TWiP Talks

Giving the world a new kind of paintbrush.

In this interview I speak with Lensbaby co-founder Craig Strong. Craig shares some interesting insights into how and why Lensbaby was conceived — and some thoughts on where the company’s focus is today, versus launch. He also shares his thoughts on where Lensbaby might be headed in the future.

In 2004, professional photographer and photojournalist Craig Strong co-founded Lensbaby to help photographers see in a new way—in all genres, all around the world. Craig joined an old Speed Graphic lens with a short Shop-Vac hose to shoot images otherwise impossible with an SLR lens, which inspired the original Lensbaby lens.”

Craig switched from film to digital early on in the digital photography revolution, and quickly found those images flat and sterile. A natural tinkerer who wanted to give his images a more organic feel, he combined Old World optical design with eclectic focus and tilt for the Original Lensbaby lens which yielded a sharp spot of focus surrounded by gradually increasing blur.

Inspiration for the Original Lensbaby lens came from joining an old Speed Graphic lens with a short piece of Shop-Vac hose to shoot images otherwise impossible with with his dSLR. Over the thirteen years, he’s led the design and production of a number of lenses and accessories that feature tilt, fisheye, macro, sweet spot and other uncommon photographic effects. His next lens—in the works for Summer, 2017—takes cues from the earliest portrait lenses.

About Lensbaby

Photographers spend years shooting for perfect. Flawless, precise, pristine—we’ve all chased the perfect shot.

At Lensbaby, we see things differently. We think perfect is boring. We seek surprise—to have our eyes opened, to dance and play and lose ourselves in moments. To break free of routine, be uncomfortable, tinker, and open yourself up to unexpected results. When you do that, you’ll change how you see everything.

We make award-winning creative effects lenses, optics and accessories that follow this philosophy. And we invite you to join us in our pursuit to dance, play and delight in what’s possible with a creative lens and your imagination.

Lensbaby’s History

In 2004, professional photographer Craig Strong founded Lensbaby to help photographers see in a new way—in all genres, all around the world. Craig joined an old Speed Graphic lens with a short Shop-Vac hose to shoot images otherwise impossible with an SLR lens, which inspired the original Lensbaby lens.

Have an idea for an episode?

Know a photographer or company you think might be a good fit for our show? Maybe it’s yourself?! Just use the form below to contact us. You, (or your suggestion) might just make it onto TWiP Talks!

A look behind the curtain at 500px.com

In this interview I speak with Andy Yang, CEO of 500px and an advisor with MaRS’ Consumer & Commerce cluster. He has spent the last 15 years in technology as an investor (angel and institutional), banker, consultant and advisor. Currently, Andy is CEO of 500px, a premium photography community funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Harrison, Metal, and ffVC. Previously he was an investor at Extreme Startups and a venture capitalist at Relay Ventures.

We discuss the company’s current projects, as well as their challenges and innovations as they continue to help photographers from all walks get the most out of their hobby/career. You’ll also learn why the company is named 500px!

We dive in to the sensitive topic of online security, and the growing concern over privacy as well as the feasibility of storing all of your precious and irreplaceable photographs in the cloud. Especially in the wake of the recent breaches companies like Flickr have endured.

500px is competing on several fronts, including the online education market, stock photography, store front as well as photo sharing. Interestingly, Andy explains why he doesn’t necessarily view the other players in these markets as direct competitors, but rather as allies.

500px launched in 2009, it is a global online photography community and calls itself the world’s foremost photography on-demand platform. Images on 500px represent the work of over nine million professional and hobbyist photographers. The company also operates 500px for Business, through which it works with Fortune 500 companies as well as thousands of creatives who use community-sourced images in their campaigns and products.

 

 

Have an idea for an episode?

Know a photographer or company you think might be a good fit for our show? Maybe it’s yourself?! Just use the form below to contact us. You, (or your suggestion) might just make it onto TWiP Talks!

In this interview I sit down with the President of PlotaTech LLC, Troy Plota. Their first (and flagship) effort Plotagraph Pro is a revolutioary piece of software that enables creative professionals to add fluid movement to ordinary static images. You may recall that I interviewed Troy back in June before the launch of the software. You can check that interview out here.

This is not your dads old “cinemagraph” or “animatged GIF” tech, his is something entirely new. The software implements some very smart algorithims to seamlessly add motion to distinct areas of any still photograph. For example, say you took a stunning sunset over the ocean image in Hawaii a few years back. Wouldn’t it be great to have those waves actually move? Or how about a more abstract shot of buildings in a New York City scene, imagine having the bricks in those buildings come alive and start moving — ala Doctor Strange! This software enables all of that, and a ton more.

