights o n the  Fujifilm X100S.
  • Rich then talks about first impressions of testing the Pentax WG-3 GPS rugged camera for shooting sports and underwater.
  • Last is a look at the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 — the world’s smallest DSLR.

The second half of the show will inspire you to develop your professional side. Rich sits down with Skip Cohen who shares practical advice for professionals and emerging pros. He talks about marketing strategies that work to drive photo business as well as lessons learned from several years spent on all sides of the industry.

Download  — http://photofocuspodcast.libsyn.com/webpage

Hosted by Rich Harrington & Scott Bourne

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Skip’s Summer School #5 – Say Hello to a Life-Changer!

Posted by scottbourne on April 19, 2013
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Skip’s Summer School is going into its fifth season this August, but thanks to feedback from past attendees and many of the faculty, the program has expanded and evolved into Skip Cohen University.

Now there’s content to help you raise the bar on your business all year long with an educational resource that includes posts, podcasts, videos and webinars covering a wide range of topics, products and techniques.

At the August 11-14 Summer Session of SCU Skip is going to stay focused on the foundation he’s had from the very beginning. He wants attendees to THRIVE, not just survive! Repeatedly over the years Skip has been told the program changed people’s lives…and he’s out to make it even better in 2013.

• Education Content: This year’s program includes incredible help for the beginner in wedding photography along with outstanding workshops on boudoir photography, lighting, family portraiture, intermediate Photoshop, business and marketing and fine art. Attendees don’t just attend a platform program, but a full day intensive workshop with no more than 20 other photographers.

• Networking: It’s been referred to as the best networking experience in photography, because of two things – the passion of the people involved and the size of the conference itself.

• The Faculty: It’s not just the instructors for the programs you register for, but a chance to interact with pretty much all of the faculty. It’s just the nature of the conference and it all starts with the SCU Mixer on Sunday night, August 11.

• Recharging Your Battery: It’s August and there’s pretty much nothing going on all summer long to help you charge your battery following the convention and trade show season at the beginning of the year. The SCU Summer Session will give you ideas you can take back and start to implement right away as you prepare for a strong finish to the year with the seasonality of the business in the last four months.

• Help outside the program: Every attendee starts with a business review session prior to the August conference with SCU’s founder, Skip Cohen. Skip wants to help you identify where you need the most help and maybe even come up with ideas to help you expand your business before you even get to Chicago.

Still not convinced you should be there ? Well check out this video put together by Clay Blackmore, Dean of Weddings and his crew following last year’s program.

There’s never a wait to get into any workshop…There’s never a line except for the luncheon buffets…there’s always a seat for you in every program…and you’re going to learn so much to help strengthen your skills and your business!

This is about learning ways to THRIVE not just survive!

Passion & Photography – Notes From My Presentation At Skip’s Summer School

Posted by scottbourne on August 8, 2012
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: , , .

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

I just got home last night from Skip’s Summer School. I’ve been honored to be on the faculty at this event for all four years. It was amazing to present alongside some of the biggest and best names in the photo industry for a lovely, engaged and enthusiastic audience.

The energy in the packed room was amazing. I love these boutique conferences where you get to spend quality time with people that you admire, respect and even love in the industry. While every seat was full, there weren’t so many people there that you couldn’t connect.

One of the greatest honors was meeting many of you who were at the show. I love meeting folks from the Photofocus audience. It was a humbling and happy experience to be sure.

I spent time with old and new friends and of course my pal Skip Cohen did what he always does, and organized a tremendous show.

I gave a platform talk on passion and photography. While I can’t share the entire thing here I want to just give you a taste.

Passion is the desire and energy and drive that causes people to put as much of themselves as they possibly can into attaining a certain goal or result.

When you work harder at something than you really need to – you have passion.

When you have deep affection, enthusiasm, love, interest and feelings for something you have passion. When you are devoted to something you have passion. In my opinion, these things are much more important to the successful photographer (particularly the successful professional photographer) than gear, f/stops, tripods, lighting patterns, poses or backgrounds. If you don’t have passion for photography and/or your subjects then you’re unlikely to be successful.

Why?

