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I received an email a couple of weeks ago. It jumped out of my email box because of the title:

The subject line was:
“Your blog name is wrong, and misleading”

Of course, this caught my eye for two reasons; I do not like being wrong, and I have been wrestling with the direction of LE for about 6 months now.

Dave went on to say:
“Just like my subject line! I actually Love the blog, and have been reading it for a long time.

I came for the lighting, but really, it’s morphed into more than that
I think you should re-name it “Essentials for Photographers”, which would be a lot more on point for what you do these days.”

I knew he was right (and I sent him a free book for his candor and that final kick in the ass I needed to make the change) so I decided it was time to make some changes and I put pen to paper and worked it all out. At least I am hoping it is all worked out.

First some backstory: when I started Lighting Essentials, I had just begun teaching small workshops and toying with writing a book. The thought was to tie the teaching of lighting into the workshops and I did that for a while.

Somewhere along the way, the lighting posts became more and more rare, and I was posting on subjects ranging from “Going Pro” to Judge Joe (I gotta Pelican Case) Brown, and fighting for our rights as photographers.

The lighting became a sub part of this site, and that was OK. I was teaching and writing and such and it was all good.

But it really wasn’t all good… the name of the site, and what I wanted to put on it became a constant conflict that infused itself into other parts of my life. Lighting Essentials is not another “put your light here” website, and I don’t want it to become that. Yet I do want to talk about lighting from my perspective – subject centric – as I believe it makes the most sense to me. When I teach it, the students learn so very fast because they can extrapolate the experience and qualities of light. They learn to light, not to “put a light there…”

Sure, there are other places on the web where you can get lighting information. Unfortunately not all of them are necessarily disseminating good information, or information that you can use to make your photographs… the ones you see in your head. I want to do it my way now.

So here is what is happening: The site will change its name officially on January 1, 2012 from “Lighting Essentials” to “Essentials For Photographers” with the URL of www.essentials-for-photographers.com (yes it works now) – I will NOT be changing the current URL but instead will be using a re-direct so all of your RSS and such will remain.

The site will also be housed in a new custom WordPress theme that shows more of the content, as well as having a nice clean feel to it. I need people to see how much content is on there, and stats show that they don’t. I blame my choice of theme, but that is being dealt with.

This will give me the opportunity to blog nearly every day, weekends off (don’t worry, there is something planned for weekends) and present other topics that are of interest to you, the very serious emerging photographers. I will keep you informed on a wide variety of topics that will help you in your commercial photography.

Gear, marketing, ideas for sales, interviews with successful startups, worksheets, live workshops, video and more Monday through Friday. Consider the game stepped up!

Learn to Light (the former workshop site: www.learntolight.com) will become a place to, uhh… learn to light. There we will begin classes on the 16th of January and proceed weekly with tutorials, video, examples and assignments. The way it is structured is kinda cool, and I will tell more after the first of the year. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced amateur, you will enjoy what I have planned.

FACELIFT INFO: Learn to Light will be moving to a new WordPress theme that is ‘responsive’ and will be easily read and viewed across all devices from desktops to iPhones and Androids.

Project 52 (www.project52.org) will start up again with two levels: the free level that we did this year and a premium level that will not be expensive, but contain more one-on-one, worksheets, video and outside critiques. I have a group of AD’s and photographers who will be chatting with me and critiquing the work of the premium participants at least once per month.

FACELIFT INFO: Project 52 will be moving to a new custom WP theme that will display on all forms of devices from desktops to iPhones and Androids.

Workshop Information will go up soon, and I will be having a few next year. New York, Miami, Seattle, San Diego and possibly Minneapolis. There will be some advanced 3 day workshops at my studio that will include shooting and lighting as well as post processing and marketing. I am also doing a few one-on-one workshops so if you are interested in some personal training, let me know.

Last thing. I am re-opening my graphic design business this January, and will be pushing quite hard with it as well. Graphic Design and Photography make a sweet package. I get paid to do both for one client. You can find out more about that at my site: www.dongiannatti.com

Well, that is a lot about me there… and it really is about you. What LE, LTL, P52 and DGdesign can do for you is the most important thing to me. There will be more posts on this site until the week between Christmas and NY – the site will be dark for that week, coming back online on New Years Day.

I do hope you will join me for a terrific 2012!

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