ENGLISH
Last Sunday I had the big responsability of opening the Annual National Convention of the Mexican Society of Professional Photographers (SMFP) in Monterrey. I ALWAYS feel a little nervous during the first minutes of my speaking engagements until I warm up but these guys made me feel so at home that this time I started at full swing only to stop two and a half hours later.

After spending so much time with colleagues around the world I realized that many photographers focus too much on the art of photography and don’t invest enough time preparing to ‘sell’ themselves. This time I spoke about sales techniques some of which I acquired while selling pots and pans when I first came to the US and now I apply in my photography business. I also discussed the structure of my sales presentation to potential clients and I hope the information I shared was useful specially for those who have a little trouble in this area so important for our success.

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ESPAÑOL
El Domingo pasado tuve la gran responsabilidad de ser el ponente que abriera la Convención Nacional Anual de la Sociedad Mexicana de Fotógrafos Profesionales en Monterrey. SIEMPRE durante mis conferencias me pongo un poco nervioso los primeros minutos de la misma hasta que entro en calor pero esta vez la gente me hizo sentir tan a gusto que comencé con los motores en caliente y no paré hasta pasarme de las dos horas y media que duraba mi programa.

Me he dado cuenta luego de tratar con infinidad de colegas que muchos fotógrafos se enfocan demasiado en el arte de la fotografía pero no invierten mucho tiempo en prepararse para ‘venderse’. En esta oportunidad hablé bastante acerca de técnicas de ventas algunas de las cuales adquirí mientras vendía ollas y sartenes cuando recién llegué a los Estados Unidos y que ahora aplico en mi negocio de fotografía. La estructura de mi presentación frente a potenciales clientes también fue discutida con ejemplos que espero hayan sido útiles especialmente a aquellos que flaquean en este tema.

Desafortunadamente tuve que retirarme el segundo día de la convención por compromisos de viaje pero me hubiera gustado quedarme hasta el final. Aprovecho para agradecer a los integrantes de la Sociedad Mexicana de Fotógrafos Profesionales (SMFP) y a las casi 300 personas asistentes a mi charla por su tiempo. Nos vemos en la próxima!

Robert Lino entertaining the attendees with his knowledge and humor. | Robert Lino deleitando a la gente con su sabiduría y su humor.

Fercho (Fer Juaristi) playing on the stage during his presentation. | Fercho (Fer Juaristi) haciendo de las suyas en el podio durante su presentación.

Foto de Ivonne Sotelo Porras... Gracias!!!

ENGLISH
I’ve been invited for the first time to be a presenter at the annual convention organized for the Mexican Society of Professional Photographers (SMFP) in Monterrey so I’ll be out of the country for a few days. I’m very excited of the possibility to share information with coleagues in Mexico and also to share the stage with Jerry Ghionis, Fer Juaristi, Robert Lino, Danny Cuevas, Alberto Rivera, Jesús Padilla, Israel Cazares, Gabriel Boilis, Sergio García, Bob Ortíz, Rafael Corrales, Mario Herrera, Juanito García, Erick Guevara and Eduardo Gómez.

See you in Monterrey!

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ESPAÑOL
He sido invitado por primera vez por parte de la Sociedad Mexicana de Fotógrafos Profesionales para dar una ponencia en su convención anual por lo tanto estaré fuera del país por unos días para visitar Monterrey, Nuevo León.
Invito a todos los fotógrafos Mexicanos a participar de este evento y no dejen de saludar si me ven por allí.

Jerry Ghionis, Fer Juaristi, Robert Lino, Danny Cuevas, Alberto Rivera, Jesús Padilla, Israel Cazares, Gabriel Boilis, Sergio García, Bob Ortíz, Rafael Corrales, Mario Herrera, Juanito García, Erick Guevara y Eduardo Gómez son otros de los participantes de la convención así que ya se armó!

Nos vemos en Monterrey!

ENGLISH
On the occasion of the 1st International Convention organized by Foro de Fotógrafos held in Madrid last November we were lucky to have the presence of one of the most renowned wedding photographers in the industry, Ghionis Jerry.

A couple of weeks before the event Jerry contacted me to ask for help with the production of a conceptual photoshoot that he wanted to do during his stay in Spain. The idea: a bullfighter and a model in a bullring.

Hundreds of details later the photoshoot took place a day before the convention and here are the results according to what Jerry published on his own blog.

NOTE: this photoshoot will be featured in a future episode of The Ice Society

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ESPAÑOL
A pedido de los lectores hispano-parlantes a partir de hoy voy a comenzar a publicar el contenido del blog también en Español…

Con motivo de la 1er Convención Internacional del Foro de Fotógrafos que tuvo lugar en Madrid el pasado mes de Noviembre tuvimos la suerte de contar con la presencia de uno de los fotógrafos de bodas más reconocidos de la industria, el australiano Jerry Ghionis.

Un par de semanas antes del evento Jerry me contactó para pedirme ayuda con la producción de una sesión de fotos conceptual que tenía ganas de hacer durante su estadía en España. La idea: un torero y una modelo en una plaza de toros.

Cientos de detalles después la sesión tuvo lugar un día antes de comenzar la convención y aquí estan los resultados según Jerry publicara en su propio blog.

NOTA: esta sesión de fotos será parte de un futuro episodio de The Ice Society

Un agradecimiento enorme a todos quienes participaron de esta sesión!!!

