Laurie Friedman’s father passed down two important traits to his daughter: an artistic eye and a love of travel. Nearly four decades ago, she bought a single-lens reflex film camera and zoom lens for a tour of ancient civilizations of Mexico, starting in Mexico City and ending in Yucatán. Friedman has now visited 90 countries, always bringing a camera along to capture scenes of landscapes and life. “I tend not to be shy,” she says. “I’m happy to ask people, ‘May I take your photo?’ I always ask if I’m close, and every once in a while they’ll say no, I’d rather not. But most of the time it’s just fine. I also love little artistic details, like rooflines. Graphic images are my favorite, if I had to pick, but I’m kind of known for my portraits.”

Friedman—whose career was spent in hospital labs and sciences at UC Davis—had a wedding and portrait business, at one point shooting up to 25 weddings a year. Most of her photography these days is purely for enjoyment.

She is a founding member and program chair of the Gold Rush Chapter of the Photographic Society of America. The volunteer-run Sacramento club hosts workshops for photographers looking to develop their skills in areas such as portraiture, still life, smartphone, black and white, and flower photography. Gold Rush is one of many resources across Sacramento that serve photographers looking to learn the craft or boost their skills. Others include shops and galleries, formal education at local colleges and online tutorials.

While everyone may see themselves as photographers nowadays thanks to smartphones, and whether someone is a hobbyist or a professional, one of the most critical steps to actually possessing real talent is learning the camera. Justin Sotelo, an adjunct professor of photography at Sacramento City College, says, “There is no substitute for having knowledge, technical expertise and full control of the equipment you are using.”

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY—When Roberta McClellan joined Viewpoint Photographic Art Center in midtown Sacramento as executive director in 2014, she already had many years of nonprofit arts management experience. She recognized that one way to advance Viewpoint, a member-oriented organization (now in its 32nd year), was to invite in the larger community, making its artwork and workshops more accessible.

“Viewpoint was started by photographers for photographers,” she says. “It was just this idea of a group of people saying, well, we love photography . . . and then it just evolved into what you see today.”

Viewpoint hosts two or three workshops monthly, about 22 exhibits a year in its 2,300 square feet of gallery space, artists receptions, Second Saturday gatherings and a student educational program. It also organizes Photography Month Sacramento each April. This celebration brings together between 20 and 30 partner organizations across five local counties to host about 40 events.

One workshop planned for this April is on NFTs (nonfungible tokens), which are “just blowing up” in the photography space, McClellan says. Viewpoint tries to stay up-to-date with the art form, because photography “is changing every day.” She sees growing interest in a return to old techniques, like alternative process, which developed in the mid-1800s and uses large glass plates, cyanotype and other tools.

Other Viewpoint workshops throughout the year include topics like composition, lighting, street photography and how to edit in Lightroom (a type of Adobe software); post processing topics tend to be popular. One-day photo outings are also well-attended. Past destinations have included Cosumnes River Preserve, Tahoe and Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The opportunity to learn from peers makes these outings successful, McClellan says. “People have their peers with them and talk a little bit about what they’re doing and how people are capturing an image, what they’re doing with that image.”

Viewpoint’s 500 members get special privileges like attendance at “print and portfolio nights,” when experienced photographers facilitate a small gathering where everyone presents one or more images and a discussion follows. “Some of these people have been doing this for 30 or 40 years. You can learn so much in an hour’s sitting with a seasoned photographer,” McClellan says.

Friedman, of Gold Rush, describes Viewpoint as a “tremendous educational resource in the community.” She is also a member of Sierra Camera Club in Sacramento. (A local monthly meetup group called Beers and Cameras stopped gathering during the pandemic.) There’s also Professional Photographers of America, a national organization that provides educational resources for members. Many photographers and videographers say they rely on internet platforms and software tutorials to develop technical skills, such as CreativeLive, Phlearn, Skillshare, You-Tube and Adobe Photoshop.

After a hiatus from in-person instruction, Gold Rush is returning to this format in April with a program on abstract photography. Attendees will gather for instruction, then depart to take photos of wall art around the city. Friedman says there are benefits to being able to turn to a person next to you to ask for advice. “I found photographers are very generous at sharing their expertise,” she says.

Sotelo agrees that a valuable way to develop one’s skills is to seek constructive criticism from peers. “It’s really easy to have tunnel vision as you’re working on your content,” Sotelo says. “You have a different relationship with it. Maybe you’re just really focused on one aspect of it. I think it’s extremely important to have other people look at your work because it’s important to see what they see first.”

