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Head’s up folks: I am getting away from posting a pretty picture and talking about how much fun it is to be a photographer and going to shift focus to a subject that I think might clarify social media and it’s uses.
I have come full circle on the issue of Social Media and it’s use inside of personal and business communication. I immersed myself initially and studied all of the great communicators and hounded some of the pioneers of the upstart social media trends. One of the most interesting (and upsetting) things I discovered is that the pioneers are making it up as they go along. No one knows.. they just predict. OK… i am fine with that… new technologies invent new opportunities. What I didn’t expect (on both a personal and business level) is the asinine amount of white noise I was engulfed in trying to achieve the goals I set out for myself. I try to align my Facebook page to function solely on a personal level. (I only allow people I know and like on my page.) My Twitter account was established to discuss and follow photography and communication trends. My website, blog and Virb account all act as my marketing presence to cultivate interest in my photography through on-line channels. Each play a significant role in representing me personally and professionally.
The problem with that is that I spent so much time updating, following, and debating with my fellow peeps or tweets that I lost focus on what I was trying to accomplish. And then i shut it all off. I viewed the problem to be these channels of communication and I thought the best solution would be to just focus on my photography. But in doing so I realized a flaw in my argument in releasing myself from the clutches of the addicting on-line world. The realization is that the world is changing and that this is an extremely popular way of communicating. So I in effect, I took myself off the grid. (which isn’t bad sometimes… it’s like taking a vacation and not having cell service… you freak out but it feels good to get away)
I read an article recently that highlights a conversation that Brad Mays, the Senior Vice President of Digital Strategy at Fleishman-Hillard in Dallas, had concerning social media burnout and how to use it’s powers for good not evil. (Disclaimer: I consider him to be a friend as we had drinks on many occasions and we are facebook and twitter friends.. so that should solidify our friendship status!) He states that he found it more engaging to use Social Media trends to explore your interests instead of promoting yourself. Find ways to communicate with others that share similar interests and engage with them on a whole other level. I will post the article here. I encourage you to read what Brad had to say and apply it to your life… either personally or professionally. If you like what he has to say… then I recommend you stalk him on-line here. hehehe.. He is an interesting person. The business application, simply put, is to avoid blasting your message out to as many people as possible (I believe the equivalent to sidewalk hawking) and focus on tailoring your message to niche groups that have similar interests as your product or service.
– so apply niche marketing strategies to social media and there you go– (again strategy simply stated)
I am going to adapt my on-line persona to what I have discovered through Brad and my findings and hope to get rid of the clutter that is so prevalent in trying to use all of the Social Media tools that are available.
Personal Note to other photographers: Please stop using Social Media to promote seminars to other photographers… I don’t need 18 tweets an hour about how cool you are and when the seminar is. If you want to persuade me to check it out… put up a post and let people who have attended give us feedback on if it was good or not… If you tweet it a million times, all I think is you can’t get anyone to sign up for it and that you are desperate to get exposure…
Next post will be pretty pictures, I promise!!! I really do…
The new issue of DHome is out and I am excited to announce that my first published image for them is nestled comfortably on page 28. I thought I would share the final product and the other images I sent it for their approval. Many thanks to art director extraordinaire Jamie Laubhan-Oliver, Laura Kostelny, and Peggy Levinson for making it an extremely positive experience.
I shot out of bed on Friday and decided that I wanted to ignore all of the duties of the day to walk around downtown Dallas and photograph random places. As I walked through the streets and back alleys looking for interesting subjects and hoping not to get mugged, I ended up outside a friends downtown condo. After a quick phone call to announce my presence, I was whisked upstairs to enjoy my first Mexican Mocha. (patented by Alberto) We enjoyed the coffee and chatted about photographers. I convinced Alberto to join me on my pilgrimage to the land of leisure. We took the train to Deep Ellum and ate at All Good Cafe, which is my new favorite spot to grab lunch. Extremely relaxing environment. We met up with Chad Windham who happened to be visiting the cafe to discuss business with a colleague. After a brief discussion it turns out that Chad was looking to share some studio space. (Which was exactly what I have been looking for!!) So there may be a great fit there. Alberto and I continued on our stroll around Dallas and I have to say (and this is a compliment) they should put alberto’s mouth in the circus!!! He is one hell of a tour guide. We would walk by a building and I would get the history of the place and he would point out which alley not to go down b/c it was haunted. The whole experience with alberto was fascinating. We ended up taking a break at the Amsterdam Bar to enjoy a beer and continue our chat about photography. I really enjoyed that place and would fiercely recommend it. I have been looking for a bar that reminds me of Austin and Amsterdam Bar is spot on. And the coolest part is the studio I was looking at is across the street. I ended the day by taking the train back to my place and having a relaxing evening. Friday was a perfect day.
Sports Illustrated gave me a last minute call to set up some remotes for the opening of the new Cowboys Stadium and I didn’t hesitate to jump in a car and head over there. I didn’t get an opportunity to work the game and whereas that would have been an amazing atmosphere to shoot in… I really don’t envy the guys that will be working. It is going to be crazy, loud, and chaotic. (and a ton o fun!!!)
The remotes are overall shots of the stadium and field and should be cool for tomorrows game. I got to be one of the first guys for Sports Illustrated to get up in the catwalk and check out the video board close up and it is a fantastic. (Personal note: Jerry Jones, you sir… are an entertainer and know how to put on a show.) Now, onto the catwalk… you CANNOT even remotely be afraid of heights if you want to go up there. After conquering a titanic set of stairs you must scale a metal grate walkway that has to be at a 40 degree incline…(see last photo in slideshow) and repeat multiple times while lugging equipment. haha.. I got dizzy…
Enough talk.. I hope you enjoy the Iphone photos of the new stadium…
Will Rutledge tackles the intricacies of photographing cars and planes Iphone style.
