Wednesday, December 14, 2011

LYTRO Camera A PRO or A CON?


Click on the living LYTRO image above to see the technology in action.

Today LYTRO had a hands on demonstration at the Wired Store in Times Square in NYC. I was fortunate to have the trial run with Lytro's uniquely designed light field camera at a pre-demo special invite only session. Ooooooo fancy right?

Here's some pros and cons just from my brief encounter with the camera.
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Spencer Gordon | LYTRO Camera | Commercial Photographer | Digital Technology

The thing about the LYTRO Camera is... this is the first one. Yea obviously Spencer thanks. When the LYTRO 2 comes out the ones that got the first one will say "Awwww man I wish I waited." Although as the light field technology progresses the older LYTRO digital files will be able to use the latest LYTRO software advances. Which is smart on LYTRO's part because at some point in our past digital experiences the digital media we created just won't work on the latest computer or OS. Like my buddy Douglas who had bought the first Leaf digital back for $30,000 and at a certain point that digital back only ran on a certain Mac computer running a certain OS software. However LYTRO claims that your living images will be able to keep on living even when the newer LYTRO technology takes over from the old.

Additional blog posts about LYTRO:
LYTRO – Will It Be A Fad?
Could Lytro Squeeze into the DSLR Market?
LYTRO’s Release Date Is Missing Out.

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Thursday, December 8, 2011

The Future Of Advertising, Photography Business, World Economy


Intervention Cindy Gallop MasterClass 15-11-11 by iabfrancetv

Cindy talks straight up in this video... "We can not use old world advertising in a new world market." If you are about to create a new business venture or currently have a business then watch this video. For those of you that are experienced business veterans - definitely watch this video you will be let inspired and empowered. Cindy Gallop may be talking about "Advertising" however the premise of Ms. Gallop's talk can be applied to not only business but life, politics and world economy

Over the past 10 years I've had to shift my focus and the way I market my photography business. I used to just shoot fashion, beauty products and corporate executives but after 911 I lost 70% of my clients. Fashion clients dropped their original production schedule dramatically. InStyle magazine use to keep me quite busy then I found out they started shooting the still life products on their desks! I did not want to give up my photography career. Yet my photography business basically imploded and I had scramble to reinvent my photography business in a different way. By creating multiple streams of income from my iStockphoto portfolio, small business & creative consulting, web development, SEO consulting and social media marketing. These new avenues gave me a whole new direction for my business.

Now that I had a new direction my marketing routine had to be "blown up" as Cindy puts it. Cindy says "the only way to create something new is blow up what you already have and start from scratch." I use to do the e-campaign promo followed by direct mail piece. All that time and money generated nothing. Nope, nada, no work came in from all those efforts. How do I know? Anytime my phone rings and a potentially new client is calling I make sure I ask them "How did you find me?". Keeping track of where your advertising dollars are working or not working is marketing 101. So what did I do to put in place of the old marketing? I redesigned my website and loaded it with proper SEO keywords. I recently had my site graded by HubSpot's website grader and it got a 76 out of 100. Not the best if I was in school looking for an "A" but for a website 76 is really good and yes there is still room for improvement. Blogging is a key element to a business's presence online and a blog generates approximately 46% more traffic to a website. The key for my business is networking. ABC.... to the sales people out there ABC stands for "Always Be Closing" but in my case ABC stands for "Always Be Carrying" business cards. When ever I hear of an opportunity that my skills can fill out comes my vintage business card case and I simply say "I can help you with that... here's my business card." Nothing pushy just polite and simple. If you are looking to make some business cards yourself Moo is great! Simple to use, versatile, green options, and excellent quality.

If you have any questions that you'd like answered comment on this post. Come on it's just us.

My intention is to use my tutorial section of my site to provide useful photography, marketing, business, dog whispering and matchbox car racing information and tips.


Spencer Gordon | Photographer | Filmmaker | Specializing in People, Interior and Lifestyle