And now…. these important messages from… me.

Since this is a free teaching blog, I feel justified in occasionally pointing out how you can hire me. That’s the price you pay (that, and tell all your friends to follow this blog too).

So. If you want to interact with me to learn in person, or to hire me to shoot, here’s how you can do it.

Learning:

• Do private coaching with me. September and October dates available.
• If you are in the Toronto area, come join me at The Distillery, where I am doing my exhibit. This week only: two hours coaching right there in The Distillery  for a reduced price of $150 (normally $190).
• If you are in The Netherlands, come see me at my seminar there on September 1st – sign up now, there is space!
• Come to the Niagara School of Imaging starting Sunday – there is still space.
• Join me at my series of Seminars at Vistek Mississauga: Sep/Oct/Nov dates about to be published soon.
• Sign up at Sheridan College for one of my 12-week courses there.

Book:

• Buy my book – “Camera Cookbook” eBook will be out very soon, final edit is now being done. It will be for sale right here.

Shooting:

• Hire me to shoot your engagement, family shoots, or wedding – see www.tolivetolove.com. Because Kristof B and I just set up this endeavour, we have dates available even in the next few months!
• Hire me to do headshots, events, or corporate photography: see www.mvwphoto.com
• You can buy my artwork. At my current exhibit until early September – see www.michaelsmuse.com – or direct from me, see here.

Now copy all that, and continue reading the blog. You have read older posts as well, yes? It’s all very useful!

And now, back to regular programming!

Michael

At the risk of sounding defensive, let me emphasize to all my students:

Your photography is valuable – do not give it away.

Photography is at least as valuable as, say, dental hygiene, or plumbing, or sewers, or garbage collection. Yet people will pay for the latter, and pay well, and often not for the former.

Case in point. An art festival contacted me a few days ago: they wanted to use my photo of Jazz great Peter Appleyard, which they described as a “stunning photo”:

Peter Appleyard. Photo © Michael Willems, All Rights Reserved

Note that this is a significant art festival, which:

• Charges up to $50 for admission per guest, for each event. Plus HST.
• Is sponsored by the Ontario Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and  the Canadian Heritage ministry.
• Is sponsored by The Cooperators and various other commercial organizations.
• Undoubtedly pays for its venues, food, drink, permits,
• Undoubtedly pays its performers.
• Undoubtedly pays its taxes, office costs, hydro, water, sewerage.
• Most certainly pays its printer for the brochure I was going to be used in.

And yet for the photo there was no remaining budget.

I would have let it go for a very small fee (my way of subsidizing the arts), but “”free” is a no-go. You see, I too am expected to pay the bills.

Why is this happening? I see a few reasons.

• “Uncle Fred has a Digital Rebel”. This makes the perceived value of photography zero, even though there’s no way Uncle Fred can produce a photo like the above.
• New photographers fall into the trap of “doing it for credit”. Don’t do this, new photographers, if you ever want to do it for a living! Instead, calculate the hours you really spend on a shoot (including talking about it, getting there, shooting, waiting, and post-editing), and multiply that by the wage you want to make (hint: you are worth at least what a dental hygienist or a plumber are worth!).

It is what it is – the Dutch have an expression that translates as “you can’t fight the beer quay” – i.e. if people want beer delivered, it WILL happen. Calligraphy went away, and if quality photography is no longer wanted by society, so be it. We’ll all just shoot weddings. Although – even those: I have recently been asked to shoot several weddings for “a few hundred dollars each”. Which is at least 20 times below my normal fee.

There will of course always be quality photography, Ads in magazines, art shows (like mine coming up: Never Not Naked – Natural Nudes) and more will always need competent artists. But it will be a market where 1% of photographers get paid, and the rest do it “for credit”.

So – a parting thought: be part of the 1% and come to me to learn how to really do it!

Dear Readers: you will forgive a little promotion in my second post today. Because it is promotion that can help you.

• Brought on by our lovely weather the last week or so, I have a “Suspicion of Summer” special on for June. For June only, private coaching is available at my Oakville location for $75 per hour rather than the usual $95 per hour. Book soon, since availability is limited to the 24 hours each day has, and they do tend to all fill up. This is made-to-measure individual training, but see http://www.cameratraining.ca/ for some possible subjects.
• There is still space on the The Art of Shooting Nudes workshop: see http://www.cameratraining.ca/Nudes.html (NSFW).

Whatever you shoot: in just a few hours I can make you a much better photographer.

• My coaching and teaching are professional and made-to-measure to your needs.
• All photos I show you are mine, so I can teach you how to take similar photos.
• I am independent: I do not sell hardware, so what I think you need is what you need.
• Whether it is weekends, week days or evenings, I teach exactly when it suits you.
• You get to be hands-on – not just sit and listen.

Take advantage of the special to kick-start your photography today and I promise, you will be delighted. If you like this teaching blog, you will love my coaching and teaching.

Michael

Odd, this. I have just been fired as an instructor by Henry’s School of Imaging!

Yup – fired! David Morrow, the head of the School of Imaging (dmorrow@henrys.com) writes:

“This week we received a letter from a Henry’s customer with an [sic] printed photo of you naked from your Tumblr site. This customer recently attended an SOI course taught by you and has promised to never shop at Henry’s again. I am grateful to this customer for taking the time to inform us, rather than just leaving silently.  This loss of a Henry’s customer is a direct result of your personal promotion of your speedlighter.ca site while teaching for Henry’s.”

This is regrettable, and surprising.

For the record, I do not promote competing courses at Henry’s, and I have met all the School’s requirements, including ones that I think unjust, like removing the link to www.cameratraining.ca from this site (that link comes back now). Speedlighter, if clients know about it, is for learning, not for promotion.

Good relationships are give and take. It seems to me that I have given Henrys and the School of Imaging much, much more than I have taken, but I wish them well.

I shall now concentrate on my independent courses: vendor- and sales-independent and up-to-date courses and coaching that teach you all about photography and especially creative light and flash.

Including nudes, if you are so inclined: the preposterous thing is that this was brought about by a client who “will never shop at Henry’s again” because they have seen a picture of me, nude. Really? This is, what, 1850? Almost all artists, including most photographers, do nudes and Henry’s, who cater to photographers, should understand this better than anyone else. Will this client never go to Italy again after seeing Michelangelo’s David?

Regrettable and surprising.

Meanwhile, the good news: You can learn from me..

1. In my private courses (see http://www.cameratraining.ca)
2. At Sheridan College’s Continuing Education, where I teach several courses I wrote.
3. At the Niagara School in August, for a week-long course.
4. In my article in every second issue of Photo Life magazine.
5. At tours and private teaching events
6. And of course here on www.speedlighter.ca!

Photography is art and craft, a mix you can all learn to find your way in, and I am here to help.