Last year I got a call from photographer Joe McNally asking to talk to me about a project that he wanted me to work on. I have the absolute pleasure of being able to call Joe a friend , but its never really lost on me the fact that when we are working, this is Joe “Frigging” McNally we are talking about. Joe is one of the three most influential and inspiring photographers for me – a long studied idol. To be asked to do a project with him filled me with anticipation.

As it turned out, Joe wanted me to work as a guest instructor with him on an annual class that he does: The Advanced Flash workshops at Jade Mountain. Jade Mountain is a beautiful resort in St. Lucia. In this wonderful paradise, Joe takes out a small group of photographers and takes them through the paces of a variety of different flash scenarios. This isn’t a “What is your favorite Fstop” kind of event – you are a shooter.. with an assignment.. and your goal is to produce an image that celebrates the person that you are trying to shoot. From sunset portraits to mountain bikers racing along the jungle – you learn how to run your gear to light an image.

My contribution to this? I was tasked to take the participants through the world of post processing as well as explore the world of HDR with them. I know. The concept of tying Joe McNally and HDR in the same sentence sounds like a complete shocker. HDR is often a polarizing topic, and many photographers have started big flamewars on its contribution to the photographic space.

Joe however, saw this situation differently. To him, this was a technique that merited a space to talk about. While it’s not something that he himself works on, he appreciated the form enough to give it a platform. To that, he believed enough of my contribution to it to talk about it as one of the foremost experts on the topic (I assure you, his words.. not mine)

Knowing how the industry can sometimes be on HDR never really bothers me. I believe that for the most part, my work on it stands for itself – and I’ve prided myself in showing through example how you can totally work on it and have great results – not the typical “Elvis on Velvet” kind of look people cringe at. Having said that, this was one of those situations that did make me nervous about me doing it. Here’s a person that I respected – asking me to teach and show my art. I would be lying if I didn’t say I was determined on focusing on other types of shooting entirely – ignoring the use of HDR. I figured my technique would be something that I would keep to myself, for fear of not wanting to look too different – or look bad.

I guess I wanted to write about it because I believe that many of us as photographers struggle with that entire concept of voice all the time. In looking for a place for us to make a mark, we can often struggle with accepting the things that we like and surrendering to them. To giving in to what we love and in the process of it, finding a new style that we can call our own. We quickly comb through websites of other work and say to ourselves “Look at THAT. That image is great. If only I shot this. If Only I shot that.. “ Perpetually looking at the grass on the other side just keeps us thinking that the grass we stand on isn’t as good.. or cannot be cultivated as well as the one right in front of us.

At times like this, I remember a maxim that my good friend Pete Collins shared with me:

Comparison is the thief of Joy.

Rather than sit and compare myself to all of the other stuff around me, I found it better to just sit and think to myself “This is what I do. This is how I work. Let me dive into the scenarios and leverage how much practice I’ve done with this technique to see if I can bring about something completely new that these people have not seen.” Eric Clapton was once asked about legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn. When asked about playing next to Stevie, Eric stated that he tried not to watch him play. To do so would have him lost in the greatness.. and not let him speak what he wanted to say musically. Arming myself with that, I just said “Let me be truthful to myself and contribute by shooting what I love”

The next few days, I spent them making pictures that I was immensely proud of. From gigantic panoramas of the environment to intimate portraits of my wife resting after a wonderful day, I was able to really show what it felt like to be in this magical place. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the principals at the restaurant really loved the images. The work really resonated with the students as well, and I was able to teach how I produced the images, giving me a chance to do what I love – share my experiences.

Rather than swim in comparisons, remember that doing what you really love can be the best way to express your photographic gift. It’s the best way to leave your mark on this art . Its also the best way for you to find joy in what you do.

