Are we pulling out our hair in Detroit?
I think not. But in case some of us are, top wedding photographer Joe Buissink and 4 of his friends (Denis Reggie, Jim Garner, Bambi Cantrell and Ken Sklute) decided to give back by presenting a free seminar for Detroit photographers at the DIA called Get Candid Detroit. They presented for 30-45 minutes each and there was a panel discussion and Q&A at the end. It was pretty amazing that these photographers would "give away" the information they are highly paid to present elsewhere. Just google any of their names any you will see their amazing work. For instance, Joe presented some of his images from his stint as Christina Aguilera's personal photographer on her tour and from Stephen Spielberg's birthday dinner. They covered everything from storytelling, lighting, shooting styles, album design and marketing. However, the themes primarily focused (no pun intended) on the tough economy and how we can reinvent or reinforce our business to survive the hard times. I think that everyone who attended, left feeling optimistic and excited about the information they learned - I know I did. The whole event was sponsored by Pictage.com, which I use to host my event images. Even the Pictage CEO, Jim Collins, came out to mediate the q&a session. He is an inspirational person in his own right and truly cares about people (not just pictage clients). He gave out his personal office number and email and encouraged us to keep in touch to let him know how we are doing. I don't think anyone that attended is pulling out their hair anymore (I personally am trying to keep as much hair as I can...).
I appreciate the generosity and inspiration they all the presenters gave to our community. Hopefully they will return home with a different impression of Detroit. Many people (possibly this group included) get a distorted view of Detroit from what they hear in the media. People don't often give us a chance or look at us as just a charity case. But once you visit, once you meet the people and see some of the amazing things that are created amidst the depression and despair, you see Detroit in a different light. I have lived here my whole life and can't imagine living anywhere else. Sure, Detroit has it's flaws, but don't we all?
Check out Jim's thoughts on his visit to Detroit.
1 comment:
Great post and great pic! I'm glad you felt like what we said had value. Sitting in the bar at Centaur later that evening, we all were talking about what a cool city it is, such amazing locations, and such warm people and about how we want to go back!
Jim Collins
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