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!

It was the PPA convention in Orlando and I had a meeting with Dean and his right hand, Tony Corbell. We were all at the Peabody Hotel and I had spent the morning at the pool. I went straight to a meeting in the coffee shop still in bathing attire and t-shirt. It may not have seemed professional, but it was summer time and most of the photographic industry was poolside.

To this day, Tony and I still laugh about that first meeting. It was one of the only times in their lives that Dean and Tony had ever put on suits. They showed up, dreading a meeting with some knucklehead named “Skip” from Polaroid, imagining that Hasselblad was about to move to aisle 7 in Kmart. After all, what could a guy from Polaroid possibly have to offer the number one professional camera company in the world?

Well, they were there in jacket and tie and I was there in flip-flops, cut-offs and a tank top. I know I at least had a legal pad and pen with me to look professional.  Thank God first impressions don’t have to rule relationships the rest of our lives! In all honesty, I don’t remember a thing about that first meeting except I knew I’d just met two people who were going to become important in my life, but I could never have guessed they’d both become two of my very best friends.

This summer Tony Corbell is teaching two days at Skip’s Summer School’s Hands-on Intensive program. Since that first meeting, almost 25 years ago, there are few people I’ve learned more from. Tony is typically referred to as the King of Lighting and there’s nobody that teaches it better.

The video below really demonstrates Tony’s passion for photography, for lighting and for never compromising on quality. Even better is the way he teaches and the fact that he’s never said “no” to anybody who ever needed help. I love this short video on his philosophy, but there is an important qualifier. First, if you’re thinking about taking his hands-on workshop at Summer School, both days, August 6 and 7 are already half full. We will not allow any workshop to go over 20 people.  Second, Tony went to work on getting in shape and he’s back to his fighting weight, having dropped 140 lbs over the last three years. I couldn’t run this video without sharing a more up to date head-shot!

While a big part of the importance of Summer School is about improving your skill set, a bigger benefit is expanding your network with some of the finest instructors in professional photography today. Right at the top of the list of somebody who should be in your network is Tony Corbell!

This year’s program is in Chicago, August 5-8, and the instructors are outstanding. Tony Corbell, Clay Blackmore and Calvin Hayes, Roberto Valenzuela, Michele Celentano, Kevin Kubota, Jerry Ghionis, Bobbi Lane and those are just for the hands-on segment. Ross Hockrow and Jeff Medford will be doing film making and rounding out the platform programs are Catherine Hall, Scott Bourne, Melissa Ghionis, Sal Cincotta and a special panel discussion on couples working together in photography with Kevin and Clare Kubota, Vicki and Jed Taufer and Bob and Dawn Davis. Plus,there are two lunch programs featuring this year’s sponsors and the senior management team of Resource Magazine.

Everybody has lots to choose from when it comes to education these days, but there’s nothing that compares with Summer School. See 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 accept that we live in an instant gratification world. I accept that Twitter has changed the way we spell. I’ll even accept the gr8 words U can cre8 to cram a full paragraph of thought in2 140 characters.

However, what I refuse to give up is my belief that nothing trumps quality: quality in your images, quality in your relationships with your clients, quality in your life with your family and friends and quality in your gear! There are NO shortcuts! There are no clever ways to instantly learn about photography. You cannot abbreviate education.

I recently recorded an upcoming podcast for GoingPro with buddy, Michael Corsentino and the topic was the trend of the “Good-Enough Attitude”.  You know the mentality…”It’ll be good enough for my client.” “It’ll be good enough to fix in Photoshop later.” A couple of days earlier, over dinner, Michael and I got into a conversation about photographers who think they can simply capture and create great images even though they’re completely lacking in the skill set.

About five years ago, another good buddy, Tony Corbell, at an Imaging USA program with at least five hundred people in the audience made everyone raise their right hand and pledge to stop producing crap!  I’m hoping that at least those 500 kept their promise.

Here’s the issue and it seems to be in the social media news a lot lately, there are photographers out there who honestly believe that passion for your dreams trumps the logical steps in learning to be a photographer. Passion is a key, but nothing trumps understanding the craft and your business.