(see.. not all of the shots I made were HDR. This is a pic of my wife Jenn totally in her element during our vacation. :) )

*****

Im excited to say that I will be joining Joe again this August leading another workshop. This time around Joe is out there for two weeks. One week has students learning with the incomparable David Burnett. The next week, I go back with Joe and explore post processing, video production in Photoshop, HDR, and shooting techniques. If you want to join us on either week, you can find out more information at the link below:

The Workshops at Jade Mountain- with Joe Mcnally, David Burnett, and RC Concepcion

If you want to find out more about me, visit my website at www.aboutrc.com or visit me on Google Plus

What an amazing day!!!! Over 1,500 photographers (capacity) at the B&H Photo event in person — literally thousands more watching the live stream from literally all over the world — Adobe was there, including the new Lightroom Product manager Sharad Mangalick, who was answering questions all day, one-on-one from attendees at the event — and I’m training alongside Adobe Evangelist Julieanne Kost and The Photoshop Diva herself, Katrin Eismann. What a blast! :)

Lots of learning. Lots of laughs. Lots of Lighting. Lots of Lightroom. Canon was there. Sony was there. Elinchrom, Square Space and Westcott, too (among others). That’s (L to R above): Yours truly, Katrin, and Julieanne during the opening session showing off some cool Lightroom 5 stuff.

I’ll tell the rest in the captions, but all morning we shared Lightroom tips, new features, news techniques, and so on. Then after lunch I did a live shoot, and then passed the images off to Katrin & Julieanne to do some retouching and finishing effects (they wound up doing a Twilight effect).

Above: We had a team put together to work with our model for the shoot. Here’s a shot from backstage with makeup artist Cassi Renee and hair stylist Eric Williams. The shoot was styled by Sophia Batson (not shown here, and darn if I could even find a shot with Sophia in the frame, but she is truly awesome! Fourth time I’ve worked with Sophia — she is wonderful to work with it and very talented).

Above: Our staging area was a small empty meeting room right next to the ballroom where the class was taking place, and at lunch time we did a quick test shoot to test the lighting, and go over with the model what we’d be doing on stage in about 30 minutes from then. That’s photographer David Teng helping us out as 2nd assistant and behind me is photographer Jason Joseph who was our third assistant on the shoot. By the way: I did have breakfast available for the entire crew (anyone that watched last week’s episode of “The Grid” will know why).

I’m shooting a Canon 5D Mark III here (Canon was the major sponsor of the event, so they gave me the Mark III to use for the live shoot. Sweet camera!)

Above: Here’s an over-the-shoulder view of our model Caroline, who did a really terrific job! After a few test shots, we broke everything down; moved it out to the stage for the live shoot in front of the class.

Above: Ya know what’s stressful? Doing a live shoot in front of 1,500 New York photographers. Oh yeah, want to take it up a notch? Standing in the back of the room — Joe McNally. Cue the sweat!

Above: Here’s a Lightroom grid of some of the shot from the live shoot in front of the class.

Above: Lightroom 5 has a feature (which I showed earlier in the day) that lets you visualize any type of cover design, brochure cover, photo book cover , etc., as an overlay right within Lightroom, so I took one of the images; did the retouching myself (more of a straight-up fashion retouch), and did the cover mock-up you see here.

Above: Here’s the un-cropped shot used on the cover, just so you can see it without all the text.

Above: Here’s the view from backstage (behind the seamless, Julieanne and Katrin wait patiently for the shoot part to conclude and then I hand them a hard drive with the images on it for them to “do their thing”). Just one light — an Elinchrom BRX 500 strobe with an Elinchrom Rotalux 53″ Midi Octa Softbox, and David is holding a 5-in-1 Westcott reflector to kick a little light back into her eyes. We’re shooting tethered directly into Lightroom 5, and my live shooting rig uses a utility bar from Manfrotto mounted on a tripod, and then the platform itself and orange USB cable are from Tethertools.com

Above: I’m including another backstage shot so you can see the shooting rig, and lighting set-up a little clearer.

It was a Lightroom love-fest!
Everybody I talked with was over-the-top in love with Lightroom, and there was a great vibe going all day. If you missed the live event, B&H Photo will be posting the entire summit online for free so you can go and watch it any time (as soon as its posted, I’ll post a link here, and over on my Facebook and Twitter accounts).

