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This week on the show: An interview with Ron and Tasra Dawson of Dare Dreamer Media.

Hosts: Frederick Van Johnson

Producer: Aaron Mahler - Twitter: halfpress

Show notes by Tom Newman at fogviewphotos.com and on Twitter: fogview

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Intro Music by Scott Cannizzaro

This is a special Labor Day show where Frederick interviews Ron and Tasra Dawson of Dare Dreamer Media.

Frederick: Ron, we met at Pictage and your business was smaller and now it's grown. Tasra you're involved in the business as well. How did the business get started? What made you start the business?

Ron: That's a great question. I wouldn't say we are gigantic now, but our reach and exposer is bigger. It's Tasra and I and a team of contractors that we work with across the country. I think it shows what a small business can do. Getting back to your original question, I was working as a product manager for Quicken at Intuit. I took film and video making courses back in 1992 to make a film about a funny experience I had at Berkeley. I never made the movie but kept making short films. When I started working at Intuit I would show some people my work and start making some department videos. I liked what I was doing at Intuit, but I wasn't passionate about it. I was at my buddy's house and he asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I said that someday I would really like to make an independent feature film. He said "how are you going to do that at Intuit?" The light came on. The people that make it in the arts, is by a leap of faith. So I got laid off, started a business, got married, and became a step dad all in the same summer.

Frederick: What did the fear come from?

Ron: I didn't have any fear. I've always been an entrepreneur. The video business was the first business where I actually made money. I went into to it expecting to be successful.

Frederick: Tasra, what were you doing while Ron was failing?

Tasra: I was a single mom for seven years before I met him. I went to school and got my master's degree. So we met when he was contemplating this risky transition. So instead of meeting him when he had this cushy job, I was marrying him when he was quitting his cushy job and we were going to live on my teacher's salary. I'm a dreamer too, but I'm a lot more practical. I believed enough of him and to go with him. I think he's successful because he has vision and people believe in him.
Frederick: It's having the great ideas and execute them. So fast forward to now. Talk to me about the Dare Media Dreamer business and what's the elevator pitch for it?

Ron: It's a new media marking and production company that uses new media and other media as well to help our clients extend their brand. Web videos, promos, on-line programming, that sort of thing. Educational DVDs. That is where we are, but we started as wedding film markers. It's easy to break into corporate media, but not easy to do it well. I had a good business sense. We did about 20 weddings a year. Two thirds of our business was weddings and the rest was corporates. Around spring of 2007, a coach we were working with convinced is to go corporate. A combination of working with her and breaking into the photography industry (servicing photographers) convinced us to switch our focus from weddings to commercial work. So Cinematic Studios was our company. In 2007 we switched the focus. Just this year we switched our name to Dare Dreamer Media and in some ways we started from scratch again in term of the cliental we're going after. Positing the company as a new media marketing company.

Frederick: When you say new media, what do you mean?

Ron: There are many ways you can describe it. We think of it as Twitter, Facebook, blogging, things of that nature. New media also includes podcasts and things you can put on your iPhone. We think of ourselves as an idea company. When we pitched ourselves as a video company, we always said we just don't make you a cool video, we help you get it seen. We always included some marketing consultation. Our company works by hiring consultants all around the country. We market ourselves as an agency -- an idea company.

Tasra: Part of the evolution was paying attention to your strengths. He really started to see the clients he connected to was the ones who let him use his creative ideas. He was seeing what he wanted to do originally, film making, corporate jobs allowed him to move into that. So I think the evolution of the company was in tandem with our evolution as a couple, as people, as artists. Figuring out what we're good at and finding ways to use that in our business. That's is were we evolved even more when we tried to figure out how to give our clients what we're good at.

Frederick: Sounds a classic case of playing to your strengths. Tasra, how do you fit into Dare Dreamers?

Tasra: So when we started the business I was working full time. I went out shooting with him on weekends. My strengths are around project managements and systems and his are creatives.
Frederick: That's the perfect combination.

Tasra: So I'm also quality control. So at times the artist in him doesn't want to hear what I have to say, but he will always come back and say you're right (from a woman's perspective).

Ron: I want to say that she is creative directive for digital media. When she worked for Apple Computer her job was design and the kinds of things that are "right brained." So as the creative director she is offering her creative eye too, so I don't want her to undercut her contribution.

Frederick: So being a husband and wife team, how do you manage that?

