A Sense of Immediacy

Yesterday (and that would be Sunday, as I am writing this) I did a family portrait. It was more for a friend than a straight-up client. (Note - they paid the sitting fee). I said it would be a few days for them to see the files, and they'd be able to see the images online. It was also done at the end of the day - you know- golden hour light. Park setting, creek below, family on a bridge. You get the picture.

So, what do they want?

(Continued after the Jump)

The photos now, of course. Yes, they saw them on the back of the camera and were happy. No, they don't need them until the end of November (or so they said), but they do want them now.

What do I do? What do I say?

Of course!

They want the online gallery. I'm working on it right now - the files are processing as I type this missive. By delivering to this client when they want, how they want...what will they do? Aside from place print orders, they'll tell their friends! "Man, this guy who did our portrait, he was so easy to work with, and we got our photos so fast it was crazy!"

Three years ago, I ordered 1,000 custom silk-screened CD's. It was somewhat costly, yet it's amazing how, when a client burns a duplicate of my CD (and few have figured out how to do that on the machine in their cubicle, surprisingly) and hand-writes with a Sharpie on it the information, how, somehow, they call and say "can we get a second CD burned and sent. We like the way yours looks." Sure, no problem. Those CD's have paid tenfold what it cost me, just because of the appearance of the disk. (For a CD output charge that's $175, a second CD runs 50% of that, or $87.50. Check pricing at dc photographer pricing, for more on those charges/fees.)

Yet, we are running short on those, with just a few hundred left, and more and more of our clients are looking for online delivery. No more FedEx/DHL shipments. Clients want them uploaded instead. I foresee a day in the next 12 to 18 months where a majority of my clients will have shifted to online delivery requirements, just as they transitioned from wanting digital over film. I already have over a dozen who want online delivery, and no CD's.

Anticipating what your clients want, and assisting them in getting exactly what they want, how they want it, and, where necessary, hand-holding them through the process in the beginning, will make you indispensable to them. Further, delivering it when they want it too, ensures you can continue to enjoy their good graces, and the longevity of benefit that accompanies them.

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

A Cautionary Note: The Un-Changing Photographer

Ten years ago, if I'd offered to wager a dollar that Blockbuster Video would be struggling now, heck, even five years ago, I'd have had a line of people willing to take my "easy bet". Yet today, against innovators like Netflix, iTunes, and so forth, the concept of going to the video store to get a movie, and then paying late fees, seems antiquated and just silly.

Titans of industry - Pan Am, IBM, and Kodak, are but a shadow of their former selves, or gone. I had to chuckle at the repeated presence of Kodak and Fuji hawking film at this past year's PhotoPlus Expo. They're rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

What of previously "hot" photographers? One I recall in particular was photographer Aaron Jones, aka The Hosemaster.

(Continued after the Jump)

Aaron invented an amazing device that allows you to paint with light. After selling it for $6k and up for some time, he sold it to Calumet. Now, I don't know where Aaron is right now, but he's certainly not stayed at the peak he once was, nor anything resembling it. For all I know, he's making a great living doing something else, or shooting magazine work somewhere in the midwest. the point is - he's not repeated his former success as the toast of the town.

I recall a time when the legendary Eddie Adams sought out professional counsel to get his work "rediscovered" by young twenty-somethings who'd never heard of him. The consultant and I discussed the challenges she faced, and how she was able to get people to find him and his talent once again.

Recently, it came to my attention that a highly notable photographer wasn't aware of who Jay Maisel is. The literal master of color who blew people away with his surreal chromes hadn't been a known quantity to someone I consider a major figure in today's photographic community.

Why is this?

Look to current lighting guru Michael Grecco. This Los Angeles photographer is reinventing himself with his new book Naked Ambition: An R-rated Look at an X-rated Industry.

Grecco is taking his considerable talents and turning them onto a subject that doesn't get a great deal of attention in "learn-ed" photography circles. I picked up a copy during one of his talks, and, while it's NSFW, it's certainly a fresh perspective done with style and class.

He's even got a documentary video project to accompany it, and is traveling around the country to discuss his work, both from the past, and this current project. If it comes to your town, make it a point to check it out.



On another note, and arguably on the other end of the spectrum, is Jim LoScalzo's book -Evidence of My Existence that I wrote about back in June (" Go Jimmy Lo", 6/27/07), and is now available. (Check the link from June for some amazing videos that are essentially a prologue to the book).

In it, Jim takes another look at his life, and makes changes that are more geared towards a new family lifestyle, and evolves himself to that end.

Evolving, changing, is not about evolving to survive, per se, or evolving to succeed. Instead, it's about evolving to a place in your life that is what you want, and how you want it.