A big thanks to David Brommer from B&H Photo who put this entire event together (you rocked it, dude!). Plus, thanks to all the wonderful crew at B&H Photo, including our dear friend Manny Steigman (best guy ever!). They did an awesome job!

Also, it was a honor to share the stage with both Katrin and Julieanne who not only put up with my lame jokes, but who both taught me some new Lightroom tricks as well, which is always sweet! Thanks to all our fantastic sponsors, and to everybody who came down to the Javits Center yesterday, and who watched the streamed live event at home. We’re all lucky to be using and learning Lightroom together, and we’re very fortunate to have a partner like B&H Photo who values education like they do, and who makes live events like this possible.

Cheers, and hope to see you all again soon!

-Scott

Sorry for the late post, but I was up REALLY late prepping for my sessions today at the B&H Photo Lightroom 5 Digital Photography Summit at the Javtis Center (it kicks off at 10:00 am this morning). I took the shot above (the view from my hotel room at the Hilton Garden Inn on 8th) with my iPhone last night when I got in, and I processed it in Camera+ on my phone (Oppa Kalebra Style). 

I did get to meet up with my buddy, NYC-based photographer Jason Joseph (shown above) at one of my favorite New York restaurants, the incredible Keen’s Steakhouse. Mmmmm. Keen’s. We were hoping this photo makes it into the grainy, noisy hall-of-fame, and I think we have a decent chance at it.

After dinner my brother Jeff (who is here with us in NYC for the B&H Summit too), and I walked down to Times Square and did the tourist thing (sat in the bleachers and marveled at all the giant high-def screens), and I took this iPhone pano of it all.

Look forward to meeting many of you today at the Javits center (if you’re there and you read the blog, make sure you come up and say “hi”). Cheers and have a great Monday!

-Scott

P.S. If you’re not in NYC, you can still watch the event – Here’s the link to sign up for the free live streaming.

Live Action Horse Racing Photography with Dave Black
In the latest addition to KelbyTraining.com, Live Action Horse Racing Photography, join Dave Black on location at Tampa Downs and learn how to photograph horse racing from one of the top sports photographers in the world. Dave gets up early to document everything that happens in the course of a day at a working racetrack, while sharing tips and tricks he’s learned over a career that spans 30 years. You’ll learn about all the gear he uses, how to set up a remote camera, the importance of choosing the background in each of your shots, why you should focus on the small details as much as the wider panorama to help tell the story, and so much more!

Leave a comment for your chance to win a free rental of this class!

Kelby Training Live
Want to spend a day with Scott Kelby, Joe McNally, RC Concepcion, Ben Willmore, or Matt Kloskowski? Check out these seminar tours!

Shoot Like A Pro with Scott Kelby (these dates will be posted soon!)
July 29 – Colorado Springs, CO
Aug 16 – San Antonio, TX
Aug 21 – Indianapolis, IN
Aug 27 – San Jose, CA

Photoshop CS6 for Photographers with RC Concepcion
June 17 – Ottawa, ON
June 19 – Toronto, ON
June 21 – Calgary, AB
June 26 – New Orleans, LA

Photographic Artistry with Ben Willmore
July 22 – Cleveland, OH

One Light, Two Light with Joe McNally
July 31 – Virginia Beach, VA
Aug 7 – Charlotte, NC
Aug 9 – Pittsburgh, PA

Lightroom 5 with Matt Kloskowski
Aug 2 – Hartford, CT

Leave a comment for your chance to win a ticket to one of these events!

Frank Doorhof’s Live in New Jersey DVD
Frank Doorhof has released a 3-hour DVD filmed during his recent workshop in New Jersey! See his live shoots and see how he creates his images with limited gear, then watch as he takes those images into Lightroom and Photoshop to finish them. You can find out more about it here, purchase this or any of his other videos here (use the discount code UK99 to get 20% off), or find out how you can win a free copy from Frank here!

Photography FUNdamentals – FREE from Moose Peterson
Want a FREE book from Moose Peterson? Check out his just-released Photography FUNdamentals for the iPad! In this book, Moose covers all of the photography basics that you need to learn so well that they become second nature, which will allow you to focus on making great images instead of your camera settings. You can find out more about the book here, check out a video of Moose explaining the book here, and download it from iTunes here!

