The Plateau Effect is the most powerful force of nature you’ve never heard of.  Plateaus are the reason all good things come to an end: why trends fade, relationships fail, people achieve less from doing more.  Anything I want to do better — yoga practice, run a business, learn to paint with watercolors — begins with understanding the forces that drive plateau effect.  The Plateau Effect is about being able to spot and overcome a plateau for the quickest, most effective way to achieve human potential and happiness.

I have an advance copy of The Plateau Effect: Getting from Stuck to Success
courtesy of the publisher that makes the chaos in my bathroom look positively brilliant.  On the back cover: AUTHORS PHOTOGRAPH © CHRISTINE GACHARNA (that’s how I got the sneak peek.) The book is available for pre-order on Amazon and releases next Thursday, May 2.

A candid of authors Bob Sullivan (foreground) and Hugh Thompson:

I even gave them a horizontal crop option.  :)  But of course, the final image was a bit more textbook:

About the authors: A veteran investigative journalist for NBC News, Bob Sullivan is the New York Times bestselling author of Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day-and What You Can Do About It
and Stop Getting Ripped Off: Why Consumers Get Screwed, and How You Can Always Get a Fair Deal.  He has made multiple appearances on NPR’s “Fresh Air,” The Today Show and other NBC programs.  Hugh Thompson taught mathematics and computer science at Columbia University.  He is currently the RSA conference program chair and is an internationally sought-after speaker.  These entrepreneurial analysts have forty years of experience between them researching, writing and analyzing systems and human nature.

I met Jingjing in yoga class.  Born and raised in China, she came to the U.S. for college, fell in love, graduated and never left.  She’s an accountant and an Etsy artist, East and West, she cycles effortlessly between Chinese numbers and English words — a very rare mix of right and left brain.  She’s one of the most delightful, educated and interesting people I know.

[The first four images were shot using a Fujifilm X-E1 with a 35mm.  I haven't had much time to play with it yet, and it was totally premature to use it during a studio session, but my initial reaction is that I could have done the entire shoot with it no problem.]

As an undergraduate, I enrolled in a photography class in the Art Department (something I now advise beginners not to do) where my instructor gave me a “C” and told me to move on.  So I did what any broken hearted college freshman would do: I went back to the English Department and embraced my first love, writing, which took me to graduation and graduate school and subsequent Real Jobs.

Fast forward 20 years. On my way out the door to make Christmas Eve party rounds with my family, I stopped to grab the mail and discovered my Christmas gift to myself:

“The Professional Photographic Certification Commission would like to extend its congratulations to you on passing your Certification Exam.  Your image portfolio was reviewed and your images passed the rigorous standards that our PPCC judges have set for the program.  Since you have completed and passed both of these steps, your CPP process is now complete.  Congratulations!”

On the way to the second party, I noticed the letter was addressed to Christine Gacharná, CPP.  :)

“The Professional Photographic Certification Commission is the leading body for certifying imaging professionals.  Certified Professional Photographers must complete a written examination, an image evaluation and adhere to a stringent code of conduct.  PPCC recognizes less than 2,000 Certified Professional Photographers.”

The best I can describe the feeling is a deep sense of accomplishment, not for me per se or for my photography business, but rather for my 19-year-old soul whose struggle is somehow vindicated.  That’s a CPP after my name, Harrison!  My undergraduate instructor inspires me to teach photography not by his subjective standards or fear of youthful competition but by the mastery of technical skills which then blossom into an individual’s unique perspective as an artist.  It’s not so much the recognition or the photo credit or the referrals or the commissions or the letters after my name; it’s about accomplishing a goal and sharing what I love.  (Having said that, it’s also nice to be respected and compensated for my work.)

Suffice it to say, I can now put an official checkmark next to “learn — really learn — how to use my camera on manual.”  :)