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Jared Polinfro knows photo.com and today is June 1, 2026. The time is 1:06 in the PM just changed to 1:07. Why is the date important today? Because today is the anniversary of Fro no's photo that launched on June 1 of 20, 2010. 16 years of fro no's photo. So I wrote an email and I was gonna send it out just as text. And then I was like, you know what? There's probably some people who don't wanna sit there and read 13 or 1400 words that I just wrote in a post about it being 16 years. So I gave people the option of coming here to listen to the things I had to say in the writing and then I'll probably go off the rails, as I tend to do. But not off the rails in bad ways. Off the rail. Terms of I won't follow the written word perfectly. I might have additives or things to add on top of it. So that is what I'm gonna do right now. I am going to read what I wrote and I hope you guys enjoy. This is not replacing Raw Talk. It's just a special edition today for the anniversary of Fro Knows Photo. So here we go. Today, June 1, 2026, FroKnowsPhoto celebrates the 16th anniversary of its launch. That's right. In 2010, I flipped a switch on FroKnowsPhoto.com and started posting as FroKnowsPhoto on YouTube. Now keep in mind, I didn't just wake up on June 1st and go, hey, today's the day. I actually started the ball rolling a few months prior and targeted June 1 as the day the brand called Goes Live. And it did. Now let me explain this a little bit. I did try like three or four months prior, I was making videos under Jared Polin.com. that was my Jared Polin.com moniker. Some of you may have heard these stories before, but after I did some Internet marketing events as a photographer, I started to. Something clicked in my brain for I needed to brand this, I needed to do something, I needed to go beyond what I was doing. And that thing was Froknow's photo. So I started to make videos under jaredpolen.com, and they were maybe some thoughts about photography, some talking about camera gear. And then I started the work to lead up to June 1st to launch it as froknowsphoto.com and all branding from there on till now became froknowsphoto. And not so much about jaredpolin.com because I just felt like I needed to split the the brand up. So here we go. Let me continue on with the 16 years email that I wrote. I've never had a real job longer than a year or two. I think the longest real job would have been selling cameras at Ritz followed by Alan's camera that spanned maybe two full years. All other in quotes jobs were either short lived AKA I wasn't or the job wasn't a right fit for for me or I was trying to make a go of it as a freelancer. I've mentioned this before but one of the reasons my brother and I never ended up in the corporate world was my dad. He worked for himself and made it a strong point to remind my brother and I over and over again I will not be told when I can take a piss. Meaning he was not cut out to be told what to do. Thus why he never made it in the corporate world. Now I guess the apple didn't fall too far from, from the tree on that one. So yeah, let me talk about the jobs real quick. I always had something. Well, my parents didn't want us working when we were younger. They just were like there's plenty of time for you to work play now, right? So I didn't really have jobs until like 17, 18 years old but there would be like a summer job at the maintenance at a summer camp where my mom worked or something like that. Out of college I, I did work in photo studios in the lab. They never really lasted long because I never liked how people ran their businesses. I just felt like it wasn't a fit or I didn't want to build somebody else's thing. I just didn't know it yet. I just didn't fit in. I worked in other type of labs as well that were more corporate and it was just so weird. Side note on being so weird, this was like one of those yearbook companies that would take all of the sports photos but also take all of the portrait photos and, and you want to know why I wouldn't work in a. I mean I worked there for a little bit but I looked forward to leaving and you know, I'd show up 15 minutes earlier than everybody else and punch in because you had to use a punch clock which means I left 15 minutes earlier than everybody else because I punched out. I still did the exact same amount of time. And they called me down to their office, they're like, are you checking in early and leaving early? I'm like, yeah, why? They're like why? I'm like, well, don't you guys realize at, like, if we leave at 4:30 or the clock, it's whatever, 4:30 is the time to leave. Everybody's waiting by the punch clock at 4:15. They're already waiting there. So they're not actually being productive or working. So I. I'm coming in 15 minutes early, which allows me to punch out 15 minutes earlier than everybody else because I already did all my work. I'm being smart. They don't like that. That was one thing. Also, 911 happened while I