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Turning Down Business

Do you know who your target audience is? Who it is not?

Every so often, I get inquiries about nude/boudoir photography, and I don't do that type of work, for several reasons. However, I do know of an exceptional person who does, and I refer them to my friend/colleague. On occasion, usually in the Spring, I get a call or two asking if I do senior portraits - I do not. Again, I refer these folks to someone I know. Unless you're a boudoir or senior portrait photographer, the above are probably good examples for you too of the type of work you also don't do. From this point, it's about refining your message even further.

(Continued after the Jump)

Editorial? Portraits? Reportage? Commercial?

Sometimes, you have to make choices, other times, no. The above can co-exist, however, each distinct client base needs to see you in your best light, with best examples of that type of work. Perhaps the way you do this is to, for example, have your wedding photography on a separate website from your editorial work. I have talked several times to photo editors who, when I asked how they came to call me said "I did a search, and first eliminated all those photographers who do weddings..." because they had seen weddings as an option on their website.

You also should understand the power of "no". As in "No, I won't shoot your magazine assignment for $100...", or "No, I don't do pro bono work for for-profit companies..." It's these types of requests that come in...."it'll be a great opportunity for you...", or "everyone will see your photo credit....". The next use of the word "no" comes about for types of photography. As in "no, I don't photograph nudes..." or "no, I don't photograph Bar Mitzvahs..." and so forth.

I know many a photographer who should say no when asked about a particular assignment. Yet, they don't. They simply say "sure..." and then muck it up, producing sub-par results. IF you're going to be this type of a photographer, at least hire assistants and production people, and so forth - specialists - who can hold your hand through the technical issues you'll encounter that you've never had to think about, or deal with. This maximizes your likelihood of success. Far to many a New York photographer can't light themselves out of a windowless room, yet can deliver amazing images because they hired the right assistant who actually does understand strobes and softboxes and transfer edges.

By focusing on your target audience, and delivering in your style is the surest way of sticking around.

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Week In Review, October 21th - 26th, 2007

This week's Week In Review takes us on location to the National College Media Convention being held in Washington DC, as well as the first of three stops of the Flying Short Course during it's local Washington DC stop, enroute Chicago and San Jose, CA.

(Continued after the Jump)

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Thank You Notes

The value of thank you notes - hand written ones - should not be under-estimated.

You've spent a great deal of effort cultivating that great client of yours, one you've wanted to work with for so long, and they've finally entrusted you with your first assignment. After you've delivered the images, and the invoice, what's next? Thanking them for the assignment!

The Washington Post this morning has a short story that had a huge photo illustration of various stationary types - Putting Your Stamp on the Mail, which starts:

(Continued after the Jump)

"There's nothing quite like sorting through a seemingly endless pile of bills, credit card offers and catalogues and unearthing an unexpected prize: a handwritten envelope addressed just to you."

So true. We send out thank you notes all the time, letting our clients know that we appreciate not only the assignments, but even being considered for the assignments we didn't get.

Find a local stationer in your community, and go in and get some attractive and professionally printed thank you notes done. You could just get generic cards, but why not go the extra step and have them printed with your name - or better yet - your company's name, on them?

Send the card along with a complimentary print, or a book you think a client would enjoy, or even by itself just to express your appreciation for the opportunity to have worked with them. Above is one we sent out this morning - simple, and to the point.

Go ahead, it's really easier than you think, and gratifying as well.

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

A Housekeeping Note

It has come to my attention that some readers would rather I not post items about how bad spec is, or what Getty/et al are doing to damage the business, and that, somehow, I should just ignore it, and instead, just do pieces about how we can improve our own businesses.

Not gonna happen. But....

What I will endeavor to do, is whenever I do a piece on an agency, or a piece on spec, or otherwise some form of a criticism, or all-out dissertation on how an organization is bad for photographers, I will post a second piece, at the same time, that fills the requests for "solutions" articles, or otherwise useful information, so, those days will become "two-fer" days, where you'll get two pieces, not just one.

Something for everyone. Everyone benefits. Everyone remains informed.

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Where Does All Your Time Go?

One of the challenges of being self-employed, and especially as a photographer, is the presumption of how our time is spent. Few, if any, photographers know how their day is spent. We can all say, with near certainty, that it's not spent shooting every moment of every day. I would go so far as to say we're not doing nearly as much shooting as we'd like to be.

The follow-on questions become - how do we discern this information, and why would we want to in the first place?

