First Alexis, thanks as always for your support and readership. Also thanks for your candor and bravery to share your thoughts here. This kind of comment is the kind I highly respect and in many ways appreciate the most because even though it doesn’t necessarily agree with my sentiment, it is given in a respectful way that invites mature dialog. So thank you.

If you don’t mind, I’m going to reserve my answer to your comment for a formal blog post. I think you ask an excellent question deserving of an answer (and believe me, I have one! 🙂 If I gave the full answer here, it would be such a long comment, most people probably wouldn’t read it buried in comments, and I think it’s something worth reading. So tune in tomorrow for that answer.

For now I will say this. You giving public praise to your mentors does more for this industry than a hundred drama-stirring blog posts that only add fuel to an already raging fire.

Thanks again my friend. I’ll have a very thorough answer for you tomorrow. 🙂

I’m lucky to have about 2-3 amazing mentors. The sad part, is that you & probably 99.9% of retail photographers & the WPPI crowd have never heard of them. WHY??? b/c they are busy actually working and making a living from photography. They are not on bus tours, twitter & facebook. They are working their a@$% off & if not, they are w/ their families.

But you know what the great part is? all of them have went out of their way to help me out and guess how much they charged me for their one on one phone conversion & feedback?? NOTHING!!! =) but then again, I don’t get to brag, tweet, or facebook that I just talked w/ a rockstar nor will they retweet my work :'( People who actually make a living from photography know how hard it is.

I do mention them all the time & give them thanks on facebook & twitter. So if you want to know who they are, you’re just going to have to follow me or add me as your friend… a little sales pitch to gain followers!?! 😉

Ron, I really enjoy your blog and respect you. I also believe you really care about the industry and provide useful information. However, I must say that I’m a little disappointed. I hope I don’t come across as smart mouth or a prick. But why not simply hold those people accountable for what they are saying & doing instead of entirely avoiding the issue? After all, you know the person pretty well that’s in all this “drama” and blogged about attending one of his “FREE” events (unless there’s other drama I don’t know about) a few weeks back. You also had interviewed him & had him in one of your shows I believe.

My point is, you know this person pretty well and seem to respect him. You also have an active audience that reads your blog and/or follows you. Why not simply state how you honestly feel about the situation? I’m really curious as to what your thoughts are EVEN if if they aren’t PC. IMO you have NOTHING to loose but a HUGE deal to gain by keeping the industry honest & w/ integrity. ALL the “BIG TIME” supporters of this “drama” person are doing the same thing you’re doing. Remaining silent & not voicing their opinion at all or switching topics. Which I believe is cowardly. Support your friends/mentors/leaders/admires and vouch for them, and when they do something wrong or stupid hold them accountable. It’s not using fake accounts or negativity to bring anyone down.

best,
-Alexis

You gotta start somehwere. 😉

I vow no deaths threats for a month…..

Thanks for the support Andrew. Yes, let’s flood the internet with “good vibrations.” Queue The Beach Boy. 🙂