I absolutely understand how hard it is to decide on what programs to attend these days. Everybody seems to be on the road and then there are webinars and videos. In the end you’re buried in a barrage of programs, topics and everybody is telling you theirs is the “must attend” program of the year.

Well, as much as this post this morning is absolutely self-motivated, this is about what you’ll get out of this year’s Summer School.

• It all starts with your website review. I’ve been amazed at how many people missed that in the initial description. Essentially it’s a $250 consulting makeover review of your website with some good add-ons, but it’s included in your registration.  I’m doing website reviews because I didn’t want attendees to have to wait until August to start getting a benefit from being part of the Summer School family.  I’ve done about forty of them already, averaging about an hour each. From the feedback I’m getting every review session is creating new things to think about and several photographers have already begun to make some of the changes we’ve discussed.  Your website is your storefront and unfortunately most photographers just built it because they knew they needed a website and never really thought through what they were going to put in it.
• This year’s sponsors are an outstanding group and tied to the value of the educational benefit are some gifts that keep on giving with a 40% discount code on your SmugMug support for a year, but you can only activate the benefit after I’ve given out the code. You only get the code after you’ve had your website review. Along with SmugMug will be other companies with soon to be announced Summer School discounts.
• This year’s faculty and topics may be the most relevant yet, although I admit it, I say the same thing every year. However, this is our first program that’s this intense.
• Summer School is a network builder. After a year, there are 108 photographers who are involved in a Facebook forum started by the attendees themselves and that’s one of the most valuable things about Summer School. This is about working together and forming a bond to help each other. Watching the conversations on this page has been remarkable with everyone literally helping each other with new ideas, solutions to problems and support all year long.
• Why Chicago? First was the request from past alumni to do something more centrally located, but second is what happens when you do a workshop like this outside of Las Vegas. This is about total immersion photography and teaching. Every attendee is going to have the opportunity to really dig in to their challenges and leave with a whole set of new solutions and expanded skill set, not to mention friendships with some of the most outstanding photographic instructors in the country. Remember, we will NOT allow more than 20 people per hands-on program.
• Resource Magazine is in the house! It’s the hottest magazine in photography right now and if you haven’t seen their digital issue, here’s the link for the extended free look. This magazine is outstanding and the senior management team are going to be with us through the entire program. And, some of you just might find yourself published or be part of a story on this year’s Summer School program. One thing Resource brings to the table is your chance to really meet some of the most talented people in publishing.  And here’s the video Adam Sherwin from Resource Television produced following last year’s Summer School.

• The cost for Summer School attendees to attend WPPI next year for a full registration, including all platform programs and events is only $75, which in itself is approximately a $200 savings. Even more if you’re not a WPPI member.
• If you’re an alumni the May 1 early bird deadline was dropped a few weeks ago, giving you more time to figure out the scheduling and book your trip to Chicago and still save $100 on registration.

So, what you take home from Summer School, as sappy as it might sound, is a series of life-changing experiences in building your skill set, marketing and business, networking and even film-making. This is about expanding your network, your experiences and being part of something far bigger than just your business.

Summer School is an experience that goes all year long and it starts with that first conversation we’ll have over your website. Yeah, I’m excited about Summer School and while I know it’s not easy for you to figure out the schedule, make all the arrangements, get yourself registered and book the hotel, I can promise you’ll never be disappointed.

Looking forward to seeing you in Chicago!

That statement alone has made me change the way I do so many things today. For example, it clearly explains why my golf game doesn’t improve after I go to the driving range – I’m practicing it wrong!

Last year at Summer School, Roberto was one of our highest rated instructors.  Spending time showing how you could practice using typical household items and every day locations, brought home the reality of Roberto’s philosophy on education and practice.  It takes discipline, dedication and passion, three qualities that make up who Roberto is.

Most people don’t realize he was a classical guitarist capable of performing on the concert level. Think about the world’s finest musicians and the hours they practice every day and you’ll understand Roberto’s dedication as a photographic artist. He knows every detail on his camera gear just like he does every note with his guitar.

