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!

But today’s post isn’t about cause-related marketing, but a creative way JP Elario decided to attack the challenge of helping his mother while she’s fighting cancer and unable to work.  This is about something very personal.  There are so many of you who are moved by different situations in your life and I’m often asked for ideas on how to help. Well, here’s one that couldn’t be more direct and easier to understand.

I thought a lot of how I could help my Mom out to keep her house up and running for a while. I’ve been thinking about this since 2009 but for a while she was doing well, working 4-5 days a week while getting a lot of chemo. Anyway I feel like its time for me to put what I do best to use. This is where the idea of the “Elario mini session” came about. I knew of mini sessions and thought this would be great! I often turn down a lot of children photographs simply because we’re so busy with weddings. So this would be a great opportunity for you to have me capture your kids.

Whats a mini session anyway?

It is going to be is me shooting, 1 day only, rain or shine for 10+ hours and every 15 minutes a new session will begin. This is great for the children sessions because I often have to turn away a lot of children photography simply because we’re just so busy with weddings. Plus with kids we always get our best stuff in the first 15 minutes because after that they are not interested anymore. This would be a great time to take advantage of that. That also being said I don’t see this as just children. Obviously this is a “wedding blog” and a lot of you engaged couples frequent the pages of my site. I see these sessions also being for you guys. Like come get a quick little engagement session with me and get a “bling shot” or a “configuration”! I also see this is as an opportunity to capture some of my past brides and grooms too who might want an updated couple shot. If you need a head shot you could take advantage of this. I’d also love to photograph your dog if you’d like!

You can read the rest of the specifics on JP’s blog, but here’s the short version. He picked the last Sunday in April, only did the one announcement on his blog, priced it at $175 per mini-session and the day sold out in just four hours.

I’ve know JP since he was a kid. His Dad, Joe and I have been friends going back to my early Hasselblad days. We’d catch up once a year in New York at the PhotoPlus Expo show and then JP starting coming along.  Then dinner became an annual event, more shows and more time together talking about the industry we all love so much.

This past year JP had his second standing-room-only program at WPPI.  He’s become an outstanding photographer, but that’s not the reason he sold-out this fund-raiser.

Yesterday I wrote about the importance of great customer service and building a relationship with your clients.  The Elario’s focus with so much more than just their camera gear – both JP and Joe have an incredible sense of service. They work to go well beyond their client’s expectations at every wedding and event.  So, when JP reached out to the community, the community reached back and in just 4 hours, forty three mini-sessions were filled.

I couldn’t be more proud of my “nephew” and the kind of photographer and person JP has become. There is no substitute for relationship building with your clients or for that matter, integrity and heart!

The good buddy is Bill Hurter, Editor-in-Chief of Rangefinder Magazine and a friend for many years. We go back to his days at Petersen’s Photographic when he was editor and I was at Hasselblad.   But the most fun came in working with him during my years as president of Rangefinder Publishing and WPPI.  He was instrumental in helping to make Rangefinder the powerhouse it was when I left in ‘09.  In fact, while there are lots of great editors, there aren’t any as good as “Mr. Bill”.

What made it so much fun to work with him was the way he got involved in so many different aspects of the business.  Many of you know him from his never-ending support for print competition at the WPPI show each year. Others know him from working on speaking programs at the same convention. Still more know him for his relentless pursuit to find photographers with outstanding work who often none of us had ever heard of for each issue of the magazine. Then there are those of you who know him for having authored over 35 books on photography! At least that was the last number I counted!

As for me, I know him from lots of hard work, putting together award-winning magazines, arguments that often ended with way too many laughs and a lot of great times. Rangefinder back then was like a family and in spite of the arguments you always have with other family members, we always managed to get through them and always for the better of the magazine and the company.

But today’s post is about all the laughs. A classic was one year after WPPI, probably 2006 or 2007, we all headed out to celebrate. Bill and I, with all the maturity of two evil fraternity brothers, were determined to bury our mutual buddy and advertising VP, George Varanakis in one of the bars. After all, this was a celebration of another great show and a little libation was acceptable. We bought George several rounds, convincing ourselves that because we were older we could handle the abuse better than George. NOT!  At the end of the night, I looked at Bill and sloppily said, “Mishter Bill, I thinkkkk we got him!”  Bill smiled, agreed, we both passed out at the table and our wives carried us home!

It was a not-so-look-alike Marilyn Monroe who showed up for Bill’s birthday one year singing, “Happy Birthday Mister Editor…”

Bill’s birthday was April 11 and had we all still been working together at Rangefinder we would have participated in “Cake at Eight” a strange custom nobody ever understood, but we still went along with it. Marlene, operations manager for Rangefinder and the only person with less seniority than the owner himself, used to come in between four and five in the morning every day, all due to the challenge of beating traffic in the greater LA area.  Whenever it was somebody’s birthday she’d pick up a birthday cake and at approximately 8:00 – 8:30 we’d all sneak down to the lunch room.

