I’ve been thinking about this the last few days. It’s a challenge, to say the least, and it’s not just limited to photography. Think of every creative service industry that’s been affected by a transition to digital: photography, music, art, advertising, etc. They’ve all been inundated with new talent that’s able to learn and produce at a rapid pace. If you can see the results of your work right away, you can progress through those 10,000 hours much quicker. The baseline for what is considered acceptable work changes as well. As an example, look at audio. When the digital revolution started, audio professionals slammed MP3 for it’s crappy compression and frequency response. And where are we now? The pros still slam MP3. And MP3 is the dominant audio format. Not “cd quality” files. Not HD audio. This kind of market ‘attitude’ adjustment has happened in every field affected by digital. And it’s not completely a bad thing. It’s great, for example, to be able to get a beautiful print out of today’s printers without worrying about CMYK or color separations or any of that stuff. So how can you stand out in your field among all this change?
[Read more...]
Can you still be creative in today’s world?
Mel Parker for Black Enterprise Magazine
Monica Cunningham for American University Magazine
A Live Studio Audience
I had the honor last night of taking part in something special. If you are on Google Plus, you probably know that the first-ever Google Plus Photography Conference is going on right now. This conference is being run by the Scott Kelby’s crew (the same one that runs Photoshop World), along with Google.
I wasn’t able to make it to San Francisco, but I was asked and excited to be a part of it (albeit remotely). For a lot of the presentations, the conference team ran live hangouts and displayed the video on a large screen. This brought a unique element to the presentation (which already was in front of a large crowd). For the first time, a presenter could give a talk and also field questions/input from the hangout members.
I was happy to be one of those hangout members for Jeremy Cowart’s presentation last night. During the event I kept thinking “Cheers is filmed before a live, studio audience.” That’s what it felt like. I was an observer, and also a participant. I was far away, but close, because I could ask a question at any point. If I did speak, my face was immediately shown on the huge screen in the conference hall. I’m glad I brushed my hair.
If you’d like to watch Jeremy’s presentation (which is awesome btw), I’ve included it below. It will leave you, like me, feeling both inspired and unproductive! Dang you, Jeremy. I’ve also included some stills that my friend Frederick Van Johnson sent me from ‘behind the curtain’. Literally, behind the giant projection screen.
Congrats to Google and Scott Kelby and his team for pulling off this new conference, and congrats to Jeremy Cowart for a great presentation!
TWiP Interview
It’s been about a month since the last post. In some many ways, the holiday season is my busiest time. In addition to my commercial/editorial work, I pick up a fair bit of Christmas card work as well. I’m looking forward to wrapping things up over this week so I can get to some Christmas shopping and baked-goods gluttony.
In the meantime, I had the great fortune to do an interview with Frederick Van Johnson of This Week In Photo. It’s my hands-down favorite podcast and, to borrow a phrase from co-host Alex Lindsay, ‘you should definitely check it out’.
You can find the entire interview here. We talk about my work prior to photography (including a stint at the Pentagon, web design, and a little film music scoring too).
I hope your holidays are off to a great start!
PPA Story & Contest
Google Plus and a New Venture
Yes, it’s been a little barren here on the Dogblog. I would chalk it up to the intense Texas heat which has forced all of us to retreat to the coolest parts of our homes for the last few months. Only now are we starting to emerge and go outside.
First off, if you haven’t yet signed up for Google Plus, I highly suggest you do so. It has been exploding since its introduction a few months ago, especially in the area of photography. The work being posted up there daily is incredible! You can find my profile directly at www.EricGPlus.com.
Google Plus has this unique feature called a ‘hangout’. It’s a group video chat, and it also has become quite popular. You’ll find hangouts covering all sorts of topics. It’s a great way to meet new friends.
Using hangouts, myself and photographer Dustin Meyer have launched a new venture: Photog.TV. The idea is really simple: we host and record hangouts weekly covering photography. We talk about photo news, have interviews, show tips that we’ve come across, etc. I think of it as a social podcast. The format and schedule are set, but the guests are random (it’s whoever joins the hangout) and the discussion can go anywhere.
So far, we’ve had 4 episodes. We’ve talked about the current state of photography, the legacy of Steve Jobs, working with clients, and tips/tricks for getting maximum engagement on your blog (Dustin hosted that last one, as I’m in no condition to pontificate on blog engagement lately).
We’ve also had some great guests join in: RC Concepcion and Pete Collins from NAPP, Trey Ratcliff, and even super-famous (about to be famous-er) G+ singer Daria Musk.
When you get a moment, head on over to Photog.TV, watch some of the episodes, and let us know what you think. If you want to be part of an episode, head over to Google Plus and circle myself and Dustin. We record it live on Google Plus every Thursday at 12PM CST. We’ve have some cool ideas of where this could go.