This year Roberto agreed to do two full day hands-on classes at Skip’s Summer School. As one of seven outstanding instructors this year I couldn’t be more excited about the August program.  In looking through YouTube’s archives I found this promotional piece for his workshop last June. While the end of the video is obviously outdated, pay attention to the first two minutes and the way Roberto has a broom and dustpan stand in for his bride as he practices a new technique.

If you’re looking for more about Roberto and especially his passion for education, pick up his new book, Picture Perfect Practice. It’s a must have for every professional photographer. Roberto will be joining us August 5-8 in Chicago at Skip’s Summer School. Registration is just a click away. See you in Chicago!

“I used to go to workshops and programs like this and wonder how many years it would be before my work didn’t suck!”

Take a couple of minutes out of your day and check out Michele’s promotional video for her current educational series. This is all about teaching aspiring professional photographers how to create outstanding images and raise the bar on their quality. Even more exciting for me is Michele is teaching at Skip’s Summer School in August. Every attendee will have an opportunity to shoot hands-on for the day with two different instructors and a class limited to just twenty people on Monday and Tuesday, August 6 and 7.

Whether you can join us in August or not, watch the video and pay close attention to each image and Michele’s uncompromising quest for quality. They’re not just stunning images, but she’s creating fine art portraits and working closely with each client right down to the wall space where she’ll eventually hang their creation.

In the mean time, Happy Birthday Michele! Thanks for your contribution to the industry and your never-ending enthusiasm for education, Summer School and raising the bar on quality!

Let’s set the stage with what your website really is. It’s your storefront – your most important way for you to reach your target audience.  Everybody has the same challenge – we’re all too close to our own work.  Over and over again I’m finding photographers with outstanding skills whose work is just buried in too many clicks, too many images and often too many words!

For many, it’s work in progress, which is fine, but your potential client, who wanders into your site, can only judge you on who you are at that very moment. They don’t know you’ve got better images in other files. They don’t know about your passion for photography and documenting the human spirit. They don’t know your sense of humor and the wonderful way you might work with clients.

All they see is what’s in front of them and too often it just ain’t pretty! They’re trying to navigate through websites that were built section by section with no planning. They’re wading through thousands of images – one site I was on recently had over 4,000 images in the galleries.

Here are a few other challenges I’ve seen:

• Pages and pages of testimonials won’t impress anybody. Personally, I believe most photographers would be better off offering potential clients a list of past clients as a reference and showing actual work from past sittings, weddings etc. There’s no such thing as a bad testimonial and when you have dozens of them on your site they just lose the impact.
• Your galleries need to show what you’re all about. If your core business is weddings, then start out showing weddings, not outdoor wildlife or table top work for example.
• Make it easy for people to navigate through your site. A few sites I’ve reviewed have been buried in drop down windows and tricky little twists and turns that will simply frustrate your visitor. If they’ve walked into the “store”, make it easy for them to find things.
• Don’t show work that isn’t your very best. If “Uncle Harry” can get a better shot than what you’re showing then it doesn’t belong on your site!

This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what I’ve seen, but it’s important to say it one more time. I’ve spoken with so many photographers who really have some beautiful work, but life got in the way and their website went up just to make sure they had something out there. Now it’s time to do some fine-tuning and make their website a fitting representation of who they are and their passion for creativity and their clients.

If you’ve registered for Summer School and not been contacted yet, don’t worry, you’ll be getting an email in the next week or two.  One other side benefit for these reviews has been getting to know each attendee. By the time we all get to Summer School I will have spoken with every photographer who’s attending!

Summer School is August 5-8 just outside Chicago and only ten miles from Ohare. It’s an easy location to get to and with this year’s faculty and sponsors it’s going to be a pretty remarkable program.

See you in Chicago!

Whether you can join us in Chicago or not, Bobbi should be on your radar.  She teaches her own weekend workshops in Boston and at various times throughout the year at Santa Fe Workshops, the Maine Workshops, the Julia Dean Workshops in Santa Monica and the International Center for Photography in NYC.  Last year PDN named her one of 13 of the Top Workshop Instructors!

