]www.dontboxusin.com

I have to say i'm SO freaking proud of my boy!!!! He will have a THREE PART INTERVIEW on the site!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!

Mykey boy!! I'm so very very proud of what you've accomplished and how many people find you an inspiration!!!

i love you!!! MUAH!!!!!:wub:

awesome!
I'm one of those who counts Mike as an inspiration.

Congrats Mike!!

Woot Woot, great article and of course you are an awesome photographer!
I look forward to finally get to meet you tomorrow and maybe some of your talent will spill over to us attending your workshop.
You are a true inspiration and thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Love Mike! I am from Houston and I feel pride when hometown boy does well! The work I have seen knock my socks of everytime!

Wow Mike, three parts? They really couldn't shut you up, huh?

But seriously, congrats!! From the first time I met you, you really have been SO open and it's obvious that you love to help out others and see them succeed.

Yay, you! (and Cody too I guess )

Thanks everyone, I WANTED TO SOOOOOOOOO BAD announce some BIG news in the way of TriCoast and WPPI 2008 but we will wait until the end of the third installment to say anything I guess.


I love photography but I even more I love watching others grow and find their own way in this amazing passion we all share.

I am not even close to being the most talented person out there in the photography world, not even remotely close. However I learned a valuable lesson very quick when I got on the photography forums, sadly from someone I used to look up to very greatly. Even though you have the most talent in the world when your ego is bigger than your drive to help people, you only hurt yourself and more importantly the business of photography. To me there really is NO SECRETS in this business only honest and hard work which in turn needs to be shared with everyone and then watch them take off and grow and grow and then hopefully they will return the same favors with others starting off in the business. Of couse I have to admit also, I can only hope these new photographers will grow up to kick my butt in talent and business and reach heights I never did so I can sit back and smile and enjoy watching their passions and talent being shared with everyone.

Talent is such a small part of this business, I feel personal connections and relationships with clients, family, friends and other photographers is what important.

100 years from now, no one will care what my pocket book was or what house I lived in but if I helped others make a difference in their life for the better, well to me my life was a success.

Thanks again everyone and Suzy I love you to girl, can't wait to see you in a few days!

Congrats Mike - niceeeee!!

Just wanted to bump this for a couple of reasons...

Firstly & foremostly to say a huge thank you to Mike for such an in-depth interview & for being so generous with his knowledge - not only in this feature but in general.

Secondly, an apology ... sorry we're making you wait Mike! I thought it was just women that were impatient and couldn't keep secrets!

Thirdly, we just posted Mike's second part which are images of how shots were set-up - I really need to use my flash off-camera a lot more!

Fourthly, thank you to EVERYONE that's contributed to the site & those that are waiting in line to be posted!

Fifthly and by no means leastly (no such word, I know!), a huge shout-out to Mark Eric for coming up with the idea of Don't Box Us In. It's great to see other people's work but more so to hear what keeps them motivated & I'm certain photographers are finding it as useful as I have... thanks too for asking me to be involved in the site. It's great working with you, it just sucks being in a different time zone to you coz we can never talk on Skype!

Love it Mike! Could not have said it better! I agree with every word too.
Greaaaaaat words to live by!

Third and final part is posted! And Mike's exciting announcement has been made!

Thanks for the update, i read parts one and two last night so I'm off to do some more reading.



Mike Congrats man wish you the best.

Wow- I didn't see all this. Mike deserves major props for being such a giving, genuine person. I had a bridal shoot in Houston a few months ago, and Mike gave me a complete one one one tour of the town and a ton of useful information from his seminars are we were hanging out. He really is all about sharing, and I appreciate his honesty and friendship. Thaks Suzy for the shout out!

Sofie, I wish we were in closer time zones too, but you have taken this project by the reigns and it is paying off. I hope that through the site, photographers find inspiration and a willingness to help make our industry better through what they can offer individually.

Thanks guys!

Thank you Suzy for thinking of me and thank you all for taking time and posting on this thread with the nice words!

Mark your an amazing guy so it was my honor to show you the armpit of the Gulf Coast called Houston, my home town!!

Anything I can do to help you out all you have to do is ask!!!


Thank you again everyone I was taken back when they wanted to do a 3 part series, truly humbled by it bigtime!

DUDE! Your WPPI shootout announcement ROCKS!!! I definitely want to be there! That's a HUGE honor & well deserved!

Yay! Awesome! Congrats Mike!!!! I can't wait to see you guys on the 12th!

Congrats!