Photography Q&A by Zack Arias
Based on his incredibly popular Tumblr, Zack Arias has curated the best questions and answers from that blog and turned them into his brand new book, Photography Q&A! In the book, Zack answers readers questions based on his experiences in the photo industry and life in general. Here’s a sampling of topics from the table of contents… Finding Portrait Subjects, Best Piece of Gear Under $100, Cheap eBay Lights, Going To School for Photography, Finding Your Style, Setting Prices, plus plenty of others.

You can pick up your copy right here, or leave a comment for your chance to win a signed copy from Zack!

Winners
Signed Joe McNally Book Set
- RLevesque

Tim Wallace Class Rental
- Tommy Botello

Kelby Training Live Ticket
- Steve

If you’re one of the winners, we’ll be in touch soon! That’s it for today, have a great Thursday!

I want to thank Scott and Brad for sharing the space with so many great photographers. You guys are good people, and it’s an honor to be here among such amazing photographers, creatives, and story tellers. Again, much thanks!

I spent the better part of the last 8 years living and working in far western China, running a photography tourism agency. Just last year I returned to the States to continue a career in the commercial photography market.

I mention western China only because where I predominantly photographed was far enough from the hyper-developed east coast that my life resembled nothing of the China you’ve seen in the news. I was just far enough out ‘in the boonies’ that stories, legends, and mysteries were still afforded the chance to exist.

Over the years of photographing the wild places of China, I experienced many truly strange things, eaten some things I’m not too proud of, and collected my fair share of stories. Some experiences stand above others. Some stories remind us to put down the camera and enjoy the ride, enjoy the people.

This is one such story, and it is hands down one of my most favorite experiences from my life in China. I’m delighted to share it with you:

With high hopes, we pulled onto a dusty road, past a police outpost where three Chinese policemen sat bundled in Soviet-Era winter clothing. They huddled close around a small coal stove after enduring what must have been a miserable night in -40 Celsius temperatures. We jokingly waved as we passed them, curious if we’d be called over for inspection. Nothing. They stared at us and didn’t budge. They were too cold to stop us – way too cold to care that two foreigners had just driven past their remote outpost – a common occurrence when photographing the Tibetan plateau in winter.

Losang and I had been scouting a photo workshop through the Sichuan mountains when we happened to glance at an old map. Serthar, it read in Tibetan, a generalized name marking a generalized location. Without much debate we both started plotting a route to what we assumed was Seda monastery, hoping to photograph a mystery.

Seda is one of the few places in Tibet that still retains its original mystery. A photographer’s dream. Before our visit, I had heard about its size from a friend who had, years before, only seen the monastery from a hill overlooking the valley but was unable to get inside. Most people either knew little of Seda or nothing at all. The monastery, though 40,000 residents strong, remained a quiet mystery… barely more than a rumor and rarely photographed.

We took the last turn up the winding valley road, and there it was, almost too much to take in. The monastery literally covered three mountainsides – a hidden city, seldom spoken of, in the middle of the Tibetan Plateau.

We arrived at the top of the dusty road completely encompassed in a cloud of smoke, remnants of the coal Seda’s residents burned in a futile attempt to keep warm through the brutal Tibetan nights. The cloud, thick and yellow, allowed only fleeting bursts of early morning light to reach the valley floor, intensifying the surreal mood of our surroundings. We watched as dark figures in maroon robes darted in and out of the smoke – monks rushing off to morning prayers.

Soon a vast mountain city materialized before us, as morning sun burned away its smoky veil. Losang and I had photographed hundreds of monasteries and developed a natural rhythm to exploring such places, but the enormous city that stood before us demanded pause. We stood silently, not knowing where to start.

Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere and said in near-perfect English, “Hello! Can I help you two?” The voice, out of place in both time and location, seemed to complete our shock – as if the monastery itself had spoken out loud.

My brain went into overdrive. I was sure I was hearing things.