(Continued after the Jump)

To start, grab a notebook, one you can carry around easily. Begin by jotting down everything you do for the next two weeks. 15 minute segments work. Personal items note as such. Categories such as "paying bills, billing clients, paperwork, client conversations, other paperwork, researching online, eating, travel (i.e. in your car/bus/plane), post-production, marketing, networking, and so on. Oh, yeah, include actually making pictures too!

At the end of the two weeks, I think you'll be surprised at the numbers. Anything that takes away from making pictures or activities directly and specifically related to growing your business should be the things you do most. Yet, you will learn that the day-to-day "small stuff" gets in the way of all that. Don't take my word for it - try it on your own and see for yourself.

Learn how to outsource what you're doing that is distracting. Just as we outsourced color printing and slide processing back in the day, and we continue to outsource having our dress clothes dry-cleaned, so to is there value in outsourcing things that are not directly related to growing your business or making photos.

Begin by contemplating outsourcing your scanning of analog to digital files, if you still have any. Consider bringing in someone to do your post-production work, and take calls when you're out of the office - even if that office is a small portion of your home.

You've got a pretty good list of the distractions from your two-week research. Begin by determining what you could outsource immediately, and what you could outsource if you invested time in training someone to do it the way you do.

Then, find the right person - the right fit - to begin to make that happen. You'll be surprised at just how much free time you have now, and how much more focused you can be on your future success.

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Speculative Photography - Introduction

It seems that my post "From the 'Are You Kidding Me?' Department" (October 15, 2007) has engaged a great many photographers in the debate over at Sportsshooter, with 75+ people going back and forth on the subject in this and this message series.

Many of the folks who were writing on the subject opposing speculative photography (a.k.a. "spec") had cogent arguments and interesting perspectives, and many of the folks trying to defend it took the attitude that it was a second or third job, or, a "loss leader", for them. I thought I'd write and echo some of the points, and add a few more of my own. Because this will be a long piece, I am going to break it down into several sections, for your ease of reading.

Read More:

• Introduction
• The Loss of Assets to Leagues and Teams
• Risks and Liabilities for Leagues, Venues, and Teams
• The Credentialing Spectrum
• The SPEC-photographer's Mentality
• Leveraging League and Team Assets to Promote External Income Sources
• The SPEC-agency's Mentality

(Comments, if any, after the Jump)

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Speculative Photography - The Loss of Assets to Leagues and Teams

Allowing Spec photographers to clutter the sidelines is not the same as allowing the AP, Reuters, AFP, Gannett, Knight-Ridder/McClatchy to be there. Each shooting position is, and should be considered, an asset by the leagues and maximized. If you have speculative photographers taking positions that could be better monetized by the team to greater coverage by the local papers/outlets, then allowing organizations who's only investment in the coverage is making a phone call to get a credential, is diminishing the value of these very limited locations.

(Continued after the Jump)

All too often, SID's and PR departments turn away legitimate requests for credentials by media outlets because of space considerations. If Sports Illustrated were to complain about not having enough positions to effectively cover a game because of speculative photographers taking up positions...oh, wait - one of their photographers is listed here as the Managing Member of one of those speculative agencies taking those spaces, so that's not likely to happen. Here's their latest annual filing, as of 4/10/2007, and which we also reported on - US Presswire - Introduction.

It stands to reason that these limited locations should be reserved for people who are going to actually publish a photograph, not look at the seats courtside/on-the-sidelines as the camera being a ticket to the best seats in the house, with ancillary revenues as a fringe benefit, rather than the reason to be there. Those are the expensive "super fan" and big donor seats, so pony up if you want to be there.

Read More:

• Introduction
• The Loss of Assets to Leagues and Teams
• Risks and Liabilities for Leagues, Venues, and Teams
• The Credentialing Spectrum
• The SPEC-photographer's Mentality
• Leveraging League and Team Assets to Promote External Income Sources
• The SPEC-agency's Mentality

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]

Speculative Photography - Risks and Liabilities for Leagues, Venues, and Teams

A common practice in business is to carry liability insurance. I certainly carry a $2m policy in the event that an incident takes place on an assignment and I am sued to determine liability. Every time there is a major event at the US Capitol, they require me and all other press organizations to provide a Certificate of Insurance, listing them as an "also insured", so, in the event I drop something onto someone from my perch making images, or otherwise injure someone, that the Congress isn't liable. Further, on the occasions that I have done weddings, venues like the Four Seasons hotel have a contract that protects them, that requires me to provide a COI.

The leagues have language that talks about errant fly balls, and so forth, but with photographers so close to multi-million dollar player-assets, the risk of their being injured is significant.

