I’m going to start with a story: several years ago, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine. Alex was a police officer in the local Ukrainian police department, working as the public relations officer. He worked with our local TV station to produce segments on crimes in our town. He loved to make videos (I’ll have to tell you about our vampire film sometime), I loved taking photos. After we fell in love, got married, and decided to move to the US, our friend Slavik at the TV station gave us a set of instructional photography DVDs. They were fascinating to watch–some of the best photographers in the world gave advice for creating great photos, working with clients, and creating a business. It was an inspiration, and I remember the advice to this day. Who were the masters? Among others, Joe Buissink and Yervant.
I’ve never really had ‘heroes’ who I aspired to be like. I never had celebrity crushes. But I always recognize role models who inspire me, and Joe is one of them. His shooting style is a little crazy, I don’t love every single picture he creates, but I am inspired by his confidence. I was thrilled to hear that he was coming to Seattle to speak at the Seattle/Tacoma PUG meeting (Pictage User Group–a fabulous group for local photographers). Alex was thrilled to meet somebody he knew about before he came to the US. Joe Buissink is the epitome of the “rockstar” photographer.
And he was great–his speech was inspirational, he got every single photographer in the room thinking about his/her craft. He was kind, funny, and honest. He really wanted to help each photographer in that room be the best he/she could be. I really felt like things came full-circle when he showed a slideshow of recent images he took in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Here he is presenting–up on a chair to emphasize a point. You can see his energy!
And with us
We had to get a shot of Zinchuk Studios with Joe Buissink to show our friends back at the TV station in Ukraine!
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