//Top 10 Photographers
individuals who rise above the pack and whose influence sends ripples throughout our industry. Whether it’s a photographer’s style or technique, success in establishing educational platforms, a ferocious
marketing drive or business know-how, we can all agree our industry has no shortage of influential talent. Before I spill the beans on the Who’s Who of our poll results, it’s important to acknowledge the
following question: How does a photographer’s influence spread throughout our industry?
My first taste of witnessing photographers spread their influence firsthand happened almost by accident while I was working as a sales rep for PDN and Rangefinder magazines. When I wasn’t scouring the tradeshow floor for leads, I was fortunate to attend several seminars at WPPI in Las Vegas and Photo Plus Expo in New York. Seminars and conferences are great venues to gauge speaker influence. They reveal in real time how certain photographers possess the “It-Factor” needed to win followers. After attending several of these seminars, it didn’t take long to notice that certain speakers in our industry had a definite “magnetism” that made them stand out. There were speakers who were strident in their confidence, displaying an almost “evangelical” furor onstage to a packed room. On the opposite end of the coin, there were those who would shuffle to the podium, maintain a monotone speech and foster zero audience participation other than uninspired applause.