I got the call on Monday morning to grab my gear and head from Dallas Texas to Arkansas to for a multiple day, multiple location photo shoot. I made the trip that night and got into Little Rock at midnight. Hit the road the next morning to finish the drive and got to the first location on time and in good shape. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the photo shoot.
Race Cars are fun to photograph.
Behind-the-scenes of one of the set-ups used to photograph the car.
Low angle photograph showing how far the car is off from the ground.
After a couple of hours with the car… I got to play with the plane.
Cool Iphone shot of an Eclipse 500. Beautiful plane!!!
Tail shot of Eclipse 500. Photographed with my Iphone.
Photographer Will Rutledge works with his kick ass creative director to make some rugs look sexy
I got a call from a Lizzy Grojean, a freelance creative director, to come shoot a commercial assignment for Basil Scaljon. Basil is an exotic rug dealer that operates out of San Antonio, Texas and he wanted to run some regional ads for his main store. The graphic designer on the photo shoot was out of BBDO in Chicago. We spent the day photographing specific rugs and then I spent some time photographing some interiors for Basil because I liked him and wanted to help him out. Both Basil and Liz allowed me to take part in this experience and gave me complete freedom to ply my artistic insanity. (Within certain guildlines… of course.) Rugs certainly aren’t the most entertaining of subjects, but we had fun during the shoot and I made my assistant entertain us by dancing (in his own truly unique way) to the musings of Madonna and Depeche Mode. I think I even saw Basil shaking it a little when no one was watching… Good photo shoots start with a good crew of people… lesson has been learned.
Will Rutledge photographs exotic rugs for commercial photo shoot.
I have been fortunate to discuss Search Engine Optimization strategies with PhotoShelter CEO Allen Murabayashi and Houston advertising photographer Robert Seale. They both have interesting viewpoints on SEO and how it relates to the photo industry. Allen has even spent a considerable amount of energy and money to create an SEO cookbook for photographers. It is available as a free download on the PhotoShelter website and I highly recommend that you read it. If you feel that you want nothing to do with SEO or feel it is out of your realm of understanding… I ABSOLUTELY encourage you to read it… Allen approaches this mysterious subject in a way that will give you a clear understanding of the basic principles behind this philosophy. During our conversations, Robert revealed that he liked the idea of incorporating SEO into his website but didn’t know what the best strategies were. He also acknowledged that it was an interesting concept, but viewed more traditional methods of marketing as staples to generate his client list. After a round robin of discussions with Allen and myself, Robert implemented a different techniques of SEO and has noticed positive results. He has continued to aggressively pursue these concepts both with his website and new blog. And for those of you that want a good read… follow Robert’s blog at www.robertseale.com. He illustrates his creative thought process with a behind-the scenes account of his photo shoots and looks to provide the everyday hobbyist with direction on how to have fun with photography. Check him out.
Search Engine Optimization is critical to your web presence and should be a valuable tool for your brand to capture new work and generate positive traffic. Make sure you address these concepts when building and promoting your website. SEO is important.
(sorry it took so long to get this post up… i usually log in and then get caught up reading a friends posts while she is in Korea and then I lose interest in typing b/c she is so poetic and it makes me feel like a first grader when I write… but she hasn’t posted in four days and that broke the spell and I can type again…. although I still think I type like a first grader… and…. that’s why I am a photographer… hehehe)
I was fortunate to be allowed to participate in (potentially) the last Dallas Cowboy game in Texas Stadium. They are going to tear it down and move to the new stadium next year and it was fun getting to have have one last experience here. My father and I used to watch the games when I was little. We were there for the one win season as well as the super bowls… Sports Illustrated gave me an opportunity to work the games and I have been fortunate to cover events since 2002. Don’t get me wrong, the new stadium is beautiful but there is a history here for so many people that it will be hard to have to watch them implode it to build a mall or condos or whatever.
So Texas Stadium, in the immortal words of the recorded U.T voice when you finished registering classes…
“good bye and good luck”
So I cut short the vacation time with the family to drive back to Dallas to catch a flight to Orlando to work a basketball tournament for Sports Illustrated. I now know the best time to fly anywhere is right after Thanksgiving. There were a few people in the airport but not much.
Travel tip- Check your bags at the skycap station. You get charged two dollars (plus a tip) to not stand in a line and have someone carry your bags to the plane. What a wonderful concept, please use it…
The trip to Orlando was painless and I got to sit next to an extremely attractive woman. Normally I throw on the ipod and fall asleep, but this time I thought I would be sociable. We had a great conversation about diabetic insulin pumps. I learned a few things for sure. She did wait until we were about to land to inform me of topics that include a 10 yr old daughter, two ex husbands and current boyfriend in Orlando. Still a great conversation but funny how people do that.
We will cut the work stuff short… Worked two games back to back. Both games were blowouts and not as interesting as I had hoepd.
BUT… I had a pina colida with Minny Mouse when I got back to my DisneyWorld Marriott that night… that was an interesting evening… I also have a balcony in my Marriott room which is a first and i get to watch the sunset…
this is going to be a great trip… (excluding the four games I will have to work back to back tomorrow) hehehe
Here is a slide show of some arrangements I made… I thought I would jump into the studio and play for a bit. I have to give it to stylists, setting up flowers and such is a little harder than I thought it would be…hehehehe. It was a great experience though… The first photo I call “flower floating in orange juice”.
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