Examples abound of problems that have happened:

(Continued after the Jump)

• When John Iacono of Sports Illustrated laid a 600mm lens down on a slanted roof above a seating section during Game 2 of the 2004 World Series, and it slid off, it apparently missed a direct hit onto a fan, but the debris alledgedly was enough to cause one California baseball fan to sue both Sports Illustrated and the photographer, according to the Boston Hearld.


• Sports Illustrated reported an incident where, just before a playoff game a TV cameraman tripped up Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. "It's not a problem. It's not going to stop me. It's not that bad.. I've played through a heck of a lot worse." But it could have been a lot worse. And who would be responsible for the millions that player is worth, or for the damage to the playing ability of the team, and lost revenues from a shortened post-season run?


• An ESPN cameraman was knocked over, as shown here during the College World Series in 2006, and while it could have just as easily been an injury to a player, it was apparently only the cameraman who came away with limited injuries.


• Here is a video showing a photographer causing one of the lead cyclists in the Tour De France to crash.


• Here is a video showing someone not paying attention during warmups, and getting crashed into by a runner. From the looks of it, she was probably hurt, but what about the athlete?


• On a lesser note, ESPN reported "John Daly was injured trying to stop his backswing after being distracted by a fan taking his picture...". While this may be a risk of the game for the player, and not attributable to the professional photographers on hand, for the inexperienced, it could easily happen with hair triggers, especially if those fingers are inexperienced.

If you were a league attorney, you'd want to ensure that those operating a business in your venue has the proper coverage in the event that these things happen to your athletes and fans. Same for Sports Information Directors and team PR staff. WIth all the security on the field protecting the athletes from errant fans, those entrusted to be within the secure perimeter must also be experienced enough to know what they are doing so as to not get in the way, and when an accident does happen, the proper insurance is in place so that damaged assets can have their diminished values recovered.

Further, leagues which allow overhead photo equipment have very specific requirements for safety cables/cords, power, and so forth. They too should be concerned about other things that could affect their player-assets on the side-lines.

Major organizations like Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and the newspaper conglomerates all carry a standard package of insurance, covering their employees' actions while working. Many professional photographers, who earn a living as a photographer, carry insurance covering their loss of equipment from theft, and so forth, and most all of those packages also include either $1M or $2M in liability coverage, standard.

The risk comes when an organization hires a part-time photographer, where they earn their living from another non-photo-related job, and see shooting sports as a way to get better seats, or make a few extra dollars on the side. Most, if not all of these photographers are not carrying standard insurance coverages, if for no other reason than they can't afford it, or they rely on their homeowner's insurance to cover their cameras, and don't carry a separate business policy. If a photographer is producing work at hometown/youth-league sporting games, and carry insurance for that, that coverage will likely not include protections for the photographer working a stadium or other sporting venue on a regular basis.

It would be as simple as those photographers getting season passes to provide a Certificate of Insurance naming the league, venue, and team as an "also insured", or for the media organization to provide the same. The one additional requirement would be that organizations also certify that their coverage covers contractors. One organization - US Presswire, has the following language in their contract, absolving the organization of all liability that results from their photographers:

Indemnification. Photographer hereby agrees to indemnify, defend and hold Agency, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents, harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, actions, causes of action, settlements, damages and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees and court costs) arising directly or indirectly from: (i)the breach or alleged breach by Photographer of any representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by Photographer hereunder; (ii)from any erroneous or inaccurate information supplied to Agency regarding the Images; and (iii) personal injury (including death) or property damage caused by Photographer at any event under credentials issued to Photographer by or through Agency. (emphasis added)

The above language in some form or another, is probably also found in other organizations' contracts, so USPW is not alone in this requirement. However, this type of clause would extract the agency from having to pay, in the event of a lawsuit, and place the league/venue/team in the position of suing an individual photographer, who, for the most part, is "judgement proof." Insuring that your remedies are not limited by a contractual clause between and organization and it's sub-contractors ensures that you can obtain relief in the event of an incident where a loss occurs.

Requiring all photographers to have proper coverage and liability limits is just common sense. In speaking with one of the sub-contractors of one of the major sports leagues' photography departments, the league requires all sub-contractors to carry that insurance. With all the incidents reported above, it's only prudent to require the same of the rest of those working on-field. In fact, not doing so is more than likely accepting an unnecessary liability, and thus, irresponsible.

Read More:

• Introduction
• The Loss of Assets to Leagues and Teams
• Risks and Liabilities for Leagues, Venues, and Teams
• The Credentialing Spectrum
• The SPEC-photographer's Mentality
• Leveraging League and Team Assets to Promote External Income Sources
• The SPEC-agency's Mentality

---

Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.

[More: Full Post and Comments]