Lessons Scarlett Lillian Never Learned

How many of you have made a mistake and learned from it? Now, how many of you made 2, 3, or 10 mistakes, and still keep repeating it essentially making yourself to look like a buffoon? After someone goes through some revealing and introspective experiences, they begin to act & do things differently. Such as a drug addict that goes through an intervention & treatment. You would think a new path of redemption would begin. Yes, PZN does think of itself as the catalyst for intervention to the illness plaguing the photography industry. Not shy to say it, with all due humbleness and respect.

PZN would like to reintroduce self-promoted 'Don't-Call-Me-A-Rockstar-I'm-Like-Jesus-&-Picasso' wedding photographer Scarlett Lillian by giving our intelligent and business savvy readers an update on Scarlett Lillian. She seems to like getting attention from Mr. Rockstar. Not sure if she has a crush on him, but we would't be surprised. He's freakin' sexy!

Let's start with exhibit A. Mr. Photogzilla Rockstar has suggested many photographers to never use unethical or misleading methods to promote yourself as something you are not. For instance, if you don't know have a solid technical knowledge & history about photography, don't teach a workshop (i.e. Scarlett). If you don't have experience shooting numerous amounts of nude photography for clients, don't teach a workshop on it (i.e. Scott Bourne). And now, if you weren't commissioned to shoot some reality show celebrity Whitney Thompson, don't make your first splash image on your website sound like you were sought out to shoot America's Next Top Model winner, when in fact you PAID her to be at YOUR fraudulent workshop so you could have her on your WORKSHOP DVD that you were more worried about being filmed then your workshop paying attendees, of which majority of the attendees also later complained, saying you were essentially being inept and incompetent to teach (but sweet, thats about it)....and now BREATHE after that run-on sentence. Finally, here's Exhibit A:


Now for Exhibit B. Mr. Photogzilla Rockstar has also advised photographers to NEVER use a workshop photo on your website. Your portfolio is NEVER built at a workshop. You're there to learn. Your experience comes from true events where YOU set up the shot, YOU came up with idea, and you DIDN'T use a MODEL to make your images more attractive. Sure good looking people help, but for goodness sake, be real and honest! Your clients don't need to see your class project photos...They want to see YOUR real work at REAL weddings. Otherwise, you're essentially committing fraud and misrepresenting yourself. Now, Exhibit A also qualifies for this definition, but so does the following Exhibit B, a photo Ms Lillian took of models at a workshop as a student. We believe this to be at Mike Colon's workshop in Hawaii (please don't get Mr. Rockstar started on Destination workshops, that's a different post to come).

Well, boys and girls, what is the lesson from this post? First, Scarlett sweetie, if you're reading this, and Mr. Rockstar knows you and your 'I've-Only-Shot-One-Wedding-Which-Was-A-Relative' fiance Stephen Knuth are, stop misleading your clients with marketing trickery to promote yourself as someone more important to clients & other photographers. Remove these 'unreal' images from your website and post only your real work, even if it's badly composed or badly processed. Be proud of your poop. Own it!


Keep stalking Photogzilla Rockstar!


Like a good photographer should always do when using images for educational or news purposes, copyright for above images belongs to amateur photographer Scarlett Lillian.
 

Scott Bourne Says Screw Other Photographers

Sad is the word that comes to mind. Mr. Scott Bourne continues to deny his wrongdoing and still has not clarified his position with the facts regarding why he is advertising to be an instructor in a workshop for nude photography. He is not qualified for this position yet stands to profit from a $1500 per person workshop. It is also disappointing that Ms. Bambi Cantrell continues to support this irresponsible and unethical misleading of photographers whom expect to be taught by instructors that should have a long history of dealing with the subject matter. Mr. Bourne doesn't.

Mr. Bourne is a wildlife and landscape photographer. As it was reported in previous posts, he has only been commissioned for three nude sessions for paying clients. Don't be scared: Mr. Bourne was NOT the person nude, as far as we know.

It is ironic he's now going on other blog sites and trying to leave anonymous comments, but using the same language and verbage pattern to discredit anyone who does not agree with him. Though he is in the wrong, it is humourous he is now actually the one who is depicting a true troll. It would have been easier if he simply clarified himself and removed himself from the workshop in question.

