SkipsSummerSchool_1

Last week’s over-the-top response to the first Skip’s Summer School got me thinking about the key ingredients that make a photographer successful.  It’s about quality and passion – not just the no-compromise quality of the work you produce, but the quality of life you live, your interaction with the community around you and the level of integrity you bring to each client and peer relationship.

I’ve gotten a lot of accolades about what a great program it was, but in all honesty I had little to do with its success.  The key was the quality of the speakers around me in the photograph above.  Each one is very different from the other.  Everyone shoots differently, many are in different parts of the country, they all have a slightly different specialty and expertise, but there are some common denominators.   

They all intensely believe in helping each other and helping other photographers.   They have a passion for far more than just photography – their success is about their passion for life.  Each one has established a level of quality to their lives and the people who they come in contact with.

Skip’s Summer School was in its own way a celebration of friendship and a tribute to quality.    Repeatedly you could see how passion has played a key role in the lives of each instructor, but equally important were the friendships – old ones being reaffirmed and new ones that will continue to grow in the years ahead.   I’ve said it numerous times…the best part of our industry has nothing to do with imaging, but the friendships that come out of everyone’s love for the craft!