SBweekly.tv Episode Zero
Do we need another YouTube show?

Welcome to episode zero of SBWeekly, I'm Stephan Bollinger and I hope you're doing well.

In a perfect world, you watch this many months from now when the world has calmed down a bit. If you watch it right now, well, you're in the midst of it and the virus takes hold and toilet paper is gone and everything is just going crazy.

So, in that moment, do you need another old man talking about creativity and photography and all of that?

I'm not sure. Well, the fact is, I've been thinking of creating this show for a very long time. I've prepped, not in terms of toilet paper but I prepped in terms of video material for over a year, always having this in my mind that, in the back of the head, so that one day I will start and share on a weekly basis my experiences but also my mistakes. And, you know, those moments when something goes really well. And I thought well, "If I can share this and other people don't have to repeat my mistakes. Or maybe take an idea and put their own swing to it, it could be a good thing." Now the other thing is that we generally don't have that much time. 

There are incredible classes out there. Incredible online training. I'm thinking of Creative Live. Chase Jarvis and his creation are absolutely amazing. Or Scott Kelby and our friends in Tampa with KelbyOne. That have insanely, awesome online trainings, full-length Photoshop and everything you can think of. 

But it means that A, you have to pay for it, and B, they are long, they're like hours and hours. And you learn a lot. But sometimes, you just want an idea or a trick or just focus on one thing.

Now, the other thing, to be honest, is that I'm not just a photographer. I've been on stage, I've been working as a singer and actor. Many, many, many moons ago. And I've learned a few things in terms of sound, being in recording studios, working with some amazing sound engineers.

Then, I was bored during the day when I was performing at night and I started to look for other things that were of interest. So I worked at a documentary film company during the day for free, you know? As a gaffer, as someone who makes the coffee. But, it helped me to learn something completely different on top of it.

So today, in my company, yes, we create photos but we also create videos. We produce sound, we mingle it all together and hopefully produce something that is meaningful. And in that mix, I think there's quite a bit of content that could be interesting for some of you out there.

Now, it will not all be interesting and if you're a seasoned pro in any of those fields, you probably, (yawns) so boring. But if you're new to it, maybe, it, you know, gives you that extra kick or gives you that extra idea.

So, I will try to keep all those episodes through 10 to 12 minutes. I'm probably already over that just introducing myself. But, I'll try to keep it short, concise, and I will focus on one theme every single week. And maybe that gives you that extra idea. Now, I'm just saying something: Frequency separation in Photoshop. I'm pretty sure you've heard of it. If you have, you probably master it and you don't need to watch it. But, if you've never heard of it, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, well, maybe in 10 minutes I can quickly explain what it's all about and the twist of it and how to do it. But then, if want to know more, you find tons of awesome, full-length endless training and courses and tutorials all over the internet. But now you know what you're looking for.

So, I will mix it up. I will have some travel stories next week. I'll pack something together from New York just to you know, feel good. Especially, at that moment that we are where we can't travel. I'll package something up from New York. And then, the week after, maybe I just talk about the general concept of exposure for photography.

So every week I try to come up with something new, something precise, something to the point, and I'll just through audio compression and video formats and RAW versus JPEG and 16 versus 8-bit. And all of those weird things that you might come across. And I hope episode by episode, week by week, I can clear up a few things.

I hope you look after yourself and come back in one week when we go into episode number one.