I ran across two great videos that really help show her skill set as a teacher and a photographer. Don’t get hung up on the fact they’re infomercials for Panasonic and Sekonic. There’s a lot of great content in both pieces.

Now imagine what you’ll learn with a full day working with Bobbi! We’re going to set up a series of shooting scenarios giving her the ability to help you through so many of photography’s challenges with just one goal – to make each attendee a better artist! And to make sure every hands-on program gives attendees the attention they deserve, we’re not allowing any workshop to go over twenty people!

It’s going to be a kick. See you in Chicago!

Once you’ve watched the video, think about your own skill-set.  Every photographer is starting to play with mixed media, but only a handful have the skills to really tell a story.  I hope you’ll join us at Summer School in August when Ross and Jeff will be presenting a two-day total immersion program on film-making with their goal being to teach you the basic skills so that you’ll have the tools you need to practice and eventually produce your own videos.

Over the last few years though, things have changed. The art of storytelling has reached a new level as video entered the scene in high-end digital SLRs and suddenly still photographers had a new technique to enhance their skill set.  Equipment like Canon’s 5D Mark II and HD video elevated a photographer’s abilities, but now there’s a new challenge – telling the story as a film-maker is very different from being a still photographer.

It’s a completely new set of skills when you’re telling the story in video versus photography, but what a combination for those photographers who take the time to master both!  That’s why we added a two-day program on film-making to Summer School this year with two of the best people in our industry teaching, Jeff Medford and Ross Hockrow.

Take the next four minutes and watch “Birth Announcement” and you’ll understand why I’m so excited to have Jeff and Ross as part of this year’s faculty. This was a video they did for a client that had just delivered a baby.

Now, imagine if you developed the skills to tell a story like this. Jeff and Ross are going to do just that – help you start to build your skill set in film-making. You’ll learn the basics and start to expand your own arsenal of techniques.  In the end they’re going to help you become a better storyteller no matter what gear you’ve got in your hands!

See you at Summer School!

If you’ve ever met John, then you know he eats, sleeps and breathes photography. He’s all about passion for the craft and he’s definitely somebody who should be on your radar. You’ll find him at Tamron, as their Senior Education Manager, but even better you can spend some time with him “live” at Skip’s Summer School this August in Chicago. John will again be there with a full compliment of lenses for everybody to play with, as well as answer questions and help you expand your skill set!

Altering Perspectives With the SP 10-24mm Di II
I love the 10-24mm lens for its power to alter perspective and create unusual views, as well as its ultra-wide yet non-fisheye effectiveness. I tend to use this lens for very tight spaces (very helpful if you’re doing wedding or portrait photography) and landscapes, as well as if I need to manage the relationship between very close objects and those farther away.

I love the fisheye effect, but a fisheye lens can cost a lot of money and has few practical uses. Using the 10-24 allows me to get that fisheye look without having to buy an additional lens. It gives me two different ways to sell a particular image: first, the square rectilinear image, then a second image created with the “Free Transform > Edit” feature in Photoshop. I can adjust the degree of “fisheye-ness” so that I can set it to be where it’s most effective for the image.

My image of musician Emmanuel “Captain Hook” Fipps was taken from a session for his website and for a possible album cover. I wanted to emphasize his face and also his musicality and tie them together in a visually striking way – I didn’t want him to just be sitting at a piano.

I was up on a ladder about 2 feet from his face as he stood in front of a green screen, which was later dropped out. Three-quarters of the picture is exactly as I shot it; the only thing added was the second keyboard below his feet, which I added in Photoshop. I also applied a bubble wrap texture in Photoshop for extra effect. The final result looks like he’s surfing along on his music, riding the airwaves.

