Check it out, and if you like what you see, add it to you feeds or sign up for email alerts.

What’s ASPP?

ASPP is a unique photography industry association in that it includes photographers and picture agencies and picture researchers and end users, a.k.a. publishers. This means that when you are part of ASPP, you are not just dealing with your colleague-competitors, but also networking with your colleague-potential-clients.

ASPP is a close-knit, supportive community (I know; I am a former board member), and as a photographer ASPP gives you the opportunity to befriend supportive professionals at picture agencies you might want to work with (to license your images) as well as researchers (who might want to license your images).

ASPP’s $125 membership fee might seem steep, but it’s a small price to pay for access to this unique community. So definitely consider joining ASPP.

The Old ASPP News

Until recently ASPP sent out a massive monthly email newsletter to members that was stuffed with industry and member updates. Two problems:

• Way, way too much to digest, check out, sift through, enjoy.

• You couldn’t get at it if you were not a member.

The Super Cool New ASPP eNews Blog

It’s the same content, but on steroids: with images, links, embedded videos.

Some content, like the monthly “President’s Corner,” is clearly geared for members. However, you can ignore this content or, better yet, give it a peek as a kind of “trial run” of ASPP membership.

Some content is from members who are industry experts, like Jim Pickerell, who offers these image licensing insights.

Then there is news related to the industry, like “Update on the Senate Hearing about Intellectual Property” and info about contests, like the “Focus Project 2011.

ASPP agency members are dishing up news about their collections, like the “Lebrecht on Self-Portraits.”

And then you have photographer members sharing their latest efforts, like Wolfgang Kaehler’s “Run with the Wolfies.”

And this was all in the past two weeks!

“So I looked out over the endless view of frozen waves and into the orange glow of the setting sun. For an instant I became fearful of where I was when I looked behind me and saw a deep crevice that I could easily fall into if I lost my footing. But then I looked ahead to the orange glow on the horizon and I felt hope and with that a sense of security because I knew where I came from and I have the heart and spirit to survive.”

Mooney is finishing up a tale of recently photographing on frozen lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for a personal documentary movie project. She likens her experience on the ice to some of the issues she and other photographers has been facing professionally:

“Certainly my business has changed – due to technology and the lousy economy. Because of technology, I am able to do more things than I could ten years ago. Because of the poor economy, I’ve had to do more things. Most other photographers I have talked to this past year have diversified their businesses – some shooting weddings, some shooting video and some working in other retail markets. I suppose we’re all just doing what we can to get through these changing times.”

When Mooney says “we’re all just doing what we can,” she’s not just referring to image makers alone, nor even just creative professionals in general. Mooney notes how she is touched by (and clearly identifying with) the stories she listens to from the hardworking, blue collar people she encounters in Michigan.

When Mooney first started blogging she told me she was more than bit nervous about doing so. For one thing, “I’m not a writer,” she told me. For another, she was wary of losing the privacy she holds dear — of being too much “in the spotlight.”

Well, it’s a good thing for image makers that Mooney keeps on keeping it real with her “Journeys of a Hybrid.”

Mooney has been forging her own success in image making over the past four decades, and in many ways she is just warming up. Her constant embracing of new technologies and business strategies are imprssive, and it’s easy to think of her as one of those untouchable “greats” in the industry who simply have some skill set that most of never will. But as we see clearly in her blog writing, Mooney is entirely human, and she is not afraid to share that standing on ice (literally and metaphorically) is a nerve-racking experience.

Mooney says that she feels a sense of security on the metaphoric ice of her evolving business because she knows where she comes and that “I have the heart and spirit to survive.”

Having talked to Mooney over the past few years for a number of articles, I have come to see that this spirit that she mentions truly is her greatest asset in business. She is the first to admit that clearly defining what comprises her unique spirit is impossible.

“I don’t know,” she has often replied to one of my questions about why she did something particular in her career. “I guess that’s just who I am.”

If you are a photographer — successful, struggling, aspiring — I suggest you read Mooney’s blog. And don’t just enjoy the stories and industry insights. Do your best to read between the lines. Consider that Mooney is not preaching nor offering advice but truly sharing — her fears, her motivations, her moments of euphoria, her moments of feeling lost. Sure, Mooney gives us plenty of professional insights through her blog. But, more than anything else, she shows that what has fueled her successes is her passion for staying true to her passions.

In short, Mooney continues to succeed because she refuses to fail. However, her aversion to failure (which is very real) is not as strong as her desire to succeed. And her desire to succeed is based on her notion of success — what matters to her, not anybody else.

All of this might sound corny and cliché, but that doesn’t keep the lessons that Mooney offers by example from being valuable. With all of us struggling to make ends meet — whether making images or waiting tables — it is impossible not to seek out easy answers. But it seems the only real answer is to continue to engage in the difficult, difficult task of staying true to our own, unique journey, just as Mooney has.