was working in the dark room by myself listening to Howard Stern. That's how I was notified of 9 11. But the reason I bring that up is the next week, the managers came around and had a meeting and let everybody know that production the week prior was down and they need to do something about that. Oh, o. Okay. 911 happened, guys, and you're worried. And it was just unbelievable that that was what they cared about. Bean counters. I do now remember walking in there and telling the guy that, yeah, I'm not gonna be working here anymore. And he was like, okay, bye. Basically, he didn't give a shit. He was a bean counter. And now I'm not. I wasn't made out for that world, was not built for that world at all. So I've tried to find my own way, and I failed a lot. I failed along the way. I just didn't fit in with jobs. I tried to get certain jobs that weren't photo related, but then I tried to make them photo related. Like one was with a realtor. And I was like, well, you should really be taking photos of these things and use my skills. I didn't get hired, but now if you look back, I was ahead of the curve. I was already thinking about doing those things for them that would have helped them sell properties. So I just wasn't cut out for the world of working for other people. So I found my own way. Continuing on 16 years is a long time. As I write this, the idea is causing a slight bit of tension in my chest area. And no, it's not from the chest workout that I did this morning. I think it's from the realization that it's 16 years later and I kind of don't like the idea of rushing life. But that's for me to come to grips with. Because you can't change it. You can't stop time marching on you. God damn. Every time I say that, when I say that puts the tension in the chest. I'll keep reading I don't need to go off the path too far there as a brand. We've expanded slightly over the past 16 years. We now have three full time employees. But I don't have any desire to grow into some mega business. I think that's because I'm already 46 and understand it's not all about the grind or work though I do really enjoy what I do. So is it really work? A lot of people would say yes and tell me to find a hobby. And my answer to that is, this is my hobby. I love it. See, I think it's hard for some people to wrap their heads around this job I have. I don't see it as a job, it's just what I do. So the whole idea of expanding and growing a business, I of course would love to make. I always like making more money. I like numbers. It allows me to buy more properties, but what for? And I'll get to more of that later in this, in this thing that I wrote. But I do love what I do and I don't really consider this work. It's what I do. It's my life. And that doesn't mean I don't have a life outside of this, but this is what I do. And when you love what you do, it's really hard. I think people just don't understand it because they don't have it themselves. But when you do get it yourselves, you go, oh, I now get it. So three employees. I don't want 30 employees. I don't want to have to manage that. I'm not great at managing people. I'm not very rosy. I'm not good at giving. Applaud. It's, or whatever. The applause. It's not just a plot. I think it's applaud. It's. I think that's the word. I'm not great at doing that. You know, we've got Steven who's been with me for, oh, 14 plus years. Dan, 10 plus years. Austin, six months, five months actually. He didn't start till January. I think his birthday is January 6th. I think he started right this day of his birthday or the day before his birthday. This year he's a new employee. But I can't see really expanding much beyond this just because it's a lot of extra stress that's unnecessary. There's enough stress already, you know, making sure we're bringing in revenue so that we can, you know, Stephen has a new baby, Dan has a kid. Austin will probably get married at some point and maybe want to have kids. Maybe I want to do that. We'll talk about that when we get further along here. Now back onto the topic here. You see back in the. And this is talking about the last paragraph where we talk about hobbies and. Or not hobbies, but finding. Yeah. What did. Yeah, this is my hobby. Okay, here we go. You see, back in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and beyond, the idea of a hobby was there because most people worked for the man and needed slash wanted a distraction from their daily toils. They went fishing, they bowled, they sat in a la Z boy drinking beer and smoking cigarettes. I lost my place because I moved my thanks cigarettes or worked in the garage on something. But when you truly love what you do, it's not work. Anytime I've tried to find a hobby or what I wouldn't call a distraction, it's been short lived. I honestly don't enjoy distractions as I feel I could have used that time on being creative or doing more. I get it, it's not for everyone, but it is. But it's just what I do. Case in point, 2012. Living, living at