Ask Brooks

Public speaking

I am given the opportunity to give talk about my work at the Beijing Center of Photography. I would really love to talk about non-technical things but lost where to start. I am writing down all the things I want to say and then arrange it later on. As of now, all of my thoughts are still scattered on a piece of paper. I am wondering if you have any thoughts on how to go about this.

— Red

Before we started LensWork in 1993, I had a management consulting company and spent 45 weeks a year on the road, for over ten years, giving public talks. It's something I know a bit about, so thanks for asking.

1. First, never speak about something you don't know about. Restrict your comments to areas in which you have experience and first-hand knowledge. You are not all-knowing, so don't pretend to be. Just be yourself, talk about something you know about, and you'll be just fine.
2. I've always found it best to have only a few major points in any given talk — typically 2-3 major concepts and that's it. Trying to say too much about too many things can overwhelm both the audience and your own mind. Clarity and depth are more important than shallow width.
3. Speaking to a point generally means taking one of two directions: Start with the general idea and work your way down to examples and specifics, or: Start with examples and specifics and extract up to a general principle. Both ways work and you can even mix them in a single talk. Failure to do one or the other, however, generally results in a bunch of rambling that is difficult for an audience to wrap their minds around.
4. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. Don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. And just in case you missed it the first three times, don't ever read your speech from a prepared text. The only people who can pull this off effectively are professional actors and politicians — but come to think of it this is actually one group.
5. Props are your friends. By this, I don't mean slides or a Powerpoint presentation. These are good, too, but props are physical things that help the audience focus on the point you are making. They often add a touch of humor and entertainment value to the talk, too.
6. The lectern in a safe zone, but it also separates you from the audience like a barrier. Don't ever forget that the audience wants you to succeed; they are rooting for you to give a good talk; they are your friends, not your judges. Engage them like the friends they are. Eye contact, walking out among them, asking them questions are all good things.

   Have fun!

Audio books

I understand you are an avid reader and also an audio recording enthusiast. What is your view on reading a book versus "listening" to a book in an audio format? I recently subscribed to a popular audio book service and love the ability to "read" (listen?) to books while I drive or workout etc. I often wonder though what are the tradeoffs of listening vs actually sitting down and reading the book. Does one miss the essence of the book? Is listening "equivalent" to reading a book? Would love to "hear" (read?) your thoughts on this.

— Paulo

I've often thought that the core idea in artwork — the very root of the matter — is to use the senses to stimulate our imagination. We look with our eyes at the Sistine Chapel paintings by Michelangelo and our imagination springs to life as we see in our minds eye all those things that are not included in the pigments on the walls.

The same with photography. When I look at W. Eugene Smith's famous image Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath" (1971), our imagination can see more of her suffering from mercury poisoning than just her bathing.

From the senses to the mind, that is the key.

With different people, the senses/mind link works differently. My genetics are such that there is a very strong connection between ear and brain — I am an "audio person." My wife is not. Where I love listening to audio books, podcasts, lectures, etc., she cannot. Aural input does not stimulate her imagination the way it does mine. On the other hand, she is an incredible talent in the kitchen with finely tuned taste buds. She'll often say, "Taste this — is there enough cumin?" I just blink and stare with a blank face. (What the hell is cumin?)

From senses to mind also implies — at least for me — that greater possibilities open up when more than one sense is involved. I love listening to music while I look at photographs. I love listening to the photographer speak about their work while I look at it — hence so much emphasis on audio interviews in LensWork Extended. I love feeling the paper print as I look at original photographs in the folio format.

Similarly, the best of all reading experiences for me is listening to a talented reader while simultaneously reading along in the text. This dual input activity brings the book to life in ways that either experience by themselves does not. Reading gives me a sense of the author's written text — the use of paragraphs, punctuation, dialect, vocabulary. Listening while reading adds inflection, intonation, pace and timing, and — with the best readers — character identity via voice interpretation.

If forced to choose one over another, I'd choose listening to a talented reader over reading myself. I'd choose reading myself over a bad audio reader. The most thrilling is a theatrical reader, with good material, and my eyes following along the written text while holding a finely-bound, old volume. Add chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk and you've an hour or two that can't be beat.

What blogs do you visit?

What photography and art blogs do you recommend or peruse on a regular basis?

