Just a short thought or two this morning, because it’s one of those days completely absent of anything too serious.  I suppose this is what happens when you get too much sleep!
My good buddy Roberto Valenzuela, who I’ve quoted before, said in a program once, “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect!”  What if [...]

Okay, I admit it, I stole the expression from a sign in front of a church here in Akron, but think about it as it applies to being a photographer.   You have to have faith in yourself.  You have to believe in what you’re doing.  You have to understand not only the craft, but the human spirit.  And, [...]

Those of you who know me beyond the blog, know that Molly the Wonder Dog is a big piece of my life.  She’s the first dog I’ve ever had from puppy to adulthood and it’s been an amazing experience.  She’s pretty much the equivalent of a quiet 65 pound four year old!   Well, she turned five [...]

Somebody recently described me as one of the luckiest guys in photography, because of the incredible career I continue to have.  In all honesty though, while I’m very grateful and do feel really lucky as opposed to unlucky, luck hasn’t always had a lot to do with it.
The truth is, I’ve spent my entire career totalled enamored [...]

I’m working on finishing up the manuscript forGoingPro with buddyScott Bourne and one of the chapters is about advice from 25 great photographers.  We’ve asked the question, “What advice would you give a photographer today just starting out?”
One of my favorites so far is from Matthew Jordan Smith:
Most photographers are so busy in the beginning [...]

Guest post by Scott Bourne
In keeping with the usual – keep it short approach Skip always takes on Sunday, I’ll offer you one of his favorite quotes.
If a man insisted always on being serious, and never allowed himself a bit of fun and relaxation, he would go mad or become unstable without knowing it.” -Herodotus
As [...]

I’ve discovered, when you do a blog every day, material to write about can be found in the most obscure places, like the fortune in the cookie at Hunan’s last night:
“Don’t wait until your ship comes in.  Swim out to it!”
Yes, I’ve finally reached a new point in blogging wisdom and I’m quoting fortune cookies, [...]

A few weeks ago I was in NYC and while standing and waiting for my security badge to get into the PDN building I was getting pretty irritated.  The security guard looked at me and said, “You know it takes twice the muscles to frown than it does to smile?”   
Okay, so I didn’t believe him [...]

The other day I picked up on the frustration of a photographer who commented about how his business “just isn’t coming together this year!”  When asked about his marketing efforts, he was excited about totally reworking his website and it really did look terrific, but that was all he’d done.   So, what do you do [...]

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”    Mark Twain
It’s just a quick thought for a Saturday morning, [...]