Get out there.

In slow times, I often find myself spending a disproportionate amount of time thinking about photography versus actually taking pictures. For whatever reason, I sit at the computer, read blogs, look at gear online and helplessly watch tweets cascade down my screen. This is NOT productive. There is no substitute for time spent behind the camera (or in front of it, for that matter). That being said, while taking pictures of your shoes and soda cans around the house with different styles of lighting can be fun, this is not the kind of thing that leads up to a photographic revelation, unless of course you are mastering the art of still life.

On October 22nd, hunched over my keyboard and the Club Lexus forum, I came across a thread titled, "Hot Wings and Cars..." Sounds cool, I thought to myself. That would be fun if I had a car.

I scrolled down further.

Mini-Meet
Friday October 23rd
7pm-????
Smoke Eaters
2565 The Alameda
Santa Clara, CA 95050

Santa Clara? That's a coincidence. Wait... Smoke Eaters?

That's right across the street from my dorm.

Realizing that my one reason not to attend was no longer applicable, I decided to make a ridiculous request - for someone to pick me up from my dorm and basically drive me across the street... without ever even having met me in real life. Surely this would provide my much desired reason not to attend - no transportation.

Nope. A few short hours after my request, one of the other members of the forum offered to give me a lift.

I have been wanting to shoot cars for a while, now, and this was my chance. I decided that fate had this in store for me - A wake up call of sorts. While going through my usual routine of cleaning my equipment before a shoot, I started to imagine how I was going to photograph the cars at the meet. Should I bring a full kit of flashes, umbrellas and PocketWizards? Nah, that would be overkill. Before I went to bed that night I decided on bringing one body, one zoom lens, one flash and pair of PocketWizards just in case things went awry.



Despite the ineptitude at shooting automobiles I displayed throughout the evening, I had a fantastic time. I found myself more and more interested in meeting the people around me than worried about the quality of my photos. Throughout the evening I handed out some business cards and met a few fellow photographers.

That's when I realized I had learned a major lesson.

It's not about having the best photos or gear. It's not about knowing "what the big-boys think." None of this would have happened if I hadn't given the computer a rest. I would have put my shopping cart deep into imaginary debt on bhphotovideo.com, explored the hidden meaning of a random photostream on flickr, and giggled at the connection between the hashtags #kanyewest and #balloonboy.

I would have never met the wonderful people of Club Lexus: North California, exchanged business cards with photographers already involved in the automobile industry, or experienced someone actually WIN the Hellfire Challenge at Smoke Eaters.



There's a big world out there for you to explore. Take every opportunity you get to pull yourself out of your comfort zone.

In the end, being behind the camera did help me after all - it brought me there.

Actually, Ken did, but you know what I mean.

Elliot

Welcome to ecphotolife.

We are ecphoto, and this is our journey.

The purpose of this blog is to document our adventures in growing as a photography business. At the time of this blog entry, we are based out of Honolulu, Hawaii, and are composed of two people - myself plus one assistant. We are not trained in business, but what we do have is a passion for our craft, and a desire to grow our minds and talents through experience. We hope that you are able to use our experiences starting our business in your personal endeavors whether they are photography related or not.

Among other things, there are a few main topics we will focus on in our posts:

• Marketing, for one, will be a major point of interest for our business. Covering everything from composing a portfolio to print and web advertising, we need to present our business as a brand - something that our clients will recognize as ecphoto. Without marketing, all we have is our hopes and dreams.
  

• Networking is another key element in our practice. In the world of small business, it is imperative that we make connections with the community - not only with future clients, but also with other working professionals. We do not intend for our business to take an unfair share of the market, but rather to find our place within the industry. It would be fantastic to build lasting relationships with both colleagues and clients alike. In addition to real-world networking, we need to understand Web 2.0 and use it to our advantage. We will have to learn the ins and outs of social networking, which has proven to be an invaluable tool for other photographers in the industry. We realize that this is a huge undertaking, and that there is so much that we can learn from the community!

• Budget. It's easy to get carried away "investing" in your business. Drawing from our experiences, we will attempt to create a guideline for spending for gear, marketing, travel, personal projects and other expenses in order to keep from overextending our budget. The difference between a successful business and an expensive hobby is the ability to cover all spending while keeping out of the red.

• We will also keep you up to date on any personal work we have going. While this is not in line with the other major topics found above, we would love for you to also make a connection to the people behind ecphoto and the projects we create to keep ourselves fresh and motivated. From pro bono portraiture to our participation in public works, we hope that an insight into the more intimate lives of ecphoto will not only entertain, but bring this blog to life.
  

It is our goal to enlighten our readers in some way with the lessons we learn, but we would love to learn from you, too! We would love to hear your thoughts about our progress, and in addition to your comments, it would be great to know if there is anything you'd like for us to touch on in future entries.

We know that this will be an exciting journey, and we're looking forward to sharing it with you!

Thank you for your continued support.

Elliot