— Brad Arnold

   

Not as many as I should or as I'd like. I keep pretty busy with LensWork stuff, but there are a few that are a part of my regular habits —

• www.dpreview.com helps me keep up-to-date with the technology changes
• www.luminous-landscape.com for Michael's outlook on medium format and his no-hold-barred opinions on equipment. There is a forum here, too, that you shouldn't miss.
• I enjoy Mike Johnston's perspective and long-time experience as a photo magazine editor over at The Online Photographer
• George Barr is a LensWork alumnus who's blog offers some keen insights I enjoy
• There is a good blog about photography books at http://5b4.blogspot.com/. I don't know anything about this fellow, but I do read his comments.
• Jim Kasson (another LensWork alumnus) brings his acerbic wit to this blog.
• The APUG forums are a wealth of information
• Ditto the Large Format Photography Forum
• Love the Shutter Sisters blog
• Occasionally stop by Ken Rockwell, Steve's Digicams, and Matt Kloskowski at Lightroom Killer Tips
• Mary Virginia Swanson is great for marketing and getting your work out into the world
• One of our former workshop participants, Godfrey Degiorgi, has a new blog that I stop by from time to time

As you can see, blogs of a non-technical nature are pretty rare. I wish I had a long list of them, but I don't. No doubt I'm missing some really good ones. Any suggestions?

   

More on Productivity

This issue of productivity (see Josef Tonick's question) is such a critical one, I thought I'd better expand on it just a bit in case my thoughts on this would be of interest. Some of this is pretty elementary and may seem obvious, but just in case . . .

Handle It Once
Paper. What a hassle. Junk mail is the best example I can think of. Think of the cumulative effort over your lifetime if you take your junk mail from the mailbox, to your desk, sort it at your desk into a pile to dispose of, then carry it to the recycle bin under the sink, then to the recycle bin outside. You've now handled it five times. My rule is to handle every piece of paper I can as few times as I can. Once is ideal. The first time I touch it, I read and toss, read and file, read then scan then file, or — but only if it's unavoidable and necessary — read and pile somewhere for later action. Even then, I add a task on my computer so I don't forget it. This rule applies to everything — not just paper. Stuff accumulates; it's the way of the world. I use the strategy call E-C-R-S which is eliminate, combine, rearrange, and simplify. Seriously, it's almost a religious code with me.

Templates
If I know I'm going to be doing something like this again, I build a template. Both LensWork and LensWork Extended are constructed entirely from InDesign templates. We invest our time in them with regularity, refining and improving them with consistency. We prepare all the images for both publications from Lightroom export templates and Photoshop actions as the first step. A final look at each image one-at-a-time might require some manual tweaking, but for the most part the heavy lifting is done by the templates and actions. Use Word style sheets, clip-text archives for frequently typed phrases, keyboard macros, InDesign object/paragraph/character styles, etc. Even in something as physical as assembling LensWork Folios, we use templates for lining up scoring marks, etc.

Multi-tasking (not a computer topic!)
Just a few minutes ago, I needed another cup of coffee. I walked into the kitchen while I was thinking about this topic, preparing to type up this blog post. Let me describe my actions in the course of about 10 minutes. To make my coffee, I needed to grind some beans. While they were grinding, I emptied the dishwasher while the water in the sink was running to get warm. When the first batch of beans was done grinding, I started the drip into my coffee mug while I washed a few dishes and listened to a David Blatner podcast from InDesignSecrets.com on my Olympus DM-520 pocket recorder. I dictated a few notes about this post while the coffee finished dripping, speaking in "dictation mode" — dripping comma speaking in open quotes dictation mode close quotes dash — so I could transcribe this blog post using Dragon Systems Naturally Speaking rather than typing it. I uploaded the audio file and finished adding cream to my coffee while Dragon typed the first draft of the blog post. I looked at my watch and 10 minutes had passed since I first left my desk to get another cup of coffee. Multi-tasking indeed.

Opportunity Cost and the Value of Delegating
I once did a calculation on the amount of time I would spend in total over the course of my life mowing the grass. It was an exercise in the concept of opportunity cost. This is the price you pay in the things not done as a result of the decision to do the things you do. For example, the opportunity cost of watching Gilligan's Island rerun is that you don't spend that half hour cleaning the darkroom. The cost of the TV show is the dirty darkroom. Life is making choices and every choice we make has a price we pay in the choices we reject. I decided I would rather pay someone to mow my grass so I could have that time working on my photography. The time with photography was more important to me than the cash — besides, if I sell a photograph now and again I'll have the cash to pay for the lawn service. I haven't mowed my grass for over 20 years — and they edge the lawn and fertilize twice a year, too. Yes!