There’s no shortage of help offered to photographers who visit PhotoSource in East Sacramento or Mike’s Camera in midtown. “I teach people over the counter all the time. It’s just what I do,” says PhotoSource owner Michael Kallweit. “When people come in, we help and guide people for whatever they need.”

These businesses dole out advice and answer questions, sell gear and supplies, and in some cases have processing services and facilities available. For instance, customers can rent the darkroom at PhotoSource. The business opened in 2001 as a working photo lab where people can bring boxes of old media to get developed or converted to digital. Now it does much more. The shop buys, refurbishes and sells old cameras. It offers high-end rentals, which attracts professionals. Customers also include “the kids, as I call them, who are shooting film again,” Kallweit says.

“We have experienced what we call a revival in the industry,” he adds. “The young people are finding film and analog attractive for a number of different reasons. It’s probably, for one, just the opposite of their phones.” The anticipation of waiting to see their developed photographs is a big part of the appeal, unlike the instant gratification of cellphones and other digital technologies.

PhotoSource no longer holds workshops, and Kallweit says the best way to learn photography or expand one’s skills is through college courses. He describes schools within the Los Rios Community College District and Sacramento State as having some of the best photo programs in the nation. “That’s the place to learn,” he says.

ALWAYS MORE TO LEARN—Sotelo has had many careers—in music, education and for the state of California for about 16 years, while he also periodically took photography classes at Sacramento City College. In 2019, the college hired him as an adjunct professor for the department. He is now able to make a living through his craft.

“Collectively, the classes and just the program in general allowed me to develop the necessary skills to feel like I was ready to move forward with doing more professional or freelance work,” Sotelo says. “We’re always learning. I think we’re students for our lifetime. Things are always evolving. There’s always new technology.”

Over the years, he has taught beginning and intermediate digital photography (which cover topics such as camera operation, flash photography, post-processing, digital print
preparation, video capture and editing) and portfolio development. This spring semester, he is co-teaching California coastal photography—with a field trip to Point Reyes National Seashore—with Ryan Angel Meza, another adjunct professor and freelance photographer (who has photographed for Sacramento Magazine).

Angel Meza’s road to becoming a professional photographer involved a six-year detour working for the state government. Classes at City College and then a photography degree from Sacramento State gave him the education and confidence to make the career leap. “It’s been a really long journey to really develop the craft and be patient with getting my foot in the door,” he says.

These City College professors say their broad spectrum of students includes those enthusiastic about pursuing a career in the field and retirees who do photography as a
hobby but want to refine their skills. Some students want to merge photography and social media as a career opportunity; social media, Angel Meza says, “has made photography as a career really reachable” because there’s an endless demand for this type of creative content.

The students who will be best equipped to succeed in the industry will be those who have a multitude of skills, agree the professors. They both have also undertaken some degree of self-education in video and drone photography to make themselves more marketable. It’s about layering skill sets, Kallweit says. Just taking pictures doesn’t cut it.

Ultimately, a big part of growing as a photographer is simply creating habits and muscle memory—and the most critical ongoing step in one’s development is regular practice. “If you don’t really invest the time on a daily basis, if possible, you’re not going to progress,” Sotelo says. “I don’t pretend that I know everything. Every time I shoot, I walk away with some sort of knowledge.”

Posted: 24th April, 2023 by The Editor

Last week JORDY played a spectacular show opening for Spencer Sutherland’s ‘In His Mania’  tour in Boston. His set was full of energy, crowd interaction, and provided for an overall excellent time. JORDY’s set included fan favorites such as, “ Close to you,” “Just Friends” and his heavy hitter mashup of “Absolutely (Story of A Girl)’, “ Story of A Boy”. The audience absolutely loved his performance, cheering loud for him and singing along. You could feel the energy ramping up throughout the whole set as JORDY set the mood just right for Spencer to come on after. He was a perfect opener for Spencer and you do not want to miss a show that JORDY is at. Make sure listen to BOY  his second album, that released on April 21st!

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Tara Demers//@badcrystalart

The alarm on my phone sounds at 4 am. For a few bleary seconds I think, this can’t be right…but then it hits me: I have a plane to catch. Not only me, but my wife, our four kids, and my mother-in-law need to cram ourselves and all our bags into the minivan and be on the road by 4:45 am. We are headed to St. Louis for my last photography conference of the year: Shutterfest.

