The end of an era
Back in 2009 I had reached out to Photogenic because I wanted sponsorship with them. It should be noted that I was in talks with Buff, but he had his racist outburst and that is not someone I’d want to be in business with. So Photogenic became the obvious winner as I had used them for years before getting the sponsorship. I had worked with the Sales person and we agreed to a sponsorship.
Since 2006 I have been a loyal Photogenic strobe user, using their Solair lights as my main key light for every photo I’ve taken. Back in 2012, I was living in MN after being diagnosed as a Type 1 Diabetic. I had my stuff outdoors at my ex wife’s parents home as we were trying to decide if we were moving back to Colorado? Or if we were going to stay in MN? That same year in the summer? The “100 year flood” came and wiped out all our belongings. Including all my Photogenic strobes, softboxes, etc. I had reached out to Photogenic and they refused to send me strobes since they had sent me some for my “Meeting of the Masters” event. I couldn’t blame them, but it was kind of a bad situation to have someone they sponsored, not having the product. I built my inventory up over the next few years and got back to work.
Around 2016 I took a break from shooting photos and needed to really think about my goals and what I wanted to accomplish if I got back into photography. The one thing I gave serious thought to was Photogenic. Having that bad taste in my mouth when I had zero strobes and they refused to help me at all, just didn’t sit well with me. When I got back into photography in 2018, I started using strobes available at the studios I rented. I would never use anything from Paul Buff, so in those situations, I brought my own strobes. Outside of that, I loved trying and playing with new technology as Photogenic hasn’t offered anything new in almost 20 years.
A year ago, I called in to try and speak with the Sales Manager because I wanted to discuss with them how they are losing the lighting game and Godox is taking over. As an active photographer that is still teaching people, I see what strobes people are using so I opted to be their ear to the ground. I called looking to speak with the new Manager being Bob Higgins retired, and was told they would not give me the name of the person in charge of Sales and Marketing! It was with that, that I realized Photogenic truly had nothing to offer me made my cut from them. They had my photo on their website and was using it to sell their product, so I sent my battery I got from them in for repair. I included the photo of me from their website since when I called in they always questioned if I was a sponsored photographer. At this point I was just using the relationship to fix broken things for free. I got a call from a guy who was being fed info saying they’ve updated the website and removed me as a sponsored photographer. I wasn’t bothered as I was using everything except photogenic the last few years.
It is official; in 2024 I am back teaching workshops, shootouts and one on ones. I’ve not fully decided if I’m going to go for a lighting sponsor or not? If I do, I know the two lighting companies I’m going after. But I won’t lie; I love the idea of being freelance and buying and using whomever I please.
