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#544 in my effort to get a good water drop |
SME-A subject matter expert is an individual with a deep understanding of a particular job, process, department, function, technology, machine, material or type of equipment.
Through the ages, knowledge transfer has played a major role in how society has grown. Monks transferring the bible from stories to written words. In the middle ages children would be sent to work as apprentices in trades to learn, practice and finally go out on their own. As time moved on apprenticeship were replace by schools, university, Grandparents, even Google and ZOOM. But the principal is the same, to transfer as much knowledge as possible and to mentor the next generation.
So why do I feel strongly about passing on what I have learned? As I have grown in photography, I have been fortunate enough to have people and organizations around me that were more experienced and were willing to share what they have learned with me. These SME’s were more than willing to explain not only the basics of both capturing an image, but also how to post process the photos. Now there were those very few who did not want share as they were afraid I would steal their techniques, but with a little help from Google and YouTube I was able to figure it out. I would not be where I am today without their help.
So why NOW should we as Photographer pass on what we learned? If there
was one good thing to come out of the Covid crisis is that people have been
taking time to learn new skills or improving the skill they have. In a report
from LinkedIn comparing the number of people who watched LinkedIn learning,
hours increased from 560,000 hours in January to 1.7 million in April. 40% of
people surveyed reported that they improved their cooking skills in 2020.
KelbyOne, a photography site that offers training on-line held 4 on-line
conference that drew over 1000 photographers to learn from some of the world’s
best photographers. The digital age has afforded everybody opportunity to learn
from experts at little or no cost.
As photographers we can continue to complain about the poor quality
photos today, or we can do something about it. The “Covid Learning Effect” as I
call it will not go away. People will be
taking these newly learned skills into the new normal and the more we can show
and train them what great photography is the better we all will be. So while I will always be questioned on why I
share my settings, techniques, and such with possible competition, I will not stop. The
better my competition get will drive me to get better. Besides if they don’t get the
information from me, they will go someplace else.
Not sure what I will Blog about next week. It may be about using Instagram as a platform to display your photos, An updated review on my Pixel 5, or just a rant about something. As always if you have suggestions, comments or question, just reach out and let me know.