The Parallax View: July 13, 2010

 

Rachel and I are in cool Seattle today, escaping the dog days of Atlanta's summer. We shot a wedding here this weekend, and were testing our brand-new Canon EOS 1D Mark IV. Rachel, who is a better photographer than I am, shot a beautiful image of the groom and his mother as they were watching the father-daughter dance. I thought I'd share it with you.

Rachel and I are back in "weekday mode" and working hard (along with the rest of the ShootQ team) to make ShootQ even better for the photographers we serve.

Jim Collins, my new boss (weird!), shared some thoughts in the Pictage and ShootQ forums yesterday. In short, he was noticing that there were a wide variety of reactions to ShootQ becoming part of Pictage. Some people were elated; others felt like the world was coming to an end.

The ShootQ-Pictage merger was something we thought long and hard about. On face value, it may not seem to make sense. But, that's because of things that have happened in the past.

We didn't join forces with Pictage because of what has happened. We joined forces with Pictage because of what's going to happen. As Jim says, "What's next is what's important." 

Pictage has a brand-new management team with a proven track record. Over the past few months, I've worked closely with them, striving to make this deal a reality. In the process, I've gotten to know Jim, Kevin, Simon, Danny and others, who sincerely care for the very people that ShootQ serves - you. These guys have years of experience that will not only make Pictage a success, but will also empower you to be successful, both directly and via ShootQ.

Here's what's already happening as a result of our merger that will make ShootQ better for you:

1) Justin Lund, Director of Customer Support, is at Pictage HQ in Los Angeles today working with their customer support team so we can develop an even more responsive  support infrastructure to serve you better.

2) Jonathan LaCour, VP of Product Development, is at Pictage working with their development team to plan cool new integrations between Pictage and ShootQ. We're already searching for another developer who will be working specifically on integrations, which will free up some of our other developers to write new tools for you!

3) Feedback and ideas are pouring in from both the ShootQ and Pictage communities. Excitement and frustration alike are being stirred together into a huge pot and we are working to distill them into new features and services. Some amazing idea soup is in there - and we need to taste all the ingredients.

It's always been our goal at ShootQ to develop an ecosystem of tools that help you be not only successful photographers, but successful business people. Remember, that ShootQ and Pictage only succeed when you do. We're here to fuel your success.

Together, we succeed.

Andrew

"The Parallax View" is a weekly column featuring unfiltered thoughts of ShootQ President & Co-founder Andrew Niesen. He calls his column "The Parallax View" because parallax creates depth, and Andrew would like to provide depth and context with his column. That might happen on good days. On bad days, Andrew may just reveal how eccentric he really is.