7 People wrote blogs about what things they learned from their recent exploits with the Jarvie Game
See what they wrote and then see what I wrote about my experiences with JaG
Disclaimer … It’s 3am… But I wanted to get this out before I post my next blog post announcing the winner of the JaG game.
I will re-edit this post later.
Kimbrey Torgerson (1st Place essay)
Her awesome lengthy post on what she gleaned
“At first, I thought it was going to be challenging to write an essay about what I have learned from a photographer whom I have never met.”
- How important to make subject feel at ease
- Let them be themselves
“The number one thing I admire about Jarvie’s Photography is how important it is to make the subject feel at ease and let them be themselves.”
- Don’t forget subject by getting lost in the technical
- Embrace the light around you … even backlighting and sunflares.
- find great locations and use them well. Even random side of the road locations.
- Post processing, know how to work it.
- Avoid things that look out of place.
“Finally what I learned about myself from all of this is how dedicated I am to really learning the art of photography”
Kaitlyn Janis
wrote a spectacular write up on her blog.
Reading her post is an inspiring and educational read about getting more into photography.
Good points she brings up.
- More emphasis on client relations
- Be fun, be yourself.
- Don’t stress over posing ideas… work with the client’s personality.
- Not being a flash snob – Use it tastefully. There are alright ways to do flash.
- Found excitement to learn a field she wasn’t interested in before. (Flash)
- What kind of photographer do you want to be for the community. (Helpful, secretive, inspiring, make money.)
- Not just one way to edit
- Studying a photographer in depth can help understand composition.
-She learned lots of techy geeky things in many posts as well.
Tara Winsor
- See how a photographer has changed over time
- Using flash in a “tasteful” way
- How to get genuine smiles
-Connect with the subject
- Taking pics at sunset and not just of sunset
- From opposed or afraid of flash… to wanting to go buy one.
- Gained a Friend
“With doing this game, came my DESIRE to learn more, to do more, and to have fun again. I am happiest behind a camera. And this has put that fire back under my butt to push to be a photographer. It’s what I want to do, I can make it happen. It makes me want to learn, it has made me want to go out and shoot, and not be afraid to try new things”
“Thanks Scott for the awesome game, and the awesome opportunity.”
Melissa Blue
- Not holding back
- Being a sharing giving photographer and person
- Taken away a lot of knowledge
“He is constantly doing things to share his craft with others.”
Torsten
- See things differently viewing other people’s work.
- See the different locations.
- You don’t have to spend tons of money to market.
“I learned how to make better connections with the clients. I loved when he wanted to make the bride smile he would do his cheesy hehehe laugh.”
Mary Ann
Her post over on her blog
“I enjoyed working with Scott and his happy-go-lucky attitude. He really put the bride, groom and all the wedding party at ease.”
-Grabbing shots when you see them.
-How there are different ways to approach something.
Becky Leung
“I don’t know if you guys know this but I don’t use flashes in my photography”
- How to use a second flash and to create fill light or highlighting light.
-How to mess around with a flash
“In fact Scott sang whenever he heard a word he could correlate to a song.”
“the real lesson learned here is actually having a personality that puts people at ease”
- Be friendly and talk and joke with them.
- The use of assistants
What I Scott Jarvie Learned
That many of my messages are coming across.
Even the ones I’m not vocal all the time about.
Be good to your client.
Put them at ease and have fun.
Everyone seems to have gotten those main messages
and some from just viewing my pictures and reading some posts.
Many accompanied me on photo shoots during the game and also saw that.
Flash… ah ah … he’ll save everyone of us
They all seem to think I’m a big Flash person… when it wasn’t just last year when I used to make fun of people who were obsessed with flash… or so it seemed.
But I still stress people first and then the equipment. Meaning don’t get lost in the equipment.
I think some of my friends will find it funny that I am becoming so associated to flash.
The number one observation was ways and tips to interacting with clients. Second seemed to be flash
At the end of a wedding the mom or grandma doesn’t come up to me and say… I really like how you handled the lighting of the event.
It’s always they thought I handled everything well and I was pleasant and fun to be around.
They comment that I was always smiling and never complaining, that I did what they asked
My thoughts on running JaG
I learned that it’s a ton of work to do a competition like this.
But I am happy with the way I rated it, doing it all by hand made it fun for me.
Plus I was able to be subjective in so many things which was helpful.
I was able to curve some of the stuff…
It prevented gaming the system. Because everything went through me.
The game inspired many people. I was happy about that.
It got lots of feedback just for it’s novelty.
No one had seen anything of it’s kind and thought it was ingenious.
It worked for my personality and offer. I don’t think it would work for everyone.
Photography is one of those things that makes some people gung-ho.
Some people are willing to go the distance in a competition like this.
Others do good for a day or two. (Which is cool)
Now the prep for the workshop
I really wanted to do a workshop anyway but I really want to work with people who have PASSION for photography.
I think this was the perfect way to make sure I got really excited indivuals there.
They had to earn it… so it will mean a lot. But they didn’t go broke to get there.
A great marketing strategy like this one can be considered not only stirs awareness and interest but it benefits the person and like this one involves them in the marketing.
as you can see from the posts above, those who really participated the most were highly impacted by the game, they learned a lot and I’m willing to bet it will have an impact in their photo business for years to come.
My suggestion w/ or w/o a competition on the line
Check out the work of one photographer, see what they’ve done over the years and in many situations.
Best to find one that shows it all. Not just a couple of their best stuff. One that is vocal and shows off not just what they do but how and why as well.
Granted there aren’t many out there… and if they’re that good they probably don’t post that much or they’re that rare individual like me crazy enough to invest tons and tons of time and not worry about how much money it’s making me.
If you find photographers like that who share, care and post tons of work on their blog (lots of shoots and lots of work from each) let us know here so people can learn more about them.
Great compilation sites or how to photo sites are awesome for those subject learning stuff… but we’re talking about really delving into the work of one person, seeing where they came from and where they’re going.
Thanks to everyone that participated I hope it truly was an “Awesome Game”
