Golden Ticket(s) to ASMP Strictly Business 2 – Chicago

Big thanks to everyone who weighed in on my offer for a free trip to ASMP’s Strictly Business 2 conference in Chicago. 500 comments in just a handful of days. The overwhelming support you’ve shown for this post has, in turn, encouraged me to up the ante: I’ve decided to send TWO winners to Chicago instead of just one AND offer two other tuition-only scholarships if some runner ups can take care of their own travel and accommodations. Nowthen, in the spirit of Flight of the Conchords, “It’s business time”:

Each of the photographers below were in the top 10 vote-getters.

First Runner Up (tuition only): Julian Love. Julian is based in London and has received some recognition from National Geographic/PDN and Travel Photographer of the Year, among others. This will help him continue to grow and thrive as a professional.

Second Runner Up (tuition only): Eric Schmiedl. Eric is a student at MIT. His documentary work of pranks and hacks at MIT was amusing, but his obsession with locks could lead to some interesting product work if he fulfills his wish to earn a living from photography.

Winner (tuition, air, hotel): Brian Larter. Brian received the most nominations by a long shot – many of which were quite impassioned. Lots of people seem to believe in him. I saw a handful of images in his portfolio that showed promise and I was also impressed by his starting Halifax Nova Scotia’s first and only rentable photo studio. Yes Brian lives outside the country, but I’m flying him to Chicago anyway. He’ll probably find Chicago in April to be a hot and sunny getaway from his native, freezing-cold Nova Scotia. I’m sure that this basic photo business education will pay off for him and hopefully he’ll share this knowledge with his community.

Winner (tuition, air, hotel): Darien Chin. Darien is a wonderful mix of talent and passion. IMHO, without any education in the business of photography, Darien would continue to win online photo accolades, but might be dissuaded by the murky waters of becoming a professional. On the other hand, armed with the business of photography basics, I predict he’ll make a resoundingly successful transition to pro. Plus, he’s a wonderful guy. I had the chance to meet him at my Seattle Flickr Roundup event. It’s my hope he’ll bring back the knowledge and share it with that amazing community.

If the above four people would please send an email to rebekah at chase jarvis dot com to make arrangements for your winnings, that would be great.

Thanks to everyone for their interest in this kind of thing and for helping raise awareness about the business of photography. If you haven’t perused the comments from the original post, I highly recommend it – it’s an interesting read. Also, a special thanks to a few of the many blogs that linked to that post:

DIYphotography.net
Photo Business Forum
Epic Edits Weblog
JMG Galleries
Strobist.com