Get to know the people who make Springbox an exceptional agency. What Inspires You? is a series of posts that offer insight into our talented and creative staff. 

Mike Bullock 

General Manager

What did you do before joining Springbox?
Prior to joining Springbox, I spent the first half of my career consulting for systems design and process reengineering for large corporations such as Sears. The second half of my career was spent in Marketing management at Dell, primarily focused online, brand and pricing.

Where do you find inspiration?
I’ve always been inspired by movies. As a kid, movies helped shape my view of the world (for better or worse), as well as helped me experience different cultures and lifestyles. I was most drawn to comedy. Monty Python was a big favorite. Raising Arizona is the funniest movie ever. Drawing from those artists, I would experiment with my own styles of comedic delivery and make people laugh as much as I could. That really energized me. Ultimately, I landed on a very dry style…which takes a while for people to warm up to. As an adult, my taste in movies has migrated to the more independent and documentary style films. Not sure what is going on there.

My attention has moved almost entirely to photography now — all kinds of photography. I’m fascinated with the concept of capturing and sharing compelling images. I also really enjoy the way it taps into both sides of my brain — the technical side and the artistic sides. I read everything I can get my hands on: looking at the old masters, like Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson, and appreciating how much they accomplished by focusing on the craft even though they had very rudimentary equipment. Current inspiration comes mostly from the Flickr community, but there are several pros, like Chase Jarvis and Joe McNally, that actively teach great techniques using equipment similar to mine.

Now when I watch movies, I have a completely different perspective. I have much more focus on the cinematography. Part of me wants to eventually migrate more to video (besides just shooting the kids), but it seems WAY too time consuming. I’m going to concentrate my energy on improving my photography for the next 5 years. Such a long way to go.

Which websites have inspired you recently?
Flickr is an obvious choice. They really tapped into the photography community’s desire to share and support one another. I can spend endless hours searching through it for ideas and inspiration.

I spend a lot of time of photography blogs. Some of my favorite are…
http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/
http://www.pixsylated.com/
http://www.zarias.com/
http://www.kenrockwell.com/

All of these guys have a ton to teach me and they are really inspired to share their knowledge and passion with the masses. Of course, they make money doing it. I really like their style of communication. It’s very real. Not commercial. I feel like I’m sitting down with them or going on shoots and picking up helpful tips.

Which trends in interactive are you currently paying attention to?
I’m fascinated by the social movement. Facebook obviously has incredible momentum, and I use it regularly to interact with distant friends and relatives that I would have otherwise lost touch with. That is extremely powerful and valuable. But where is it all going?

Mass adoption of platforms like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and various blogging sites, combined with the accessibility of powerful creative tools like DSLRs, video cameras and PCs are completely changing the media landscape. A similar movement is happening with other art forms, like music. Everyday people now have access to near-professional-grade creative tools and massive distribution channels. People, like myself, are learning to become creators instead of just spectators. Multiply that effect by millions, and you ultimately have fewer eyeballs on traditional media and more online.