So, here we are. Another huge milestone for me in less than one month. First military retirement, then 100,000 subscribers. What’s next? Well, I do turn 40 this year, so there’s that, haha.
I made a video today to share my extreme gratitude for you and all your support of my efforts over these last 10+ years. While I did make this video to express my thanks, I also made it because I want you to see the struggles and hardships that lead me here. We all have a journey, and on that journey, there are several paths we can take. I am glad that all my paths lead me here because I met you!
What you will find here is that I could never have done this on my own. I first needed the support of my wife, I then needed to trust my faith in God and know that He would put me where I needed to be to steward my God-given gifts. Lastly, I needed you and your support to ensure we could sustain this ship and ensure it didn’t sink prematurely.
I am eternally grateful for you and your support. I hope this message inspires you today. Pursue your dreams, double down on your God-given gift, and know that there is great reward in your obedience.
P.S. I am knee-deep in course production so if you comment or email and I do not respond, please don’t take offense. I am reading everything, but I am also struggling there are only so many hours in a day 🙂
For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
Best congratulations to you on what you have achieved, and I am grateful to you for what I have learned so far through you, color and understanding it is most important to me which I personally value in my own pictures.
God Bless you and your whole family.
Kari Korpihete Helsinki Finland
Wonderful video and a superb story. Everyone of us who has started a business has a similar story, although few could tell it as well and with as much excitement as you do. Many of us had “that boss,” which was definitely a motivator to succeed. And some of us had a spouse who simply said, “the money will show up when we need it.” And I was one of those who had no idea that a photographer would care about color theory, until MattK sent me in your direction. Congratulations on reaching 100,000 subscribers!
thank you for the most interesting 19 minutes 07 seconds
Congratulations on the 100K milestone.
Enjoyed your webinars and look forward to many more in the future.
Wow! Well done friend.
awesome, congratulations!! Well deserved. Thank you for all you do and give to “us”.
Awesome story. Thank you for sharing! Congrats on the award!
Thanks for the personal story, and congrats for that 100K, it is huge. It was indeed your color system theory that got me intersted in your thoughts. Being an old photo hobbyist and part time photo educator myself I was familiar with Adams’ zone system, and I thought this guy has understood something better than me. And right I was! Thanks for that, too.
And, good to see your beard getting a bit grey, that’s the man.
Congratulations! And thank you for sharing your story with us. It’s fun and also very impressive.
I am a subscriber of you YouTube-Channel since 2016 and I really got most of my skill in Photoshop from you. Your instructions especially about color theory are not only fascinating but also easy to understand and to use – thanks also to all the actions you made available for free.
I am wondering if you would be interested to publish an (instruction-)book about color-theory
I wonder if you would be interested in writing a book on color theory for photographers based on your instructional method, because I think you could reach an even wider audience that way. For example, I am quite an old man from Germany who has done some training myself in digital photo processing for (mainly older) amateur photographers. Therefore, I know that many of my peers are still just venturing into Photoshop, but hardly watch video tutorials on YouTube.
As for Germany, Austria and Switzerland: there are many and also good PS-tutorials on YouTube in German, but none on color theory comparable to yours – and many older Germans don’t know English well enough to follow your tutorials. If you like the idea of writing a book on color theory, I would be happy to translate it and try to find a publisher here in Germany.
Thank you again for all your effort.
Heiner
Congratulations on the 100,000. You have created a great product.
Thank you so much for everything you teach us, in a wonderfully articulate wayment
Blake, CONGRATS!! What a wonderful milestone and even better message. I sent it out to several of my friends and encouraged them to watch. I remember well the Color Theory course–made no sense to me whatsoever back then. And Everyday HDR was pretty cool too. Look forward to the next 10 years.
great milestone blake and a funny story, congratulations, regards from the netherlands. ps: you have a beautiful spouse
That was great stuff i became disabled in 2010 from driving garbage truck so i decided to take a photography coarse through the Photography Institute and it took me years to improve on my shooting and photoshop coarses through Creative Live and Kelbey’s coarses and i have just been doing this as a great hobby in New York State and as you know there is 1 other thing Blake GO BUFFALO BILLS on Sunday.