I looked at Losang as he looked at me – both searching the other’s face for signs that either of us was the owner of the voice we’d just heard.  We both knew that in western China, a local speaking perfect English was unheard of.

We slowly turned around to find a monk in his early 20’s standing before us, smiling from ear to ear in his red robes, deriving great pleasure from our stunned expressions. He knew he was out of place – an apparition in the holy city.

“My name is Dondrup. I’m guessing by your blank stares that this is your first time to Seda? How about you two come to my house for lunch and tea?”

We spent a long while chatting with Dondrup, testing the limits of his English – testing his sheer existence. Eventually he led us up the long, nearly vertical path to his home. There we sat in his dark, cold house, drinking yak butter tea and sharing lunch like we were long lost friends – completely forgetting that we were there to scout future photo workshops. I specifically remember thinking, “Don’t miss this experience. Don’t miss this story!” That meant putting the camera away for a while. It’s always about the people.

He told us the story of his childhood, how his family had left Tibet when he was very young, how he’d spent the better part of two decades hopping from country to country. He’d only recently returned to Tibet, coming to Seda to attend school and experience his home culture and language for the very first time. He was as much of a foreigner at Seda as we were, as surreal as Seda itself.

We left the city later that day to make the three-day Land Rover drive back to relative civilization. From time to time since that visit, I pick up the phone to hear Dondrup’s voice, “Hey Brian! How are you doing man? I hope your family is having a great Christmas!” or “Hey, it’s New Years in America right now, isn’t it?” After each encounter, I call my friend Losang. and he always reports a recent call from Dondrup as well. More than once Losang and I have asked each other if what we experienced at Seda was real.

The pictures I brought home serve as visual proof, but they can’t tell the whole story. To know Seda is to stand in the valley as the clouds part and the morning sun reveals the hillside city. To look into the eyes of its people. To hear their stories and find a friend. The people and places I see through the lens have incredible stories to share. But what I often fail to admit is that the stories need to extend beyond the image, that they’ll tell themselves if I listen.

Sometimes we have to put down the camera, connect with people, and enjoy the the story as it unfolds.

In the short time we had at Seda, I was able climb to the top walls of Seda and capture this panorama. It’s a huge place and the image doesn’t do it justice considering the distance between the mountainsides and the compressed nature of a panoramic shot. Nonetheless, it’s a good representation of the enormity of the monastery.

Click here to view the full-size image

You can see more of Brian’s work at BrianHirschy.com, check out his photo tours at PlateauPhotoTours.com, and follow him on Twitter.

Our own Photoshop Guys, Corey Barker and Pete Collins, share some cool tips on using a Wacom Intuos5 Tablet (and why it’s their go-to tool for photo retouching and editing). At the end of the video they announce an exclusive $50 off discount on the Wacom Intuos5 Medium-size Tablet exclusively for KelbyTraining.com and NAPP Members (this $50 off makes it the best price Ive seen anywhere on this tablet).

The offer (only valid at the official Wacom online store in the USA only) expires June 23rd, 2013. Members can find the Discount Code either on the Kelby Training site (http://kelbytraining.com/) or on the NAPP Member Site:

http://members.photoshopuser.com/article/wacom/

My thanks to Wacom for making this deal available to our members and subscribers.

Lightroom 5 is now shipping — and to celebrate; one week from today you’re invited to come join me, Julieanne Kost and Katrin Eismann for B&H Photo’s “Lightroom Digital Photography Summit”

It’s a FREE, all-day learning event at the Javits Center, coming up on Monday, June 17th and if you’re in the New York area, you gotta come down (you’ll have loads of fun and you’ll learn a bunch).

I’ll be showing some of my favorite Lightroom tips; I’m doing a live shoot (then handing off the images to Julieanne and Katrin to retouch and finish), plus a lot more.

Seating is limited (and it’s almost already sold out in advance), so grab your seat at “The Summit” right here.

Hope you can join us. See you in New York next week!

-Scott

I’m coming to:

• San Antonio on Friday, August 16th
• Indianapolis on  Wednesday, August 21st
• San Jose on Tuesday, August 27th
• Colorado Springs on July 29th

Here’s the link to reserve your seat ($99 for the full day of training. $79 if you’re a NAPP member).

