First Shot School – Now Live

I’m so excited to announce that our school is finally live. Mia, Kevin, and I have spent quite a bit of time building our studio from the ground up with the purpose wanting to really help in the photograph the community. You can find out more at http://firstshotschool.com

Why I Think We Can Help

I’ve been working in online training for photography for over 10 years. I’ve been a teacher for over 20. One of the things that i’ve always wanted to do is teach with a specific purpose. Make sure that those who want to learn actually get what they needed.  Teaching is a 2 way process – and for the most part we’ve been stuck with one way – Preach to the people, and hope they get it.

I want us to go back and forth in this process.  If you want to learn something – I want you to leave saying “Man, I got it.. I’m moving on to my next challenge”

As I’ve been banging away at making the new place thats the only thing that was on the brain.  Teach.  Not preach..  do that and we can make something cool..

I’ve been using Photoshop and Lightroom for a long time, and I think i’ve got a good slant on how to teach it.  So much so, that I’ve written the Adobe certified expert exam for both Photoshop and Lightroom (no I dont have the answers to the test any more).  On the professional speaking front –  I’ve spoken with tens of thousands of users, authors, experts, photographers, and digital visionaries to help answer any questions that they have. So I know the pain points, and what are the things that are the “must have” items.. and which can wait till later.

How We Plan To Do It

I am absolutely terrible at cool catch phrases –  worse at top ten marketing bullet points. I don’t do fancy Tshirts . I hate the thought of writing epic into anything I post and I refuse to turn my instagram into an insta-resume.  This blog tries to share both  – the dad, as well as the teacher.  So I wanted to bring that mindset into First Shot School. 

We set out to make a site with as little of that stuff as possible. No excessive bells.  No whistles.. no rambling on in a tutorial (thats what this blog is for).  Have it load fast. Get in, get what you need, and go about your day. Our internal goal has been – can we make a class that you can watch when the kids go to bed.  Can we make tutorials you can watch on a coffee break.  If we can’t – hit delete and do it over.  But how do I learn to get that focused?

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I partnered with Mia McCormick–  an award winning journalist, reporter, anchor, and tech geek with a crazy amount of experience in television. She’s got a laser eye on looking at our content from a news point of view- it’s not all that different, really.  Make sure that you respect your viewers time.  Be gracious that they’re here – and reward that by being the best at what they came to see – teaching.  

Together I think we can develop a package that can get you up to speed on the things you need getting out of the gate. 

The Focus / The Price

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One of the things that we wanted to focus was on core skills that people need- whether you are a beginner or a pro.  It would shock you to know how many experts out there don’t understand some core principles of photography, Photoshop, Lightroom, or Video.  It be a common thing to hear “Wow.. didn’t know that.. i’m adding that to my workflow” when out talking to people who have been doing this for years.  Those are the kinds of things we want to make sure you have.  I think you can work a lot smarter if you see them at the start of a process.. but anyone can learn from this.

Playing Our Position – And Pointing You Down the Road

There are plenty of amazing photographers out there with a specific vision, and if you’re looking for someone to take you along the photographic road further – we are going to be the first to point you to their sites.  There is only one Joe McNally.  There is only one Gregory Heisler. There’s only one Jeremy Cowart.  I’ve always considered myself a position player in this game – so i’m playing this one.

Once you purchase a class, the site will show you a class discussion area where we want to answer all of the questions you have on the course. You can go back and forth with the instructor, as well as other students on the points to make sure you got the concept down.  If we feel like we need to add to the course to address the point – then thats what we do.  I want the course to be an expanding thing as best it can to accommodate for teaching as best it can.

Additionally, students will have the option to signup for a monthly Q&A that we’ll do as a live stream where we can just shoot the breeze, and talk about the course.  As the school grows – we can host more live streams.  The goal would be to get to a weekly live show that doesn’t waste your time on what I had for lunch – but on what you need to get better.

So – that’s it – I finally am coming up for air after being holed up working on it.  I hope you go check out  http://firstshotschool.com  – see a class you need and get one.  My intention is to earn your business one class at a time.

Thanks!

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