Early to bed . . .
This is a tough one to recommend to folks because it is such a personal thing. My genetics and habits combine to make me a "morning person." I'm typically sound asleep by 9:30-10:00 every night. I wake up, naturally, around 5am — sometimes earlier. (I haven't been wakened by an alarm clock in decades!) A quick "stretch," a cup of coffee, and I'm at my desk down the hall by no later than 5:30am every morning, seven days a week. I check my email, scan the news headlines, check out the Astronomy Picture of the Day (fabulous website!), a couple of my favorite photography blogs and websites, and then get busy on a few tasks of the day. By the time the staff arrives at 8:30am or so, I've already got a couple of hours and a shower under my belt. That keeps them efficient and gives me a little time of uninterrupted work before the phone starts ringing. It was these hours in the morning that allowed me to stay on top of my recently concluded New 100 Prints Project. All those images, text, audio notes, and web posts were done early in the morning before work.

Watch TV on Purpose
We all have weaknesses that haunt us. One of mine is the tube. If I'm not careful, I get sucked in. Pretty soon I'm all wrapped up in what's behind door number three, or whether House will solve the case before the patient dies. I could tell you of some lost days in my youth when I never left the couch. In my jammies. With Lucky Charms and milk as my only sustenance of the day. Fortunately, I learned I was powerless against the tube's hypnotic effects and have been able to keep it under control, mainly. I watch TV, but I pick and choose what and when. I keep it to a dull roar, and try to watch on purpose. I don't allow myself access to the cereal aisle. Demons. Guard against them.

Measure
Harold Geneen, in his classic book Managing, pounds home the simple concept that what gets measured gets managed. I've found his observation is so true. If I really want something to get done, I make sure my thoughts about it include some form of quantitative measurement. The "100 prints" project mentioned above is an example. Wishy-washy goals tend to washed away. You may quote me on that. How many prints did you make last year? How many did you intend to make? How often did you update your website? How often should you have? How much did you spend on camera gear? How often did you back up your computer files? Yikes. When I was a kid my Mom used to keep a chart of my chores on the fridge where she'd glue a star in the box for each day and each chore I finished. At the end of the week, Dad would reward me with my allowance based on the number of stars on the chart. What gets measured gets managed. I'm now 55 years old and the principle still works.

Hope this helps.

   

Brooks Inc.

How does he do it? Every time I turn around, Brooks has another super project going.....blogs, podcasts, folios, Alumni News, etc. etc. etc.  He is the largest 1 man corporation I know.  I am sure a chain of coffee/photo kiosks/restaurants will be next. Either he is the world's  most efficient humanoid, or the has mastered the art of cloning himself.  

Pray tell us your secret!

A humble, awestruck admirer, 
Josef Tornick

   

LOL! If you only knew . . .

Let me be serious about this because it is a relevant question.

First, I am far from a "1 man corporation." There are six of us here at LensWork:

• Maureen — co-editor, business manager, and very understanding marriage partner! :-)
• Crystal — my assistant who manages my email, handles the podcasts, folio construction, web updates, our online store, and all other curve balls I manage to throw her
• Thea — my other assistant who is our graphics and layout expert, web guru, computer resource, tech support for our readers, graphic designer, puzzle solver, and calm center in the middle of all storms
• Dianna — Maureen's assistant for customer service. She is the one who answers the phone and talks with so many of you, processes your orders, and solves any problems that need attention.
• Rachel — who packages and ships all the orders, makes the LensWork Extended discs and packages them, and handles everything that leaves our building

It takes a great team to keep things running smoothly and this group of people are the best in the publishing business you'll find anywhere. Seriously. Surround yourself with the best people and you'll be amazed what you can accomplish — advice as valid for the individual photographer as it is for a business.

Second, we take advantage of every speck of technology we can. We use the best software and spend a lot of time training ourselves to use it efficiently. We invest heavily in training, equipment, updating software, and making our lives easier through the efficiencies of technology.

Specifically, I don't know where I'd be if it weren't for Adobe and Microsoft, Chaos Software, Total Commander, Dragon Systems, and Netgear NAS storage in the terabytes range. It's not Brooks Inc. but it might very well be The Magic of Software Inc.

Oh, and Costco House Blend. By the gallon.