Once suicidal and depressed, Corey Hudson, a photographer in New Haven, Connecticut has embarked on a personal mission to photograph The Hearts of Strangers. Similar to StoryCorps, Corey spends his time getting to know complete strangers and asks them a series of questions about their life.

I've always been curious to see how this could be done at the local level after seeing the Humans of New York project take off. But Corey's approach is different and remarkable because he dives in deep to ask people those very things that they might often suppress within themselves. That might be due to feeling disconnected from society or unwanted by their family members. By giving people a channel all their own to express themselves, Corey hopes that their stories will inspire others and convince most who read these stories that they are not alone at all.

Project has had a cathartic effect on Corey, who is now clean and sober, is not on any anti-depressant medications and sees every day as a special gift. He feels more connected to society and thanks to a fully funded Kickstarter campaign is set to get on the road to discover strangers all across the US who will talk to him and allow him to photograph them in this intimate manner.

We chatted quickly about the project. Give this is a listen:

Some of the “strangers” Corey has photographed. Remember, their stories can be found here.

Please spend the time watching this interview Corey gave to WTNH's Ann Nyberg:

Would you like to support Corey's project? You can by buying his first book from this project called Every Heart Has A Story To Tell. Feel free to follow Corey and the project via his Facebook page.

Can embarking on a personal photography project help you overcome your obstacles and challenges? Brené Brown who wrote “Daring Greatly” explores the power of vulnerability. I highly recommend you read it!

What I find remarkable about Corey is his perseverance to pivot from a lousy situation and find purpose and meaning in his life through photography, writing and sharing stories contributed in large part by strangers. In the video, I tip my hat to Skip Cohen who at Shuttefest presented a fantastic idea to photograph local business owners and celebrate them through blog posts or social media channels. Imagine for a second if you are feeling like nothing is going right in your business or life and you suddenly start to connect with these strangers in such a positive manners. What could happen to your business and you? There is no downside to knowing more people in the world in an intimate and authentic way.

Are you working on a project you would like to share with us? Contact me to tell me more. I'll be in touch with you right away.

The Youngrens, that's Erin and Jeff, based in San Diego, California are industry leaders, presenters and mentors to many photographers.

You may remember that a few months back, I interviewed them about why it is important for photographers, especially wedding photographers, to blog for their business websites. If you missed their free webinar hosted by ShootDotEdit, you can still check it out here. Just fill in your info and you'll be spirited into the replay section of the ShootDotEdit website.

One more thing, the Youngrens also have a free six-week course on effective blogging. I would jump on that right away! And, they walk their own talk. Check out their blog, too. Any surprise why they are so good at what they do and how incredibly popular they are in their community?

Another Free ShootDotEdit Webinar

On May 20th, the Youngrens are leading another free webinar thanks to ShootDotEdit on finding your ideal client. It's a topic that most photographers avoid until it is almost too late and then have to start from scratch. The Youngrens, suggest working on defining your ideal client first, so that you can begin serving them in a way that is going to make both them and you truly happy.

Imagine not having to take on clients who aren't a good fit? Are you suddenly awash with a sense of relief? I bet you are.

I caught up with Erin & Jeff to chat about this new webinar and why it is so crucial for photographers to identify and work with their ideal photography client. Give this short chat a good listen:

The Photographer's Shop

In addition to dispensing sound advice on blogging and business topics, the Youngrens also have a robust shop for photographers where you can buy contracts, email templates, workflow guides and schedule consulting sessions with Jeff and Erin. Coming this summer to the shop will be a self-guided “Discover Your Ideal Client” resource that the Youngrens are pumped about.

More about the “Discover Your Ideal Client” Guide:

The Youngrens will be launching a downloadable self-guided course in mid-June that will walk you through the steps of discovering and profiling your unique ideal client. With the course, you will walk away with a crystal clear picture of who your dream clients are and how to attract them to your business. To stay in the know about this head on over to their photographer site and make sure you’re signed up for their newsletter.

Peter Doyle is a wedding photographer based in Atlanta who is hungry to pursue personal photography projects.

I sat down to speak with Peter about his recent personal photography project, Childhood Cancer Portraits: Wisdom from the Journey”.

There are 101 portraits of children in Peter's book. Here is a small sample of the wonderful portraits and messages from each child. Take a closer look and read their thoughts.

Peter's other books include:

Haiti’s Hope which highlights the humanity of the Haitian people who were left behind after the 2010 earthquake; To Have & To Hold: a Life for Generations features the stories and interviews of 12 women who were affected by breast cancer while part of a fashion shoot paired with fast cars, helicopters and a private jet in Atlanta, Georgia; Breast Cancer Portraits: Wisdom From The Journey features 49 portraits of men and women breast cancer survivors paired with their handwritten words of wisdom and hope.

Peter's next project is called Uncommon Courage. It is “about WWII veterans, military spouses, Vietnam veterans and NAVY SEALs sharing their wisdom about life, courage and sacrifice to a generation that needs to hear it. From April 1 – August 1, 2015 he will be traveling to Florida, Louisiana, and Washington DC to photograph these patriots. If you know of any vets or military spouses that you think would be interested in sharing their wisdom please email him at peterdoyle@storyboardlife.com.”

Peter readily credited Miami, Florida based photographer Brian Smith and his book, Art & Soul for inspiring the design and layout. The book was produced via Create Space, an Amazon subsidiary. Finally, the book and the project would not have been possible with out the help of St. Baldrick's Foundation.

Find out more about the book, Childhood Cancer Portraits and order your copy.

Are you pursuing a personal photography project that you have just completed or will be soon wrap up? Contact me and let's talk about it.

Matthew Jordan Smith's repertoire as a commercial and fashion photographer is well known around the world. Yet, he chose to work on a personal project that took him to all 50 states.

The project involved visiting with 100 families across the USA. He photographed children outdoors, holding up signs with their ambitions and ideas to lead their country. It's a project that took him 3 years to complete. After pouring his own resources into the project to start photographing children in America, Smith ran a successful Kickstarter campaign. He now has published a book that is every bit inspiring as his own journey through these united states.

I managed to corner Matthew to a quick Skype interview. Give it a listen. You can buy the book here.

You'll find below a slideshow with about 15 of Matthew's images from the book, Future American President.

Are you pursuing a personal project like Matthew Jordan Smith? Do you want to be featured here on Tiffinbox? Contact me right away!

Melissa Jill, a Phoenix, Arizona based wedding photographer knows all about being busy. But she also knows what it means to be efficient. Melissa Jill Photography – that's her and her small group of associate photographers – photographs a little over 40 weddings a year. Multiply that number by an average of 2000 digital images to process and you know that's a staggering amount of time in front of the computer.

Melissa, however, outsources her initial edits to ShootDotEdit and leans on her own wedding album design company, Align, to deliver the final layouts. We sat down to talk about what is involved in making album design efficient and ultimately, profitable.

Melissa is so good at what she does and her systems and processes down that she was invited to be a part of ShootDotEdit‘s new webinar series called Recharge. If wedding album design is a major pain in the you know where for you, sign up now for this free webinar today. You can always get the recording if you can't make it to the live event tomorrow 10 am to 11 am PST.

Learn industry tested profitable wedding album design tips and sales techniques from Melissa Jill that will ultimately help your clients get what they really desire. This is a free webinar that is not to be missed. As I said in the video above, if only I had known about Melissa even just a few years ago, it would have saved hours of frustration and dread.

This webinar, like the others on the ShootDotEdit website, is a winner and will be time well spent.