Congratulations on reaching 100,000 subscribers. It’s not easy sharing your personal story with strangers, but then I’m sure you don’t think of us as strangers, but people/friends interested in a common goal of understanding and using color theory in our own photography.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us over the last 8 years, and also thanks to your wife for being an understanding partner.
Congratulations Blake, a well deserved achievement, your enthusiasm is always inspiring!
Congratulations on your award, your perseverance, and the support of your wife that brought you to this place in your life.
Blake, big thank you! I have been following you for a few years and your educational commitment, of a high level, has allowed me to acquire much with regard to photography in all its aspects.
I will follow you again and thank you for your commitment. Claudio
Congratulations, Blake, and thanks for the heartfelt history of your business. My first purchase from you was 8/3/15 for the “Zone System Training Package” and although that made my puny know-nothing-about-Photoshop brain hurt, I’ve stuck with you and learned so much from you. It has also been fun watching you grow as a primo educator. I have a copy of the color wheel taped to the side of my printer which sits right by my monitor and I consult it often. THANK YOU for all you do (and thank your wife for “nudging” you along!
Congrats Blake you deserve this milestone and many more.
You made me using PS more and more as I was afraid using it, got lost with so many other videos out there, and you have made it very simple to follow and understanding what I am suppose to do on each layers. My friends and family have noticed that my images are WOW! they are so beautiful. Thanks to you Teacher Blake!. Last year I recommend my photography friends to subscribe your channel. Now we are talking more PS technics frequently to improve and get comfortable with using PS. From a hobbyist photographer Malta.
Congratulations Blake… A well deserved achievement!!!
Like many others in this group, your tutorials, most especially, the various ‘Theories’ series, took us from being photographers to becoming artists!!
Thank you!!!
Congratulations Blake! I’m not surprised at all. You’re the best of the best. I’ve learned so much since I joined f64. Most of all, I learned color! Then I learned Ps! I think I wrote a review on your 30 days of Ps course. I couldn’t even touch Ps before Blake. I wouldn’t even open it! Now I’m all ACR & Ps. And I have my color wheel right there! And I have it hanging in my office by my computer. Thank you, Blake, and many thanks to your lovely wife for encouraging you. God Bless you and your beautiful family!
Congratulations Blake! Thankyou for sharing your story, and a big Thankyou for sharing your knowledge and your passion. I for one intend to be around for your next ten years.
Congratulations, Blake, on this cool milestone! You’ve made my processing so much more pleasurable and accomplished through your clear and inspiring teaching on YouTube and the f64 Academy. Thank you.
Congratulations, Blake. You are a gifted educator and, I bet, a gifted person. It is always an inspiration to be a witness to a person using their God-given gifts for the benefit of so many. By the way, don’t fret over turning 40, as you will be able to add “wisdom” to your many gifts!
Beautiful story. Thanks for the lessons learned.
Blake,
you said in the beginning that you don’t have much time for reactions …… but I just want to say this …
you are a special man,
you have a special wife, you gave a special turn to your life and you have a special gift to help others.
I wish there were more like you, then we’d have a better world!
Best wishes.
Ineke from the Netherlands.
Blake, Congratulations! You sure deserve it and we are most grateful for your commitment to educate us in photography. Best wishes for continued success!!
From someone who new absolutely nothing about post processing, I have been there from almost the beginning of your journey into photography tuition and I can honestly say I have learned so much and have enjoyed the ride of your life. Keep going and congratulations on achieving this award – you certainly deserve it.
Well done Blake. Admire your openness & honesty.
The process you describe is Flow & Synchronicity which works in life when applied.
It’s truly been an honor to have met you online and have been along on this journey with you. I first saw you doing. Topaz webinar probably 10 years ago now when you were doing Everyday HDR. You were the first online photo educator I began following…and 10 years later, you are still among the best in the business and my personal favorite!
Congratulations on this well deserved award from YouTube! You deserve all the success that God has bestowed upon you!
You have the gift and you used it the best way you could/can and that is yours.
