Going into its fourth year, Skip’s Summer School just seems to get better and better, but this year it has little to do with anything I thought of. This is about input from all the alumni from past programs together with many of the instructors.
I absolutely understand how hard it is to decide on what [...]

I’ve written a lot about charitable causes over the years for two primary reasons.  From a personal position it’s one of those things that just makes you feel good. It’s about being part of the human race and it really is that simple. From a business perspective, nothing is more effective in building your reputation [...]

Last week I missed a very good friend’s birthday. I want to find an appropriate way to recognize his incredible contribution to the industry and even better remind him that he’s a never-ending inspiration to so many photographers all the time! So, the solution to the challenge is to just embarrass the hell out of [...]

While this is an encore post written in three parts for GoingPro a year and a half ago, it’s that time of year. Everybody at some point gets the bug to do their own workshop or be a speaker at some convention. It’s not as easy as it seems and considering that shows like PhotoPlus [...]

At WPPI’s opening program, Photographer’s Ignite, I met Byron and Wendy Roe. In their Ignite presentation they hit on a topic so timely in today’s market.  It was all about couples working together. Whether intentionally planned or an accident in today’s difficult economy and job market, there are more couples working together in photography today [...]

Yesterday morning at 8:00 am I had my first Skype video call with Tomotaka in Kyoto. Thank God his English is better than my Japanese! We actually managed to converse for twenty minutes and when I hung up all I could do was smile the rest of the day!
Tomotaka is the son of Taka who [...]

I’ve written a lot about the importance of giving back. It’s a critical part of building your business, but even more important it’s part of being a member of the human race! Think about the impact photographers could have on the world if every photographer did something to give back.  Then think about the impact [...]

On July 8, 2009 I wrote my very first post. It was a month before the first Summer School. What I really enjoyed when I ran across it today is realizing so little has changed in terms of the importance of blazing your own trail and not listening to the media. While the economy is [...]

I don’t remember where Keith Cephus and I first met, which is one of the things I love the most about this industry. Friendships get started while standing in line for a coffee, waiting for a program to start, meeting old friends and being introduced to new ones. We’re an incredibly informal industry, seeing each [...]

Here’s a great example of why you need to attend every convention and workshop you can find: you meet new people!  At WPPI I had a chance to meet and talk with Jeremy Cowart. I’ve admired him for a long time, but our paths just never crossed.
This morning I got an email from Yasmin Tajik [...]