Today and tomorrow (28th & 29th September 2009) sees an unprecedented and unique opportunity for professional photographers everywhere. Never have I seen such an incredible assemblage of photographic rock stars come together and offer this much business education for FREE!! Yes, I did say FREE. Well, almost at least. If you have 16 hours to spare at your telephone, of course. Personally, I preferred to take the option of buying the MP3 audio files afterwards so that I can listen to them at my leisure and not worry about my phone battery dying or using up all my precious cell phone minutes.

To find out more about this incredible series of presentations, head over to the Joy of Marketing website where you can still register and/or buy the audio downloads. Here is a list of the speakers on this amazing event:

• Edward Zemba
• David Ziser
• Kevin Kubota
• Jen Hillenga
• Kia Bondurant
• Kent & Sarah Smith
• John Hartman
• Sarah Petty
• Tim & Beverly Walden
• Lori Nordstrom
• Rod Evans
• Vicki Taufer
• Dane Sanders
• Allison & Jeff Rodgers
• Marilyn Sholin
• Julie Klaasmeyer

I’m really looking forward to listening in once the MP3s are ready. Check it out today, this is the best photographic business education you can get anywhere.

I encourage anyone working as a photographer to check out the new blog by Mr. Charles J. Lewis. I have been a student of Chuck’s now for about two years and have found his teachings to be solid and based soundly on proven experience. One thing is certain - I would not be in business as a photographer right now if it wasn’t for Chuck, and I know of many others who can say the same.

If you’re looking for information on the latest gear, the newest Photoshop tip or what f-stop to use, Mr. Lewis’ blog may not be for you… but, if you’re interested in the business of being a photographer, marketing & selling then I would advise you to hurry on over to http://www.cjlewis.com/blog/ as fast as your mouse will get you there…

I recently found this relatively new site by successful US photographer Rod Evans, where he posts short but free and incisive video tutorials. He also has a series of eductional videos that he markets.

I found the short video segments very useful and fun to watch. You can check them out here on Rod Evans TV.

This is a short overview of Photovision #73 from www.photovisionvideo.com, hosted by Ed Pierce, a periodical educational DVD for professional photographers. To be clear about this article – I am not affiliated with Photovision in any way and the overview is intended as my opinion only.

2009 is well underway and time is going by faster than expected already! I always look forward to receiving my Photovision DVD in the mail every two months and issue #73 is the first one to appear in my mailbox for this year.

As usual, the DVD is well presented and very professionally put together with just under two hours of great material on it. In addition to some information on the sponsors and some industry news, this issue has five major sections: 

1. Sarah Petty – “Feather Angel”
2. S. Antisdel & K. Bondurant – “Senior Boys Insight, Part I”
3. Parker Pfister – “Kentucky Wedding, Part 3″
4. John Ridgeway – “The Baby Whisperer, Part I”
5. Tim & Bev Walden – “Studio Tour” 

Sarah Petty – “Feather Angel”

For any professional photographer who creates portraits of children, this is a delightful piece that really shows how creative and innovative Sarah can be when it comes to this type of work. The video follows Sarah and her assistants as they create some beautiful portraits of a young girl outdoors, using a bed as a set.

My first reaction was that a bed seems quite unexpected and incongruous in an outside setting, but it really does work very well. The final images are simply amazing and I’m sure the child’s parents were thrilled with them.

The open shade of Sarah’s garden setting provided wonderful lighting where the only modifier needed was a reflector to fill in the shadows. It was interesting to see how Sarah made the best use of the natural light as well as different perspectives to create these beautiful portraits.

Working with children is an art, and Sarah clearly demonstrates how she maintains interest and focus by constant communication with her subject and her quick mode of shooting. I was left with the very clear impression that the young girl had a blast with it, especially as she was able to throw feathers all over the place!

I have watched this several times already and I always seem to get something new out of it. Of course, Sarah makes the whole process look deceptively easy, which we know it isn’t, however I believe being able to learn from her and others in this way makes it more achievable for the rest of us.

S. Antisdel & K. Bondurant – “Senior Boys Insight, Part 1″

I really enjoy working with young people and senior portraiture is a challenging and exciting area of photography to be in, so it’s great to see a section on it here on the DVD. In this particular episode we see the first part of a boy’s senior portrait session and learn not only the techniques of lighting and posing, but also how these two photographers approach the whole subject of senior portraits.

