Last summer at Summer School, Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Vincent LaForet, talked about all the times he didn’t have the right equipment, but knew he needed to do a particular project regardless. When he did his short film, Reverie, he had none of the equipment he really needed to produce and edit the project, but that didn’t stop him.

Matthew’s post hits on the issue of how much gear you really need when it comes to lighting, but let’s look at some other options when you don’t have what you need:

• Rental gear is a great option. Cash flow is tough when you’re just starting out, so watch your budget and rent instead of fighting to buy gear. You can always buy it later on.
• Often, especially on commercial projects, build the cost of your lights into the shoot.
• Don’t forget about leasing versus buying. With leasing you get to utilize somebody elses assets without depleting yours. It’s worth checking out your local retailer to see what’s available.
• Use your network! Get to know photographers in the area and attend monthly Smugs, guild meetings, the local PPA chapter meetings. Often more seasoned photographers have used equipment they’re turning over and there’s your opportunity to pick up the gear you need.

The bottom line is you should never be sitting there saying to yourself, “If I only had the gear I need!” It’s not about the gear – it’s about your creativity and your skill set.  And, if you’re in need of a good dose of creativity and getting your mind in the right place, then put Matthew Jordan Smith on your radar. He writes a terrific blog and his videos focus on pure education, are reasonably priced and help you get the expertise you need to build a stronger skill set!

When I was seventeen I wanted every lens and light I could find.  I thought, if I only had one more lens or one more light I could do so much more.  I thought my photographs would be better if I simple had more.  I’m not sure when I snapped out of that mind-frame but I’m glad I finally saw the light, no pun intended.

Today, I often speak about the “power of less” in photography.  You don’t always need to have more photo equipment to make beautiful images.   Yes, today I have every lens and light I can afford, but I only use what I need for each shoot.   In my first instructional video Ten Ways To Use One Light Source I go over the many ways you can use one light to make great images.  I also often use one lens and for this months cover of Nail Pro magazine I use one light and one lens.  The camera used to make this image is the Sony A900 with a 85mm lens.  The lighting is also very simple in this image, just one  beauty dish.  To learn how to shoot images like this and more check out the videos in Photography Help Store.   They give you multiple examples and diagrams to help you learn everything from simple ways to shoot to complex.

Matthew Jordan Smith

“We find ourselves at a crossroads. The GoingPro project has helped so many aspiring photographers, but in its current form it’s pretty much run its course…We will continue to maintain the GoingPro2010 Twitter site.  We’ll offer free daily advice and answer your questions as best we can in 140 characters or less, @GoingPro2010.

In addition, you’ll find plenty of help at Photofocus.com and PhotoResourceHub.com, Skip’s new expanded site going live within the next week. We will continue to be there to help you. The GoingPro website goes into storage on May 14, 2012.

The market is constantly changing and we want to develop a set of new tools to help build your business and strengthen your marketing efforts. We’re not disappearing, just working on new tools to help emerging professional photographers. Nothing is changing our goal to help you go from an aspiring pro to a profitable professional.  We’ll continue to develop projects along those lines.”

PhotoResourceHub.com went live last week, very quietly, but If I wait until everything is perfect to talk about it, I’ll be even older than Scott thinks I am. LOL In fact, here’s a favorite quote of mine from Zig Ziglar: “If you wait until all the lights are green, you’ll never get started on your journey!”

So, I made a decision to officially launch it today, because even though it’s work in progress, your feedback has always been invaluable. Many of you have helped me build Summer School. Your input helped with the Akron Photo Series and in many cases some of you have played a significant role in content for this blog.

What we want to do with Photo Resource Hub is help you on your journey to becoming a stronger professional photographer with great videos; new podcasts with industry icons sharing short easy-to-listen-to ideas on their careers and advice to remember as you go from surviving to thriving; new blog posts and calendars that can keep you up to date each month on not only everything on the road, but on the web.

This is all about being a resource and I hope you feel like I do – we’re well on our way!  So wander over to PhotoResourceHub.com this morning and give me lots of feedback. I want to keep providing you with the support you need and always great content!

It’s funny how much we love quotations and the power one clever person has to get us to completely shift gears and think about the way something has been described.  Well, it’s time to bring back another favorite quote.

For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.  This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness.  Happiness is the way.  So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination…

It’s signed by “Souza”…and comes from a company called Quotable Magnets. My daughter bought it for me many years ago. And just to demonstrate how much better her priorities are than mine, I bought one around the same time that simply said, “Life is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine”.

So, here’s the challenge…how do you keep building your network and find ways to stay on top of the constant flow of new ideas, techniques and technology?  What’s cool is there’s an easy answer…get yourself to a Smug! Just in case you’re not familiar with the concept and stolen right from the SmugMug site:

A SMUG is a place where you can learn, teach and meet up with other photographers who share your passion. It’s also how we can tell you what’s happening in our world and discover what’s happening in yours. SMUGs are a great way to connect with other photographers and add a few weapons to your creative arsenal.

Actually, the challenge runs much deeper than just building your network, your education and staying on top of what’s going on – this is about recharging your battery. You know how to focus your camera, but do you know how to stay focused on your goals and dealing with the day-in day-out challenges of business today? None of us do it well and before long you start to realize you’re spending too much time worrying about business and not getting out enough in the photo community. You start to get stale. Your creativity is stifled by just the effort it takes to run a business.