About Troy Plota

Troy Christopher Plota has shot for major Fashion and Advertising brands around the world. Troy has been on the forefront of Digital Photography since its inception, his passion for Photography started at the age of 13 and he is now a leader in the realm of Dynamic Content and the President of PlotaTech LLC. Troy currently lives in New York City.

A few example Plotagraphs from Trey Ratcliff

Want to learn how Trey made these images? Check out his free tutorial below the example Plotagraphs!

Learn how Trey made these incredible images

In this episode I speak with Griffin Stewart and Cowin Heibert, both are part of the team behind the industry-leading package deal team called 5DayDeal. I’ve particiapted in their promotion for the past few years and I’m continually amazed at how such a small and focused team is able to move mountains. Generating millions of dollars, consistently over such a short time is almost like marketing magic.

Listen in to hear how, why and when they do it. And what might be next for team 5DayDeal!

https://5daydeal.com/

And

https://5daydeal.com/about/charity/

https://youtu.be/HUCj8saSNWk

Check out how 5DayDeal impacts charities – https://5daydeal.com/about/charity/#charity-update

Griffin Stewart – Co-Founder/Owner

Griffin is is an award winning landscape & travel photographer who has visited more than 60 countries. He has worked with the BBC and has been featured by National Geographic and published by Ripley’s Publishing UK, The Royal Air Cadets and more. Feel fee to check out his Photography Portfolio.

Corwin Hiebert – Bundle Ambassador

Corwin is a consultant & manager to creatives, such as world-renowned photographer, publisher, and best-selling author David duChemin; he is also the Chief Executive Cat Wrangler at Craft & Vision & is the co-founder and CEO of Taendem Agency Inc. Corwin has authored several books and eBooks, including the Business Action Planner Toolkit for Photographers. Download his free magazine, Memo2Freelancers, at businessactionplanner.com.

Brad Malcolm is President and co-founder of Athentech Imaging, makers of Perfectly Clear. In this interview we get into the how’s and why’s of batching software processing. And some hints of where this tech may lead in the near future.

In Brad’s spare time, Brad enjoys hanging out and relaxing with his 4 year old daughter and wife. He also loves sailing and drinking fine single malt scotch. Preferably together.

About Perfectly Clear

Perfectly Clear is award winning automatic image correction technology that is used to bring out the natural beauty in your photos. It’s trusted by large printers around the world to make perfect over 30 million prints every day, professional photographers to save time editing, and mobile app users to make it easy to look one’s best on the go.

A.D. is a multi-award winning New York based travel photographer specializing in a style he call’s “abandonscapes”. He has been featured nationally on PBS as well as several magazines such as F11 and Nevada. Currently, he is the sole contributor at TheExplorographer.com, as well as the creator and editor in chief at a new website called Travel Obscura.

TravelObscura.com is a website where a myriad of amazing photographers and travelers have gotten together to collaborate on an amazing resource magazine style website geared towards the adventuring photographer.

To supplement his travel and website he develops photography tools which he sells on his web site as well as selling limited editions of his work printed on metal. AD also markets his work to travel agencies and advertisers and is an advocate of historical preservation through photography.

Some of A.D.’s work:

Macphun rose in just a few short years to become a formidable software company in the industry. Starting with creating iOS apps, the company quickly moved into the plug-in industry, and now they’ve been creating beautiful and innovative desktop software that helps photographers create images they never thought possible. Macphun is a scrappy company that’s able to move quickly and adjust to market demands. While some of their larger competitors (like Adobe) may have vastly more marketshare, but they cannot move as quickly or be as responsive to the user base as a small company can.

Macphun’s headquarters is in the Ukraine, where much of the software development happens. They also have offices in San Diego, USA where much of the sales and marketing magic happens.

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Tsepko – Managing Partner, and Kevin La Rue – Vice President. We discuss one of the company’s newest programs, Aurora HDR 2017. Aurora was launched last year to rave reviews, and they’ve updated the software with new features and performance updates.

Alex Tsepko is responsible for all aspects of daily operations, marketing, PR, sales activities and strategy for the company which has grown to 50 people worldwide with a customer base numbering over 30 million. Tsepko has a Master’s degree in Media Management & Marketing from Kyiv National University.

 

 

 

Kevin La Rue has had a 25+ year career as a product and

marketing professional in the field of consumer and Internet software, specializing the last 10 years in the photography field. He joined Macphun in mid-2013 to help launch the firm’s U.S. presence and currently drives all activities in support of the company’s professional photographic software products. La Rue has a BSBA degree from the University of Arizona and was an inaugural graduate of the Karl Eller Center for Entrepreneurial Studies Honors Program.