Flashback to 2009: My wife, Julie, and I had both been laid off from our full-time jobs in the same week and decided to try and make a go of our brand-new photography side hustle. Taking some advice from some established professionals in our area, we registered for ImagingUSA and booked the cheapest flights we could find to Nashville for the event. It would be the first of many conferences for us.

The Rise and Fall of Conferences

If you weren’t around the photography industry at the time, 2009 was the peak of photo conference madness. WPPI, ImagingUSA, PhotoPlus, and more were all at the peak of their popularity. Social media was in its infancy and going to live events was pretty much the best and only way to get photography education.

Coincidentally, 2009 was a massive year for Imaging USA. Despite the global financial crisis, The Gaylord Opryland was brimming with ten thousand professional photographers and enthusiasts who were there to learn, party, and spend their hard-earned money on the latest gear at one of the largest photography expos in the world.

I still remember how it felt: like one gigantic magic show. You gotta remember that we were new. So new, in fact, that we didn’t even know what we didn’t know. We walked into our first class, wedding photography taught by Jerry Ghionis. If you’ve ever seen Jerry, you know that as far as first classes go, you can’t do much better than that. The following three days flew by and we left exhausted, elated, and hopeful that we might just be able to make it as professional photographers. We had found our people.

An awful lot happened in the following years. I could write a book about the rise of YouTube and social media, the advancements in digital technology, the flood of new photographers, and a dozen other things that combined to cause such a sea change in professional photography. What matters the most as it pertains to this article is the monumental shift over the last 14 years in how people learn.

Almost anything you want to know, you can find online. How to change a headlight on a 1996 Honda Civic or what’s the best tripod for landscape photographers are a few keystrokes away, 24 hours a day. You can attend lighting and posing webinars, buy photo business masterclasses, or even be mentored by a famous photographer from the comfort of your favorite chair. So as I sit on this cramped flight to St. Louis, on my way to my fourth and final conference of the year, I ask myself: why does anyone do this? What is the value? In the modern era, what is the point of the photography convention?

Full disclosure, I am a speaker at pretty much every conference I attend. That’s right, I get paid to go. Not only that, but I am usually selling something and making money from that too. You might say that incentivizes me to write an article talking about how great conferences are, right? Well before you make that judgment, let me tell you a secret: I make ten times the money from webinars and online classes that I can give from my studio, sitting at my desk.

Teaching at photography conferences is the worst return on investment in my business. If another photographer came to me with the same numbers, based only on the financial outlook, I would tell them to quit the conferences and focus on their online business. So, yes I make money at conferences but, no, it’s not all that much. So having that out in the open, I want to make a case both against and for the photography convention.

Why NOT to Go to a Photo Conference

Let me start with reasons not to go to a conference:

1. It’s Expensive. No matter what the registration price is, or how many convention hacks you know to save money, going to a photography conference costs a lot of money. Not only do you have all of the obvious travel expenses, but you are taking yourself out of your own business for days at a time, which can cost you way more than you would spend on attending. When we went for the first time, we stayed miles away from the host hotel in a Travel Lodge and even left the convention center for meals (which we always shared) to save money. It’s not hard to imagine how the expense of traveling could limit access to conventions for those who might need them the most.

2. Online Education is Great Now. From Facebook support groups to YouTube tutorials, the amount of online photography education is staggering. Although there is a lot of half-baked and bad information online, a diligent student can eventually find quality educators putting out great content. Content that can help navigate everything from what gear to buy to how to retouch a portrait. Having on-demand access to almost anything you could want to know is faster, more affordable, and preferable to flying across the country and trying to navigate a conference with thousands of photographers and waiting in long lines for over-priced coffee.

3. It’s Scary. If you are even moderately introverted, a massive, crowded convention center or hotel can be a waking nightmare. A hundred thousand square feet of walking, talking meat sacks all smiling and hugging, breathing all over everything. Not ideal. So much nicer to just cruise YouTube from underneath a weighted blanket.

In and of themselves, those are pretty compelling reasons not to go to photography conferences, but believing you have to choose between online and in-person education is a false dichotomy. You don’t actually have to choose, do you? Different types of education serve you in their own way at different times in your development. If you’re an old hand like me, you might have come up learning the old-fashioned way but still take advantage of the newer ways to grow. If you came up after the advent of online learning, you might learn and grow in new ways by taking the leap and going to a live event. There is no either/or, just what fits you best at the time.

