Seven Things You’ve Been Asking About
In January you guys posted more than 1,700 Comments
I just went back and added up the number of comments posted by readers from Jan 3rd to Feb 1st, and it was a whopping 1,730 (although 1540 of those were from Ken Toney). ;-) I was just astounded at the community you guys have built, and I want you to know that I read each and every one. Because I see your comments, I wanted to answer some of the questions I see popping up again and again that aren’t specific to that particular post. However, before I do I just wanted to thank you all for taking the time to share your comments, and especially to thank you for keeping your comments positive and making this a place where everybody’s treated with respect, and people don’t get flamed (or even lightly toasted).
(1) Q. Did you ever get your monopod replaced?
A. As it turns out, getting my monopod broken was the best thing that happened to me at that game. When I posted the story about Packer’s Quarterback Aaron Rodgers breaking my monopod during his touchdown dive (link), the folks at Really Right Stuff (the people who make my beloved BH-40 and BH-55 Ball Heads, which I cannot live without), graciously overnighted me their brand new, super-heavy duty MC-34 Carbon Fiber Monopod (shown above, on the Photoshop User TV set, where I’m telling the story—photo by Brad Moore), which is awesome! Incredibly well built (I’m not sure Rodgers could even take this one out), and it’s getting its first workout next week. That was truly cool of the Really Right Stuff crew.
Then, last Friday I got to speak at Manfrotto Distribution’s Annual Sales Meeting up in New York. They’re the folks behind a lot of the gear I use on a daily basis, including Elinchrom lighting, Lasto modifiers, Avenger stands, and (wait for it, wait for it), Gitzo tripods and monopods.
I’ve done presentations before in their tradeshow booth, but this time they had invited me to do a presentation to their distributors on how I use their gear in my own photography. So, I did a similar presentation to the one I do in their booth for the public, but then I ended with a quick portrait retouch (that’s me in mid retouch above—photo by Will Holowka), and then I ended with a short football photography slideshow.
After I was done, they presented me with not only a replacement for my broken Gitzo monopod, but the replacement was their upgraded model; the Gitzo GM3551 6X Caron Fiber Monopod, which is built like a tank. I don’t think a Packer’s lineman could take this puppy out. This all worked out much better than I could have ever hoped, because now not only do I have two awesome monopods, but I took the $220 Aaron Rodgers gave me, bought some whiskey, and went Honky Tonkin’. ;-)
(2) Q. Where’s the Kelby Training iPad App?
A. Every time I see that comment, which is now daily by the way, I cringe because I don’t have a decent answer. We have run into more hurdles with this project than you can imagine, and every time I think we’re a week away from releasing it, a new issue pops up in a different area. I can tell you we do have Beta versions in-house on our own iPads where we’re testing it, but there’s a reason it’s still in Beta—it’s not quite ready for release. This is one complex puppy, but once it’s lept over every hurdle, it’s going to be awesome. But until it is released, I’m in full cringe mode. Just know, it’s at the top of our list of projects, and I want it as badly as you guys do. Maybe more.
(3) Q. When’s the next Annual World Wide Photo Walk?
A. We haven’t picked the exact date again, but I imagine it will be approximately around the same time frame (late summer, so it’s really hot outside), but as soon as we nail down a date, I’ll be releasing that date here for sure.
(4) Q. When is the new Season of D-Town TV going to air?
A. OK, you have to keep this under wraps, but it’s been delayed a few weeks because we are launching an awesome new show in the next couple of weeks that I think you all will love. I can’t reveal all the details yet, but in the meantime it looks like D-Town TV will kick off its new season next week, but with some changes, which will be revealed in that first episode. It’s all good stuff, so stay tuned.
(5) Q. When is Jay Maisel’s new class going to be released? What about Jeremy Cowart’s 2nd class?
A. Good news: Jay’s class (which is incredible by the way) is almost out of editing, and should be up within just a few weeks. I am excited to tell you that Jeremy’s 2nd class is set to be released later today (his first class was one of our most-watched classes of the year, even though it didn’t come out until October). That’s Jeremy above, in a photo taken by RC yesterday at our studios where Jeremy was recording videos on how he does his Photoshop post-production. This is part of his upcoming online class where we went on location to Nashville to tape him doing an album cover shoot with a big name band. An amazing teaching opportunity from an amazing photographer and instructor.
(6) Q. When are you going to release an iPad App for “Photo Recipes, Part 2?”
A. The App is actually produced by my book’s Publisher, the fine folks over at Peachpit Press, and I imagine we’re probably just a few months away from its iPad release. I’ll let you guys know as soon as I hear anything concrete, but so far I haven’t heard a proposed ship date.
(7) Q. So Scott, are you shooting the SuperBowl?
A. Man, I wish. Unfortunately, I’ll be just watching the game at home, but luckily I’ll be surrounded by friends who all wish they were shooting it too, so we can drown our sorrows in yummy football food, while we scream at the TV (all wearing our Bears logo gear. We were so close!). Now, although Football season is just about officially over, I have a feeling it might be time for an NBA shoot this coming week. :-)
So, there you have it. Some quick answers to those lingering questions. Thanks again to everyone who posted comments and joined in the discussion this year. I love reading your comments, and commenting back when I have the chance. Have a great weekend everybody and we’ll see you here next week.