Clubhouse

Clubhouse is the hottest and most interesting app that has hit that web in awhile. The app was started by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, with members that include Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey. It’s an invite-only audio app that is similar to a podcast that is live and interactive. You can have conversations with people from all over the world. Each member is given a couple of ‘invites’ and evidently the invitations are so in demand that they are being sold on Ebay and Craigslist for almost $100!
Rangefinder Magazine just published an interview with me about how photographers are using the app.
Click Here to read it: Rangefinder Clubhouse: Why Photographers Are Lining Up For This Audio-Only Social App

Clubhouse allows me to have in depth discussions about photography that I haven’t had since I was in college getting my MFA and BFA.  It also allows me to sit in on rooms with other photographers or creatives and listen to how they live, deal with struggles, get inspired, run their business and a host of other topics that I find interesting.  I’ve hosted rooms with other photographers and people from outside of the industry that include:
Being inspired to create meaningful images that capture the nuances of relationships, love and life
John Dolan, Holger Thoss, Michael Howard from MuseaGatherings, Kirth Bobb
How art and psychology influence your photographic process
Jeremie Barlow
The Creative Process of a Wedding Photographer
Cameron Clark
How to capture images that inspire us to continue shooting weddings
Photographing Weddings with your planner in Mind
Jeremie Barlow
Gretchen @ rocket Science Events
How to define yourself in your brand story
Carl Lubbe
How to Create a social pretense that reflects who you are
How to get published
First Generation Americans – pursuing a non-traditional career in spite of your parents fears

I love the format of Clubhouse because you can sit in a room and passively listen while you are working or if you choose you can raise  your hand and “get on stage” and join the discussion.  I have met so many people in the industry and outside of the industry that I never would have had the opportunity to meet in real life because of proximity.  I think it helps the world be a smaller place and allows you to find people that have similar perspectives on how to live and work in your life.  I also love that you can go in the ‘hallway’ and see what ‘rooms’  are taking place and pop in to see if they are of interest.  The rooms that draw me in are ones that are filled with creative thinkers that are breaking the norms and forging their own path.  I also have sat in on some rooms with Matchmakers, I didn’t really know they existed and evidently Clubhouse is the new Tinder but with a little more substance.  😉

I also love that people in rooms that I’ve hosted have contacted me though IG and have asked questions, shared successes and spoken about their lives with me.  For instance when we had the room on Betting published one woman from South Florida got up on stage.  She had never been published before and wanted to get her work out there.  A couple of days later she contacted me and got an assignment for a local publication which is super exciting for me to hear that ideas that I have gotten to share with other people actually have helped them.  
I wish there was a way to turn on notifications just for a select few people who are doing rooms instead of having to have all of the notifications binging your phone.  I follow a bunch of people and only really want to get notified when a few are speaking.  I do have the ‘always’ notification on for those people but I still get pinged in for other people that I follow.  I would also like to see a feature that will allow you to ping all of your followers when you are hosting a room instead of having to ping each person.  
It is a platform that gives people who are a little more apprehensive speakers an opportunity to join in on discussions and I LOVE that.  I’m not shy at all but I can hear people muster the courage to get on stage and share their thoughts and feelings and that always moves me because I think we all want to speak and be heard but some people would never stand up on stage in real life but Clubhouse allows them to do so in a relatively safe environment.  Whenever I hear someone in a room that I find interesting or if I see someone who has joined that I enjoy speaking with I ask them if they would like to do a room together.