In December I promised a look at the new photo studio when there was something to see – here it is! We’re really happy with the new, downsized digs and it’s probably 90% complete. The new studio is where my time has been going, along with the photo a day project. Sorry I haven’t been keeping up with comments here on prophotolife and the follow up to my prior post. I hope to have a day this weekend to pull those things together.

Our approach for the studio move was to pitch (or donate) about 75% of what we’ve accumulated over the years and concentrate on simplification. So far it seems like a smart move. The most visible benefits are that our expenses and daily commutes are only a third of what they were before. We’re also estimating a couple of sizeable jobs that will all be done on location and the creative atmosphere of the building is a benefit. The pieces are fitting together in the way that we’d hoped, so far. Given the economy and the typically slow month of January, we’re in the best “new year” position we’ve seen in recent years. And have I mentioned enough how much I’ve wanted a natural light shooting space?

Being leaner and more efficient should also create more time for growing the business and require less time just trying to keep up with overhead. We’re brainstorming ways to further integrate still photography, video and our problem solving capabilities to advertise our rather unique abilities.

And, for anyone that’s interested, the dining room table, chairs, coffee table, overhead lamp and counter top were all from the local IKEA and were relatively affordable. We already had the other elements: leather couch from my basement, office furniture, wall photos and base cabinets. The only thing left is to get some new images up and add a few more bits of personality.

A few things have amazed me since starting prophotolife almost a year ago:

1. The unbelievable reception from readers. We’ve jumped around from topic to topic, sharing random thoughts, and there’s always been someone there to help build the conversation, no matter where it‘s gone. The atmosphere has been incredibly supportive for both the newbie and the professional photographer. That’s something I’m pretty darn proud of, it was my hope from the beginning and it’s proven effective.

2. I’m also amazed that, after 227 posts and 32 videos, writer’s block hasn’t really been a problem. Photography is a huge subject and there are so many aesthetic, technical, practical and business angles worthy of discussion that the topic seem limitless. Yes, it has taken considerable time to create all of this content but it’s been a natural extension of my passion for photography.

While topics for photo discussion seem limitless, the time available for operating prophotolife has become more finite. My photo studio (Daylight Photo) is what pays the bills and it’s begging for more attention. We’ll be traveling on assignment much of January and the studio website and marketing need an overhaul to go along with the new space. From a business standpoint this is all good and exciting news and we feel very fortunate to be so busy.

Speaking of the new space, I’ve wanted to share photos of the new studio with you but it’s not yet finalized. Boxes still crowd the shooting area and we’ve been working on location for everything lately. When it’s ready, though, the images will most surely make an appearance on my 2009 project: the photo a day blog.

As for the photo a day 2009 blog…well, I’m a photographer. I need to shoot more. Writing so much about photography has opened my eyes to many new things but a photographer needs to take pictures and I just didn’t do that enough (outside of work) in 2008. The good news is that there’s plenty of room to write about relevant thoughts and influences on the photo a day blog. I’ll be writing on the new blog on occasion still, perhaps in a more abbreviated format. The important thing to me, though, is that new photographs will be the root of the website. Whether they’re good or bad, complex or trite, I’ll be traveling the road to discovery again as a photographer. I hope you’ll join me for some or all of the trip.

So that’s the focus of my photographic energy for the next year: growing my studio and exploring new visions again through personal photography. There are also a couple of video documentary project possibilities, we’ll see where it goes, but that‘s secondary (every overachiever needs a backup plan, huh?).

And what of prophotolife? I’ll continue with updates for the next two weeks and then it will remain online (as will the videos) so that they can continue to benefit photographers for some time to come. That’s the reason the site was started, to benefit photographers, and it was written in a way that will hopefully stand the test of time. Over the next two weeks here I want to say some thank-you’s and point to other really great resources online.

One of the toughest parts of this decision has been that, by all measures, prophotolife is an extremely successful website. In the last month it’s seen:

56,399 Visits
31,882 Absolute Unique Visitors
160,878 Pageviews
2.85 Average Pageviews Per Visit
00:05:15 Average Time on Site

Those are great numbers. Is it hard to divert attention from a website that’s doing so darn well, something I‘ve worked so hard for (I have many hundreds of hours in the site)? Yes, of course it is. This decision has been a tremendous struggle, to say the least. But here are the ideas I had and the ultimate conclusions drawn:

Idea: I could struggle to keep pace with the site while exploring new creative directions.
Conclusion: The studio needs more attention and I need to shoot more personal work, of these things I‘m certain. That leaves little to no time for prophotolife and it deserves to be more than an “also ran“. A big part of the success of the site is that I’ve strived to give it as much attention as possible, though I wish I had been able to keep pace better with emails and personal requests.