Whoever had a birthday was then paged, we’d all yell surprise, sing Happy Birthday and eat cake, for many of us the first food of the day. Go ahead try it some time…see how you feel starting your day on chocolate cake and frosting! It was bizarre, but we all loved it! It was years later that it dawned on me, for Marlene, since she started at 4:00 am, it was already lunch time!

But the best was the surprise aspect…It couldn’t be more obvious. If it was your birthday you headed down to the lunch room in complete silence since nobody was in the office. You could hear a whisper in the air, “Dead man walking!” The chuckles and the chatter from the kitchen made it obvious you were about to get your dose of sugar for the day!

Last on the list of stories this morning is the holiday exchange we did each Christmas. Everybody got great gifts one year from their secret Santa, except Bill…somebody thought he’d enjoy having his own Sea Monkeys. Definitely a bad call, but Bill took it like an adult and never pouted once! The following year the owner of the company drew his name and spent a fortune on him to make up for the bad gift the year before!

So, to my readers, I apologize for what must seem like a lot of boring stories from days gone by, but for “Mr Bill” and all the Rangefinder crew, it’s lots of smiles and a walk down memory lane.

Bill, here’s to wishing you a terrific slightly belated birthday and the hopes we get more chances for more memories, more laughs and more moments of inspiration – it’s the mutual love for photography that brought us all together, but it was your never-ending quest for great photographers, stories and incredible images and cover shots that kept us all inspired and oh yeah, smiling every day!

Kevin Kubota is a prime example of a photographer with incredible skills with or without a camera in his hands. He’s an outstanding teacher, speaker and writer as well. Photo by Kenny Kim.

Just because you’re an outstanding photographer and have created award-winning images doesn’t mean you’ve got the ability to hold the attention of a room full of people. So, here are some things to think about:

•    What’s your message? I know it seems basic, but having lots of friends, being likeable and knowing what you’re doing with a camera in your hands isn’t enough. What are you actually going to teach people to do?
•    How’s your message going to be different from other photographers already on the lecture circuit? You need a “hook”, something to get people interested in what you have to say that’s different from other people they’ve heard already. In this economy, whatever your message, make sure it relates to revenue, growth, efficiency or just plain survival.
•    How are you going to get your presentation seasoned? There’s nothing worse than a speaker who “um’s” you to death and is uncomfortable the first few times out. But this is easy to fix – it’s called practice. Start with a small group of friends for your audience and then move up to local guilds or affiliates. Work to get yourself to a comfort level resulting in a presentation that’s smooth, showing no more stress than a conversation over coffee with a friend.
•    You need just the right mix of visuals and speaking time. Think about all the programs you’ve attended. Most of the time, what made them great was the content, the images and what you were able to learn. Remember that as you practice your own presentation.
•    Once you really know your presentation, do it without one single slide. You always have to assume Murphy’s Law, if something can go wrong, it will. If you know your material, you should be able to talk about it with the same enthusiasm with or without slides!
•    Be comfortable sharing your “secrets.” After all that’s why you’re there in the first place. Don’t hold back and definitely don’t pitch books, CD’s, other workshops or DVD’s from the stage. Years ago a speaker was asked a question and answered, “You’ll find that answer on my second video, which my crew has in the back of the room, on sale today only.” That was the last time that speaker spoke for that particular organization.

Once you’ve done the program a few times, assuming you’ve gotten a good response and done all your fine-tuning you’re ready to go after sponsorship and a speaking gig at the next convention and that’s where we’ll start Part II tomorrow.

Husbands and wives, brothers, sisters, parents and children all make up so many of today’s small businesses.  It’s not easy working with a relative, especially your spouse.  Your roles in the business need to be well defined. You need to identify each partner’s expertise and then you need to respect each others responsibilities. It’s not an easy task, but it can be so rewarding in the long run.

I asked Byron if he’d consider a few guest posts on the subject and I’m delighted he accepted the offer. Byron and Wendy should definitely be on your radar. Here’s the link to their blog. You need to add them to your network, just like I did! In fact, that’s one of the biggest benefits of shows like WPPI…meeting new photographers and sharing ideas about the business!

Expanding on our Ignite presentation this year at WPPI, I began looking for effective ways family members can begin to create that harmonious work environment between each other.  I believe there are simple steps you can take to create a better working environment for everyone and as an added benefit, create a stronger company in the process!  After further research, (i.e., taking a hard look into my own business relationship with my wife Wendy) and  interviewing other groups of family businesses, I came to the conclusion that the whole process centers around the idea of validation.