Tasra: This is the first year where I have gone full time into the business. I hesitated because I didn't want to lose the marriage. We went to a conference about business and marriage, and I sat down and talked about it and we set certain boundaries. I can say what he is really good at and he can say what I'm really good at. So I don't ask him to do things that I know he is not good at. Also marking that line between business and family is important.

Frederick: So continuing with business, Dare Dream Media is going full force, so how is it going?

Ron: We are really excited about what we are doing. We are not going to be retiring anytime soon. All the anxiety of a new business is there: when will the phone ring; when will the email come in saying we have the next big job; and now the talk about the (poor) economy.

Frederick: Has the recession hit you?

Ron: Yea, we launched the company pretty much when the economy was going down. Great time to start a new business (not). Moving out of the Bay Area (to the Atlanta area), allowed Tasra to come on full time. Getting back to your question about how's it going, we just came out with a new book about creative ways to evolve your video business. We have a podcast that's going well. We are speaking at a few photography conventions. We are doing a few projects for Pictage that are interesting. We are really excited about the clients we have.

Tasra: The one thing that's different is Ron and I and were willing to make sacrifices for the business. I think a lot of people are not willing to leave the Bay Area for the business. To leave a six figure job. We are focused about doing what we want to do and passionate about it. We are not trying to make a million dollars. We more concerned about living the life we want to live and spending time with each other and our kids. And even if we have taken a hit with the business, we take pride that we pay our bills and can keep our contractors in business. So many people are not living life. I think we are a little more grounded.

Ron: I start work at 9:30 and stop work at 5 to pick up my son at day school.

Frederick: So where is Twitter now and where is it going from a photographer's perspective?

Ron: It's all about business. You can self-promote but you also need to give back by re-tweeting. If you always self-promote, you will lose followers. You need to give back.

Tasra: Twitter is an extension of your personality. If you self-promote on Twitter, you probably self-promote in real life. If you should think about that and not follow someone who is always self-promoting.

Ron: It's always good to engage your followers. I generally get more responses than when I do a blog post.

Frederick: Both of you are on Twitter and have a large number of followers. How do you manage responses? You tweet something out there and someone responds, do you respond to everyone who mentions you or references you?

Ron: I try too. Using tools like TweetDeck, Seesmic, or Tweetie on your cell phone are ways to stay connected. Throughout the day I will look at my @ replies and if someone mentions me in a positive way, I will follow them if I'm not already, and at some point retweet them back. I have my tweet status connected to my Facebooks status. Sometimes I'll get more responses from my Facebook followers than from my Twitter followers.

Frederick: Tasra, how do you manage it?

Tasra: I always try to respond. I like it when someone responds to me.
Frederick: What about followers? Are you following everyone who follows you?

Tasra: I don't follow everyone who follows me, but I don't have a select small group. When I started, I kept it small (people I follow). I look at someone's feed to see if I want to follow them.

Frederick: I'm the same way and tend to follow people doing stuff that I care about.

Frederick: Sharing: what is your feeling about sharing when someone asks you a question?

Ron: This is a huge topic on a forum that I follow. How much information is too much information to share? My take is there are different types of sharing. First there is the general information that is out there on the internet and sharing information that is propriety. I feel it's good to give back to the industry. From a business aspect it's good to share. When I first started, so many people were very giving of their knowledge and time so how can I not give back? I think you get so much back if you just give and not put a price tag on that.

Frederick: Tasra, where do you fall on that? The sharing?

Tasra: I pretty much agree with everything he said. There is so much information out there and everyone is so busy. If there is a blog post we can write that saves them 30 minutes a day, that's huge.

Ron: I created a pro database to track our time. I uploaded it to my site so you can downloaded it to track your time. I could charge for it, but if your only incentive is to get paid, you short circuit the part of social media.

Frederick: There has been a lot of talk about the merging of video and still photography. Where do you stand on that?

Ron: I think it comes down to what's good for your business. The idea of combining stills and videos has been around for decades. Now with the more recent cameras you have a level of video you never had before so photographers are looking at this new possible resource. You should look at yourself as a media producer instead of a videographer or photographer. The reason why we positioned Dare Dream Media as we did is because we don't know what is the next big thing. It makes sense to add video if you are a photographer and if you are a videographer, to add still photography. In the wedding space, I think more and more brides are going to be looking for one studio who can offer both. So does that mean you should be the one behind the camera? No. You can hire someone. You should look into it but you don't have to master it.

Frederick: That is the question. How easy is it for a photographer to translate into that world (of video)?

