Going into its fourth year, Skip’s Summer School just seems to get better and better, but this year it has little to do with anything I thought of. This is about input from all the alumni from past programs together with many of the instructors.
I absolutely understand how hard it is to decide on what [...]

Over the last few years Roberto Valenzuela has become a very good friend, but the friendship came out of the respect I have for his refusal to ever compromise on the quality of his images.  He made a statement in the first workshop I ever heard him teach, “Practice doesn’t make perfect.  Only perfect practice [...]

Normally I don’t use my blog to wish good friends “Happy Birthday”, but this one is kind of special. In February Scott Bourne and I spent a day with Michele at GoingPro Bootcamp and her message was amazing. She started out her part of the program sharing images from her first wedding and by everyone’s [...]

This year, as part of the Skip’s Summer School program, I want to do something no other workshops have done. Thinking about what’s the most critical marketing component of every photographer’s business, I decided it was time to do a website review.  This year every attendee gets a website review as part of their registration. [...]

The number one request from past attendees has been for more hands-on classes at Skip’s Summer School. So, this year we’re doing just that. I’m going to be doing a series of profiles over the next couple of weeks on this year’s faculty and Bobbi Lane seems like a great one to start with.
Whether you [...]

Yesterday’s post gave me a chance to share an example of film-making from Cinestories, founded by Jeff Medford and Ross Hockrow.  Here’s one more birth announcement they just did for a client that’s completely different from yesterday’s. When you watch it, pay attention to the way they tell the story. With virtually no words spoken [...]

Long before PPA did their storytelling campaign in the 90’s I believed photographers were the ultimate storytellers.  Look at a wedding or for that matter any event.  Nobody can tell the story better than a great photographer. If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then a photographer has the ability to match the [...]

This is the second part of a two-part series from good buddy John VanSteenberg. We hit a few of his favorite Tamron lenses yesterday and today we’ll round out John’s creativity and ability as a portrait artist.
If you’ve ever met John, then you know he eats, sleeps and breathes photography. He’s all about passion [...]

One of the most fun aspects of the photo industry is all about the friendships. I can’t remember where John VanSteenberg and I first met, but I know we’ve both been knocking around the industry for years. We’ve gone to more than our fair share of rubber-chicken dinners!  We might not see each other for [...]

This year we added something very different to the long list of Summer School benefits, a website review. It takes place now, long before the Summer School program in August.  I’m reviewing each attendee’s website, primarily focusing on their About section/Galleries and giving everybody a head-start on some of the things they need to be [...]