Idea: I could do occasional updates when possible to keep the site going at a reduced pace.
Conclusion: Then it wouldn’t be prophotolife. Without the schedule it would be too easy to put things off…and off. And I’d quickly be back to thinking it deserves better.

I hesitate to say that prophotolife is dead, though. If the studio slows appreciably there’s a great foundation here that I would return to in a heartbeat. I’d also enjoy any opportunity to grow future videos or workshops related to prophotolife. That’s more than I can handle on my own, though, at least at the moment. If there are any corporate sponsors waiting quietly in the wings then speak up now.

I always revert to that old saying, “if you love the bird, set it free. If the bird loves you, it will return”. Simple, yes, but it’s been effective.

The good news is that by committing to a photo a day 2009 I’ll still be sharing and discussing photography in a public forum with less time requirements. As my friend Davey at Racer X Illustrated always says, “it’s not a party unless everyone is invited”. The new party starts January 1 and you‘re most definitely invited.

For quite a while I’ve been planning on shooting more personal work. No specific plans, I’ve just felt that I need to get out and shoot with a camera more, just for fun. That’s why we all got started in photography, isn’t it? The joy of taking photographs. Now, with the internet, there’s also the joy of sharing our passion through posting images and sharing online discussion.

Let me go ahead and give the punch line to today’s post: I’m starting a new photo a day blog in 2009. The goal isn’t necessarily to shoot every single day but to post a new photo every day. I won’t kick in with regular postings until the first of the year so you’re all getting a sneak preview while it’s under construction (the first sample photos you’ll see were all shot this morning with my Panasonic point and shoot). Looking back, I see a trail of discussions we’ve had here at prophotolife that have led me to “a photo a day, 2009″. I hope you don’t mind a little flashback while I link to the posts that brought me around to this new goal.

I’ve discovered a couple of things about learning over the past year (hey, that‘s learning about learning). One of the ways to learn is to have a specific goal in mind and to go for it. That’s very methodical and I’m all for it. The other way to learn is to watch your footsteps going one after the other, day after day, until you eventually look up and find yourself at a new destination. That’s how I came to planning a photo a day once again for 2009. Looking back over a year of prophotolife posts shows the footsteps taken along the way.

Back in July was the post “how a photo a day blog helped me achieve personal photography goals”. This is something I did a couple of years ago and it worked out well. I’ll leave you to read the article if you‘re interested in the specifics of my first go ’round.

Then, after many months of discussion about post-processing here on the website, I took time to download the the free trial of Lightroom 2 from Adobe . To put it simply, I got hooked and bought a license after playing with it for a couple of weeks. Many readers extolled the virtues of the program (along with
Apple Aperture 2) and I agree with their endorsements. We‘re not using it at the studio because of a different workflow for multiple users…but for my own personal work, Lightroom is now the number one post-production tool. It has me more excited about shooting, to be honest, because of all the capabilities. It lets me do simple image tweaks faster and more simply than anything else I’ve used.

Just a couple weeks ago I pulled out my little Panasonic DMC-TZ3 point and shoot to play around with different photo aspect ratios. Wanting to find a new perspective for personal work, the 4:3 format really appealed. So did the little Panasonic! Unfortunately, the little camera doesn’t shoot in RAW and I’m a big believer in the RAW format. But working the camera’s jpegs in Lightroom gave an easy, non-destructive way to edit the JPEGs that made the whole thing feel “not so bad”. I still want to get a RAW capable point and shoot sometime (trying to decide between the Canon PowerShot G10 and Panasonic DMC-LX3K) since I’ll be carrying a camera around more in ‘09.