Validation is the key to a happy marriage, productive interpersonal communication and a happy life working with family members in general!  I think we all know that right up there with the need for love and belonging is our need, as humans, for self esteem and the desire for respect by/of others around us.  We can tell ourselves whatever we want but without validation from people around us we respect, (and unfortunately, sometimes don’t respect) we seem to be left in this limbo of always wondering, “are we good enough?   Doesn’t it feel great when someone sincerely says, “Wow, you really are an amazing photographer,” or “We had so much fun having you photograph our wedding!” or even “You made me/us feel special?”

So why aren’t we more vocal about this to others?  Why do we seem to hold back rather than give positive feedback?  We surely have much less trouble focusing on the problems and giving negative feedback don’t we?!  We say things like, “I can’t believe you put that image on our blog!” or “That’s way too much contrast” thereby condemning them in the process!  Are we afraid to pump people up too much for fear of them getting a “big” head?  Or are we scared that by saying, “Good job” or “I appreciate you” we’re saying to ourselves, “Maybe I’m not as good?”  As we all know, most of the time it’s a balancing game with our egos right?  Human’s are amazing creatures in that deep down we have such compassion for one another but none of this compassion can do any good when our egos are threatened.

Unfortunately it’s not easy to give love to others when we’re not feeling it ourselves, kinda takes the steam away from your motivation at times.  Now, if we add to this concept the much deeper emotional connection you have with family members, it’s easy to see why it doesn’t take much to create a problem.  Well, with that in mind, are you ready to begin?

Before we sit down and sing Kumbayah together, your company needs to create a list of goals that’s consistent with all family business members.  Think about the main results each of you wants your business to achieve and what’s the purpose for achieving each of these results?  We’ll call these our Strategic Objective (S.O.) and our Primary Aim’s (P.A.) for the company.  Some of our own Strategic Objectives dealt with revenue goals but others were about establishing set boundaries for work and personal time in our wedding photography business.  With our Primary Aim’s or purpose for wanting the Strategic Objective’s we’re even more specific and  along the lines of, “Become a memorable part of our clients entire wedding experience” and “Create a harmonious and peaceful working environment between us.”

So, sit down with your spouse, dad, etc and have each person list off their own S.O.’s and P.A.’s.  Then find 3 or 4 that are consistent ideas, (regarding both results and purpose) everyone can agree on.  Congratulations, you’ve now created the beginnings of a company culture!  A baseline has just been created that will allow you to always fall back on when issues arise, (like when your spouse drops that nice 85mm 1.4 prior to the wedding that day).  These two lists are what your company stands for (at least for now) and everyone in the company, for any issue that may arise, can now ask themselves, “Is how I’m handling this current situation consistent with our companies (S.O.) and (P.A.)?”  Many of you might find that you’ve done or said things in the past that go completely against the S.O. and P.A.  This is the way most of us run our businesses daily and let me be the first to tell you there’s a BETTER way!

In the next blog post I’ll get into ways we can start to positively validate each other!

Byron Roe

Tomotaka is the son of Taka who used to be with Asukabook. Many of you met Taka over the years when he’d come over for the WPPI show or PhotoPlus Expo. Asukabook first introduced their product line at WPPI about ten years ago and over those years we became the very best of friends. Three trips to Japan, dozens of dinners in the U.S. along with meetings and programs they sponsored at WPPI brought us that much closer. In spite of the fact that we could only converse through an interpreter, the friendship just continued to grow.

Now, all these years later, Taka and I email all the time, but his son, in his twenties, wants to learn to speak English and he needs somebody to practice with.  Well, I can’t think of a better way to start the day a few times a week, but here’s the point this morning…

Technology has made the photographic industry incredibly small. I catch up to Paul MacManus in Spain now and then thanks to Skype. I “IM” with Aziz in Pakistan and keep up with what’s going on in the wedding market there. Patrik Mark, Hasselblad’s marketing manager back in the late 90’s and I talked a few weeks ago about his photographic book business in Sweden.  Sally Sargood tweets no matter where she is on the planet, including home in Australia.

The world just keeps getting smaller, but it’s not just technology that allows us to share time with friends around the world. It’s thanks to the common bond of photography that brought us all together in the first place. It’s like the six degrees of separation game with Kevin Bacon only for me, Bacon is replaced by photography!

It’s not a particularly earth-shaking concept, just another way to have some fun and enjoy your network!

I’ve been following Asukabook recently and a short time back they started doing their own program to better support the community. I love their approach, because it supports a wide variety of charitable causes.

They started holding fundraisers at shows to support the work of non-profits.   They’re specifically offering attendees a chance to donate to a specific non-profit and in exchange the attendee gets an AsukaBucks gift certificate. Attendees donate $10 and get a $100 AsukaBucks gift certificate as a thank-you.  To date they’ve raised over $4,000!