He is accusing Mr. Photogzilla Rockstar of being a "troll," along with many others, who have voiced strong opinions on the photography industry. Mr. Rockstar has been vocal from the beginning of his 'arrival' for the need to change the industry for the better and reevaluating of certain persons manipulating professionals for their own personal agenda and greed.

Several days ago, Mr. Photogzilla Rockstar had sent a message to Mr. Jim Collins, the CEO of Pictage, requesting if he would mind sharing information about who his company sponsers in the interest of full disclosure. Mr. Collins was very kind with his time and responded by sending PZN an email with all of the information and his process of choosing sponsorship.

A few days later, Mr. Collins posted the same information to share with the general public in a blog post so more photographers could be made aware of Pictage's activites in light of the recent rumblings that have been going since Mr. Rockstar began his 'honesty rampage.'

In a response to Mr. Collins post, the efforts of which we at PZN appreciate, Mr. Bourne arrived to discredit the complaints put forth against by Mr. Rockstar. He feels strongly that no complaint is worth worrying about and everyone should just go on about their business. He also accuses Mr. Rockstar of living in his mom's basement. Upon reading this, Mr. Rockstar's mother was quite upset and asked Mr. Rockstar how could have Mr. Bourne known unless he was snooping around in her yard, essentially trespassing. PZN is not too sure whether Mr. Bourne actually did snoop around Mrs. Rockstar's lawn, thereby breaking the law. PZN is investigating, but please enjoy Mr. Bourne's comment for now:


Mr. Bourne posted the above comment anonymously, however, the buffoon of a mistake he made was he used his first name. We too scratched our heads as you are probably doing that and thinking, "WTF?" Mr. Bourne has basically said, 'Screw other photographers and their opinions don't matter.'

However, we had a nice person also follow up with a comment directed towards Mr. Bourne in response to his true 'trollish' style of a comment as you will see below.

Well said Mr. Lin. Mr. Bourne, you are a very very bad man for name-calling indeed. We should call you Mr. Meanie, per Photogzilla's mother Mrs. Rockstar.

Is this the kind of professional that our industry needs?

Is this the type of photographer other photographer's should look up to?

Is this the type of instructor workshop attendees need teaching when he just took a nude photography workshop himself only in November 2009?

Is this the type of photographer a respectable company like WHCC (White House Custom Color) should be sponsoring and associating their brand with?

Isn't Mr. Scott Bourne the real troll?

Sad Mr. Bourne. Just sad.

Keep stalking Photogzilla Rockstar!

Wildlife Photographer Reads PR Is For Dummies

Backpedaling is something we at PZN have been seeing ever since Photogzilla Rockstar came on the scene and began exposing silly photographers trying to take advantage of the industry. Of course, they can try to blind others and dilly dally trying to put on their PR hats, but Photogzilla is keeping his monster eye out.

A few hours ago, PZN reported that wildlife photographer Scott Bourne was advertising a workshop to pocket $1500 from each attendee. This workshop was advertised as himself and Bambi Cantrell being the instructors for the course.

Here is the original advertisement (link):

Just a short while ago, as Photogzilla expected, Mr. Bourne felt the need to respond to the PZN report indirectly. Reportedly, he saw the PZN report and spoke to his co-instructor Bambi. After taking off his Panama Jack hat off for a few moments and putting on his Captain PR hat, he decided to 'clarify' on a new blog post that he is merely "helping out" now. Ironically, his post is now titled "Come Learn Fine Art Nude & Boudoir Photography From Bambi Cantrell." It's okay, Photogzilla chuckled too.

As you can clearly see on the original advertisement for the workshop, both photographers are "joining forces" to teach the workshop. Per Mr. Bourne's own words in his damage control posting, if he is only an assistant, PZN suggests Mr. Bourne allow Ms. Cantrell to headline the workshop alone and remove his name entirely from future advertisements. We can't remember the last time an assistant was headlining a workshop, unless the person is one of the actual instructors that specializes in the subject matter. Mr. Bourne needs to make up his mind about what his role is, and more importantly, if he is even fit for the role he is advertising.

We don't want backpedaling. We just want Mr. Bourne and any other photographer out there to consider skills come before marketing. Throwing your name behind a workshop may guarantee to fill seats, however, you are merely using fluff marketing.