Because after talking to literally tens of thousands of photographers over the years, I’ve come to believe that at the end of the day we all just want to matter. Doing something that counts is important and believe me when I tell you, this counts. Photography counts. Photography always matters.

Most of you only know me through this site, my podcasts or my social media interactions. But there’s much more to me than that just as there’s much more to you than that. I am a passionate guy. I am very involved in photography but just as involved in the exotic, collector and race car hobby. I like making memories with my camera but I also like making them on the race track.

Everything I do – I do to the fullest. There’s no half way where I’m concerned. This passion is what causes people to have very strong opinions about me, for or against. I’m fine with either. I’d rather do something that generates a response, even a negative one, than no response at all.

In my talk at Skip’s Summer School, I pointed to the last photo I made of Danny Wheldon. This two-time Indy 500 champion died right in front of me last year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I made his portrait 55 minutes before that moment and it’s the last image I will ever make of Dan. If you’re interested in the story of Dan Wheldon’s last photograph, it’s part of the Photofocus archive here.

When I look back on that day – and I do that every day – I do so with great sadness. But at least I have that photo. What we do matters folks. It really does. And if anyone ever says to you “Oh, you’re just a photographer…” PLEASE stand up for yourself and for our industry. Don’t let people put you or your passion down. Don’t let anyone push you around. Stand by what you believe. Be bold and brave. Be yourself. Share what matters to you. Ignore fads and trends. Stop worrying about new and just be you.

That’s where the passion comes from.

I wish all of you could have been at Summer School. It was a great time. I feel like the networking, the learning and the sharing was as good as it gets. I have no idea what Skip’s planning for next year. It’s getting harder and harder to do physical conferences. There’s so much online that people would sometimes rather stay home. But I promise you that no matter how many online videos you watch, there’s nothing like being in a room full of fired up, passionate photographers.

I am tired and glad to be home but at the same time I already miss the fun and the togetherness we all shared at Summer School. I hope that this little post somehow reaches at least some of you and inspires you to be as passionate as you can about your photography. You never know when it’s about to be the last frame.

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Observations From WPPI

Posted by scottbourne on February 22, 2012
Posted in: Opinion, Reviews. Tagged: , , , , .

It’s WPPI week here in Vegas. Since I live here now, it’s no big deal for me to head over to the show. My pal Skip Cohen and I taught alongside Michele Celentano at the GoingPro bootcamp on Saturday at the same time WPPI was running their bootcamp. On Sunday, Matthew Jordan Smith and I taught a two hour class for SmugMug at the Vegas SMUG and on Monday I devoted myself to looking at the trade show and meeting with vendors, clients, sponsors and friends who in town for the event.

Here are a few observations.

The show is a bit smaller this year compared with last year but there seems to be no lack of enthusiasm. The trade show floor features all the same stuff it does every year, just a few new flavors. There were one or two items I saw that really did impress me and I’ll do some reviews on those items in another post.

As usual, there were quite a few photographers in line to look at and play with all the new recently-announced cameras. Nikon was actually showing some of their video-related stuff which is unusual because they have always been pretty subtle on that front compared with Canon.

Many of the photographers who spoke at the conference also spoke at the trade show floor. If you wanted to be cheap, you could get a ton of free education on the show floor with one of the free trade show passes offered by most of the vendors.

The remarkable things – good and bad that I saw were:

1. It’s still about the networking. In my opinion the ONLY reason to go to these big shows is to see and be seen by the movers and shakers in the industry. I was struck by how many new, and very young faces I saw. There are a TON of new people jumping into this industry and by chatting with them I learned a great deal about their needs. Back to that in a minute. The old friends I saw at the show made the trip really worthwhile. Those of us who have been at this a while now have all the gray hair we need, but we have the special memories to go with that gray hair. That part was really fun.

2. It’s also about the networking at the parties. WPPI has become a party show. There are “off the hook” parties every night. My pal Kevin Kubota throws a party every year at Roys. It’s always the most sought-out invitation in town and always a great time. Animoto rented an $8k a night SkyLoft at the MGM and had a small, relatively quiet affair where most of the industry thought leaders were involved. It was my favorite. The youngsters had parties at the various clubs and I’m sure they had a good time too.