I chose the 10-24 for this image because I could distort Emmanuel the way I wanted to. It’s not really distortion, though: It’s what your eye could see if it actually could see that scene from that close (it can’t). It’s not normally possible to get that field of view in focus, because your eye selectively focuses as it moves up and down his body — you only see each individual section you’re staring at as sharp. When you control the camera to include the whole depth-of-field and field of view with a lens like the 10-24, you’re able to see something different than what the human eye can see.

The SP 17-50mm F/2.8 Di II VC: The Perfect Portrait Lens

I’m usually photographing people at social events and meetings, so the 17-50mm lens is pretty much my standard lens (or what I call my “supernormal”) lens. It’s so versatile and handy, and I like the separation from the background I get with the wide aperture selection, focusing the viewer’s attention on the subject, not on insignificant surrounding details.

I also use this lens for most of my close-in work — it’s great for “grip and grins,” small groups, individuals, and tabletop shoots. The 17-50 allows for a great deal of compositional flexibility, especially when you’re in tight spaces and there are tables in the way and people trying to crowd in to get the shots.

For available-light situations, the F/2.8 aperture offers me better viewing brightness and the ability to work within practical ISOs. That’s another great value of Tamron’s Vibration Compensation technology: It allows for available-light photography at exceptionally low light levels. In effect, you can make images in as little as just 6 percent of the volume of light with the VC enabled compared to without it (4 stops less light). That’s an extraordinary expansion of photo-making opportunities. It’s also terrific for creating special motion effects in certain situations.

When I photographed singer Ingrid Smalls, she was such an elegant, regal person with such terrific posture that I didn’t want to just take her headshot. That 17-50 allows me to zoom from a headshot to a bust shot to a waist shot or a three-quarter shot, all without having to make a lot of lens changes, which could have been disruptive for the shoot. The more you make your subjects wait while you’re fussing with the camera, the more uncomfortable they can become.

That same versatility came through for me when I shot welterweight boxing champ Shawn Porter. For the article I was doing, I needed both a headshot and an image that would impact the viewer’s understanding of just how dominant a force he is athletically. The 17-50 allowed me to do both without any downtime, getting a heroic shot of him with the American flag and a shot of him holding a number of his belts — which is only a portion of the ones he’s won.

For the last two years, John, thanks to Tamron has joined us at Summer School with a full stash of incredible optics. During the Summer School program he’s had all the gear there for attendees to just borrow as needed during the workshop. The cost is free, but better than that is John’s enthusiasm when he’s able to help answer the questions each attendee might have.

In this special guest post John talks  about his favorite Tamron lenses and how he seamlessly incorporates them into a variety of photographic applications.

Lens choice is one of the most critical factors to take into consideration when you’re planning your photographic endeavors. What you’re shooting, when you’re shooting, and the look you’re trying to achieve all play a part in impacting what lens you ultimately decide to use. Let’s talk about a few of my own favorite Tamron lenses, what I like about them, and how I apply them to real-world imaging challenges.

The Versatile 18-270mm Di II VC PZD
I can’t say enough about the 18-270mm VC PZD lens. It’s an extraordinary piece of glass that covers almost everything that the vast majority of people are ever going photograph until they decide to specialize in a specific type of photography.

The 18-270 is especially phenomenal for travel photography. It’s tiny, very powerful and can record almost anything, as my shot of a flower box in a small plaza at the base of Mont Blanc in Chamonix, France, shows.

The tulips looked so strange with the skyline dominated by the huge, snowcapped mountain, so I had to find a way to bring them together. The 18mm focal length on this lens allowed me to include a few flowers, a bit of the street, and the mountain.

The huge dynamic range in the scene was also a challenge. The flowers were in deep shadow from the surrounding buildings, yet the mountain was covered in gleaming white, sunlit snow. I didn’t think I would get enough shadow detail to make a usable image, but with this lens, I got it. Using the Vibration Compensation (VC) feature on the 18-270 in the bright sunlight allowed me to get both the flowers and the distant mountain nice and sharp using a small aperture and very slow shutter speed.

