Most days I wake up in the morning and realize I am living a dream. Seriously. Through circumstance, fortitude and encouragement I am involved in two of the most collaborative project of my life.

You guys know about The Music Matters Project benefiting Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (which is off to an amazing start thanks to everyone), but I’m sure how many people know about Desert Bloom.

Desert Bloom’s mission is to give a platform of expression to those who have talent but for whatever reason have had their creativity suppressed, and to make a real crucible for creative collaboration in the greater Phoenix area.

For the past two years Gangplank has been the center of Arizona’s tech community. It’s no surprise they are involved in Desert Bloom.

The group wants “to give a platform of expression to those who have talent but for whatever reason have had their creativity suppressed, and to make a real crucible for creative collaboration in the Valley,” says event volunteer Nicholas DiBiase.  “We want to create profound connection between tech innovators, big thinkers, musicians and artists in a way that’s going to really build up cultural capital here in the Phoenix area.”

Being a non-tech person I was invited into the circle by Josh Strebel, co-founder of Page.ly (a premium WordPress hosting solution) and Gangplank.  After an introduction to  Derek Neighbors, also co-founder of Gangplank, Brandon Franklin, Nicholas DiBiase and Brandon Mason – Desert Bloom was formed.

I think Brandon Franklin sums the mission of the project up best. “We are surrounded every day by talented people, but most of us don’t realize it. Desert Bloom is about tearing back the curtain that keeps these people hidden from each other’s sight, and letting them meet, talk, and cross-pollinate. When you take creative people, bring them together, and tell them to cut loose and go nuts, things happen that will blow your mind.”

Our first event, Music and Art : Desert Bloom 1, happens May 14 and is a showcase of 7 local live music acts, 9 visual artists, and 2 DJs, all of whom are associated with the Valley’s tech and creative class. The artists are all donating their talents and tickets are available free of charge.

This project demonstrates what can happen when four people with a common interest, pooling shared resources, tapping into both their personal and professional networks getting something done to benefit the creative community.

(For more information please visit www.desertbloomphoenix.com or our Facebook Page)

Now, I ask two things of you – come down and check out our event or look around you and see who you can be collaborate with. I look forward to hearing about it.

I woke up the other morning and checked my email. Nothing good so I browse some photography sites and come across an article entitled “A New Type of Theft – Can Post Production Settings be Owned?” on Digital Photography School.com. Unbelievable – someone wants to do what? Seriously?

I left a comment on the site and moved on.

Then I check Twitter. One Concert Photographer is freaking out –  multiple tweets saying he may have to call out this other photographer for biting his site layout and colors. The tough guy even posted the link to the site he was referring to – thereby calling him out. Seriously, you are a photographer in St. Louis and he is in Europe. I really hope no one confuses the two of you. In my opinion you are being a bitch. Deal with it…I said it.

What are you afraid of? Yes someone’s site is similar yours – big deal. Yeah, Adobe Lightroom has an infinite combination of post production corrections, bells and whistles and someone happens to use settings close to what you have used – deal with it. Pissing and moaning and being a baby isn’t making your photographs any better. (Please note: I do think the people I am referring to are talented photographers and this is not a knock on their images.) Why your insecurity is coming out? I really struggling to understand.

Stealing my property is one thing. If you steal my images – I will be pissed and take legal action. If you use anything I have that is under copyright without permission – I will take action. We’re not talking about that here – right?

We are in an era of people (artists) wanting instant millions and instant notoriety. That’s bullshit. No one owes you anything because you can take great photographs. We owe you nothing. If you think you deserve critical acclaim and fortune out of the gates – I’m here to tell you that you don’t. You are owed nothing.

When we take time and try to elevate others we enhance our path. It’s one thing to collaborate with your brother on concert photography but the magic of collaboration happens when you help a complete stranger. Am I to assume that you were born with amazing talents in lowlight photography with your Nikons? No one helped you? If that’s the case – then I stand corrected. If it’s not the case get down off your fucking high horse.

Shepard Fairey & Glen E. Friedman have been known to work together. They came together and made some amazing things happen. (Check out Shepard’s Illustrations of Glen’s photos – by clicking here.) I’m sure their collaborations started with a mutual respect and a desire to make great art. Whatever the case neither one had to work with the other but they did – and we are better for it.

It’s time every eases up and steps their own photography game up and stops worrying about this garbage. Make great photos and you’ll be noticed. Bottom line. If you keep bitching you’ll also be noticed but for the wrong reasons.

And if anyone thinks I stole the title of this article from Glen E. Friedman, you’re dead wrong – he gave me permission. Peace.

I bet whatever skill level a photographer you consider yourself you probably didn’t start there. Right? How did you get to your level?

I am the first person to critique myself as a photographer and say that I am not the most technical. I studied marketing in college and not photography/fine art. My photo education has been one of taking pictures, asking for critique and trial and error. After that took me to an artistic plateau I needed something else – I wanted to get better. I wanted people to view my photos and consider them art rather than snapshots. (Every day I set out to take photos I keep that thought in mind – “Make ART!”)

The next level of growth happened when I started asking other photographers questions and started collaborating.

I learned to place high value on collaboration over competition in art and photography. It’s how I’ve been able to grow as a photographer and acquire new skills. Here are three ways I like to collaborate with other photographers:

PHOTO WALKS: Go out and make some photographs other people. Talk about what you see – discuss settings, technique, composition and anything else. Watch how the other photographers work and periodically view their images. (Just yesterday I went on a photo journey to Four Peaks with my brother. We talked about photography and whatever else came to mind.) Scott Kelby has initiated an annual photo walk which takes place in cities all ove the country – this is a great place to start.

DIGITAL PHOTO FORUMS: I subscribe to many photo blogs and photo newsletters. This is a great place to see what other photographers are doing and to hear about their photo adventures etc. My favorite website is Digital Photography School. DPS is broken into three sections – Tips & Tutorials, Cameras & Equipment and Post Production. I value this site as an important resource to interact with other photogs through comments and get critique of my work.

PHOTO PROPERTIES & EXIF SETTINGS: This is a great way to learn about making photographs. EXIF is a technical standard for storing information about each photo that you take with your digital camera. EXIF information is automatically captured in each photo file when you take each picture, and includes the date and time the photo was taken, the manufacturer and model name of the camera taking the picture, as well as a plethora of other useful information about your camera’s aperture setting, shutter speed, focal length, metering mode, and ISO speed. One of the brilliant things about FLICKR (and other photosharing sites) is that you can make your EXIF data public. (Click here to see the settings for the above photo.) Whenever I see a photo I really like I always see if the EXIF data is available. This level of transparency is a huge help to others and it’s why I share the data of every photo I post to Flickr.

This is just a short list of three ways to learn from other photographers. There are so many more ways but these three are the ones that helped me grow as a photographer and take things to the next level. When you help someone grow only good can come out of it.

How did you learn your photography skills? Do you have any favorite ways to collaborate with other photographers? How do you feel about transparency? Please leave a comment and let’s get a dialogue going. Thanks for reading.