home still. And you know, froknowsphoto's been around for roughly two years at that point. And people were like, all you do is work. All you do. You need a, you need a distraction, you need something to do. So I was like, I bought an Xbox and I bought Grand Theft Auto and I played it for like an hour and a half and then I took the Xbox, unplugged it, put it in a box and gave it to somebody because I felt like an idiot after wasting time for an hour and a half driving around, beating up hookers in a video game, stealing cars, shooting people in a video game that I should have, I could have made three videos in that amount of time. And so that is when I realized I once that that is what I needed. I needed to focus on what I do. I enjoy it. I don't need a distraction from the thing I love doing. So that's why I got rid of the Xbox. And even a few years ago, I don't even know how many it was. Pre pandemic at this point, I went to volunteer at the Jewish History Museum and they gave me the job as a volunteer. And being a volunteer meant you would point people to the bathroom or work the coat check. And I was like, guys, I'm successful online, I can help you in a different area. I lasted one shift, I just couldn't do it. It was one of the worst experiences that I could imagine. It felt like I was wasting time just pointing people. Like, you are not utilizing my strengths. And so I was just. That was it. I called them. I'm like, yeah, I appreciate it, but this isn't for me. I can't point people to the bathroom. I'm not here to take coats. This sucks. You should be utilizing me and be like, you know what? Go around and make content. And that would be freaking awesome. But they didn't, so. So that wasn't. That wasn't for me. No Xbox or anything. All right. That's why being more creative is something that I enjoy doing. Okay. Speaking of what I do, YouTube, it's ever changing and evolving. In fact, the landscape continues. Ooh, I found a thing I need to fix. Continues to shift. We've moved away from a discoverability world to a recommended world. But I'll tell you this, never abandon the basics and fundamentals that got you to where you are. And by you, I really mean me. We're not gonna stop making certain content because the algorithm suggests otherwise. We'll test and evolve and adapt where needed, but we won't chase the latest fads or trends online. Because there's one thing for sure, fads and trends will come and go. But the key to long term, in my case 16 years, is not chasing and staying focused on consistent quality content. So many. And this is me going off now on the side is so many people chase trends. It was ASMR for a while. It was the. I mean, just fucking. When people tap shit, it just me, ooh, tapping the sound of the bot. Shut up, you losers. It was chasing that trend. It was fidget spinners, it was YouTube shorts, which can be effective in some ways, but really could hurt your channel and hurt many people's channels because you were chasing the vanity views. Yeah, you could end up with 25,000 extra subscribers and you don't have a lot of subscribers because they just click and hit follow. But again, we're in a discoverability world and I don't want to train people on 30 to 90 second content. I want people to understand that I'm going to give you more. Go above and beyond, especially when it comes to teaching and educating, that long form is where it's at. And I know that people will sit and watch long form quality content. I do not buy into the. The adage that, well, people have short attention spans. Yeah, sure, for shit, for garbage. But if you put quality in front of them, they're going to watch. And don't try to make everybody happy. You Try to make everybody happy. You make nobody happy. So if you can make a good amount of people happy who enjoy that long form content, then you're not missing out on the people that just only want to engage in doom scrolling. Or you could make some short form clips, which is a thing people are doing these days. But I find clips to not be valuable either from a consumer standpoint. They give you such, such little information that I find that it's not valuable and just a waste of time because people aren't watching the clip and they're being like, oh, that was episode 196 of Raw Talk. I should go listen to that. They're not. Very rarely are people going to listen to more, especially when they see it on TikTok or Instagram. And the reason is it doesn't directly link to the long form piece of content. Easily for them to be like, oh, that was right here, let me watch the rest of it. So that is a reason that I don't, I don't, I don't chase trends because trends come and go. That's just what they do. But if you stay focused and it's not saying don't grow and it's not saying don't evolve and don't change, but it's saying don't get stuck chasing the next fuzzy thing, the next flashy thing, the next bushy tail continuing on. Part of growing and evolving is branching out beyond YouTube. Though I will say I