Tasra: The eye is the easiest thing to translate. When it comes to the editing piece or the audio, I don't do that and leave it up to Ron.
Frederick: There is a whole different set of disciplines when it comes to sound to software to storage. You go from a Aperture/Lightroom workflow to something different.

Ron: What goes into a really good video is so much. If you are going into it, go into it to learn your craft. You may be a great photographer but a crappy videographer. Are you going to have the correct equipment and ability to tell the story. When I see photos in video, they often seem random. When I place photos in a video stream I think about what does the photo add to the video.

Tasra: You need to ask what does this does for your business. If you do it (add video) because you have too or that you might make more money about it, you're not going to be inspired to do it. It's going to subtract from honing your craft in photographer.

Frederick: There is a new service called Animoto. Have you heard of it? They just added video.

Ron: Yes, and I think it's the way of the future. Technology is changing the way we do business. Are you going to sit on the sidelines and complain about the business or embrace the technology (like Animoto adding video who gives you the ability to create highlights of a wedding video in 10 minutes).

Frederick: Do you services like this and the Canon 5D MkII features that don't require you to know what a f-stop is, just a case of technology or evolution?

Tasra: I think part of it is evolution and companies just knowing who their audience is. The soccer mom and the advanced amateur, don't have time to learn all this. This creative auto setting creates a brand new audience.
Frederick: Ron, where do you fall on this subject. Is that just widening the ground?

Ron: It's like we went from LPs to tape to CDs to downloaded MP3s. The hold-outs will die and the people coming out now in photography will only know digital and ask "what is film?".

Tasra: But you can have people who want to pick it up (film) just for nostalgia. They are paying more for film than they are for digital. Who knows what will happen 15 years from now. Maybe people will pay more if you shoot film.

Ron: Kodak is closing up a lot of it's film departments. I think there will always be a nostalgia element.

Frederick: Tasra, you just started a business called, Teen Identity Portraits. What's it all about?

Tasra: It's all about teen girls releasing their true beauty. I taught high school and I discovered that they just needed someone. They need time and attention. So Teen Identity grew out of my love for photography and my love for reaching out to teen girls and helping them figure out who they are, through photography.

Frederick: Is this like a senior portrait session?

Tasra: Yes, but not just seniors. Teen girls from 13 to 18. Like one mom said, seeing themselves through a different lens. Showing them that they can look like the glamor models in fashion magazines. My mission is more than a company, but a way to give back. I recently read a survey in "17 Magazine" asking how many girls want to be models. It was like 90% of teen girls wanting to be models. It doesn't matter what they look like according to society standards. It's not like they want to be a model, but just want people to think they are beautiful. They want people to see what could potentially be in them. It's a way to help them see that, which could help them with a couple of things. One it could help them see themselves as beautiful and know they are beautiful at a time when they could go down the wrong road looking for someone to tell them to tell them that.

Frederick: Walk me through the flow of one of these sessions. How does it go?

Tasra: So they show up. I would have connected with them before in some way. They show up with their suitcase. We tell them to bring everything and I will go through their outfits with them. I will ask them if they only had one shot, what outfit would you wear? I will look at their body type, shape and coloring and plan their shoot from that. They will put their first outfit on. Do their hair and makeup. I like to mix it up if we are doing more than one outfit. So then we do the shoot. I do 15 to 20 minutes in each outfit. Different poses. I don't work on a tripod. I don't like a lot of lights. I want to make them feel they are a model. I want to give them the experience of what it's like being a model. I may throw away shots but they get comfortable with it and you can see it as they are feeling that they do look great. Our daughter is 14 and she goes on these shoots and shows them how to pose and be silly. That's how we do this.
Frederick: When did you start?

Tasra: March (2009) -- After the PPI conference. I attended a couple sessions and one was about "picking your hill." It clicked that teen girls was my hill.

Frederick: Where can people found out more about that?

Tasra: TeenIdentity.com
Frederick: Ron, you run a blog called F-Stop Beyond. Tell me more about that.

Ron: I like to call it Fresh Air for photographers. I started it two years ago. This is where I learn more about photographers, from the personal side. It's a nice little podcast. It goes into what makes a person tick.
Frederick: So where can people find out more about you Ron?

Ron: At Bladeronner.com, that's my blog. DareDreamer.net is our company. I'm RonDawson on twitter.

Tasra: At TasraDawson on twitter. TeenIdentity.com and RealWomenScrap.com

Frederick can be found at http://www.frederickvan.com and via Twitter: Frederickvan

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Show notes provide by Tom Newman of Fogview Photos and via Twitter: Fogview