• WPPI NYC in October where they raised $600 for Red Cross Japan Relief.
• Imaging USA they raised over $1,200 for Habitat for Humanity New Orleans.
• Their best fundraiser so far has been for NILMDTS at WPPI Vegas this last February where they raised over $2200.
  
• Currently they’re raising money for the Aasha Fund which was started by Vicki and Jed Taufer to help children and families all across the world. They are currently trying to raise enough to start a Hope’s Promise Children’s Home in Nepal.

The key to their success is consistency. So many companies would have given up because they didn’t raise huge amounts of cash and make it into the news!  But all of a sudden with just three shows they raised $4000 – that’s money that didn’t exist for any of these non-profits before.

There’s actually another important key to success – it’s about passion – passion for photography, passion for what photography can do and passion for the human spirit.  Team Asukabook possesses all three of those ingredients and they’re setting an example that makes me proud they’re in our industry!

Even more on target is the success of those photographers who have diversified. Yes, they’re working harder than they’ve ever worked before, but with most it’s paying off.  Diversity, more attention to marketing and business, attention to pricing formulas etc. They’re all playing a role as photographers get smarter and work smart as well as work hard.

Well, it’s fun to share this with you, but after you read it, think back to the summer of 2009…what were you doing in photography then? What was your business like? What have you learned since then?

I might have been dragged into technology kicking and screaming, but welcome to my first blog…and what better first topic than the challenges in the economy?  I promise to keep it light.

Last year, as we prepared for WPPI 2009, the media was driving me nuts with their doom and gloom approach to the news every night.  Obviously, it’s human nature, good news doesn’t sell as well and literally every broadcast was another story about a company going out of business, the housing market dropping some more, massive layoffs around the country…you name it – if the story was bad enough they couldn’t put it on the news quick enough.

I’m not saying the economy isn’t bad or that we shouldn’t be concerned, but there is a certain self-fulfilling prophecy going on.  That’s when I decided to make the comment, “Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year doesn’t mean it has to be!”

I spend an incredible amount of time talking to photographers all over the country – on the phone, in person, via facebook and email and there are two common themes with those photographers who are holding their own and having an “okay” year or even growing:  diversity and hard work.  In fact, virtually every photographer who’s told me they’re having a good year always follows with, “But I’ve never worked so hard in my life!”

The market is tough and that’s why the idea of Skip’s Summer School started to take shape…most associations have moved their conventions to the first quarter of the year and there’s absolutely no opportunity to charge your battery mid year.  It’s almost as if somebody out there thinks that new ideas in technology, marketing, album creation, SEO/SEM, lighting and capture can only happen January – March!

There are so many people who have played a key role in the Summer School concept and made a contribution in new ideas for the format, the presentations, even the room set up.  It’s going to be an incredible experience and fun – remember “FUN”?   It’s one of the reasons we got into this business in the first place!  And where is it written that you can’t have fun while picking up new ideas on how to run your business, photograph a client or put an album together?

Summer School is going to be a kick and its been designed to give you the most bang for your buck and if you didn’t hear about it already…Okay, I’ve got to at least update the Skip’s Summer School paragraph: Summer School is in Chicago and besides an incredible platform includes a website review of your About section and Galleries. I want to help you make your website stronger BEFORE summer school…also included is a $75 full registration to WPPI 2013, two terrific lunch programs with lunch included, interaction with some of the finest photographers and vendors in our industry and a whole new network!

I hope to see you all in Chicago and thanks for joining me on a walk down memory lane.

At the recent WPPI show Keith and I talked about a project he’d done, a styled shoot.  It’s really more of a commercial project with a wedding/portrait theme and I love it.  Keith’s point about building brand awareness for all the participants is pretty exciting. In addition, this is consumer bundling at it’s best.

Consumer bundling is defined as non-competing companies working to hit a common target. As you watch the video, pay attention to the way each business entity is getting exposure. I asked Keith about how everyone participated:

“Not one person was paid. I came up with the concept and everyone bought into it. Everyone from the bridal boutique to the makeup artist were on the same page. The only thing I asked of them was to keep it quiet until I marketed the images to the national blogs. In addition, I also told them to hold off on Facebook until I shopped it around for a few weeks. Everyone was on-board with it and now we all reap the benefits. It was a “win-win” for all hands involved!”

I love the concept and every detail is top-shelf. The best part for me is the way everyone worked together with the result being what Keith described as win-win!

I went the non-exclusive route just to get quick residuals for the other wedding professionals who have never been published. Taking this route not only strengthens your SEO because of the varied placement, it also gives you the competitive edge over your competitors in this challenging economy. Styled shoots are also a great way to build portfolios for your marketing and PR objectives. Keith Cephus