PARA FOTOGRAFOS: La 2da Convención Internacional del Foro de Fotógrafos ya está en marcha, esta vez con más fotógrafos reconocidos mundialmente. Para más información visita: http://forodefotografos.net/madrid

We had to treat Melissa and Jerry to one of my favorite places in Madrid… La Vaca Argentina where you can eat the most delicious ‘parrilladas’!

I just came back from Monterrey, Mexico where I participated as a speaker at the BodaF convention organized by SEFOME (Seminario Fotógrafos Mexicanos).

The name of my platform program was “Creating Experiences” and the guys @ BodaF surely know how to do that. I’m so thankful to have experienced BodaF 2010, it was a great opportunity to reunite with old friends and make new ones and I can’t wait to meet them again to see how they’re all growing… professionally that is!

I ‘borrowed’ the following photos from Facebook… thanks for taking my pic!

Mariana Chontal Morales and Juan José Baxin Ventura won a 1on1 session with me so we had some time to chat about what they’re doing with their business in San Andrés Tuxtla, Veracruz.

Getting in the zone right before the presentation (thanks Rafa for the pic!)

From this

To this

Airports and airplanes have always been very boring for me, until recently when they became very productive places. Specially the ones without wi-fi which in the US are very common, well, they all have wi-fi but most of them charge you an arm and a leg for it. I bought an iPad without 3G because I think being connected all the time is counterproductive and I think it was the right decision.

Back to the point, I think I fell in love with Spain way before I even set foot on it. Everything I thought I was going to feel, when I actually had the chance to be there, I felt, tenfold.

I started planning the Foro de Fotógrafos convention during the flight of my first trip to Madrid in December 2009. Names, numbers, and ideas written on a napkin, next November 22-24 will become an event. Madrid is already a special place to me and I’ve always thought that people is what make places even more special, I can’t wait to experience what close to 300 Spaniards will be adding to the mix.

BTW, I’m writing this on a plane on my way to Monterrey, Mexico for the BodaF conference where I’ll be speaking. This blog post is not the only thing I wrote in this trip. It has already been a productive one even before I arrived at my first destination. I’ll tell you what I wrote/planned when I make that happen and yes, it has to do with Spain… again.

Long story short… a few years ago I started an online community of Hispanic photographers (www.forodefotografos.com) that grew, and grew, and grew… a few months ago I decided to organize a convention (see related post) so that a lot of the members of the forum could meet and learn. I like challenges so I organized the convention to take place in Madrid, Spain but I live 6000 miles away in Los Angeles.

On November 22-24, 2010 close to 300 photographers from all around Spain, Portugal and a few from the US gathered in Madrid for the convention and I had a blast. The energy of the group was awesome and I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people.

Many thanks to René Miranda, Miguel Mayo and Marcos Cánovas for shooting most of these photos

The first day was entirely devoted to and by the one and only Jerry Ghionis

Play the following video to see the testimonials from a few brave attendants that didn’t fear the camera (IN SPANISH)

Jerry Ghionis | Enrique Oliver | Fer Juaristi | Sergio Photographer | Robert Lino | Rodolfo Arpia

It was a long but very happy day and it started early (Thursday 4am) when Argentina played and beat South Korea 4:1 in the world cup. It’s 3am on Friday and finally had a chance to watch the Lakers game replay on ESPN… I was speaking at the Showit Freedom Tour in Orange County when the Lakers won game 7 to become world champions once again!
I use Showit not only to create and manage my website but also as a very important part of my workflow and I shared with the attendees some of the cool stuff you can do with it.

The event took place at The Wedding Pantry in Tustin -thanks for being great hosts-

Gabriel Ryan was the first to present followed by a great performance by Molly Jenson and Jessica Claire closed with a very energetic presentation. It felt great to share some of the stuff I’ve been doing with Showit and I hope you find it useful. Thanks for coming!

Stephen Knuth demoing Action Runner

If you are a photographer you have to experience this event at least once. Over 13,000 photographers from all over the world attended the convention in 2010 and it gets bigger every year. The 2011 convention will be held from February 16-24, 2011 • Tradeshow dates February 21-23, 2011
I’ll talk more about WPPI on another post.

The great guys from Pictage invited me to be part of a Spanish speaking panel forum moderated by their CEO Jim Collins with fellow photographers Roberto Valenzuela and Carlos Baez. The event took place at the amazing booth these guys put together in the main trade show area. We had a lot of fun and answering Jim’s questions about our thoughts on the industry and our specific markets was a very interesting experience.
I have to thanks Emily Engle and Scott Anderson with Pictage for their support! I’ve been using Pictage since the beginning of my career and it’s definitely one of the tools I can’t live without.

The following photos were taken by my Spaniard buddy Marcos Cánovas

I was asked to speak at the WPPI Convention and Trade Show for the second time in a row. It wasn’t long ago that events like these changed my life in a very positive way and today the huge responsibility to try and do the same for others is in my hands. The WPPI convention is one of the biggest and most important events in the world for the wedding and portrait photographer industry and I’m stoked about the invitation. As always, I’ll do my best to share what I think can be of benefit to other photographers. See you in Vegas!

As part of the workshop I’m teaching in Argentina we did an engagement session in the city of Funes with Maria Eugenia & José… they were great to shoot and here are a few photos shot at the old train station