Everybody has the same issue. We’re all too close to our own business, so you need to get out once in awhile. Smugs are free and only cost you the time to be there and get involved. Even more fun is the opportunity to meet not just photographers from your area, but all of the Smugs at one time or another bring in special guest speakers. Roberto Valenzuela spoke at a Smug in San Francisco not long ago. I did a marketing program at a Smug in Detroit last year and will be in Jacksonville, Florida on June 26. Scott Bourne has brought in special guests to the Las Vegas Smug.

It’s a big country, but check out how SmugMug has it covered!

If you’re not currently involved in your local Smug, here’s the link. I’ve written a lot about SmugMug over the last few months and even ran a couple of great videos they’ve produced, but out of everything they do, what I enjoy and appreciate the most is the ability they’ve given us to stay connected!

Get yourself involved in a Smug – being part of something bigger than just your own business in the photographic community is only a click away!

On June 8-9 I’m doing two days of my marketing workshop for professional photographers. It’s a free webinar, but you have to register at www.creativelive.com in order to attend. Thanks to a whole bunch of sponsors we’ve got some pretty slick door prizes to give away as well. Nik Software, SmugMugPro, Album Epoca, WHCC are all coming to the party and I’ll be giving away a scholarship to Skip’s Summer School. All the doorprizes, or should we call them “cyberprizes,” will tie into the tweet stream during the webinar.

We’ve also got some fun prizes for those six brave souls who give up two days to be in my audience. A live audience makes the presentation itself so much more effective, but even more important they’ll represent the typical profile of professional photographers, part time or full time, who deal with so many of today’s biggest marketing challenges.

During the two days we’re going to spend a lot of time talking about building an effective website, becoming your own publicity machine, creating a marketing calendar, identifying your key demographics and ways to establish a stronger reputation in your community and that’s only the beginning!

Here’s the link to enroll!

See you in Seattle…or in cyberspace!

Only those who are asleep make no mistakes.

Ingvar Kamprad is credited with the quote. He’s the founder of Ikea and I remember hearing stories about him when I was with Hasselblad. He lives a quiet unassuming life and back then he was still riding his bike to work. Well, his quote got me thinking a lot about so many photographers I’ve met.

New photographers especially seem to have a horrible time just forgiving themselves for mistakes made along the journey of becoming a professional. They beat themselves up and I’ve even met a few who decided the road was too hard to travel and just walked away from photography as a profession.

The truth is the quote applies to everybody, no matter what kind of business you’re in. It’s only when you’re asleep that you make no mistakes, take no risks and live a life that’s safe with your head buried in a pillow under the blankets. You’ve got to take risks to grow your business. You’ve got to take chances along the way and experiment with new techniques. You’ve got to spend money to make money and there are probably a hundred other snappy one liners we’ve all heard over the years.

So, stop worrying about making mistakes. Take the risks, but do it with the commitment to do your very best every time. Work to expand your skill set, so that with each mistake you make it becomes part of the learning process. Here’s one more perspective:

As you begin to take action toward the fulfillment of your goals and dreams, you must realize that not every action will be perfect. Not every action will produce the desired result. Not every action will work. Making mistakes, getting it almost right, and experimenting to see what happens are all part of the process of eventually getting it right. Motivational author, Jack Canfield

Alzheimer’s is a horrible disease, but the truth is, any disease that changes a loved one is horrible, regardless of what it’s called. My mother’s Alzheimer’s has progressed and it’s getting harder and harder, but there are these priceless moments when she smiles, holds my Dad’s hand or just shares a memory with us that are priceless.

I’m not looking for sympathy, just begging everybody to remember to cherish each day. Things can change when we least expect it, but as photographers you have the ability to give each client a gift – their memories captured forever and sharable with future generations.

We moved to Sarasota to be able to spend more time with my folks and of all the things I’ve ever done in my life, the move was the most important and the one decision I cherish the most. So, hug your Mom today, your kids and your spouse.  Take the time to make every day Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Life is simply too short and one thing we can never get back is time.

The winner is the chef who takes the same ingredients as everyone else and produces the best results.

As usual, a lot of the quotes I find really get me thinking about our industry. When you think about it everybody has the same gear. Everybody has access to the same client base. Every client has a variety of the same needs, deal with the same emotions and are pretty much interested in the same thing, capturing special memories to last a life time.

Those are all the same ingredients, but what every photographer doesn’t have is the same skill set, the same vision and same level of creativity.  Scott Bourne in a recording for an upcoming podcast said recently, “It’s not about the gear but about your vision!”

This is a short post this morning with a simple point…what do you need to do to upgrade your skill set? How can you, as the “chef” create something unique each time you pick up your camera?

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!

This isn’t about the politics of war, but about helping the families of our military personnel stay connected.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill

While that’s their short version, I’m still a huge fan of the longer video as well. Just in case you missed it in last year’s blog link here it is again.

I found one more favorite quote that I love about giving back.

“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.” Albert Einstein

As a photographer you’ve been given an incredible gift, your skill set. There are so many ways you can give back with photography. I’m sure proud of the crew at HeartsApart.org and what they’re doing to give back!