TWiP 452 – The Constant of Change

TWiP Episode 452 – The Constant of Change

The only thing that is constant is change. So said Heraclitus (Hera-Cly-Tus) of Ephesus (Ef-sus), a Greek philosopher.

And change has been the tone over the past several years with the constant flurry of new hardware and software announcements peppering the photography industry. But there has also been a fair amount of attrition based change.

As the Internet continues its glacial reshaping of the media and education consumption habits of photographers, companies that built their businesses on the edge of that glacier are falling off, many are consolidating, restructuring or just shutting down completely. We’ve seen Lynda.com get acquired by LinkedIn, then there was Zenfolio getting absorbed into Art.com, and more.

This latest round has the KelbyOne empire restructuring and laying off most of its star educators and online personalities.

Also Peachpit Press — which also happens to be Scott Kelby’s publisher — a company that has been widely described as the “Apple” of book publishers for creatives, has been effectively shut down. And even Larry Jordan of LarryJordan.com isn’t immune to the resurfacing glacier. Larry announced in a blog post published February 15th that he would be shutting down operations, citing exhaustion and unprofitability.

What does it all mean for photographers, the education industry, and in particular online education? Or is YouTube now the de-facto source for learning to shoot.

Before we get started, we also wanted to let you know that Frederick is excited to be speaking at the Out of Chicago conference June 24­-26. For a limited time, they’re knocking $100 off the registration price if you use the code “twipchicago” when you sign up. Just head over to TWiP.Pro/OOC to see all the details. See you in the windy city!