don't see a day where I won't be posting videos there. I know a lot of channels over the last year or two have announced that they are stopping making YouTube content. Some stick to it and others come back when they realize it really wasn't a bad way to make a living. I understand where my bread is buttered. I understand that without YouTube I'm more than likely not speaking directly to you right now. You. And for those reasons and a few more, I forge ahead. It's not always easy. It does sometimes feel repetitive. But I do feel. Excuse me, but I do feel a sense of obligation to help as many people as possible, at least in the creative photo video world. Now here's a quick story with one of the reasons I decided to start my own videos. I was at a Best Buy in the camera department. The salesperson was answering questions a customer had and told them a great resource for picking gear was this guy named Ken Rockwell. I said I wouldn't recommend that. To which they both looked at me weird, which pissed me off. I knew in I knew the info Being shared was not, in my opinion, quality info. I bet you almost anything that today if someone is in Best Buy and they have a camera question for an employee, they're going to recommend my YouTube videos. And I would agree with that. Yeah, that actually happened. And I also wasn't able to get a job at Best Buy because I didn't pass the muster of their stupid online only form. What do they call it? Application. Their online application. I didn't get picked. And I would call the manager at a store, be like, hey, I'm really good at this. I know what I'm talking about. And they're like, oh, you got to do this. And that's again, why I would be successful on my own, is because I like to do things my way, which is why I don't fit in in corporate. That's why Ritz Camera was A guy would get yelled at for not selling the company lineup but selling people quality stuff. And guess what? I had people coming back to make purchase purchases from me at. At Ritz months later because they realized I wasn't selling them a bunch of bullshit, which is what they trained you to do. They trained you to, you better sell everything to them. Because we need to sell them everything. Cause they're not coming back. Well, if you treated them right, they would come back, you dumb assholes. And that's why one of the reasons Rit's camera is out of business. Anyway, let me pick up. Yeah, so it is true. Someone did have a question and they were like, oh, you should go check out this resource kenrockwell.com I was like, no, you shouldn't. And this was before I started anything. And it's just like, yeah. They look at me like, who are you nowadays? I go in there, it's most likely they. Well, I can't say that the Best Buy employee would know me, but if they're doing their research to help learn, I guarantee you that employees are watching my videos. And they should. If they want to learn about the camera and the pros and cons of selling them, they will watch my videos and try to sell the sizzle. Not to steak. All right, carrying on. I love the fact that I've helped tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people get better at photography. I know I can be abrasive, opinionated, standoffish, and I'm sure a few more adjectives at times. But I hate to see people struggle with learning photography or their buying decisions. And I don't want to see them go. What I think is the Wrong way. And by the wrong way, I mean in parentheses, partially joking, fully joking, the way other people I disagree with might suggest. I just want to kick down the walls between you and quality work. Therefore, this is me adding to this. Basically what I'm saying there is. I think I know better. For real. I think I know best what direction you should go based off of what you're doing. I can give my suggestions, but then people will make their own minds up. That's fine. But I've done this long enough. I know how to get people great photos. I know how to teach people. And I know, like we just did a boot camp here the other day and I was able to, you know, within minutes I can get someone up and running and focused on composing and exposing verse, fighting with their camera or leaving an auto and not liking the results that they get. So, yeah, I believe that people should listen to what I have to say. I'm confident in what I do. And if Steven's listening to this section right now, he's saying, dad, that's arrogant. Stop being arrogant. I'm fucking confident in what I do. So yeah, I believe that. My advice is some of the best out there on what you should do when you're looking for a specific thing for your needs. I like to listen to what people are looking for and I like to give them an opinion and an option based off of their budget on what direction I think they should go. And that's how I sold. That's how I always sold cameras, even before Froknow's photo existed. Back to the text here. So many doors have been opened over the last 16 years because I put myself out