Why to Go to a Photo Conference

If you are questioning the validity of attending live events, though, allow me to make a case for them by telling you why I think they still matter, maybe more than ever.

1. There Are Things You Can’t Learn or Do Online. Being in a room with an expert is very different from watching them on a screen. Yes, that’s a pretty obvious statement, but let me expound on that. Online education is edited, it’s curated, and it’s not always honest. Watching an instructor who has the chops to pull off a live tutorial while fielding questions is still kind of a magic show. And what about those questions? Instead of leaving a comment and hoping that someone gets back to you, the instructor is in the room and they can address you right then and there. That type of access isn’t common online. If you pick the right event and instructors, it can be game-changing.

2. Business Education Almost Doesn’t Exist Online. Have you looked around the online photography education space and noticed anything missing? Business education, real numbers, and actionable business practices are pretty much nonexistent or behind a paywall. There are a couple of good reasons for that: Educators are either not actually making that much money or they aren’t open to sharing their business secrets without getting paid.

How do I know? I do it myself.

That’s right: if you want to know how I make money and the things I do to keep making money you are gonna have to pay. It’s pointless for me or anyone else in the space to share our money-making secrets openly because that information is wasted on anyone but the most serious students. If you are committed to succeeding at your business, you will put your money where your mouth is. Here’s the exception: conferences.

That’s right! Conferences like ImagingUSA, WPPI, Shutterfest, SWPP, and the Portrait Masters all have plenty of classes dedicated to the business of photography and how to be a better entrepreneur. Instructors like me very often save their business education for their paid coaching or in-person classes. You want someone to open up their books to you and tell you how to make a living? Whether that’s an expensive online course or an expensive trip to a conference, you usually gotta pay and, you know what? I don’t think there’s much wrong with that.

3. The Instructors Aren’t Even the Best Education at a Conference. This one’s a big one. After 15 years of attending most of the big conferences, I can tell you without any hesitation that I have learned more at the bar than anywhere else. I’m talking about what the corporate world calls “hallway conversations”. Sitting for an hour with someone who works for Canon over a coffee or sharing a jug of sangria with a 20-year veteran from the other side of the country is transformative. Just talking shop with other photographers in a real-time, casual setting yields the kind of information that’s the most important to your day-to-day.

Ironically, that unwritten knowledge is also the type of information that no one would bother to make a video about. From finding out why your camera does that weird thing to discovering the secret to getting your pop-up background to sit right, there are a thousand small pieces of information you will collect while you meet people. Get a candid review of a piece of software or an album company from someone who has used it for a decade in their business. Discover what the most comfortable socks are to wear on a wedding day. The type of tape someone uses to make dress collars stand up right. It’s honestly mind-blowing what you will learn from real photographers who are out there doing it when you just sit down and share. Online education doesn’t have this, not even close.

4. Photography Can Be a Lonely Business, Most of Us Are Solo Acts. People in most “normal” jobs have co-workers, people to share those hallway conversations with and exchange that unwritten knowledge. Facebook groups are great, Reddit has loads of interesting ideas, and I learn a ton of tips and tricks from TikTok in 10-second bursts, but it doesn’t help me not need people. It doesn’t fill the need for support from others who understand what I’m going through in my job. There is a special way we relate to people that work in our same field.

It’s impossible to overstate the number of kind and generous photographers who have shared their experiences with Julie and me to help us along. Almost every single one of them we met at a conference. Some of our dearest friends in the industry are scattered all over the country (and other countries). No matter what I’m working on, no matter what I need, no matter what time of day, there is a colleague just a Zoom call away. When my dad had a heart attack about 8 years ago and my family was rushing to the hospital, we had a wedding on the books for the next day. One phone call and it was covered by a photographer from our state PPA affiliate. Someone who I met at a conference.

There are other reasons. Getting hands-on with the latest gear, trade show discounts, crazy styled shoots, and big parties, each end every point a worthy one. Those just aren’t my reasons. This past year saw a healthy resurgence in the number of attendees at some of the tentpole photography conferences like IUSA and WPPI. I think, in part, it was due to lingering pent-up demand from the pandemic; people just felt ready to get out and be around others after three years of keeping their distance. My hope is that the trend continues and we get to see another golden era of photography conventions because, as expensive, crazy, and a little gross as they are, I am confident that without them, I wouldn’t have the career or the friends I have today.

About the author: Gary Hughes is a commercial photographer based in Florida. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. You can find more of his work on his website.