The top of the mountain shot was taken from almost the exact same spot as the flower box. The 18-270 is simply amazing in its versatility. I used during my whole trip for a great variety of images.

In the Wild With the SP 200-500mm Di
The 200-500mm lens is a perfect lens for shooting wildlife. It offers a way to remain unintrusive and unthreatening to the animals, yet still get in close enough for real emotional impact and stunning detail. It also gives compositional flexibility thanks to its focal-length range.

I took two distinct images of a bull elk along the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park using the 200-500: one at the 200mm end and one at the 500mm end.

Because it was rutting (mating) season and the bull was guarding his herd, I didn’t want to get too close, so the extreme focal length (equivalent to 800mm on my APS body) was important, but I also wanted to be able to show the environment and light. I took those images right at sunrise, just minutes apart in fast-changing light.

What you don’t see in either image was that there were 10 guys standing around, trying to inch up closer to the elk, when a baby elk wandered out of the woods. These guys were suddenly in between the baby elk and the boss. That’s exactly why I have the 200-500 – especially for situations like that when I don’t have a tree nearby to climb!

The kind of detail you can get with this lens are amazing. In the image taken at 500mm, you can see the striations in his antlers and the mud on his flanks. That kind of imaging quality is pretty hard to do, particularly on a tripod with that super-telephoto magnification.

John Van Steenberg

Tomorrow, we’ll hit Part II of John’s favorites. He’ll talk about the SP10-24mm Di II lens and portraits with the SP 17-50mm F/2.8 Di II VC lens.  What a kick it is to be hanging out with John at so many different shows and Summer School over the years!

If you’re looking to get in touch with John, he’s Tamron’s Senior Education Manager.  He’s photographed everything from landscapes to rock stars to prize fighters. He’s got an amazing technical background and put together with his artistic abilities make him a great speaker and writer about all things photo-related. You’ll often find him speaking at various workshops and always in the Tamron booth at virtually every major convention.

Here’s the challenge with your website…

If any of you were building your own dream studio you’d pay attention to every single detail. You’d spend hours deciding on window placement, ceiling height, wall textures and flooring. You’d pay attention to every dimension, right down to where the light switches would be. Yet, when it comes to building your website, which is your storefront today, you’ve loaded it with mediocre images, rarely proofed your text on the site and in most cases you’ve made it a nightmare for consumers to even find their way through the maze.  You loaded everything in because you knew you needed a website, but you spent so little time thinking through how it would really look.

That’s one of the reasons I enjoy working with SmugMugPro so much. This is their business – and their entire platform is based on a goal to make you look good. Plus, they’re so photo-centric – a company for photographers built by photographers.

I’ve talked with a half dozen attendees so far. Each one has some terrific work and there’s no question they have the passion, but like all of us, they’ve gotten caught up in the day to day challenges and don’t realize they’ve missed some of the key opportunities and buzz-words.  Here are some of the things I’m finding:

• There seems to be a lot of unfinished ideas out there. It’s almost as if you started writing a letter and sent it before you finished some of the paragraphs. That would be fine, but you sent the letter! You opened your website before it was finished.
• Often the design of a site has been dictated by the web designer and NOT the photographer. This leads to a variance of priorities that too often the potential client isn’t going to care about. For example, they want to see images and don’t care if a wedding is broken out into “detail”, “ceremony”, “reception” etc.  They just want to see the story. Don’t add extra clicks to the process.
• Everybody’s “About” section to date needs work and here’s the problem. We’re all too close to our own businesses and we’re uncomfortable talking about ourselves. Your About Section needs to show your passion for being a photographer. Remember, clients don’t hire you because of what you provide, but why you love what you do. This is about building trust.
• Last on the list for this morning’s post is about the images in your galleries. Look at each one and ask the question, “If this was the only image I could show, would I hire me?” Don’t compromise on the quality of your images – make every image a “wow” print!

This year’s Summer School is called Hands-on Intensive for a reason! We’ve got a goal to give more photographers the tools they need to build a stronger presence and it starts when you register!  See you at Summer School!