NoBs Members ROCKED WPPI this year with several members hanging in the WPPI Print Salon. There were thousands of prints this year and it’s a real honor to receive an Accolades of Excellence and even more outstanding to place. CONGRATULATIONS to all the members who participated in this years Print Competition.
This year we did not have a NoBs Booth at WPPI and instead I would walk around the tradeshow floor networking with other vendors and speakers. WOW what I blast I had jumping from booth to booth getting the inside scoop of what’s new and hot in our photographic industry. Let me be the first to tell you we have some amazing webinars coming up, and some awesome deals on fabulous products and software. These will be for NoBs Members only, so if your not on the inside sorry to say you will lose out. If you have never attended a WPPI I highly suggest you look into it. Like I always say “If your a photographer, you should attend at least ONE WPPI”.
Here are some winning images from our members
M.Stevens

Clem Kutzli

Mike Long

Andy Armstrong

Bob Bossinger

Our very own Calgal Julie Lowry took first place International Commercial Print for the 8×10 competition. This was announced at the Awards Banquet

I had 2 Accolades of Excellence and this image took 3rd place for Commercial Industrial
Here are some “Off Duty” Images of Me and some NoBs Members hanging out in Vegas.
Mike Long and Hodgy goofing off

Hodgy and Alison goofing off

Mark Ridout being Mark Ridout

Andy Armstrong working the Design House booth

Mike and Hodgy with Rebecca from Animot

Mike and Hodgy with Gerry Ghionis

Mark Ridout working the Photodex booth

Mike and Hodgy with Roy from Triplescoop Music

A bunch of NoBs’ers

Added by others
Mike, Tina, Shelley Harington and Hodgy

Riff and the NoBs Stalker with Julie and Heather (Julie and Heather don’t remember this though)

Hodgy

Riff, Hodgy, and Mike Long on the Limo Ride back to the hotel.

Another NoBs Gang

Darwin Wigget’s blog and post of us in our underwear
No really. Darwin Wigget, photographer and educator extraordinaire, plugged our upcoming cross Canada tour on his blog and used one of our favorite images….Check it out on Darwin’s Photography blog
Mercedes in the driveway
~Jim Rohn~
*Rich isn’t being content with little
*Is being the best you can be
*Is it our environment? No, it’s doing things a certain way
*Balance: body, soul, intellect and loving others
*Extreme altruism is not better than extreme greed
*Keep your mind off poverty- forget the past
Robert Provencher
Is Scott Crosby normal?
Me thinks not. That’s why he’s such a dang good marketer of photography and all around super success!
I mean who else would go to such extremes. ( I think he’s poking fun at or trying to outdo our dancing at the Inferno Workshop website).
By the way, Scott is presenting at the Inferno. You don’t want to miss this event!
Another “Exposed” email
From Bryan…..
“Dear Mr. Provencher,
I just finished reading your book “Exposed” and all I can say is THANK
YOU! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Every page is packed with no nonsense,
thought provoking information. The only complaint I have is that the
book came to an end all too soon.
At the back of the book you mentioned your web site and a “special sign
in discount”. Please, tell me what I need to do and where do I sign
up! If your web site is half as good as your book, I can’t wait to get
started.
Thanks again for a great read!
Sincerely,
Bryan Friedrichs”
Thanks Bryan. In case anyone is curious as to where you find that book, it’s here.
Email on How big should your studio be?
From Jimmy:
Hey Robert, I loved this email about starting your studios in the house living room etc. My only problem with that is that I live in a neighborhood that’s not all they great. I live in south central Los Angeles. I mean in my area is not all that bad but you do see thugs walking down my block and at night you do hear gun shots. I alsways hear to start a studio from home but it’s kind of hard when you live in a neighboorhood that’s not all that good. Any input? Thanks.
My reply:
Jimmy, you either have to give your clients a powerful enough reason to come and see you or move. It’s that simple…
Rob
Quick and Easy Commercial Shoot
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~





For the generals scene shots, here’s the lay of the land:





Robert Provencher
How Big Should Your Studio Be?
How Big Should Your Studio Be?
“Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who recognized a problem a turned it into an opportunity.”
~Joseph Sugarman~
Talent is overrated
I have no particular talent. I am merely inquisitive.”
~Albert Einstein~
How To Succeed
Ah, but how do you succeed in the first place you ask? How can you get success if you ain’t got none? Okay, that’s a fair question and it certainly sounds like a catch-22 doesn’t it.
In order to create success out of thin air you must start with a vision, an idea, a goal, a clear mental picture of what it is you see yourself succeeding at. It all starts with your ability to use your IMAGINATION. Einstein believed that IMAGINATION was the most powerful force in the universe. But, you have to use your own imagination first. Combined with desire.
You must convince yourself of this on an hourly, daily, weekly and monthly basis. Without this you are wandering aimlessly.
At your deepest unconscious level you have a success barometer. It tells you how well you will do. It’s like a ladder with only so many rungs on it. Everyone has their own unique barometer and we are limited by the possibilities this sets for us.
Why are so many people stuck earning $40,000.00 a year, year after year? It’s their internal success barometer. This barometer controls us and if we head for any opportunity or success it will pull us back, drags us down.
So how do we get over any limits our own barometers may have placed on our own destiny? By using our imaginations we can slowly increase the level of our own barometer. It takes work but it will have an effect and when opportunities come your way you will be able to take advantage of them instead of sabotaging them. You must imagine what it will be like to be in that place that you call success. A clear mental picture, remember?
Other ways to work your barometer is by doing the very things that scare you. Fear is paralyzing, if you let it. Or, it will hold within it the seeds of great opportunity for you. It serves no useful purpose other than killing your dreams, or telling you to not put your hand on a red hot stove. Now you don’t have to be logical about this, go after any fear. When you confront them you grow. It increases your inner barometer overall.
Seems simple doesn’t it? But we choose to stay stuck and let our fears hold us back.
What about talents? You may feel you lack certain skills or pre-dispositions. Or worse yet, you bought into the biggest lie, that you had be “born with” talent or skills. This I am happy to report to you this is one of the biggest lies ever uttered by pompous, never-well-meaning and arrogant misguided souls. It’s used by these poor, self-absorbed windbags to try and push you down and hold you back.
Don’t buy it for a second.
I will concede that people are born with certain pre-dispositions, such as body types that may be suitable for athletics and if you are born blind you may never take up career as a pilot, but these are the exceptions to the rule. And even so, many people have done incredible feats in spite of serious setbacks.
The idea that you are born a certain way is preposterous. It’s a load of crap who’s time has come to an end. You can do and be anything you want. If you want it. You get good at something by getting good. It’s that simple. It takes work. That’s why so many hang their hat on the “I-wasn’t-born-with-it excuse”.
They’re lazy.
Everybody wants to be rich or famous but few are willing to do whatever is necessary to get there. If you want to learn or enhance a new skill start it now, and learn it every day, day after day and you will get good.
And keep learning new things. It’s good for the brain. Keeps you young and vibrant. When you learn new things don’t give up because it seems hard at first. Every new skill, new passage has the same basic steps it must follow:
* unconscious incompetence, where you suck at it and you don’t even know you suck at it.
* conscious competence, where you suck at it but at least you know you suck at it.
* conscious competence, where you are good at it and you know it, you have to make conscious effort to maintain that level of being good at it, and finally…..
* unconscious competence, mastery, where you seem to have that natural talent. It just flows. This is where others will tell you you are born with it. Like as if it was that easy.
Another one of the great, often ignored success principles is that of total responsibility. Always take the position that everything that happens in your life is all your fault. I’m serious on this. This will keep you sharp and in the right mindset, never defaulting to blaming. So what, success seems to happen to others.
On the outside this may certainly seem so, but if we look deeper we will find years of struggle and effort. And always a vision. If you want to succeed you must have your own vision. If you offer up excuses you’re being a pessimistic, negative cry baby and nobody likes a cry baby.
If you see success in someone else ask them how they did it, and listen, I mean really listen. There’s gold in the answers. Likewise, never take advice from anyone who hasn’t been there. Let me finish with a few quotes that I have pasted by my desk. I think they are applicable to my message in this article:
“Most people waste their entire lives trying desperately to “get out of”
or avoid exactly what is required for success and happiness.”
Dan Kennedy
“You are what you think.”
?
“The mind is always sharpest when there is a hanging at dawn.”
?
“YCDBSOYA (you can’t do business sitting on your ass)”
Dan Kennedy
You don’t need a load of light to capture cool portraits and nicely light candid shots…..
~Tony Robbins~

















yours in photography,
Robert Provencher
James Hodgins MPA
Robert Provencher MPA