Both videos are featured in a Carter’s blog post yesterday, in which he gives the back story of the assignment.

Carter’s blog will be an RSS feed must for any photographers interested in rock climbing and what goes into making adventure images.

In this video, I love it when Carter talks about creating a “nice, stable platform to work from” — as he twists and turns in a harness tethered to multiple points on different cliffs. : ))

"A nice, stable platform."

I also love how Carter casually changes lenses from the same “stable platform.” Gulp.

And I love the fact that such stunning stills and video footage have been captured with the same DSLR camera. (In this case, it’s a Nikon D3S.)

More than anything, I love how, at the heart of it, Carter’s success at rock climbing photography comprises exactly the same ingredients of all photographic success: plenty of preparation, caring about and being passionate about the subject (as much as the photography), and a clear wiliness to experiment, explore, fail and then, succeed big time.

Head to “Shorpy” delve into the realms of considering what makes an image great or interesting both to you, as well as to learn a whole lot of interesting ideas and historic facts that have nothing to do with photography for photography’s sake. Shorpy is a refreshing reminder to photographers about what photography was originally conceived to accomplish — to capture history (then the present) in a manner that no other media ever had before.

For all is modern zest, photography was and remains a means o record. To share the present with precision. To evoke the past — even of only yesterday’s birthday party — with more power than was ever imaginable. (Although, sure, cave paintings and Renaissance statuary is pretty damn cool.)

At first Shorpy doesn’t seem to come at you with laser-tight focus (not a criticism) and is simply billed, rather broadly as “Best Pix on the Net” and “Always Something Interesting.” But dig in with just a few click and quickly discover that Shorpy is powered by a robust community of photographers and, more important, fans of photography and, more important, fans of vintage images captured before 1940 and, most important, fans of history.

If you want to upload your own vintage images, go for it. Just become a member (for free) and gain easy access to a powerful platform to express your images and ideas about those images. If you simply want to comment on images (not a criticism), you won’t find yourself alone. Shorpy is a rich, friendly, hit-rich community of history buffs and history lovers and lovers of ideas about history — all coming together around photography. Cool.

In a Web 2.0 Word Shopy is a great reminder that as cool as technology is, what’s really most cool what we can do with it. As in: In some ways Shorpy seems a tad retro at first glance, but in all ways it is totally forward thinking, even if the considered thinking relates mostly to the past, which of course relates to the present.

Take yesterday’s post, “Looking the Other Way: 1920.” Part of the caption reads “Washington, D.C., circa 1920. ‘Standard Engraving building, 1212 G Street,’” and points out that this seemingly innocuous view — posted by Dave, who started Shorpy online — is the “other view” of the image in the previous post, “G Street: 1920.” This “Looking” image might put to sleep a modern viewer weaned on images that are visually more aggressive but the straight view is fairly engaging simply because, well, it’s 89 years old and shows a world so different as to be almost surreal to those of us who are not historians, and not often get to peruse such images.

Frankly, interesting or not with its 89 years of age, this view would not hold my attention more than a few seconds and really would not be that interesting were it not for the super active, deeply caring and totally insightful Shorpy community, which has already posted six comments about it. One Shorpy member posts (and transcribes) an announcement related to a building in the image. Cool. This in response to another observation to another commenter. Cool. Someone else comments with another vintage image of a historic fire on G Street. Very cool. Another commenter simply leaves a sweet Shorty-site-related comment relating to the two G Street posts that reads: “Look both ways. . .before crossing Shorpy.” Cool community indded..

An anonymous commenter labels his/her posting “Pre – IPod Amusement” and noting a newspaper reader in the image comments commenting how it “reminds me that whenever the kids today need to amuse themselves while waiting for something it’s always a hand-held video game, listening to their iPod, or texting on their phone. Reading something is so yesterday.”

Whether or not reading something is “so yesterday” or not, it’s hard to argue that Shorpy, which combines photography, history and a rich dialog of comments and interchange of ideas is so very today.

“The American Society of Media Photographers provides this forum to encourage the development of critical skills and to foster new ideas. Our goal is an informed and savvy professional photography community.”

This is indeed a forum – with multiple contributors and an impressive amount content posted since its inception in March, as well as in depth comments from readers whom are clearly engaged.

“Strictly Business” does not cover topics in relation to the business of photography in the strictest sense, but in a more overarching sense. For example, while there is a post on “Knowledge is Power in a Negotiation” by Blake Discher and “Selling Solutions” by Judy Herrmann, you will also find “Taking Pictures for No Reason at All” by Sean Kernan and “Ideas Worth Spreading,” also by Herrmann.

So there is business and creativity.