Introducing Beginners Start Here on KelbyTraining.com
Join Scott Kelby tonight, June 6 at 7:00pm ET for a live webcast where he will introduce the latest initiative from KelbyTraining.com, Beginners Start Here. This is a program for beginners that starts them off with classes to learn the basics of their camera, then help them master their photographic interests!

Register for this free webcast right here and you’ll be entered for the chance to win a Sony A58 DSLR! Plus, on the day of the webcast, you’ll be able to get free 3-day rentals of the Canon, Nikon, and Sony DSLR Basics classes and take advantage of discounted subscriptions!

St. Lucia Photo Workshops with Joe McNally, RC Concepcion, and David Burnett
Joe McNally is headed back to the beautiful Anse Chastanet and Jade Mountain in St. Lucia this August, and this time he’s taking RC Concepcion and David Burnett with him!

August 18-23, Joe will be joined by world-renowned photojournalist David Burnett as they teach you how to tell stories with your camera. You’ll learn everything from using available and artificial light, to street photography, to portraiture, and even get to hear Joe and David share stories from their long careers shooting for publications like National Geographic and LIFE Magazine.

Then from August 25-30, Joe will be joined by RC Concepcion, known for his technical prowess behind both the camera and computer. During this week, you’ll learn about portrait lighting, how to tame harsh available light, post processing, shooting and processing for HDR, business strategies, and building a website.

You can sign up for one or both of these workshops and get more info right here. And leave a comment for your chance to win a signed book set from Joe McNally!

Learn Automotive Photography In A Flash with Tim Wallace
Tim Wallace is back with his latest class for KelbyTraining.com, Learn Automotive Photography In A Flash! In this class, Tim keeps things simple and will show you the possibilities of automotive photography using just one camera, one lens, and one light. Tim starts off with the importance of choosing a great location, then covers the gear he’ll use for the shoot. Once he shows you how to set up your camera, he goes through lighting the interior and exterior of the car, as well as the location. From there, he shows how to put all of the shots together in Photoshop using layers and masks to create a beautiful finished image!

Check it out at KelbyTraining.com, and leave a comment for your chance to win a free rental of this class!

Kelby Training Live
Want to spend a day with Scott Kelby or RC Concepcion? Check out these seminar tours!

Shoot Like A Pro with Scott Kelby (these dates will be posted soon!)
July 29 – Colorado Springs, CO
Aug 16 – San Antonio, TX
Aug 21 – Indianapolis, IN
Aug 27 – San Jose, CA

Photoshop CS6 for Photographers with RC Concepcion
June 12 – Nashville, TN
June 17 – Ottawa, ON
June 19 – Toronto, ON
June 21 – Calgary, AB
June 26 – New Orleans, LA

Leave a comment for your chance to win a ticket to one of these events!

Winners
Cliff Mautner Class Rental
- R Frazier

Kelby Training Live Ticket
- Todd

If you’re one of the winners, we’ll be in touch soon! Have a great Thursday, and we’ll see you tonight at 7pm ET for the live webcast with Scott and friends!

Very honored to be able to have this platform today. Great thanks to Scott and Brad for giving me the opportunity.

It was about 6 years ago that one of my good friend’s dad loaned me his Nikon 35mm film camera. I had decided that I was going to major in Studio Art at The University of Alabama. One of the required classes for that specific major was a black and white darkroom photography. I can remember like it was yesterday; learning to expose film properly, develop it with chemicals, and then print in the darkroom. This had not been my original plan. Not at all.

When I was 15 my step father gave me a video camera for Christmas. That camera really changed the way I saw things. I was always making videos of friends and family. It might have been that I was trying to recreate a scene in a movie or I was just filming my friends doing highschool type of stuff. Nonetheless, I really became attached to the motion camera. Because of my interest in motion and cameras I started watching as many movies as I could and studying the camera moves, the composition, the blocking, the lighting, colors, etc. At a friend’s recommendation, I watched the film, “American Beauty” directed by Sam Mendes and DP’d by Conrad Hall.