Then, not long ago, readers shared a whole lot of comments and ideas about online photo gallery options. When I started to dive into the possibilities for online galleries I stumbled across Pixelpost, an open source photoblog application. Hmmmm, a photoblog…

That’s about the time I realized I was nearing a destination. The last pieces of the puzzle? Prophotolife is hosted through GoDaddy and there’s plenty of server space for multiple sites with the different GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans. I’ve also had the url “Talkington Photo Video” for some time and never did anything with it. So, it was time to put the pieces all together.

Not every photo will be great, of that I’m sure…and that’s not the point. Discovering new ways of seeing and working through the process of a photo a day is the important part. I’ll let you know in a year or so how it all worked out!

Subscribers view the video here:

If you’re not yet familiar with his videos, David has a whole bunch of informative, original videos available on his blog. Lots of cool stuff and problem solving! He also shares his lighting skills through the Small Strobes Big Results workshops.

I remember when lighting instruction could only be found on VHS tapes (if you could find them) and it wasn’t that long ago. Times have changed immensely. Feel free to post any other links to your favorite instructional videos below, it’s always cool to see recommendations.

Entry is open to all photographers so I had my eye on the prize..until Udi asked if I would judge the color portrait entries. Of course I will! Brian Auer of Epic Edits Weblog, Fine Art Photoblog and Photo Net Cast will be judging the black and white portraits while Udi himself will be deciding the best portrait tip. That’s three ways to land a copy of the software valued at $239.95. It would be great to see you in the entries…

Subscribers view video here:

Here are the equipment links for specs / features and a reminder that Daylight Photo is still my day job, but every little purchase helps support prophotolife when you Shop Calumet Photographic – It’s Where the Pros Go.

42×78 Aluminum Frame and Three-Fabric Panel Kit includes the frame, a set of legs and three different fabric panels.

Travelite 125 Travel Pak Kit is packaged as a kit with strobe, reflector, battery, charger, light stand, carrying case and cords, a big savings over purchasing the items separately.

I’m initially very impressed with this strobe and battery pack solution. There are more expensive options that are, to be honest, out of the price range of what I wanted to pay. I own a different brand studio strobe and their battery setup and was never fully pleased with the performance. We’ll be putting it to the test next week!

If you’re in the Cincinnati area here’s a great chance to get together with other photographers, so let your friends know. David Ziser has just announced the details of a Cincinnati Photo Walk on August 23, with a fun, 2 hour route that starts at Fountain Square and crosses over into Northern Kentucky. There’s more info on the Cincinnati walk on Digital ProTalk.

It’s part of the first ever “Worldwide Photo Walk”, an idea created by Scott Kelby and organized through NAPP. Watch the video and see if your city is on the list!

While the existence of The King is some pretty big news it’s not the big news of the week, that would be the release of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2.0! You can download the software, order a boxed version or a get a 30 day trial version directly from Adobe. They still offer free trial downloads of most all of their products, which is really nice. I did drop some major cash on Adobe CS3 Premium last week at the studio: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Photoshop, Flash, Soundbooth…and a whole bunch of other apps I can’t remember. The only thing missing was, of course: Lightroom.

Speaking of software, what do you think Photoshop is worth? Brian at Epic Edits Weblog posted that question to his readers with some intriguing results. It turns out most respondents feel Photoshop is overpriced and, doing the math, Adobe would sell considerably more licenses with a reduced price. Check out Epic Edits Weblog for the interesting poll results.

Reader Matt Haines’ blog recently reported on his personal experience of shooting “a photo a day” for a week. It’s a good read, as is the rest of his blog, well written and enjoyable. Matt is a professional photographer that writes on everything from creativity to famous photographers to technical subjects. Hmmm, I guess that explains why we like each other’s sites!

Interested in product photography, diy photo equipment and well-written tutorials? A recent surfing journey led me to Keith Slagerman’s finely crafted Do It Yourself Studio Shooting Table. More photographers helping photographers: good stuff. Great attention to detail, Keith, it will be cool to see what you come up with next.

Speaking of photography and helping, there’s a doctor in SoCal whose large format landscape photography is used to soothe patients. He calls the medical practice “an art gallery where doctors just happen to treat cancer”. I found a link to the ABC-TV video here on Imaging Insider’s post “Healing Through Photography”. Our friends at Imaging Insider are always looking high and low for interesting photo links.

Now, two excellent posts on the business of photography. This is going to seem a bit schizophrenic, one title tells us that photography is worthless and the other tells us how to charge a fair price for our photography. But they are both relevant and timely resources. The bottom line is that the world is changing fast and the business of photography itself can accurately be described as a bit schizophrenic.