3. The print competition – while less relevant than it used to be is still a good place to see what the current trends and standards are in the industry. I saw some amazing stuff from the usual suspects like Jerry Ghionis. The man could make a picture of cow poo into a work of art. He’s probably the most artistic wedding/portrait photographer working in the business right now.

4. The overall attitude of the crowd was upbeat and positive, but the younger photographers have a great deal of false bravado and I worry for the future if this doesn’t change course. I overheard too many conversations that went something like: “Well I saw that new XXX camera in the XXX booth and all I need is that and the marketing course from XXX and I’ll be ready to start booking $10,000 weddings next week.” Umm, might want to rethink that one.

5. The truly great photographers, photographs, teachers and speakers along with the truly great vendors at the show all had one thing in common. Passion. And I mean oodles of it. You could easily sort the wannabes from the folks who are winning simply by judging their passion. I continue to know and grow more and more on this subject of passion in photography and I am starting to think it means more to the industry than ever. The most important weapon any photographer has is his/her heart. If you can’t shoot from the heart your images won’t matter.

My conclusion is that these giant trade shows are a little less relevant than they used to be because of online and social media. But the shows still matter when it comes to seeing who’s passionate and who’s not and who’s a true craftsman or woman and who’s not. These shows still matter from a networking perspective and there’s no reason NOT to go if you’re serious about making a living as a photographer.

Overall, I am upbeat about the future of the professional side of the photography world, but I hope younger photographers don’t loose site of the fact that to really be a success in this business you need to have love and passion for the work and the clients. If you don’t, you’re in the wrong place.

Thanks to everyone who was so nice to me at WPPI. I had the pleasure of meeting many of the folks wbo regularly listen to the podcast or read this site and I really appreciated it.

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Come To Vegas To Learn How To Become A Professional Photographer

Posted by scottbourne on January 24, 2012
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Guest Post by Skip Cohen

I recently saw an email blast from my buddy George Varanakis at Rangefinder/WPPI. He listed the top ten reasons not to miss WPPI. Personally, I’d drop a few and add a few, one of them being your ability to interact with vendor after vendor to help strengthen your business. I’d also add, one trip to Vegas gets you exposed to hundreds of new products and concepts, one of them being GoingPro Bootcamp.

A trip to Las Vegas in February isn’t just about WPPI anymore. It’s about adding new building blocks to your business and some of them are outside WPPI programming. For two years I’ve started every marketing presentation with the same statement.

Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year, doesn’t mean it has to be!

That’s a big part of the GoingPro theme and the GoingPro Bootcamp. We started the project because there are so many aspiring photographers interested in going pro and missing the boat on the right way to get started. Frustrated, they jump into the market with lousy quality and low-ball pricing. Instead of building a business on a solid foundation, they try and build it on the word “professional”, having no understanding of the importance of how to sustain a business.

Well, it’s been two years since we started GoingPro, which originally was just a book with Random House. Now it’s a blog with an estimated 50,000 followers and sixty-four podcasts, resulting in 120-150,000 downloads a month. Last but not least, it’s our second Bootcamp, an all day event helping you with everything, but photography.

George missed  the last GoingPro Bootcamp, but we didn’t and neither did about 100 aspiring professional photographers. He’s got another chance and so do you. With the combination of Michele Celentano, Scott Bourne and me we’ll help you with ideas on marketing, pricing, building your business, insurance, social media, community involvement and local networking, just to name a few. Most important of all, we’ll help you figure out how to promote yourself and your work so you can get your second customer.

Anybody can get their first customer. The trick of building a solid business is getting your second customer and even better, getting the first customer to come back a second time. You know how to focus your camera. Well, we’re going to help you focus on concepts like quality, value, integrity and the ability to exceed customer expectations. Those are the key attributes of any business that brings customers back!

And speaking of exceeding expectations – that’s just what we intend to do on February 18. It’s only $99 for the day. So, whether you’re just getting ready to take the plunge into the pro side of the business or you’ve been out there for a few years and need some help – we intend to exceed your expectations.

See you in Vegas! Signing up for GoingPro Bootcamp is just a click away.