That movie had one of the greatest impacts on me as far as drama and lighting go. It really opened me up to what the possibilities of filmmaking could really be. From that point on, I decided that I wanted to be a feature film cinematographer. So I of course started to apply to all the great schools of cinematography. I was pretty naive at the time. I was an 18 year old kid from Alabama who barely passed high school. Who was I kidding thinking that I was going to get into USC. But I gave it a shot anyway.

Well, a few months later I opened the mail and to my disappointment I could not get into any of the schools that I thought would be the best for my “career.”

So I ended up going to the school in my hometown’s backyard, The University of Alabama. Unfortunately, there was no cinematography or film program being offered at the time at UofA. That’s where we come back to my story about borrowing the 35mm Nikon. Because I could not study cinematography, I decided the next best thing would be photography. So once again I gave it a shot.

I soon fell in love with photography so much that I decided I should make it my career path. One of my teachers shared with me a book by photographer, Richard Avedon, called In the American West. It was a book of portraits that Avedon took over a period of several years every summer out west. He traveled with his assistants by car through the west and photographed complete strangers that piqued his interest. After seeing Avedon’s book it really changed everything for me as far as photography goes.

His portraits had this drama, authenticity, and power to them that really tugged at my heart. They moved me in a way that nothing else did at the time. That’s when I realized how powerful a single photograph could be.  Before that I had no objective with my camera. I was a young 20 year old kid shooting everything from flowers, to buildings, to railroad tracks. I was just a guy with a camera that did not have a voice or vision. But after seeing Avedon’s book I became literally obsessed with portraiture.

At this point I had no idea how to exactly make a career out of photography, but it didn’t bother me.  All I wanted to do was photograph the people that I would encounter. I started driving hours outside of my hometown to rural southern towns. I would walk up to complete strangers and ask to take their portrait. At first it was scary asking someone you didn’t know if you could make their portrait. Most people did not understand, but usually always said yes. I ended up shooting lots of people and making a true foundation for my portfolio. I was never being paid to create any of this work. I really had a true sense of commitment and passion to be constantly making portraits.

After a few years, I started to think about how I was going to turn this into a career. I started showing the work that I had created to magazines and advertising agencies around Alabama. I did a lot of studying and reading on the internet about what kind of people actually hire photographers. Before I knew it, people started hiring me for jobs. It was nothing too glamorous, but I was having the time of my life actually getting paid every once in a while to take pictures of people. It was almost like I was so naive at the beginning of my career, not knowing exactly what to do and showing work after I had only been shooting for a couple of years that it worked in my favor.

Fast forward 4 years later, and a lot has happened. I got married, tooks lots of pictures, showed lots of pictures, hustled all over the south trying to meet people, got an agent, hustled more, took more pictures, got a few breaks in Alabama shooting some big ad campaigns, left it all and moved to New York, started over again, hustled even more, took even more more pictures, and now I’ve been living in New York for two and a half years still shooting.

Through all these years I’ve learned a few things that I thought I would share today that have helped me in the photography industry.Hopefully not to disappoint, but there are no lighting tips involved, nothing about lenses and cameras, or the latest gear.

1.) Persistence/Hustle
This is probably one of my greatest strengths. It has helped me build the career that I’ve had so far and has led to a lot of amazing opportunities. Without persistence I don’t think I would be a photographer right now. When it comes to getting hired in photography a lot of this business is about relationships + talent. You have to have talent, but you also have to be good at getting to know the right people. I’ve always been very persistent in going after new clients. I have lists pinned to my wall near my computer that have my “dream” clients listed. I’m always looking at that list reminding myself of who to stay in touch with and who to be showing new work to. There are some people on that list that have never responded to one of my efforts, but I don’t stop trying. However, it is important to find a personal balance of being persistent without being too pushy or annoying. I’ve made a lot of work that was never seen or never appreciated, but I’ve continued to constantly produce new work and refine my skills.