In this interview I travel to Zenfolio HQ in Menlo Park, California to sit down with the company’s general manager Arnaud Collin. We discuss the past, present and future of Zenfolio as well as some of the projects they’re currently focusing on.

“Zenfolio is the leading web platform that allows pro photographers to host, showcase and sell their photos online.”

Arnaud is a former eBay executive with a strong track record of success in product innovation, marketing, and business operations. He has over 15 years of experience in ecommerce and Consumer Internet in both start ups and large organizations. Arnaud is French and has worked across Europe and in Australia before moving to California 8 years ago. He received a Master’s Degree in Strategic Management from HEC School of Management, the French leading business school.

Arnaud enjoys traveling – he has visited more than 40 countries, and enjoys extreme experiences – he is a certified scuba diver and sky diver, and he loves spending time with his family – he is the proud father of 3 young children.

 

TWiP Talks 57: Inside Vietnam with Ralph Velasco

In this interview I sit down with globe-trotting photographer Ralph Velasco to discuss his experiences traveling in and around Vietnam. We also discuss my upcoming Vietnam workshop, and some tips for traveling and getting great pictures in South East Asia.

About Ralph

For the past 8 years, Ralph Velasco has been President, Founder and CEO (Chief Experience Officer) of PhotoEnrichment Adventures. He’s a travel photography instructor and international guide who has organized and led over 60 small group cultural tours, with a focus on photography, around the world. Destinations include Cambodia, Vietnam, Spain, Tuscany, Cuba (15 times), Morocco, Egypt, Iceland, Turkey, Romania, the Adriatic, the Baltics and many others.

He’s the author of “Ralph Velasco On Travel Photography: 101 Tips for Developing Your Photographic Eye & More,” as well as creator of the My Shot Lists for Travel app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch®.

Ralph was a finalist for the prestigious 2015 Travel Photographer of the Year award and was selected to a group of the Top 100 Travel Photographers in the World for 2014 by a site in the U.K., as well as one of the Top 10 Travel Photography Bloggers by USA Today’s 10best.com. Additionally he was chosen to a list of 10 Photography Travel Bloggers to Inspire You This Year (2015) by FlipKey.com, a TripAdvisor company.

Connect with Ralph Velasco:

http://photoenrichment.com/

http://photoenrichment.com/products/ralphs-101-tips-book/

http://photoenrichment.com/products/my-shot-lists-for-travel/

http://photoenrichment.com/2016/03/12/travel-photographer-of-the-year-award-shortlist/

http://www.chillisauce.co.uk/blog/top-100-travel-photographers-in-the-world/

http://www.10best.com/awards/new-media-awards/best-travel-photography-bloggers/

https://www.flipkey.com/blog/2015/10/15/10-photography-travel-bloggers-to-inspire-you-this-year/

Socialize with Ralph Velasco:

https://www.facebook.com/photoenrichment

https://pinterest.com/photoenrichment

https://www.instagram.com/photoenrichment/

https://twitter.com/photoenrichment

Some of Ralph’s images:

Have you ever wanted all of the forms, correspondence and documents necessary to run your photography business? In this interview I speak with Luke Copping about how he, and his business partners have assembled all of the nuts and bolts needed to run a successful photography business.

Luke is a commercial and editorial photographer from Buffalo, NY. He creates portraits of people and animals for advertising, magazine, and corporate clients across the US and Canada. His subjects have ranged from corporate innovators to counterculture rebels, and his work has been used by clients such as Forbes Magazine, Golf Digest, NBC Sports, Popular Science, The Monocle, The Guardian, Thomson Reuters, Alternative Press, EatingWell. and many more. The majority of his personal work documents the artisans and small business owners who are working to revitalize The Rust Belt – specifically Buffalo.

Alongside Shauna Haider and Paul Jarvis, Luke is also one of the creators of Project Prescription for Photographers. This collection of digital documents, checklists, and processes enables photographers to streamline their workflow with a “tried-and-true” blueprint for landing, handling, and pleasing clients from start to finish. Offering a comprehensive workflow system and customizable documents for photographers, Project Prescription eliminates much of the guesswork that comes with incorporating sound business practices into one’s freelance work.

Dedicated to helping other photographers operate sustainable businesses, Luke is a long time member of the American Society of Media Photographers and currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the organizations National Board of Directors.

Use the code TWIP10 to receive 10% off of Project Prescription for Photographers

Project Prescription For Photographers – https://theprojectprescription.com/photography/

Luke Copping Photography – http://www.lukecopping.com

Shauna Haider – http://nubbytwiglet.com

Paul Jarvis – https://pjrvs.com

ASMP – http://www.asmp.org

Use the code TWIP10 to receive 10% off of Project Prescription for Photographers

Project Prescription For Photographers – https://theprojectprescription.com/photography/