What's Your Secret?

Will you tell me your secret? 

Ooh. That's a cool old barn that you photographed. Where did you find it?

Wow! Great lighting! What technique did you use?

Have you been asked these questions? Or asked them? What was the response? 

Oh, I found that barn on my latest road trip. The technique is natural light. And is that all the response given? It's as if the photographer is afraid to tell you too much for fear that you'll then know his or her secret?

Well let me tell you a secret of my own. Don't tell anyone, ok? Just between you and me.

There are no secrets. 

Let me repeat that - there are NO secrets.

A recent exchange on Facebook left me wondering why some photographers are so hesitant to share their knowledge. I can understand trying to protect a place as a fellow photographer lamented the destruction of vegetation near a waterfall as photographer's clambered to get just the right image. But sadly once a place has been found, it will not remain secret and our next step in protecting the place is through education and Leave No Trace policies. Sarah Marino wrote an excellent blog post about this very thing.

But beyond protecting a place from overuse is there another reason? Is it a fear of not being unique anymore? Not having that one of a kind image?

Another friend of mine was helping a wedding photographer for a year when he finally "discovered" how that photographer achieved a certain look in his images. Why not ask? Was it because photographers have a heinous reputation for guarding their secrets?

Just do me a favor. Open your browser to Google and type in that place or that technique you think only you know. See what happens. I will lay even money down that there will be several entries for your query. So why do you keep it secret.

What's a better solution? Teaching. For those special places we hold dear, teach the next photographer you see how best to preserve the environment. For the person who wants to know how to light a subject, guide them through the steps.

I promise, you will be all the better for it.

Oh and if you're interested in where the above image was made. I created it somewhere is Eastern Washington. ;-)

Must we go through this again?

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference hosted by the Mountaineers in Seattle. I looked forward to the event of speakers and networking - on of the speakers is a idol of mine, John Graham, who wrote the book on Outdoor Leadership. Through his book I began to understand the type of leader I wanted to be. Other outdoor leaders and educators would also be presenting and I was expecting a day filled with sharing information and refining our goals and objectives within ourselves and our activities.

I wasn't wrong. Each of the speakers I was privilege to listen to spoke with passion about their vocation and a desire to share what they knew. However, not all of them came prepared.

One presentation entitled Training Trainers and Coaching Coaches looked to be right up my alley. Excitedly I sat down to hear what words of wisdom the two speakers had for us. Within the first 5 minutes I knew they were going to be wasting my time and if I hadn't sat down in the front of the room, I would have quickly escaped.

They were sea kayakers. Not that there is anything wrong with sea kayakers as I am a novice one myself. But they spent most of their presentation talking about the specifics of gaining skills within the sport.

Ummm, how does this related to training trainers or coaching coaches?

Not to say they weren't experts in their field and have had years training kayakers and trainers and coaches. In fact, they were quite knowledgeable. Within the framework of their field. Try to expand out of it and they were lost. I actually began to feel sorry for them and so did other members of the audience who spoke up to try to help make the connections.

There are a few things they could have done to better prepare themselves for the presentation or to know whether or not to do it. And these are the same things you can do when invited to speak.

1. Ask questions. When asked to give a presentation, ask a barrage of questions about the venue, the organization, the audience. What does the organization represent? How big of an audience will you be speaking to? Who are you speaking to? What is there experience with this topic? Why do you want me to speak? How much time will I have? A/V equipment, will you run it or me? Do I need to bring it or you? Get as many details as you can so you can frame your presentation better.

2. Start your planning and writing with a topic. Your topic is why the organization asked you to speak. You're the expert. Based on what you know about your audience, you should be able to frame the topic/subject to help the audience better understand your presentation. Make it relate-able to THEM! You are not up there for yourself, you are up there for them.

3. And practice. Practice. Practice. Grab a few experts in the topic and ask them to listen and give you feedback. Grab a few novices in the topic, ask them to listen and give you feedback. Ask a few folks who know nothing about the topic, ask them to listen and give you feed back. Each time you are practicing. But also don't ignore the feedback. If someone has advice to make the presentation better, use it. Work with it. Then practice some more.

These are simple ways to give an audience the presentation they deserve. I wish more speakers would go back to the basics. I'm hoping you will.

How not to be a Ramblin Rose, Part 1

Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose
Why you ramble, no one knows
Wild and wind-blown, that's how you've grown
Who can cling to a ramblin' rose?
 - Noel Sherman and Joe Sherman

I love Nat King Cole. His sweet and silky voice makes me weak in the knees and sends shivers along my spine. His is the voice that soothes the savage breast.

After sitting through a photographer's presentation a while back, I thought I could use a little Nat King Cole. I was frustrated, angry and felt betrayed.

Why?

Because the photographer rambled about himself and how wonderful he was for two stinking hours. That is two hour of my time that I will never get back. Nor will I ever get the money I paid for this frustrating honor back into my pocket.

Money and time lost. For nothing.

Have you ever had that experience? Eagerly heading into a presentation and then getting to the end, the presenter is answering questions and you're wondering what was even the point? There wasn't a single statement throughout the whole presentations that you could cling to and you begin to wonder why you wasted your time.

You didn't waste your time. The presenter wasted your time. And shame on them.

A rambling presentation isn't just damaging to audience members, but it's damaging to the presenter also.

When you are speaking to a group of other photographers, you are representing your photography brand. Which is you. You are your brand. You are the photographer. You are the one with your vision. And the folks who have come to listen to you want to know about you and your vision.

Who are you? What is your inspiration? How did you get to where you are?

Do you want to inspire? Or confuse? Please, tell me your answer is to inspire.

What inspiration do you want them to take with them as they leave? Answer this question and you are well on your way to being a solid speaker and not a rambling rose.

Remember back in school when you had to write an essay and the essay revolved around a certain thesis statement? Well, the answer to the inspiration question above will be your thesis for your speech. Yes, speeches have a "thesis statement." If you make every point in your speech connect to your thesis PLUS make every image you show and example of the point that links to your thesis you can become a successful speaker.

You can make people excited to listen to what you have to say. Dare I say maybe become a Nat King Cole and soothe your audience.