Gary Fong Visits the DC Area

November 30: I heard from a photographer friend that Gary Fong was coming to the DC area to promote his products, new products, and his recently released book "the accidental millionaire" with the subtitle: "how to succeed in life without really trying." I kept the titles lowercase just as they are on the book cover. It almost feels like the title of the book is a bit hard to imagine in our everyday lives, and especially in this case for those who are photographers.

I received an email from Penn Camera saying that Gary Fong was visiting the store in the Tysons Corner VA area, so since I am close by I figured I'll go and visit the store. I have some of Gary's products. I've seen him at the PDN Photo Plus Conference in New York a couple times and it was good to be able to see him up close and little more personal in the store. There's always a crowd around where he shows his products, and it was the case in the store, but in a more manageable way. Gary told us that he didn't come up with the title for the book, but it's interesting to see his story of how he got into photography and where he is today with it, in being a full time inventor. We're sure to see more interesting products come from him

While in the store Gary showed us his products, and most people know about his Lightsphere product that has got a lot of attention in the photography community. I've got to hand it to the guy because he has created some products that help a lot of people with their photography and lighting, especially for people who don't have much to invest in lighting gear. Gary was showing us a new product called the Lightsphere Collapsible. Instead of explaining it, I think it's just better if you go to his website and read about it, and you can also see a video of him demonstrating it. We also got to see Gary demonstrate the Lightsphere Universal PowerSnoot and he used me as a "model" to show what a photograph looks like having used this product. It's a cool effect. After a little while it was time for Gary to go as he had a presentation that night in MD. So there it is, a guy with passion, products, and a great story. On the back cover of his book it says "He stopped trying and started succeeding" as the book tells that "sometimes not knowing where you are is the best possible way to get there." Well, I wish everyone success.