We all have that 6th sense that tells us when somethin’ is up. Well, let me tell you, the aspiring/hobbyist photographer community in Seattle is completely on fire. Given a few more pocket wizards, some strobes and a D40 or two and they might take over the world.
THE BACKSTORY: Not long ago my 6th sense started pinging me about the amateur/hobbyist photography scene in Seattle: it was everywhere I turned. These days, camera shops are jammed with people geeking out on pro-sumer dSLRs, photo classes are bursting at the seams, and there are flashes popping everywhere… Strangely, photography seems to be on everyone’s mind, not unlike grunge rock was in the early 90’s. Certainly, being a professional photographer, my perspective on this is tainted, however one thing is for sure: those aspiring photogs whose paths I do cross now and then are VERY focused (pun intended ;), driven, and genuinely passionate about the craft. It’s an amazing energy that I have been excited to watch from a distance – up till recently.
ENTER STAGE LEFT: my good friend, uber blogger and lighting wizard, Strobist. In December, all the way from the other coast, David put me in touch with the leaders of Seattle’s Flickr Meetup Community which numbers close to a thousand members. It’s a cool, quirky group of DIY’ers whose aim in life seems to take pictures. Engineers, designers, teachers, students, executives, coders, waiters, flight attendants, chefs, and construction workers by their 9-5 day, these people seem to eat and breathe photography at night and on the weekends. I think that only a few aspire to the pro levels, but that’s really part of the fun. There is a collaborative, group-learning mentality that I’ve rarely seen. That environment certainly doesn’t seem to exist at many (if any) photo schools where I’ve visited. The transparent, open source, 2.0 ethic is rampant here.
RECENTLY: After a brief meeting with a few of the head Flickrite/Strobist wranglers here in Seattle, and then inviting 50 group members (by first come, first serve basis) to my studio in December for a brainstorming session, things became clearer for me: what a great group to collaborate with, on a long term, ongoing basis, to help to grow, strengthen, elevate, and expand the local photography community.
So we immediately hatched a plan based on the group’s needs. The group was already quite well organized thanks to the ol’ innernets and Seattle’s Flickr shepherds, among them: Jeremy Center, Ted Leung, Kristel W., Paula Thomas, David Lindes, Kathleen Bennet, Henrik Brameus, group founder Eric Weaver, and head organizer Brenda Pederson. That said, however, generally the group lacked resource$. So, we prioritized their needs, and it went something like this:
1. Shooting space.
2. Inexpensive, good, collaborative photographic instruction.
3. Good, cheap gear.
4. Connections to help further the groups goal of becoming better shooters.
Between me, my amazing, hardworking CJinc staff (you guys rock!), and some well-connected friends, we put rubber to the road this month and created, to my knowledge, the first ever event of its kind on this scale. And Sunday’s event was just the first step; more are on the way this spring, summer, and fall if we can help it. Feedback is being collected and will be implemented. On reflection, we certainly took a big swipe at numbers one and two, above, but please know that I’ll do what I can for helping numbers three and four come to fruition as well. They’re already in the works.
THE WRAP-UP: I’m really excited about what this cool little community of local photographers is doing and I think you guys deserve a huge shout out. If you’re a pro, don’t fear for your job or knock what they’re doing. Don’t hate; congratulate. And become inspired. If you’re a hobbyist shooter and have an interest in this sort of thing – join the group! And if you’re not in Seattle, consider starting a group in your home town.
This may be wishful thinking, but it also might not: I’d love nothing more than to see this grow and see events of this quality and scale pop up all over the world.
Check out some of their photos in your spare time:
Or the original, Mac-Daddy: Strobist Flickr Group
Also, if you need more video from the shoot, some other peeps were running around with video cameras too. Hilarious soundtrack. Check it here.
Lastly, depending on your RSS reader, you might want to check the Chase Jarvis RAW: Seattle Flickr Roundup vid here.
I intended to create you one very little remark so as to give many thanks yet again relating to the wonderful secrets you have featured at this time. This is so tremendously generous with you to grant unhampered what exactly many people would’ve sold for an e book to help make some profit for their own end, and in particular considering that you might have tried it in case you decided. Those points also worked to become good way to know that other people have the same dream similar to my personal own to find out whole lot more related to this matter. Certainly there are some more pleasant instances ahead for many who see your website.
I would like to express my appreciation to you for rescuing me from such a situation. Right after browsing throughout the internet and coming across solutions that were not beneficial, I believed my entire life was done. Existing devoid of the approaches to the problems you’ve resolved all through your good short article is a critical case, and the ones which might have badly damaged my career if I had not discovered the website. The skills and kindness in taking care of the whole thing was precious. I’m not sure what I would have done if I hadn’t discovered such a thing like this. I can at this point look ahead to my future. Thank you very much for your impressive and amazing guide. I won’t think twice to recommend the website to anyone who needs guide on this topic.
Needed to post you the little remark to help thank you so much over again over the unique solutions you have documented here. It was really shockingly open-handed of you to provide openly precisely what many people would’ve made available for an e-book to earn some dough on their own, notably considering the fact that you might well have done it if you desired. Those guidelines as well served like the great way to be certain that some people have a similar dreams similar to my personal own to grasp much more with respect to this issue. I’m sure there are many more pleasant times ahead for many who scan through your site.
My spouse and i felt so joyous that Louis could deal with his research from your ideas he made when using the web site. It’s not at all simplistic to just happen to be giving out ideas which often a number of people might have been making money from. And we all take into account we’ve got you to give thanks to because of that. The most important explanations you’ve made, the straightforward website menu, the relationships you will give support to engender – it is many overwhelming, and it’s really helping our son and us do think this matter is brilliant, and that’s tremendously fundamental. Thank you for all the pieces!
I have seen many useful items on your web page about pcs. However, I’ve the thoughts and opinions that notebooks are still not nearly powerful adequately to be a option if you often do projects that require plenty of power, like video editing and enhancing. But for web surfing, microsoft word processing, and majority of other common computer functions they are okay, provided you never mind the small screen size. Appreciate sharing your notions.