Welcome, glad to have you here, let’s get straight to it.
In 2023, I cut my time spent making selects by 30%. You could too. Here’s how.
First, this isn’t an ad, it’s not sponsored, I’m just telling you one artist to another about a tool I spend my own money on.
It’s called Pixieset. There’s a free tier if you want to try it out. I used the free tier for a long time. This link will get you $20 off if you decide a paid tier is right for you.
Regardless, let me break down the workflow:
1️⃣ Copy from SD card to my hard drive.
2️⃣ Open up Lightroom catalog, import new photos.
3️⃣ Go to the Pixieset plugin in Lightroom, create a new collection, copy unedited photos into it.
4️⃣ Publish to Pixieset. It automatically uploads straight to a secure link on Pixieset, no dragging and dropping needed.
5️⃣Send client the link, they can can use the “like” feature to make their selects.
6️⃣ Get their selects via the the “Lightroom Copy List” in Pixieset.
7️⃣ Paste that into Lightroom’s Finder, bingo - you’ve got all your client’s selects right there.
Let me explain why it’s helped me so much:
Less, but better: I am a chronic over-selector. I am not proud to say I’ve turned 100+ edited images back after a free two hour test more times than I can count. Now, I lean on the client to make selects.
Faster: As a result, I dilly dally when making selects. It takes me awhile to make my picks.
More client satisfaction: So far, I think clients have really enjoyed getting to make their picks. My risk level is lower on picking images they’re not psyched about.
If you want to see me work through it live, the video above will walk you through my process.
📊PART TWO: TRACKING MY PROGRESS
📡 Fig. 1: Captain’s Log
I want to talk a little bit about a concept I’ve been kicking around. If you want to get straight to more practical stuff, you can pass this section.
It’s a vision of the future, a way of attacking creative work relentlessly while keeping your head on straight and not getting caught up in the day-to-day vicissitudes of being a creative person. I don’t know what I’m going to call it yet. I’ve got ideas, none of them are quite right.
I see the way Zach Pogrob has taken ownership of the concept of "Obsession” and I really admire components of that - the aggressiveness, the ownership, the responsibility, the willingness to stand apart and be himself regardless of how it appears to the world and put his flag in the ground on who he is and what he stands for.
It’s a tremendous example of worldbuilding, and it inspires me in my own work.
A potential thread I’m gonna follow is my fascination with a man named Bill Walsh, who happened to coach a football team I’ll always hate, the San Francisco 49ers. In his book, The Score Takes Care of Itself, he outlines a way of operating that really clicks for me: When a team controls every single thing they can control, when they practice perfectly, when their nutrition is right, when their minds are in the right place, it’s often that the score takes care of itself. You get all that stuff right, you’re probably gonna win a lot of games.
I greatly relate to this. There’s something really powerful about decoupling process from outcome, focusing on controlling what you can control. So how exactly do I bring this ethos into the world of creative work? I don’t know quite yet. Some of the pieces make sense - just keep shooting, just keep making videos, just keep meeting people, etc.
I don’t know where this is going to go, but it’s sitting with me and I wanted to get it off my chest. I’m on a mission just like many of you are. This is me putting my gut instinct out there into the cosmos, on the table, and let’s see where it goes from here.
📸 Fig. 2: this week’s stills
🎬 fig. 3: this week’s videos
1/13: 1000+ photographers have gotten my free lightroom presets! IG
1/15: Lighting Tutorial #14 (repost) IG
1/16: Burberry in 2002: Timeless or Dated? IG
1/17: PSA: Carry a Camera More IG
🔬 fig. 4: key learnings + experiments this week
Polaroid scans: I’m still struggling to get polaroids to scan really crisply. I’m going up to 300 or 600dpi, and still a little foggy, not as sharp. Maybe it’s my scanner.
Canva: I didn’t start using Canva until last summer when my teachers in Cut30 recommended it. Now, I think it’s really good. It’s how I’m doing all the overlays for this “NO GATEKEEPING” stuff I am putting on most of my stills posts.
Studio: Pretty excited, just got a membership to a cool studio here in Seattle. It’ll give me an opportunity to shoot more when the weather’s dreary. More to come.
📈fig. 5: audience growth
Instagram: 12,177 followers, +597 (+5%) vs. last week
TikTok: 1297 followers, +36 (+3%) vs. last week
Newsletter: 1228 subscribers, +138 (+13%) vs. last week
📍Free mood board #08, resort editorial: LINK
🆓Five free Lightroom presets: LINK
🛠️All the cameras + flashes I use: LINK
🤝1:1 consult calls (not free): LINK
👀Trend to watch: TikTok Alternatives
For TikTok Refugees, a Wry Welcome on a Chinese App
What it is: With this TikTok ban set to go into effect, we’ve got loads of Americans looking for an alternative. Some are looking to a Chinese app called Xiaohongshu, translated to English as “Little Red Book” or “Red Note”. As you might imagine, hijinx ensue.
First one of those loom tutorials - Was the video useful? What do we want to see more of in the future? lmk.
Garrett
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