I’m convinced.  I’m moving my galleries from Exposure Manager to Smugmug.  I initally balked at the price but apparently SM has really kept improving over the last year and EM hasn’t.  The $49 annual difference is well worth it now.  Since it integrates nicely with ACDC, that’s another point on SM’s side.

Here’s the new site so far:  http://jackdeanphotography.smugmug.com

I’ll work on repointing the CNAME entry after I get all of the galleries transferred.

But it’s all about marketing and exposure.  I was recently reading Shutterbug magazine and surprised that some of the images were mediocre.  Or maybe I wasn’t surprised.  Anyway, after looking over some flickr accounts with tremendous traffic I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not so much about artistry, though that’s important, but it’s about marketing.  They’ve got it, and I don’t!

We’ll, what’s a 50+ photographer to do?  Keep posting, and keep shooting.  That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!  I hope you do too!

I spent a couple of hours last night listening to Chase Jarvis at the Denver Post building.  Chase is a successful professional photographer with an interesting story and an almost painfully nonchalant demeanor.   And while it’s important to listen to others, especially those that have been successful, if there is anything at all that I took from last nights gathering, it’s that I need to find my own niche and be creative within it.

I can’t compete in Chase’s space, but Chase doesn’t have a clue what it’s like to start a photography business when you are 54 years old,  from my background and with my resources or within my community.  I’m probably the only semi-senior starting a photography business in Brighton, Colorado.  But I presume that there are others in Colorado doing the same thing and certainly in the United States.  It’s inconceivable that there are not thousands of 50+ aspiring photographers in the world that I can reach. That’s the beauty of one persons ability to self-publish in the internet age and I presume that my experiences may be helpful to others attempting to do the same thing.

Lastly, Chase also is a product of his generation, irreverently nonchalant.  His success allows that, for now.  But financial success tends to be fleeting and when the inevitable setbacks pile-on, success for its own sake is a poor source of satisfaction.  Without a right relationship to God, any success gained in photography or anything else for that matter, will be ultimately unprofitable in the long run.

So, while I need to provide for my physical needs and those of my family, I also want to give more of myself to those that will remain after I’m gone.  I trust my teaching and my photographs will do that.

- Jack