Why You, Too, Should YouTube

Colorado Photographer David X. Tejada takes us along on another location shoot today. Here's a question for you:

Why does Dave bother to shoot all of these videos?

I have been thinking a lot about this recently, and the bennies are starting to add up in my mind. Hit the jump after watching the video for more on why David in the world would continue to spend time and resources to keep doing this.
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The Bennies of Free TV

Consider:

1. David is sharing his techniques with other photographers, raising the industry's knowledge base one viewer at a time. That benefits everyone.

2. Just the simple, repetitive act of explaining to others what you are doing increases your understanding of your techniques and gives you new ideas. (I can vouch for that one on a daily basis.)

3. David's current clients -- and potential new ones -- get a chance to watch him work in a variety of settings from anywhere in the world, for free. That builds confidence -- especially with clients who may be hiring him from far away. And that leads to more jobs for David.

4. As his videos are watched (and linked and watched again) virally via YouTube, the natural process of the diffusion of knowledge also works for David by giving him more Google search engine juice.
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In this particular video, for our purposes, we'd probably note how David feathers the soft box past the subject to hit the reflector on the left with more light. This creates a more powerful fill reflection and more even one-light lighting ratio. But then, we're lighting geeks.

His clients, on the other hand, would see:

1. How David can easily turn a cluttered conference/storage room into a studio.

2. How quickly David can shoot an entire upper management team, and

3. How nice the final product looks.

I am sure David would echo this sentiment:

To a potential client, this level of transparency inspires far more confidence than merely viewing a portfolio of headshots.

(David, if you are watching, I would love to get your thoughts on this in the comments.)


100% Pure Juice

I would note that YouTube (and Blogger, for that matter) are owned by Google. And guess who indexes metadata and content to the biggest search engine in the world before it even appears on the web? And with careful use of metadata, David's search engine juice gets a little stronger every time someone views a video.

Taken as a whole, this is a cool, positive vicious cycle. David, Bert Stephani, Chase Jarvis and other photogs who understand this are already taking advantage of it.

There are slicker, newer video hosting/embedding sites out there. You think those guys are using YouTube by accident? I don't.

(And don't forget, if you are a pro and showing off your lighting secrets and techniques, tip us off in the comments with a URL for your video.)