shifting focus
After more than two years of helping David duChemin build and maintain the social media profile for Craft and Vision, the time has come for me to shift my focus. Today is my last day tweeting and facebooking and posting on the C&V Community Blog as “Craftina”, sharing educational how-to information with many new and enthusiastic photographers. In my time with Craft and Vision, I saw many changes in the social media landscape and it was difficult to keep pace marketing a brand while at the same time trying to grow personally as a photographer. In some ways the two were at odds and I knew that I needed to make a choice if I was to progress on my journey.
Photography can be a lonely pursuit but I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with some wonderful people who have grown with me along the way. I’m excited to have more time to spend on some personal projects I’ve been working on as well as giving more attention to Rear Curtain where I work with three amazing photographers, Matthew Connors, Stuart Sipahigil and Ray Ketcham. We hope you will take a look at the stories from around the world in Issue 2 from American Rodeo (USA) to Quiet at Home (Poland) to The Luthier (Spain) to Sabong (The Philippines) and finally Searching for the Perfect Pot (China). Make sure you watch that space for an exciting announcement coming up next week.
My more immediate plans are to spend time at ART (the Artists Round Table) in Port Townsend at the end of this month. We’ve had a wonderful response to this year’s offering and even after the final participants were selected, we continued to receive enquiries about attending. If all goes well, we hope to host another ART soon. Of course my website is in sad need of updating especially after being hacked two weeks ago. That will be my focus following the ART weekend.
One thing that won’t be changing is my continued association with the Bangkok Photo School. The world that creates the insatiable demand for a social media presence is also one that enables me to work for the school from here in Vancouver. I love meeting new students (albeit virtually) and working with Gavin Gough has been a pleasure although he can be quite demanding (just kidding Gavin!). If you don’t already know about Gavin’s work, check out his latest post from Ethiopia. Later this year, I plan to travel to Bangkok and China–my first big trip since my safari in 2010–and instead of spending a day here and there like on many photo tours, my hope is to spend some dedicated time in one or two places.
I’d like to end this post by thanking David duChemin for the opportunity he gave me more than two years ago. Working for David, I learned a few things about what it takes to build and sustain a community, how to engage and keep an audience, but most of all I learned that you need to do whatever you must to follow your own dreams.
Congratulations Sabrina! The journey to the destination is the fun part, right? It sounds like your journey is providing you with opportunities for growth in many ways. I look forward to seeing what is in store for you!
xoxo Krista
Congratulations, and good luck on the road to whatever comes next (and all that comes after)!
I’m very, very happy for you Sabrina.
Looking forward to seeing more of your work
Best of luck with all your future ventures, Sabrina! I am already looking forward to your trip report from China!
Wow, Craftina – exiting with new opportunities!! This was a surprise.
I guess after naming you Craftina I feel a certain pressure to invent a new name for your successor. Davino? Crafteeram? Davision?
I vote for Crafteeram! Thanks for all the support Eli. I really appreciated it whenever you were able to contribute to the community and I know others did too.
Definitely looking forward to a greater presence on your blog!! Congratulations on the new directions – excitement, nerves, anticipation and OMG what have I done all mixed together. But the need to travel our own path is more important. We are with you!
Excited for you Sabrina and best of luck!!! Will be in Bangkok myself end of this year – perhaps a great opportunity to try out the photo school? If you happen to be there also, well then, that would be an extra extra plus
Btw, I received issue 2 in the mail this week. I look forward to sitting down on Sunday and taking the time to enjoy it. Thank you (and the whole team) for your hard work, it’s truly wonderful to see passion and dedication come together.
Hope you enjoy Issue 2 Jilske and that we see something from you soon. I know you might not be able to swing it but yesterday we announced a chance to attend a workshop with the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops. I hope you’ll consider it.
I have enjoyed it, very much so (will tell you later which my favorite story is:)). Love the layout improvements also, flows much better. Have started on a story for you, and have given up as many time, minus 1. That -1 is thanks to Cathy, who helped me back on track last month. Sisyfus no more! So expect not one, but two stories from me soon. Can’t promise you will be happy with them though
And the fellowship is a great initiative! Not for me as I’m far away in Oz, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of candidates in US and Canada!
I’m so, very happy for you Sabrina. See you next week at ART.
Demanding? Moi? Now I have a reputation to live up to
I wish you every success in this new chapter of your journey and am looking forward to being a part of your future plans.
Congrats on your decision Sabrina. Here’s to many more great things!
With all those opportunities to pursue it takes guts to choose which to concentrate on. I look forward to reading more about your new photographic adventures.
Forgot to say commiserations on the blog hacking. It’s a total pain and one I have experienced myself just recently. Hope the rebuild goes smoothly.
I read about your hacking Julie. How frustrating! My rebuild will be very simple and won’t look half as good as your site did/does. All I am really looking for is a change in the focus of the blog and putting the tools in place to support the kind of work I am doing now. Something to last for the next two to three years hopefully
I think it is great news for you, Sabrina. You did a great job curating social media stream for C&V, but it came with a price. I am looking forward seeing more of your work here on blog maybe when you start spending more time with your camera. Good luck!
Good news Sabrina – an exciting time ahead! Looking forward to see what lies ahead for you.
Maureen
Thanks everyone for the good wishes. My first week “off the job” and I am madly planning my trip to Asia and playing with my new camera. I don’t know how I managed to fit in everything I was doing before but I think Iza, you said it best; it came with a price.