We know time is your most valuable commodity and there’s never enough of it.  So in putting together this year’s program we took the key points from everyone’s feedback following last year, and built a new Skip’s Summer School!The three top requests from our 2011 post-program survey were more hands-on training, more marketing/business and a more central location. 
There [...]

Yesterday I was making some changes in my presentation for next weekend’s PhotoPro Expo show and I started to feel just plain rushed. For a minute or two I had sort of an out of body experience, feeling like I was trapped in an old Jimmy Stewart movie and to pass the time they just [...]

The best part of this industry is when you get that perfect combination of photography, social media and networking mixed with the passion for the craft.  Nobody is a better example than new friend, Levi Sim from Utah.  Levi joined us this summer at Summer School, where after several emails and  phone conversations over the last year [...]

Projects like Summer School don’t happen without incredible support from lots of different people. Every year I feel like I write pretty much the same thing…I thank the speakers, then everyone who helped make it possible and the vendors, then I move to a few isolated individuals. Along the way I probably offend somebody I miss.  This [...]

At every workshop and convention you attend there’s a “decisive moment” when it’s over. It’s that moment when you start to inventory what you’ve learned, the people you met, the concepts you want to experiment with, etc. You’re overwhelmed with the possibilities and at the same time chomping at the bit to get started.
I’m writing a [...]

This morning we wrap up Summer School and it’s interesting to see the transformation that’s taken place after just two days of a group of people being together. Even the word “interesting” so understates the enthusiasm, fun and the privilege I feel at being a part of Summer School.  Sure, it’s my event and my [...]

At every convention there’s always one program that becomes a favorite and last night was one of mine. “Open Forum” started by accident at last year’s Summer School when a couple of attendees, new photographers, asked if a few of the instructors could hang out for a little while and just talk. Within twenty minutes we had [...]

With Summer School starting in just a few days, whether you’re joining us or not, you need to be thinking about your network. A good network doesn’t happen by accident – it takes work to keep it maintained, active and useful. In this Real World Real Lessons post from GoingPro, I hit on a whole [...]

Over the last few months I’ve run a number of great videos leading up to Summer School.  In fact, I’ve found great videos on just about everybody, with the exception of Jules Bianchi and her sister Joy Bianchi Brown and Roberto Valenzuela, but both of them did a couple of terrific guest posts. Jules and [...]

We all get caught in type-casting those photographers we admire most. They seem to establish boundaries on what they’re best at and so often, just like Hollywood, we don’t think of them in other roles. I love this post from Doug Gordon, which is a solid reminder he can shoot anything! He loves working with couples and [...]