1. Why your images are worthless by Nikonian Martin Joergensen. Yes, the title commands attention and so does this very thorough article, a must read for anyone interested in selling photography. It’s a shame to try and sum up all of the information contained therein, but the major point is this: to create a career in photography it’s not enough to just do “the status quo”. Find a way to differentiate yourself, a point I wrote about in “when the going rate is too low“. Martin offers a number of suggestions for defining your career and creating value.

2. Is a picture worth $1000? How to Price Your Photography at hyperphocal.com. Okay, this article argues for the value of photography and so, judging by the title, it might appear to be a polar opposite to the previous article. I’m impressed by the collection of resources for photo pricing here, many of which have been mentioned on prophotolife in the past. But here they are, all together, collected for easy reference and digestion.

I think these two resources are a good pairing. If you are intent on success as a professional photographer, Martin challenges you to rise to a higher level. The resources at hyperphocal will help you determine just what those efforts are worth. It’s up to us, as photographers, to stem the slide of photography as a commodity. That starts with creating a genuinely valuable product and then obtaining the proper value for it.

Hey, if it were really that easy then everyone would be a professional photographer, huh?

Have a great weekend, I have a new toy (strobe) to roll out in Monday’s video!

- Jim T.

Where a blog is going

So, just three months into this blogging journey, where are things? Well, my photo studio business is doing really well. The prophotolife videos are continuing to draw in viewers and people are asking my business partner, Bob, and me about doing workshops or seminars on everything from studio lighting to color management. So that means I’m trying to find a balance for everything, trying to figure out just what I’ve created and where I want prophotolife to head. Running a photo website, I’m finding out, creates new opportunities. But running a photo website can also leave little-to-no time to pursue those new opportunities. The most important thing for me is sharing information about photography and occasionally adding some different things to the “mix”.

Noah Hutson made the trip down from Columbus to join the studio get-together the other night. He talked about how a discussion forum would help the site and I agreed that it’s worth a try. So many great threads get started in the post comments but it’s hard to share links to other resources and dash in and out quickly. A forum is a more nimble beast where we (photographers with common interests) can quickly share projects we’re working on, photos, insights and links to other blogs and websites. It also provides me (and you, and you…) a way to interject a thought quickly, something I feel is missing from the blog format. Can the world support another discussion forum? Let’s give it a try and find out here on the prophotolife Flickr forum. If you have a Flickr membership I hope you’ll take a moment to join the group and maybe start a discussion or contribute to one.

This past Tuesday’s get-together also helped me realized that I’d like a chance to meet more readers and fellow photographers. That means exploring some of the workshop / seminar ideas ideas that have been mentioned. There’s nothing like working with someone one on one and seeing that little (strobe) light bulb go off the moment they “get it”. It would be fun to try and organize a workshop or two at the studio this summer if there‘s interest.

And then, of course, there’s Daylight Photo. None of this would be possible if it weren’t for the photo studio. We’re planning a new promotional campaign this summer and intend to bring the prophotolife video camera along for documentation. That should make for at least a couple of fun, educational videos.

Hmmm, what have I left out? Oh, yeah, there’s a blog to operate, too! The videos are going strong and there’s a new instructional video every Monday, as you probably know. There’s also the “quick video” post that has been really well received. I’d also like to take a little time this summer to reorganize the information on the site.

Despite a busy summer ahead, I plan to maintain the same posting schedule here at prophotolife, on the same topics, but with one little change. One day a week I’d like to kick back just a bit and point to another helpful resource somewhere on the internet, rather than writing one of my typical, lengthy blog posts. This provides a chance for me to dig around for additional perspectives on the topics we discuss and to recognize more of the helpful information that’s already out there. I don’t want to be so busy doing my own thing that I lose sight of all the other existing resources that are relevant to the topics we discuss. For example, there have been questions recently about posing for portraits and The Digital Photography School has some really nice posts on the subject. That’s the kind of relevant information that deserves a bit more of a spotlight.

So that’s it from here in Cincinnati. It’s been a great first three months for prophotolife and I look forward to seeing what the next quarter brings. Thanks always for reading and being a part of prophotolife.com!

- Jim T.