2.) Focus/Vision
Knowing what I want to make photographs of is really important to me. I’ve always felt an attraction to making pictures of people. That’s what I’ve focused on ever since I fell in love with portraiture. I really try to hone my craft by always making portraits and pushing myself technically and creatively. There are sometimes where I feel that I get into a rut from a creative standpoint. I sometimes go into my default way of photographing, which basically means that I resort to what feels comfortable. That can be a trap. It’s always good to get out of your comfort zone and try something new – usually that’s when your best work is created. I decided a couple of years ago that I wanted to be known for something in photography. In a sense, I wanted to become a master at something. I’m not implying that I’m in any way shape or form a “true master” at photography, I just simply strive to be one. My focus is making portraits and always trying to improve the way I work. I would much rather be great at one thing in photography, than be mediocre at a few.

3.) Show your work
Life’s too short to not give a go at something you love. Once photography became my passion, I have never stopped trying to make it my sole career. I would go to meet potential clients while I was still in college. I hardly knew anything about photography, but I knew that I wanted to make a living from it because of how much I loved it. Most people I hear from are always waiting to show their work when they think it’s perfect. That was not the case for me. I started early – I got out there and showed it to anyone that would give me the time – I still do. Anytime I’m traveling on assignment, I might stay in a city for another day or so and make meetings with agencies and magazines. Once I had built a successful career in Alabama, I left it all to start all over in New York. I knew what kind of photography I wanted to do and I knew that I needed to be in a place like New York to make it happen. From the moment I moved to the city I hit the subways and went all over the city lugging my portfolio. I still make an effort every few months to make more rounds of meetings. The point is that you can’t wait, you just have to get out there and show your work.

These three points have really been a foundation for the success of my career thus far. Without them I really don’t think I would be anywhere. As you know, there is obviously more to my work than these three principles. I think to be successful in the photography industry you have to find a way to stand out. Which is much easier said than done. I still don’t feel like I’m there yet, but I’m really enjoying the process of finding that path. Hope you enjoyed the post and maybe you can take something away from it.

You can see more of Miller’s work at MillerMobley.com, and follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

(1) Photoshop World Vegas registration is Now Open!
What’s Photoshop Vegas like? Watch that video, and then come join us in September. LOTs of cool new classes, new instructors and new stuff to learn. Here’s the link with details.

(2) Cool new class on Lifestyle photography from Erik Valind
This new class  is getting lots of great feedback (Erik is a really great teacher, and he’s handling a really tough, but really common program and of course, he makes it easy and understandable). Erik explains the class in the video above.

Here’s the link with details on the class. (you can rent the online class for three days for just $9.99, but if you’re already a Kelby Training Online subscriber, of course it’s free).

(3) Thanks to everybody at Henry’s “Exposure Show” in Toronto
Man, what a great show! A big thanks and shoutout to everybody who came out to my Keynote Presentation at the Exposure Show in Toronto last Sunday. Just had such a great time! Really great event from top to bottom. Super diggin’ it!

(4) The New issue of Lightroom Magazine is now available
Issue #5 of our fastest-growing magazine, Lightroom Magazine, is now available on the App Store. There’s a very cool tutorial on portrait retouching in Lightroom, Matt has a great article (and video) on combining images; Rob Sylvan shows you how to use Target Collections (and why they’re so handy), plus a whole lot more. Hope you check it out.

(5) Into Flipboard? Into Photography? Check out my Flipboard magazine “Cool Photography Stuff”
I curate a Flipboard 2.0 magazine called “Cool Photography Stuff” and each day I update it with exactly that. I search a bunch of different online photography resources and when I see something cool, interesting, helpful, or just a really beautiful image, I ‘flip” it into the mag so it’s always very up-to-date (I often update it numerous times a day). Anyway, it’s free, it’s fun, so just search it on Flipboard App (for IOS and Android) When you search, look for a mag from “skelby” — that’s me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheers,

-Scott

P.S. Don’t forget to join me Thursday at 7:00 pm for our “Beginners Start Here” free Webcast with a ton of photography tips, giveaways and fun stuff to launch our biggest online initiative yet! See you then.