A Whole New Mind

The reason A Bryan Photo is awesome?
The guys in this photo.

I'm so blessed by the people that have chosen to work with my company. They are all constantly striving to make the experience better for every A Bryan Photo client. They also enrich my life with their perspective and insight. Every Monday morning we have a production meeting where we talk about our weekends and everything that we have to do in the upcoming week. We also take time to talk through anything we have learned or read recently. I'm always amazed with the ideas presented and decided that I want them to share with you (my fellow blog readers) some insights they have been learning.

Jeremiah was telling me about a cool book he read while at the beach last week and asked him to share it on the blog. Take it away, man:



When it comes to writing about books, the options are typically to write a review (what you thought about the book) or a summary (what the book was about). This will look a bit more like a short summary.

"A Whole New Mind" is a book by Daniel H. Pink based on how our way of thinking must change in order to keep up with a changing world. Pink has previously written books about the changing employment structure - more people working on a short-term, project basis, rather than 45 years at the same job. "A Whole New Mind" refers back to these changing employment roles and the way we must think about them.

His thesis is basically that

A) our economy and world are changing....

B) the way they are changing is from an analytical-based, Left-Brain type thinking...to a more creative, Right-Brain centered train of thought...

C) as "Abundance, Asia, and Automation" take simple tasks overseas (or automate them), developed economies (America/Europe/Japan) are left with a need for people who can see the big picture. Performing simple tasks well is no longer enough to guarantee a job for life...the ability to synthesize information and understand the results are the new skills to pursue.

Much of the book is spent discussing the 'six senses' central to this new way of thinking - design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning. Pink does an admirable job of reviewing these various attributes and relating them to our changing world...this section has a lot worth thinking about.

If you have much interest in business or the consequences of living in a flat world (an inter-connected world), "A Whole New Mind" is definitely worth reading. In the meantime, take a break to draw a picture or write a poem and try developing that Right-brain...(we actually wrote "experimental poetry" before our production meeting yesterday...it was a disaster, but at least we tried).

So blessed.

I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed I feel this evening as I lay in bed. Even though I'm so freakin' tired, my heart is so full. I have met so many genuine people who are so kind and sharing. Have you ever just felt overwhelmed by the undeserved kindness of others? That is exactly how I feel tonight. I'm going to try and paint a picture for you but don't know if will be able to while typing on the iPhone. I start with my friend Yvette Roman (who is pictured above with Jose Villa and me). Yvette is a fellow film shooter who is sponsored by Kodak. I mentioned to her how much I love to shoot Kodak and how I would love to work with them in getting the word out in the wedding photography community about their amazing film. Because Yvette is so kind, she took me immediately over to the Kodak booth and introduced me to Scott, who is her rep. I had an amazing chat with Scott and really feel like a huge door was opened. Holy cow, Yvette I can't thank you enough for this. Later we all went to a Richard Photo Lab party at the Venetian. This was probably my favorite time of the whole week. Somehow, I have fallen into a community of shooters that are so good at what they do while being some of the most thoughtful people I have ever met.
Well, its 2:30 in the morning and I can barely keep my eyes open but I wanted to say these things while they were still fresh on my mind. I want to end by saying that Bill and Brian of Richard Photo Lab are some of the most generous and caring people I have met. It's so amazing to meet and get to know them in person. They care about the success of A Bryan Photo as much as we do. This all for now as I'm going to sleep. I'm so tired. Good night.

Happy Monday (Feb 18)

Mood: Light Hearted, Weird
Location: Urban Standard
Music: Dylan (Blonde on Blonde)

Happy Monday!
Either you are stuck at the office, or you are at home enjoying the benefits of an organization that actually acknowledges President's Day as an actual holiday.

I had a great weekend that included two engagement shoots, Rachel & Keith and Grady & Claire. Both couples were such a blast to work with. The interesting thing is that I am not shooting either of their weddings! Caleb is shooting Grady & Claire's through A Bryan Photo but I just wish I could be part of both of them. I will have some great film shots to post of both sessions in a few weeks. Thanks to both couples for letting me be part in a small way!

The photo above is one of Jeremiah and I with the famous wedding photographer Becker at WPPI last year. We got to sit down with him over lunch while there and he is uncontrollably kind. He is completely selfless and is constantly helping photographers better themselves at their craft. His mantra is " A rising tide raises all ships" and he truly lives it. He has started a video blog where he has posted a tip for photographers everyday for the last 40 days and will continue to do this up until WPPI. If you are a wedding photographer, its worth your time to check out. Its also available as a podcast which is how I view it ( search for "the [b] school" in iTunes). And if you have a chance to make it to one of his workshops, it would definitely be worth the dough. Becker, you truly inspire! You have helped A Bryan Photo in more ways than you know.

