Gulf Photo Plus 2012: See You in Dubai

The best part about facing the oncoming winter in Maryland is knowing I am gonna bail for a week of 80-degree days in Dubai at Gulf Photo Plus. It's my favorite annual photo event of all, and the only teaching gig I am planning for the whole year.

Heisler's coming back. Dave Burnett is coming. Martin Prihoda, too. And of course many of the regulars will be there. On top of that, I'm especially excited to be teaching a completely different set of classes this year.
__________


This Year's Faculty

One of the many things I love about GPP is that it is small enough so that you run into the same people all week, and yet intense enough to attract a strong faculty from around the world.

Instructors this year include Zack Arias, David Burnett, Greg Heisler, Chris Hurtt, Bobbi Lane, Joe McNally, David Nightingale, Louis Pang, Martin Prihoda, Claire Rosen, Steve Simon, David Tejada and yours truly.

Needless to say, many of those folks are familiar to longtime readers of this site. I know most of them, and suffice to say you could do much worse for instructors. And there are tons of classes and workshops on offer.

As for my own classes, I worked with the folks at GPP to put together a unique set of subjects for this year, and I am pretty stoked.


Monday: Blogging and Social Media

This class is aimed at people who are blogging for themselves, their own business or for their employer. (Speaking of the latter, being the skilled voice for your company on a blog and/or twitter is the next best thing to being the boss's nephew when it comes to job security.)

As bloggers, we tend to work alone a lot (not unlike photographers). As a result we co-invent a lot of things independently without sharing strategies and techniques. We'll be doing exactly the opposite here. Nothing is off the table in this class -- no secrets and no bullshit. And true-to-form for bloggers, the class starts bright and early at 2:30 in the afternoon and goes into the evening.

Why? Because we can.

More info: Blogging and Social Media Class.


Tues / Weds: Editorial Portraits Under Pressure

Ever look at a magazine or newspaper photo and think, "I could have done that…"?

Yeah, well maybe you could and maybe you couldn't. This class is designed to help you find out -- and to get better at it fast. It's a small group -- a dozen people -- and will be a mix of classroom instruction and multiple shooting assignments over two days.

Expect good prep and advice, a little bit of a pressure environment, and don't be surprised by a curveball or two. When we are done, you'll never think about shooting a portrait the same way again.

More info: Art on a Deadline: The Editorial Portrait.


Thursday: Freestyle Business

I am especially excited about this class. It is something I have lived 24/7 for the last five years, and something I have grown passionate about. The best way I can think of to describe it is with a question:

What could you do, what kind of photography business could you create, if you were willing to disregard every convention and toss the status quo?

I have literally walked hundreds of miles with this question (and a gazillion related downstream questions) bouncing around in my head. More important, I have gotten to meet and pick the brains of many unconventionally successful people and companies on this subject. My hope is that you will exit this class and never again decide to do something merely because that's the way it has always been done.

As above, this class begins at the civilized hour of 2:30pm, and then we'll go until we stop. And after that, we might move it over to a nearby rooftop bar. (Liquid inspiration not included in class fee.)

More info: Business Without Boundaries.


Saturday: McNally. Me. Auditorium. One Guess...

After 29 cities and 12,000 miles on a bus together, McNally and I pretty much have our shit together on this one. So why not fire the bus up one last time?

While the bus itself may be dead -- or, worse, being used to ferry around the Insane Clown Posse (true fact) -- the Flash Bus day rides once again, in this one-time non-US version.

Being as this is an international version of the Flash Bus, it will be a staid affair -- very stuffy and formal. And if you believe that, you may as well expect me to show up in long pants.

More info: Flash Bus Dubai.
__________


There are LOTS more classes on offer, but they will be going fast. Plus, there's the whole week-in-Dubai thing. Which is kinda cool.

So if there is any chance you can get your butt to Dubai from wherever you are, I hope to see you. (One of my favorite things is getting to meet readers from a couple dozen different countries.)

Lots of people make the trip -- and come right back the next year after. GPP is an awesome week, in an awesome city. Come on out.


:: Full Info: Gulf Photo Plus 2012 (March 5th - 10th) ::