Extremely happy for you Blake and thank you for your gift to me!
Javier
Congratulations, Blake, On your 100K benchmark. I love how God uses all of our failures or as we see as being a failure and turn it all around for our good. The Lord has blessed you with a beautiful wife with much wisdom and a wonderful family. God has blessed you with all the tools you need to continue your great success in the coming years. I loved your story of how it all came together for you. And yes, you are right, it was divinely led by the Lord. I pray God’s blessings over you and your family, and may He continue to build your business in a powerful way. Looking forward to your next 10 years and beyond.
It was so good to listen to your story and I thank you for having the courage to share your faith in God.
We came to Uganda as missionaries in aviation in 1990 just after the civil war with 2 small boys and then when I was 45 and didn’t know one end of a spark plug from another, I started a business selling generators and construction equipment (not very girly!), which is still going successfully 20 years on. I know how scary it is to step out in faith, and I congratulate you on this award. Your courses are great, but much of that is due to your open personality as much as the content. Good job!!!
How very cool. I too have come from the fine art world with an MA in printmaking and an MFA in sculpture. I have a long history in teaching with my last few years working for Kaiser as a trainer for their new electronic medical records system. I am now retired and looking for a new career in photography and video. But I still love the teaching and that will come back into my life in some way. You can see my fine art at my gallery webpage and my video work at my channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxebuh52sVlA6xbUcQTx8AQ. I’m moving along and only need 98,980 subscribers before I reach my first 100k.
Congratulations Blake on your 100,000. I love and respect you even more now! I too started my business off in similar fashion by giving up a very well paid but extremely stressful job to earn pennies for the first 12 months but loved what I was doing. I love the way you respect other peoples efforts when you critique their photography, by ‘suggesting’ ways of improving it. I love your panels and all your educational tutorials. Please keep doing what your doing well, but never lose sight of your family and the people who love you.
Congratulations!!!!
Blake, Loved hearing about your journey, it touched my heart & my soul! Thank you so very much for sharing & for your inspiration. You & your wife set the best example for following your true path.
Blake, THIS is my sign today. THIS was what I needed to hear! Thank you for sharing this with us. Your tenacity is so inspiring and way to show how sometimes right on the cusp of breaking through is when we often times give up.
I am truly grateful for having met you last summer at that workshop. Wow, talk about right place, right time!
Thanks for your service and congrats again on your retirement!
Congratulations Blake! May the personal and professional manner with which you share your talents continue to inspire your subscribers to believe in themselves and follow their own paths to success. As you indicated, it’s important that we each try to be open to those special moments in our lives that provide suggestions and directions about how we can use our unique gifts to manifest our purpose. May you journey continue to sustain you and your family.
Congratulations Blake for the hard work and the believe and gratitude you get from your wife and supporters! And the will to succeed in being more than a story teller! Your skills in making creative and outstanding photographs is phenomenal, but your skills to share your knowledge and competences are even bigger!!! Your story touched me deep and I’m glad I became one of your 1HD followers and like many others one of the Elite members. By that I know that I grow slowly and step by step in my own artistic photographic process! Thank you so much!!!
Congratulations Blake! I have taken your color course on Creative Live. Currently I am on lesson 58 in your PS Bootcamp there.
You have a natural teaching ability. Your descriptions and examples in the courses are complete, very understandable, and practical.
Your approach to teaching has a technical foundation but the artistic touch is what makes it effective.
Well done!!
Congratulations Blake! I “discovered” your good self when you were launching f64 Elite. I watched several of your Youtube videos with many of the concepts completely beyond my comprehension. Nevertheless, when your “one time only” life membership came up I jumped in. I then almost had heart failure when I realised that the Australian dollar was only a fraction of the value of the $US! With hindsight it was the best money I have ever spent. The courses you have done and the panels you have produced are each worth that investment. To get critiques and photo-challenges as well is a tremendous bonus. To have ALL of that available to review and refresh at any time is the most phenomenal learning resource. When I consider where I have come from, I am dizzy just contemplating where I might go. That is down to you bro!
You really deserve it Blake!!