They start by explaining how they construct a personality profile of their subject – everything from what their parents do for a living to their hobbies and other interests. They then take this information and use it to really accentuate the subject’s personality in the portraits, to great effect. In the short time we get to work with many seniors, having a personality profile like this is a great asset in helping us get to know the subject and finding ways to bring out their character in the finished photographs.

The studio itself looked a lot larger than it really is, by virtue of the number of different sets they had managed to fit into it, and the session was made a lot easier to handle without having switch locations.

I noticed that they used primarily natural light with a reflector to create the portraits, which looked great on the screen – I’m sure they are even more impressive in the flesh, as it were.

All in all, this was one of the highlights of this issue and I’m looking forward to seeing part 2.

Parker Pfister – “Kentucky Wedding, Part 3″

I’ve been a fan of Parker Pfister’s wedding photography since I first came across him through earlier editions of Photovision and, as a wedding photographer, I thoroughly enjoy being able to watch him at work on an actual wedding. Parts 1 and 2 of this wedding were on previous editions of the DVD, and this one followed Parker as he captured the wedding itself and part of the cocktail hour that followed.

The video clearly demonstrates Parker’s method of working very unobtrusively at the wedding, yet still producing some amazing images – from almost classic portraits to candid photographs, to even the smallest details.

Then, we get to spend a little time back in the studio as Parker discusses some of his post-processing techniques with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, with some hints on organizing workflow.

John Ridgeway – “The Baby Whisperer, Part 1″

Although I don’t photograph babies myself (at the moment, at least – never say never!), I certainly enjoyed this insight into the studio, equipment and philosophy of John Ridgeway as he describes his approach to baby photography.

This segment introduces us to Mr. Ridgeway and his studio setup, with the variety of sets and equipment that he currently uses. Then we see how he approaches the task of sending the baby to sleep for the photography session – truly amazing.

I’m looking forward to seeing part 2 of this to see the actual photography session itself.

Tim & Bev Walden – “Studio Tour”

One of the many things that Tim & Bev Walden excel at is branding themselves as a high-end studio, and this short tour of their photography studio really highlights the ways that they’ve successfully created well-branded product lines as well as a distinctive brand for their studio as a whole.

In these interesting economic times in which we find ourselves, I believe it is more important than ever to make sure we communicate a solid and consistent brand to our clients and prospects. I would recommend watching this segment over and over until every last scrap of the wealth of information here has been absorbed.

All of the brands in their studio are very different from each other, yet they fit together comfortably in one cohesive whole, which is a great achievement.

Conclusion

For me, the real benefit of these DVDs is the ability to see into the lives of successful working photographers, people who are leaders in their field, or to accompany them on a live photography session – and to be able to do it again and again whenever I want to.

One of the few annoyances, for me at least, is the bias towards Canon photographers, which is unsurprising since Canon is one of the main sponsors of Photovision. I’m have nothing against Canon at all, they do have some great gear, but I feel we might be missing out on the benefit of learning from other wonderful photographers simply because they use Nikon equipment rather than Canon.

It would also be nice to see coverage of some examples of engagement or bridal portrait sessions in addition to actual wedding photography.

All in all, this was a very good issue and I’ll be watching it again and again, I’m sure, as I look forward to issue #74.

I just had to get up and write this blog entry this morning, even though I’m still reeling from the amazing amount of information from last night’s “Tots 2 Teens” seminar at the Hilton, Memphis.

Sandy Puc’ presented an incredible 7 hour program on photographing children from 18 months, up to 17 yrs old. Everything you can imagine was covered in detail – from marketing and sales to posing, dealing with different types of children (and their parents), lighting, equipment – the list goes on!

She even conducted a wonderful live photography session with 3 young sisters, right there on the stage, exactly as she would do it in the studio! There certainly wasn’t a dull moment in the whole evening, and Sandy is obviously a talented and entertaining speaker. Some of the videos she showed of actual sessions, together with her willingness to poke some fun at herself, were a delight.

What an amazingly inspirational and educational experience this was and my advice is this – if you can make it to any of the remaining shows, don’t miss it!!

For more information on the tour, please visit the Tots 2 Teens web site.