Photogzilla commented on this story, "I'm not afraid to admit. I would call myself an 'assistant' too just so I could watch all the beautiful women. But of course, I'm not implying Panama Scott has the same dirty motives as I would. I'm just crazy enough to make that honest admission."

Suggested reading for all photographers out there worried about getting caught with their pants down (available at Amazon):

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Wildlife Photographer Teaching $1500 Nude Workshop

PZN News - April 5, 2010 - Wildlife photographer Scott Bourne is planning to teach a nude photography workshop and has just confirmed he has only shot 3 nude sessions that he was actually commissioned for by clients. Mr. Bourne is now soliciting photographers to pay him $1500 to teach a two day workshop on the subject.

In his Twitter comment, Mr. Bourne replied to a user, who retweeted our question, when asked how many nude sessions he had been commissioned for, to which he replied, "not relevant IMO since I'm teaching light, posing & biz." We are stumped at this response. Last we checked, nude photography requires its own lighting, posing, and business techniques. We are thoroughly confused by this ironic statement by Mr. Bourne who will be charging $1500 to teach attendees how to pose nudes, light nudes, and the business side of nude photography, all the while he has only been paid to do this three times. Yes, again, we said three. Uno. Dos. Tre!

PZN has also discovered that Mr. Bourne had just recently a workshop as a student himself, given by a veteran of nude photography, Carlos Baez. Mr. Bourne attended Mr. Baez's workshop in November of 2009 during the Partnercon conference period. According to Mr. Bourne's own blog posting on November 9, 2009, he does not claim to have normal day to day experience with nude photography, "I am not a regular nude shooter, but I have probably shot three or four projects in the past."

Mr. Bourne's own inexperience on the subject of nude photography can be best put in his own words he noted while working with one of the models at Mr. Baez's workshop, while reminding us he is best known for capturing the members of the animal kingdom, "I realized that as a wildlife photographer, I was going to have to use my imagination to get a shot that counted."

Finally, we were happy to hear Mr. Bourne was humble enough to confirm again what we had assumed from the beginning, "I am not very experienced at this type of photography..."

We had all of the supporting facts, including those by Mr. Bourne's own admission, to arrive to an educated conclusion regarding this report. However, we at PZN are never convinced that easily even with ourselves. So we went to our in-house PZN supercomputer; the Rockstar Commodore 64. We entered in all of the data we had collected and after 24 hours of calculating, blinking lights, and high rotations of cooling fans, our dot matrix printer output one of only two possible results. With 4 feet of banner paper, the output read "FAIL."

PZN has recently uncovered other similar photography workshops being given by photographers who have not actually had any commissioned work experience or even enough personal project experience in the subject matter being taught. The most recent was the embarrassing fiasco that exposed Scarlett Lillian, along with Stephen Knuth, who was irresponsibly given a title of "2009 Photographer of the Year" by Showit.com even though Mr. Knuth had reportedly shot only one wedding in his entire career thus far and was only working at a Starbucks the previous year making fresh hot cappuccinos for coffee lovers. The damning news came when it was discovered this one wedding Mr. Knuth shot was for one of his own relatives. Mr. Knuth has been charging unsuspecting photographers to shoot with him at workshops hosted by him. He has recently removed the words "2009 Photographer of the Year" from one of his splash images on his blog just in the past couple of days, however we have received reports he is still touting this meritless title. He did remove the large title after PZN exposed his irresponsible & reckless attempts to mislead inexperienced photographers & defrauding clients of his true experience.

In regards to the nude workshop and his experience, PZN has attempted to reach Mr. Bourne for comment to this story multiple times but he has failed to respond. PZN suggests attendees interested in Mr. Bourne's nude workshop to determine if $1500 is worth paying to an instructor that lacks the experience in this particular field. Mr. Bourne, a wildlife photographer, is welcome to justify this high cost, which equal to one month's mortgage or rent for some photographers who are already struggling to make ends meet for their families. We at PZN don't want anyone to go to a workshop and not get your money's worth.

If you are interested in finding out more details about the nude photography workshop, please click here.

PZN would also like to share that our editor/author/your slave Photogzilla Rockstar is going to be taking a cooking class on the art of making nude toast. We have been told the instructor of the class has made nude toast 3 times in her entire life. We look forward to seeing the results, along with confirming if the instructor will be nude as well. Our editor has his fingers crossed.

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