I asked Jeff Lawler of Jeffrey Neal Studios if he would blog about his time at the BLEND workshop since I know so many of us really wanted to go but couldn’t get away! Thanks Jeff for sharing with me about your time and allowing me to share about it with the rest of our fabulous clients. I am so glad to have met you and to have you as a client! Can’t wait to see how your images rock even more after your inspiring time in New Mexico.

Without further ado: a summary of the workshop in his own words:

What an amazing week!  First I must say thank you to Eliesa and [b] for these images as I did not shoot any digital images so I had nothing to post.  I made the decision to shoot only film so I will be posting those as soon as I get them back from the lab.  I wanted to post a little review for you all so that you can see what I thought in my own humble opinion about this workshop.  As many of you know I think it is so necessary for photographers, no matter how accomplished, to continue the journey of learning at all stages of their career.  A perfect point in case was Becker, not only does he teach a ton of workshops but he also attends them and was at BLEND, fully involved and getting into the classes being taught.

The Image is Found

Nate and Jaclyn was day one for me.  I know it sounds weird, but to preface this with saying, I have never followed anyone of the presenters blogs or workshops, not because I don’t like them I am just not a big blog follower.  So this was the first time that I really got to see and get to know what they are about.  Nate and Jac are really big into branding and hold their brand as a very valuable piece of their business.  I could not agree more and it was so inspiring to really focus on my branding and make sure that it is consistent all the way through, from my site to my marketing to my packaging.  They are both really young and have made a extremely successful business for themselves and I do believe that it is not just their images but their strong brand.  All in all their class was great and made me think a lote about what my brand is communicating.

Jesh De Rox

Wow!  That is a word that can sum up a lot of what I got out of spending a day with Jesh.  He has such a gift of inspiration and drawing artists out of what is mediocre and safe and into the world of endless possibilities.  I can honestly say that we spent zero time talking about cameras and f-stops and photography but more about being an artist.  The class ran more like a retreat that dealt with our own insecurities and fears about being true to ourselves than a photo workshop.  Personally, I could not place a value on what this did for me as an artist and a photographer who desires not only to capture great images but even more than that inspire people’s lives by my work.  Jesh gave us himself for a full day and it was a beautiful self.  He has such a passion to bring people into an experience and is so gifted at doing so.  I hope that you will all see the effects that this time had in me in my work over the next few years.  It will be in that way that I can best give honor to Jesh and his passion to inspire people to see the beauty in others.

Jose Villa

This was the last day of my BLEND experience.  I was so excited to hear what Jose had to say because I have such a passion for film and the art of photography and Jose shoots only film.  Yeah, there are a few left!  Jose was so open about all of his business and ideas and marketing that is was super refreshing.  He is probably one of the most humble and easy going photographers that I have met.  His artwork is unparalleled in the industry and his passion for art is so apparent.  I was so inspired to be a better artist and make sure that experience and product that I give to my clients is nothing short of amazing.

As a whole this was the best workshop I have attended.  The idea of Blend was to bring three totally different photographers together so that our experience would be blended and we could take what we wanted from it to better our own art and business.  The idea and execution was spot on and amazing.  The people that I met there were all inspiring and amazing and I can say with great pride that is was well worth the money spent.

Somehow, I ended up watching this random Honda documentary video today – and found myself completely inspired.

Basically, the video is telling you to “send them upstairs, kick out the ladder and set it on fire.”

This kick out the ladder concept is about putting enough pressure on yourself, your team, your business – that you will outperform what you think you can. They do this by making public promises and then forcing themselves to keep them – announcing costs before they’ve even completed the project – setting productivity rates impossibly high.

Here at Fotoworks Pro, we’re going to have to spend some time this week thinking about how we’re going to kick out our own ladder and set fire to it. We need to take a long, hard look at where we are and where we want to be and put those goals out into the public eye so that we’re forced to follow through.

How are you going to kick out your ladder?

-Katie