My first-ever article on Fstoppers condemned the use of presets and inspired photographers to focus on creating their own color grades and styles. Looking back, I still stand by some of those points, but not all of them. You see, while using presets is bad, creating your own presets might actually be beneficial to your photography and editing workflow.

Photography is an art form that requires a lot of creativity, skill, and patience. At least, that’s how it was. Nowadays, photography is a lot more about creativity, aesthetics, and speed. A lot of photographers, myself included, have access to a myriad of tools that help them achieve their artistic vision in a matter of seconds. Let’s be frank, there isn’t always time to dial in the image to look exactly how you need it to be. Sometimes, you need to use presets.

Before going further, I would like to emphasize the importance of knowing how to color grade and relying on your skills to achieve any look you want with the images. This is why when using presets, I strongly encourage you to use your presets rather than the ones bought from other photographers. Let’s discuss how you can start making your presets and why you should ultimately use them.

The Case for Using Presets

As a professional photographer, I work a lot. There can easily be up to eight shoots a week in my schedule. At the bare minimum, that is 8,000 images shot, 72-100 retouched, color-graded, and delivered. I can’t take too long with that either. My turnarounds are usually a week, two at most. To speed up retouching, I work with a team of two retouchers. The most time-consuming part of post-production for me is culling. While the 100-1,000 image selection is rather simple, narrowing it down to the final shots can easily take up hours. I take a lot of time to think about what image fits the brief best and what image will be the strongest. One thing that helps me select the final shots is a color grade.

On-Set Comfort

Having a more-or-less ready color grade on the image as early as capturing it on-set has become a necessity. I can’t work when I don’t see the color grade instantly. It helps me compose and work with the desired color. As you might know, my work is color-heavy. I enjoy extreme colors and vibrant tones. The raw image that I capture often lacks those. For example, as is, I hate how gels look. However, after a color grade, they look much stronger. I used to take the time to make a color grade at the start of each look. After some time, I realized that I am essentially doing the same look over and over again. This led me to create some presets.

Presets have since saved me a lot of time and effort when editing images. Sure, they are almost never enough to give the images their final look, but they are 80-90% there. Instead of having to manually adjust each setting, I give the desired look and then go in and make the precise adjustments.

Consistency

Another thing that presets have given me is a consistent look. While I would have it anyway since I know what I like and what I don’t, they help take that consistency to the next level. One of the things that help you define your style is a distinct color grade: for example, how muted your colors are, how much contrast there is, how much clarity, and so on. While this is not the only thing that makes up a style, it is one of the main things. Having a consistent and recognizable style can help you create a brand that people will know and recognize. This can lead to you being able to increase rates and work with higher-end clients. I know photographers who did this by buying presets as well, but once they face the reality of having to color-grade based on a reference, their lack of knowledge shows quickly.

Inspiration

This brings me to my next point, presets can inspire creativity. While directly contradicting what I thought before, I actually changed my mind about this. Having tried using my own presets, I often find editing faster, especially if the shoot is not something I like. By using presets, I avoid being stuck and feeling uninspired. Experimenting with different looks, I can easily try a new technique and style that I may not have considered before. Presets can be a great way to develop your skills as a photographer.

Learning

Lastly, they help you learn. All a preset is is a collection of settings that you pre-configured. In my case, I configure things such as highlights, shadows, curve, color wheel, grain, and clarity. I also keep a version of the same color grade with less and more contrast. I keep my adjustments fairly small with presets. For example, I don’t go below ±10 on highlights and shadows, while the curve also stays within reason. On their own, individual adjustments may not seem like much, but when you look at the combined final result, it will be a major difference. That said, I love contrast and detail, so I have a few that take it to extremes and forget about all conventions and rules. We’re talking about values of ±100 and curve shapes that resemble mountain roads rather than smooth curves. To be frank, I am more and more leaning toward extreme adjustments and looks. I feel like too many people are not using the full potential of their editing software.

Closing Thoughts

All in all, presets are an incredibly useful tool that helps you work faster, be consistent with your work, learn new techniques, and visualize images before ever editing them. They also help you move forward and keep momentum. Creating your own presets takes a lot of time and effort. However, consider that investment into all the future jobs you will have. Eventually, in a couple of years, you will have an incredibly consistent look that is fully yours. Don’t hesitate to experiment with the sliders and forget about the rule of keeping adjustments minimal. If you feel like an extreme look will fit the image, go for it.

Do you use presets? Did you make your own or buy them? If so, which ones? Let us know in the comments!