Earlier this week, I hopped a plane to Chicago to participate in the Phase One IQ Conference. This was the second conference we’ve done with Phase One and I was pleased to be invited back. Doug Sperling from ProGear sponsored the event which was held at Harrington College of Design, and Dan Cuny from MacGroup was there demonstrating all sorts of cameras and strobes.
Chicago photographer Sean Williams and Minneapolis photographer Jake Armour were the keynote speakers. Sean showed us how he creates his amazing composites of dancers inspired by fairy tales and Jake showed some cool time-lapse movies showing how some of his big studio fashion shoots work.
Those guys were a tough act to follow, but eventually, it was my turn. I gave talks on Branding & Marketing For Commercial Photographers and another on Pricing & Negotiating:
Then throughout the day, I also reviewed portfolios and websites with some emerging photographers, doing my best to provide some intelligent feedback. One of the more memorable brands of the day was Danyel Duncan’s Shoot To Kill Photography. But my favorite was Sarah Frankie Linder. There’s something very cool about girls with guy’s names (not so much the other way around).
I also got a chance to meet up with a bunch of Wonderful Machine photographers to talk shop at a cool little bar called Clutch in the West Town section of the city, including kids and lifestyle photographer/director Eric Klein, lifestyle/portrait photographer Carlos Moore, fashion/beauty photographer Cecilia Austin, portrait/lifestyle photographer Tim Klein and corporate/kids photographer Todd Winters. It was especially good seeing Todd, who has been on our site since the very beginning. Interestingly, our bartender Danny was the little brother of Sarah Claxton who is a photographers’ agent in Chicago and who represents our own Eric Prine in New York and Brian Sorg in Chicago. Small world!
Fashion/Reportage photographer David W. Johnson showed up just in time to get the last shrimp skewer and then he was kind enough to drive me to the airport. That gave me time to hear more about his involvement mentoring at-risk youth in Chicago and his work documenting the work of charitable organizations like Liceo Cristiano in El Salvador.
Bill giving his spiel on Pricing & Negotiating (photo by David W. Johnson).
From left, Eric Klein, Carlos Moore, Cecilia Austin, Tim Klein, Cecilia’s husband Buck, Todd Winters.
Hitching a ride with David W. Johnson.
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