Of course, there is a lot of content that falls into greyer areas of the intersection of art and business, such as the “My Greatest Hits for Understanding Social Media, Recession Marketing and Branding” by Jack Hollingsworth and “Tips For a Better Facebook Experience” by Ed McDonald.

On of the most enticing features of “Strictly Business” is the inclusion of multiple high quality videos featuring a range of notable photographers. “Thoughts on Pricing, Business and the Impact of Digital” features a number of photographers. In “Everything You Do Is Marketing,” Leslie Burns-Dell’Acqua shares her insights on “tools beyond your website, portfolio and mailers.”

Another nice aspect of “Strictly Business” is that it links directly to select, useful content within ASMP’s main Web site, such as the “Bad Contract Tutorial” and “Property and Model Releases.”

Like all Web-based forums, “Strictly Business” is a work in progress and is sure to improve over time, which is wonderful. But even as is, it is an amazing resource, taking total advantage of Web 2.0 to allow all photographers – even if not ASMP members – to gain access to the insights and dialog among some of the association’s most successful and thoughtful members.

Great going ASMP!

Welcome to the Blogosphere “Strictly Business!”

What’s going on is that Wallace has a background in computers and marketing and so when he broke into photography a few years ago, after studying at the Hallmark Institute of Photography, he had a clear, Web-savvy idea of exactly how to drive first-time customers to him:

Create a web of blog-powered Web sites, keep on publishing fresh, relevant content and then watch the beauty of search engine optimization (SEO) in action.

Many photographers concentrate on creating one, amazing, Flash-powered Web site. That’s certainly a good strategy if you are looking for the digital equivalent of a storefront, and know that people will be driven to the site in some other manner than a search engine. But to attract and trap potential clients who don’t know you—like flies in a spider’s web—nothing beats Wallace’s “web of Web sites.”

When I first talked to Wallace a couple years ago, he had only one blog-powered site, and used that in conjunction with a number of other more traditional Web sites. He explained that he used the blog as the “landing pad” from which his potential clients could head off to other, more content-appropriate sites.

These days, Wallace’s main site is also blog-powered, although few visitors would know it to look at it. That’s because blogs are completely flexible, and a blog-powered site can seem—in name and format—exactly like a “traditional” Web site. They’re just a heck of a lot easier to build and maintain.

The Importance of a Laser-Tight Focus

One of the cardinal rules of blogging is to make sure each blog has a laser-tight focus. This focus can be “Joe Doe,” but it’s much better if it’s “Joe Doe’s Photography,” and it’s even better if it’s “Joe Doe’s Wedding Photography,” and it’s going to attract even more appropriate visitors if it’s “Joe Doe’s Celebrity Wedding Photography,” however it could be even more enticing if. .

You get the point.

Photoshop master Scott Kelby took action (Photoshop action, that is) by writing the White House via his blog, “Scott Kelby’s Photoshop Insider.” Check out his April 30th post here.

Although intended to be humorous, the post actually proves two serious points. One is that the white house REALLY didn’t need to do that. Kelby proves it by saying that “in literally less than two minutes I hacked together” the composite image he posted (see below) stock images. Nice going, Scott! (Imagine what he could do with a day and a budget.)

Drawn in by Air Force One, I poked around Kelby’s blog, which I haven’t checked out for a while. As always I was blown, blown, blown away by how much output—from images to books to magazines to training DVDs—that this one man creates, all while serving as the president of National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP).
I admit that I often frustrated by the tone (the unnecessary, cheesy jokes that don’t make me smile) of some of Kelby’s books. However, I never get frustrated by the man. The tone of other books he pens is just right, and the nature of his information is always right on.

Regarding “Photoshop Insider,” I love the gallery of images at the top of his blog, which is a functionality I’ve just got to figure out. Click, click, click. Very nice. I also liked his gear list (always curious about that) and I was amused to read his favorite movies, some of which are all-time favorites of mine (Stripes), while others top my list for all-time stinkers (Pretty Women). Go figure.

Before I go on about MY thoughts on Kelby, why don’t YOU chime in and share any Kelby Moments you might have – love or hate, inspired or frustrated. I’m curious what you think about the King of Photoshop writing, and how he has helped you master Photoshop, or not.

I give out this excellent and basic advice all the time but, um, I have to admit that I have a hard time doing it myself. After all, who wants to click around to sites that don’t interest them in terms of content? It’s kind of like reading a book just because I “should.” Doesn’t happen.

Enter Condron.us. Go there now! You’ll love what you see, and you won’t need to read the rest of this post.

OK, you’re still with me. So I’ll tell you where all the sites are coming from: They are randomly pulled from WordPress and Blogger blogs that have recently been updated, so you’re always fresh inspiration for your own site.

You STILL here? Well, then I’ll throw this out you. If you’re using WordPress and Blogger, you now more motivation to add fresh content: Increases your visibility through this “blogroll.”

NOW will you go to Condron.us?