I’ve been a big fan of David Ziser’s for a lot of years. In fact, most newer photographers aren’t aware that going back to the early 90’s David and Denis Reggie did the Engaged in Excellence Tour, which to this day remains the largest attended workshop series ever presented in wedding photography. It wasn’t unusual [...]

This post might be almost two years old, but great ideas never age! The challenge is how to make yourself stand out, but don’t forget the basics first. If you don’t know what you’re doing with a camera in your hands, then all the marketing in the world can’t fix bad images! Concentrate on the [...]

The other day on Skip’s Summer School on Facebook, Tabi Gibbs, asked what other photographers do to be more effective at Bridal Fairs. We’re not exactly in the season right now, but in a few months we will be. So, I dug this post out of the archives. It’s a really good list of things [...]

I’m having a lot of fun lately wandering through cyberspace and finding old posts in the archives of some good friends. This week’s pick is thanks to David Ziser. While it was posted in 2009, the image goes back a lot further, to David’s life as a “film star” shooting Hasselblad!
Understanding film is one of the many [...]

About six years ago I met Kenny Kim for the first time. He came to a program I was doing in Cleveland with Pictage. Kenny drove over from Chicago and it was the first time we’d met. Since then, I’ve bumped into him at just about every major event in professional photography.  He’s always got a big smile and his [...]

There’s a point in life where you realize you’ve spent too much time working and not enough time just enjoying friends. It’s the old line about stopping to smell the roses.  I’ve written about it and talked about it a lot, but until a few years ago, I was just as guilty as many of you.
This [...]

Last fall, and I’m embarrassed it was for the first time, I was able to watch Doug Gordon’s entire three hour presentation here in Akron. In the past it was always during my WPPI days and I was being pulled in a dozen different directions, so the chance to actually sit and listen for any [...]

Each year as we start to plan for the next Summer School, the process of choosing instructors becomes more and more difficult. There are so many great photographers, but only a handful can really teach and motivate. But with Kevin Kubota there’s more to just teaching and motivating – Kevin leads by example! He’s constantly giving [...]

The original post from Joy Bianchi Brown and Jules Bianchi had so much information, I broke it up into two parts, with Part I running yesterday. This second part this morning expands your strategy and should help get you thinking about what you’re actually selling along with how you present your products to your clients.
One thing [...]

We all have friends who might not have been in our lives that long, but you can’t seem to remember a time when they weren’t there! For me and Sheila too, it’s Roberto Valenzuela! While the passion for photography is obviously at the core, it’s had little to do with all the meals, the laughs and [...]