Call Me Ed

I have to admit, sometimes I feel like an outsider in this industry.

It was almost 3 years ago that we started BIG Folio. In fact, its inception was more or less accidental. At the time, I had no idea we would be successful. Nor did I have any idea my passion for photography (which started long before) would be renewed.

Unfortunately, it has put me in a strange position. If you look around, there is no shortage of photographers who also now sell to other photographers (be it seminars, DVDs, actions, accessories, software, or the like). Don't get me wrong, I think this is great for the industry. I just happen to be the opposite: I am the entrepreneur who now wants to be a photographer.

In industry forums and events, I will always be known first as "Erik from BIG Folio". That is fine–I'm proud of that. What's unfortunate is everthing I say or do seems to be taken with a grain of skepticism, even though my only aim is to share my expertise with other photographers (or, on rare occasions, defend our business). Also unfortunate is that I often have to keep my mouth shut during some conversations, while photographers acting as shills for other companies don't. If you don't believe that last part–trust me, it happens.

Perhaps I worry too much about being accepted by other photographers, instead of simply striving to take great pictures. Perhaps I worry too much about my competitors, when I should just keep doing what got us this far.

Perhaps someday I won't be an outsider.

I got a new 23" Apple Cinema Display yesterday. It's quite nice. Here's a quick rundown of my current workspace.

1. 23" Apple Cinema Display
2. 17" MacBook Pro
3. Crappy Dell Inspiron (for testing)
4. Blue Snowball (for screencasts)
5. Grado SR60 (More on those later)
6. External hard drivees
7. Campfire for BF team chat
8. Basecamp
9. 24
10. Coffee and juice
11. Bluetooth mouse by Logitech

What's your workspace look like?

I deem the next three days My Workspace weekend. Take a picture of your workspace and label the important parts. Post it on your blog.

I've seen several photographers (including some of my favorite) promoting Bono's (RED) campaign and its campaign against Aids. I'll admit, even I was initially excited about the campaign.

However, recent reports and articles suggest that the campaign is a wasteful, even foolish, way to raise awareness and money.

According the Advertising Age, The (RED) campaign has spent $100 million dollars on advertising. They have raised $18 million dollars for the Global Fund. It should be noted that the (RED) CEO has issued a response.

Before buying any more (RED) products, I'd encourage you to read this article by Ryan Anderson.

Please note that I'm not telling you not to buy (RED) products. I just think its important to look beyond the hype sometimes.

If you want to give, just give.

Sorry for any random posts you may have seen appear and then disappear. I've been hammering away at our blog platform, trying to fix some memory issues (and resultant crashes).

Our blog has become much more popular than we had anticipated. That's a good thing.

Thanks again for using it.

I was reading ESPN The Magazine at the gym this morning. It was the baseball preview issue and in it there was a piece on the Milwaukee Brewers. If you know anything about baseball, you know that the Brewers generally stink–this article highlighted the Brewers' young talent and toyed with the possibility of the team contending for the playoffs this year. Though I think that's unlikely, an image in the article caught my attention.

It was an image of the Brewers clubhouse (possibly at their Spring Training facility). On the wall was a sign. One of those motivation-type signs. It read:

TALENT IS GOD-GIVEN; BE HUMBLE
FAME IS MAN-GIVEN; BE THANKFUL
CONCEIT IS SELF-GIVEN; BE CAREFUL

The message struck me because, while its relevance to professional athletes is obvious, I think it fits for professional photographers. Like any art (and any sport), some skills just can't be taught. Some photographers blow me away with their God-given ability to compose a picture or see an artistic moment–they can take a good picture with a disposable camera. Those skills can be parlayed into fame and success. Yet, they also expose the temptation of pride.

Something to think about.

If you need some weekend inspiration or just want to see some great pictures, check out PDN Magazine's Top Knots Wedding Images.

There's some amazing images in there, including some from our wonderful BIG Folio customers like Dana Rossini and Alternate Angles.

Congrats to my friend (and BF blogger) Michael Costa who also had a winning image.

I just deployed a couple minor updates to our blog.

Comment spam has become downright annoying so I moved the comment form to an AJAX only process. This should reduce the spam for now. I'll report back on the effectiveness. Right now, I'm getting about 20-30 spam comments a day.

I also made a small bug fix to the post day when editing. Should keep things in order better.

Jeff, our customer setup and service czar, went out of town this past holiday weekend. I took over setting up new customers and - as luck would have it - we got inundated with a bunch of wonderful new customers (it makes me glad we don't have a fax machine, but that's another topic).

Doing someone else's job makes you appreciate the employees and co-workers you have. More importantly, it helps you find gaps in your business processes. While setting up new customers, I discovered such gaps. Files that should be replaced. Tutorials that could be written. Redundant data entry. (Note that none were Jeff's fault) Each thing is small in and of itself - but by filling the gaps, our processes can be more efficient, more scalable. Translation: our business runs better and our customers get better service.

If you have more than 1 person in your business, I'd encourage you to do someone else's job. Be the accountant for a day. Be the editor for a small event. Be the assistant for a few hours. You might find a few gaps. Your business will improve.

Easter weekend was a bit of a blur for me. It seemed like I was always running around trying to get a bit of work done. We went to church this morning, but only to teach the Jr. High kids.

Finally this evening things got quiet and I had a chance to sit with Taylor and read her the Easter Story.

Then I realized I had left my car at church this morning. So I took a slow walk over there (5 blocks or so) with a cigar and spent some time looking at the stars and praying.

Here's a little bit to make you laugh and remind you what Easter is about.

We just launched a bunch of new BIG Show updates. If you haven't yet, definitely check them out. Here's a quick show from our Sunday trip to Avila Beach.

I moved downstairs today ... into the small office we refer to as "the box". Primarily so I can focus on work and get some audio recording done.

It's nice and peaceful here. Maybe I'll stay awhile.