there. There's always someone who comes along and says, quote, well, it's easy because you have so, so many. End quote. My reply is simple. We all start with zero fact. Yes, my followers count is large, but it hasn't always been that way. I've continued to build it day in and day out. Yes, doors open easier for me these days, but it took a long time to get here. At the end of the day, I don't know what I'm building towards. I'm still single, I don't have kids, and I'm getting older. I certainly don't want to be defined by just the videos I make. These thoughts have always been in my head as I get older. But I think the saving grace is I've been a late bloomer in so many aspects of my life. I didn't fully succeed. Sorry, I didn't find success that led to making actual money until my 30s. I physically didn't grow very much until after high school and through college, and I've been very late to finding relationships. Maybe that will change, maybe that won't. I'd like to have a family. I'd like to pass along learnings to my own offspring. I'd like to see them grow and turn into their own person people, person persons. I don't know. Hopefully I'll be able to instill something meaningful into them like my parents did for me. At the end of the day, I don't know what I'm building towards. Oh, I just read that next paragraph. It's been 16 and see, that's why I think people like me. I mess up and we keep going. It's been 16 years of building and growing and I have no intention of stopping. Evolving, yes, Stopping, no. I don't know what tomorrow brings, but I intend to keep on keeping on. I love what I do and I appreciate all of the and I know I need to learn how to read. I love what I do and I appreciate all the support I've gotten over the years from people like you. Thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you to everyone who's helped along the way. To you know who you are. Jared Polin froknowsphoto.com PS and it says I will be sending another email this week promoting the I Shoot Raw shirt sale that is currently going on in celebration of 16 years of Fro. Go to store.froknowsphoto.com if you'd like to pick up I Shoot raw shirts. They're $16 each. They are randomly selected. If you order three or more, there's a special gift that comes in. Right now I'm running out of lens cloth, so I might have to pull that promotion and do something else. But if you order three or more shirts, you get that extra thing. And shirts are discounted. Normally they're 25 to $30, so make sure you go and pick them up. The shirt sale will run for roughly another week, and that is basically that. So yeah, this is almost 1400 words that I wrote for you guys. A little bit about what I was thinking this morning as it's the 16th anniversary of froknowsphoto.com it definitely has been a long journey and I hope to continue on. We've got things like Born to Bowl, an HBO show, did stuff with Bernie Sanders and would have been the White House photographer, except he didn't win. Just so many things have happened because of this. If I didn't have this, I honestly have no idea where I'd be or what I'd be doing. Maybe I'd be better off. Maybe I wouldn't be better off. Maybe I would have found something sooner than later. I don't know. And I don't like playing revisionist history, which means I don't like thinking about what you could have changed in the past to affect the future, because it could do just that. It could affect the future in an irrevocable way that would have taken you a different direction. That might not have been good. Go watch the movie About Time. It's one of my all time favorite movies. Great songs from Ben Folds in there. The luckiest is one of the main songs in that. And it's just a really cool, a really cool movie. Yeah, it's called About Time. Right. Let me double check real quick. About Time movie. Oh, yeah, that's absolutely it. It has one of my favorite people in it. Rachel McAdams. I would like to say hi to her and hi, Rachel McAdams. Oh, and Margot Robbie's in it too. And Bill Nydy or Bill Nighy. N I G H Y. It is a. I love that movie. Maybe you won't like it, but I absolutely, I love it. I adore it. So that is where I'm going to leave it. Guys, thank you very much for 16 years of support. I understand not everybody's been here for 16. Some have been here for six. Some have been here for 16. Like, oh, why'd I just forget the. I'm sorry, I just forgot his name. He's been a follower forever and I. And I screwed up. I'm sorry. I just, it just, it was in my brain. Howard Y. That's his name. Howard Yish has been there for 16, if not more. So thank you, Howard, and thank you to everybody else who's been there. Thank you. If you just started following, I appreciate it. The time is now 1:33 in the PM on June 1, 2026. It's a Monday. There are two texts I haven't read on my phone. It's 31% battery life and 76 degrees here in Philadelphia. It's fucking gorgeous today. Anyway, thank you very much for 16 years. Jared Poland, froknowsphoto. Com. See ya.