Here are a couple quotes from my current book, The Effective Executive by the late Peter F. Drucker:

"High intelligence is common enough among executives. Imagination is far from rare. The level of knowledge tends to be high. But there seemes to be little correlation between a man's effectiveness and his intelligence, his imagination or his knowledge. Brilliant men are often strikingly ineffectual; they fail to realize that the brilliant insight is not by itself achievement."

"[Executives often] rush around in the frenzy and busyness which very brilliant people confuse so often with "creativity", while the [effective executive] puts one foot in front of the other and gets there first, like the tortoise in the old fable."

What to expect this week:
Emily Deloach audio ( I promise!)
Neighborhood kids in the snow
Some more Africa film

Happy Monday!

Bj

Happy Monday (feb 11)

Mood: Freakin' tired (is that even a mood?)
Location: Couch at home
Music: none; Paul Zahl Sermon

Wow, I totally said I was going to post alot of things last week and then I didn't post them. I promise to fulfill my list this week. Today as an office, we decided not to work this afternoon and instead we all went to see There Will Be Blood. It actually was really nice to get away from the office as a staff. Josh and Caleb have both been working so hard recently, and I was happy we could just hang out. Jeremiah may be coming back on board with the A Bryan Photo staff and that makes me very excited. We met this morning and went over alot of cool ideas he wants to help implement.
Also, we booked our plane tickets for Vegas for WPPI last week! If you are a photographer and are going to WPPI, please leave a comment on this post and let us know. We would love to meet you! Jeremiah, Caleb, Josh and I are all going and will be staying at the Bellagio (don't worry, we booked a room facing the fountains).
I also found out today that one of my photos was selected in PDN's Top Knots Issue! It's coming out in April, and I will give more details when it comes out.
For this week her is what you can expect:
Two photographers and their projects
Emily DeLoach- audio (from the concert) and images
Two weddings to show off!

The photo above is of Caroline and Will. I can't wait to shoot their wedding in April!

DD Dliwayo School

As I sat down tonight to go through the film for the DD Dliwayo School I didn't expect to get emotional. Something came over me though. The acute pain for those children when there just came rushing back over me. I was reminded of their discipline, their resolve to learn under the cirmcumstances, and their overwhelming joy.
May I say again how proud I am of all the people that saw something special in those kids and gave without reservation. My heart is truly full with gratitude for knowing each of you, even if its only by name, email address, and T shirt size.
Once again, here's a glimpse of the lives you've touched.

The school's principal:




























I have learned so much through this experience. By nature I'm a very hesitant person and have a strong fear of failure. I almost chickened out on doing the donation idea, just because I feared that the whole thing would bomb and no one would donate. I remember finally get up the nerve to click "publish post" in blogger for that post. My fears quickly melted away as my heart was warmed by your donations within minutes of posting. Because of you, my heart will be little less fearful the next time I have a cool opportunity to share. People honestly want to help those in need and often just need an outlet to channel their feelings of goodwill and charity.

The school is still sorting through how they are going to best spend the money we raise and I should have an updated in a few months as to how the money was used.

Three more items of business:
1. If your T-shirt didn't make it, please let us know so that we can send you another one ( email josh@abryanphoto.com). I am so so sorry if it hasn't come through yet. Since I have never done a web store and had to set it up with a fulfillment company after the project was over, it took us longer to get things out. You all have been so understanding and patient throughout this whole process. Thank you for being so understanding.
2. For those that bought the custom prints, they are currently in the hands of the brothers Hanson and should be getting framed soon.
3. Someone recently asked me when I was going to post the pictures of all those that donated. I had forgotten that I never posted it! To check out the supporters, click here.

Thanks again to all of you. You have enriched my life.

Inspirations

One way of staying inspired is through the magazine work of the world's greatest photographers. I study light, color, composite and gesture from images taken by the masters of my craft. This work guides me as I refine my skills and hopefully, continue to improve the way I shoot. Most of my inspiration comes from editorial portraiture. I appreciate photojournalism but I don't attempt to be a photojournalist. I enjoy being involved and engaged with the subject too much to do journalism. I love to talk to, direct and instruct my subjects. To feed my mind and heart, I devour Vanity Fair, GQ, Vogue, Men's Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Town and Country on a monthly basis. I cut out my favorite images and put them in a binder for inspiration. I have several binders. Some binders are devoted to single photographers while others hold images that just challenge and push me to be better. I have gotten behind on filling them up and the magazines have been piling up uncontrollably. I spent today going through them, tearing out tons of amazing work.

A list of my personal favorites that you would find in my binders:

Norman Jean Roy (I'm a bit biased because I actually got to spend a week with him a few years ago and he even let Cary and I watch him photograph Jacinda Barrett for Vanity Fair.)
John Dolan (John has influenced my work more than any other shooter. And he was nice enough to let me hang out with him in NYC a few years back.)
Mario Testino
Peggy Sirota
Irving Penn
Bruce Weber
Terry Richardson (I love the snap shot look he has mastered. I can see Cary's images looking like his in a number of years.)
Rodney Smith
Christa Renee

Who/What inspires you?

