The social networking bonanza started with MySpace. It completely changed the way we interacted with the web. It allowed us to share a little piece of ourselves with the rest of the world! We could connect with friends and family from anywhere and share our interests, likes and dislikes. We could share photos, music and opinions with everyone. It quickly became an obsession for many of us logging in every day to check our updates and messages.

Then came Facebook. It was very similar to MySpace and at first I didn’t see a need to change over to yet another social networking chain. I was perfectly happy with MySpace, but gradually it became socially unacceptable not to be on Facebook. And when that happened for me, it happened for most people and Facebook took over. The sharing and connecting was easier and this quickly put Facebook in the lead as the king of social media with over 800 million users worldwide.

I was a little resistant with the migration from MySpace to Facebook and now I’ve been a little slow to jump on board with Google+. I’ve decided to give it a try and I’ve found I like it! Here are a few of the reasons why:

Tamara Lackey kicked off her 2-day Taking Care of Business workshop on creativeLIVE with a bold statement, “We’re going to bring hotness to business!” She was right. Tamara was on fire for two days as she walked us step by step through the elements of running a successful small business. creativeLIVE has released a playlist of YouTube video clips that we’d love for you to watch and share with your friends via your blog and social networks. Help your peeps help themselves!

Tamara challenged us to put the same passionate flame that fuels our photography into our business: “How could your company change if you had as much affection for your business as you did for your art?” Many of us creatives might instinctually think, ‘But Tamara, I don’t love business like you do. I don’t want to use my left brain as much as my right brain.’ It may be obvious that in order to survive as an artist we must also be smart business people, but that doesn’t mean it’s obvious HOW to do that! Enter Tamara, who taught us not only the Whys but also the Hows.

One of the first workshops I ever took at creativeLIVE was John Greengo's Fundamentals of Digital Photography Course. John’s workshop completely changed my photography. I’ve been a professional photographer for a couple of years, and just like many of us, when I read that the course said Fundamentals in the name, I thought to myself 'I already know this.' I was extremely surprised, the deeper John got into the basics, the more I realized how many gaps I actually had in my knowledge.

There are so many things that you don’t realize that you don’t know. There are many things you can get by without knowing, but in order to become the photographer you want to be, “YOU MUST KNOW THEM!” And you don’t know you don’t know them until someone tells you about them. John’s ability to really get into the nitty gritty of photography and explain it in a way that I understood was ground breaking for me. I thought I knew everything that I needed to get by in photography. What I realized after taking this workshop was that my photography was stalled by my lack of complete understanding.

John went over so many things that I have never heard about anywhere else. I couldn’t believe how important all those things actually were. The fundamentals are the basics, but they are not basic. They are fundamental to being a great photographer. In Photography you must know the technical side like the back of your hand. You must know these basics so that they do not get in the way of your creative side.

After taking John’s workshop I can truly say 'I understand the basics.' I can say this because when I have a vision of an image I want to capture, the technical aspects are second nature. I don’t think about them anymore. I’m not struggling with my camera to try to figure it out. As an intermediate photographer, it’s extremely important to make sure you have no gaps in your knowledge and learn from a teacher who understands what all those gaps may be. As an emerging photographer, it’s extremely important to have a teacher who can relay the information in a way that you can understand. John does both and much more. Watch a few short video clips from John's workshop to get a taste of his great teaching style!