I attended a showing of selections from the Telluride Mountainfilm festival at the American Mountaineering Center here in Golden, CO last Friday night. 
Famed Colorado photographer John Fielder opened the meeting with a slideshow of his latest book (his first children’s book–out of more than 30 books to his credit). This man is outrageously prolific. He has made a name for himself as THE photographer of the state landscape.
I got a big kick out of something he said and I’ll try to recount it as best I can. As I recall, some time ago he was giving a workshop to photographers in SW Colorado. They were there to photograph the beautiful fall colors. As luck would have it, the colors had come and gone early that year. But, as Fielder, pointed out, being talented is one thing, but salesmanship is everything (he specifically mentioned that any artists or creatives in the audience should listen up). He said by the end of the workshop, he had every person who had paid big bucks to be there believing that it was the most beautiful, colorful Colorado autumn on record.
Remember that: Salesmanship is everything.
Image: John Fielder's new book Do You See What I See? written with Claudia Cangilla McAdam.