Seth Godin

One blog that I check regularly is that of Seth Godin, a man who is changing the way business' view marketing and sales. He feels that traditional advertising is dead, and the only way to grow your company in today's world is to simply be remarkable. His book Purple Cow is a must for those like my myself who struggle to stand out.

Godin updates his blog regularly and his posts are very insightful. Don't you hate it when you read something and you realize how much you have to grow and improve? That is what Godin's work is constantly doing to me. Later this week I am going to post a story of one of my vendors that is constantly fixing problems and going the extra mile for A Bryan Photo. Here is a recent post from his blog. I hope you enjoy.

What blogs do you read religiously? Leave a comment on this post, I'd love to know!


Thanks for Calling...Please go Away
By Seth Godin

Most customer service organizations are architected around a simple idea: interacting with customers is expensive, driving costs down is a good thing, thus getting people to go away is beneficial.
Think about it: most inbound customer service people are rewarded for on-phone efficiency. Calls per hour. Lack of escalations. Limited complaints. What's the best way to do that? Get people to go away.

If you're on this system and a long-time customer calls in with a complicated problem, one that's going to require supervisor intervention and follow up, what's your best plan? Is it to spend an hour with this person over three days, or is the system designed to have you politely get them to just give up?

I'd focus on building a system that measures [sales rate before call] vs. [sales rate after call]. If the sales rate goes up, give the call center person a raise. It's that simple.

Paypal seized the money in my account on Friday. After seven years as a user, they decided my new DVD project was suspiciously successful and it triggered all sorts of alarms. The first step was a call from them... a cheerful person asked me a few questions and all seemed fine. Then, with no warning, they escalated the process. The system they put me in treated me like a criminal and at every step they made it difficult for me to keep going. Phone calls were made, and I spoke with two incredibly friendly people who were clearly unable to do anything other than be friendly. Both people were happy to talk to me for as long as I wanted, but neither person was able to do anything at all. The system is clearly designed this way... to insulate the people who make decisions from the actual customers. The desired outcome (I go away) doesn't seem like it's aligned with the corporate goals (I stick around).

The question I'd be asking is, "Do people who go through process and manage to prove that they are not criminals end up doing more business with us as a result of the way we treated them?" If the answer is no, you're probably doing it wrong.

The last straw was this: After I put together all the documents they wanted (including a copy of my passport) and created a PDF, I tried to upload it. They don't take PDFs, the alert box said, just JPGs. So I sent the images and get this notice:

I followed up with the email address on the screen and got an email back, informing me that the email I had mailed to at PayPal wasn't monitored.

Sigh.

[PS in the ninety minutes after I posted this, I heard from a slew of people. Guess what? Every single one had a Paypal horror story to share. Once you teach an entire organization to mistreat customers, it's hard to fix.]

[PPS the problem is fixed now. Thanks for your concern...]

I'm thankful for...YOU.

When I posted this entry last night I had no clue how many responses I would get. I posted it about 2 a.m. here in SA and was planning on just hitting the bed because we're gonna head out to a local hospital (the one that proceeds from the Hanson song "Great Divide" went to) early this morning, but the giving started happening fast and I couldn't fall asleep! I was lying in bed with the lights out and my laptop on my chest just watching the PayPal confirmation emails roll in! You guys blew me away with how fast you responded and how generous you have been. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude towards you. When you are sitting around the Thanksgiving table today and you are listing what you are thankful for, know that we will have already listed you (trust me, I'm at least 8 hours ahead of you at the moment). If you have any friends and family that want to take part in something meaningful on this Turkey Day, tell them about the school.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is amazing!
More to come...

Binge Book Buying

Last week I binged on books @ Barnes and Noble. I had just been reading Love is the Killer Ap and got inspired by Tim Sanders' idea of great books being "social currency". So I decided to go buy some books that I had been putting off buying and even picked up a few for my peeps.
For Me, I got:


Built to Last by Jim Collins. Jim wrote Good to Great which is one of my all time favorite business books. I'm really excited about this one, because Jim is one of the most well researched business writers I know.


The title of this book sounds strange but I love the concept. Its basically about outsourcing the things in your life that you aren't good at and focus only on the aspects that you are great at. Should be a good one.


I've taken 3 semesters of Economics ( Business Major) and this book has already taught me more after just a few chapters. Written in plain English with some great illustrations, this book is fascinating.

Caleb got one of my alltime favorites:


Josh got one from Seth Godin that I hadn't read:


Jeremiah got the Greenspan book:


Just for the record, I'm an awful reader. I'm very slow and easily distracted. To combat this I buy every book in both physical copy and audio format. I either listen to the book while I'm driving on a trip or follow along as I listen. If you are the same as me, please don't let your poor reading skill withhold you from your desire to learn!

Maybe we will give you all some reviews of what we are learning.

Happy reading ( or listening ).