Anybody can get their first customer. You don’t even have to know how to spell photography to hook that first one, but it’s the second and third that get tougher as word gets out if they were disappointed. Even tougher is getting that first customer to come back a second time when her second daughter gets married.

I accept that photographers are artists. I accept that we don’t all like the same things. I accept that everyone has a different learning curve when it comes to how fast you pick up new ideas and techniques.  But it’s not okay to just produce below average work and expect to build a business.

There is no business model based on inferior quality, at least not one that represents growth and your ability to wake up smiling every morning as you get ready for another shoot. And, while beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder, quality still brings in the highest bidders!

The saddest part of this shortcut attitude, shoot and burn mentality is how much these people are missing and how easy it is to pick up the knowledge you need to become a better photographer. Right now Clay Blackmore, Sal Cincotta, JB Sallee, Michele Celentano and Bob Davis are all on the road this summer with great programs. Kevin Kubota’s Bootcamp is coming up. Skip’s Summer School is in August and there are probably a dozen other programs coming to your area. Then there’s CreativeLIVE and Kelby Media, David Ziser’s blog and probably a hundred other friends who I’ve missed. Roberto Valenzuela has a new book out…Kevin’s Lighting Notebook is still a best seller…and the list goes on and on.

But it takes work to capture and create images that “wow” people. It takes work to really build your business on a solid foundation that promotes repeat business. I’ll close this little rant with a quote I found that says it all:

“It takes less time to do something right the first time, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.”

“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!

New photographers don’t realize how small the industry really is. While Michael and I share a whole bunch of mutual friends, we’ve never had any time to just sit and talk. In fact, the only real conversation we’ve ever had was on a couple of podcasts at GoingPro. What made the evening worthy of a post is the variety of topics we hit, the most fun for me, being some of the stories we exchanged and so many common paths and friends.

• When Michael was 14 he knocked on Richard Avedon’s door, literally. Interested in photography, he was able to meet one of his idols.  I was 50 when I met Avedon in Tucson when he turned over his archives to the Center for Creative Photography. We wound up that night in a little all-you-can-eat Mexican bar. Over the years that followed I’d catch up to Avedon every few months in New York.
• The late Dean Collins was an inspiration to Michael and he’s got Dean’s full series of DVDs. Dean and I met in 1987 and we were absolutely the best of friends. Tony Corbell was Dean’s right hand at the time and there’s another friendship started. Tony and I did the introductory video for Dean’s DVD collection.
• Michael “studies” two hours every day. He experiments with new techniques, reads about new ideas and finds himself obsessed with constantly learning. My good buddy, Don Blair, was still taking notes in other photographer’s programs right up to a few months before he passed away in his late 70’s. He was convinced that as a photographer he could never stop learning.
• Michael photographed Sal Cincotta’s wedding. Sal just agreed a week ago to be our closing speaker at Skip’s Summer School.
• Michael and I talked about couples in photography and two of his good friends are Byron and Wendy Roe. I met them for the first time at Photographer’s Ignite. They’re also friends of Kevin and Clare Kubota’s. Byron and Wendy are tomorrow’s guest post here at my blog.
• Michael was a professional chef and had his own business.  I love to cook and almost set the house on fire after a cooking class a few years ago.

Michael uses his own images on his stationery, a point I’ve been reminding photographers about in my marketing program for years.

Michael and I got going, talking about the industry. He got here at 3:30 and left after 11:00 and it seemed like only an hour. I’ve written a lot about the importance of industry friendship, but what makes them so special are the common denominators so many of us share.  The one topic we talked about the longest related to “good enough”.  The digital revolution has brought with it a lot of photographers willing to settle for mediocrity. Actually, they’re settling for crap!

I’m talking about those “professionals” out there who provide a client with images that aren’t any better than Uncle Harry produces.  Anybody can book their first client, but the key to success is booking your second client after word gets out about your work. It’s about that first client coming back again for more images or booking another event.

There is no substitute for quality and for knowing and understanding the craft! Each photographer has to decide if they’re building their house of bricks or cards…

“Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles.” – Steve Jobs

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man’s lawful prey”. ~John Ruskin

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!

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.