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The Next Step

By Mikkel Aaland

During the last few months I’ve had the privilege to interview a number of photographers who’ve transitioned into one or more aspects of digital photography. In the midst of mostly technical and creative discussions a purely practical topic always emerged: how to make a living in these tough times and how to make digital photography pay. I know a lot of smart, business-savvy people are tackling the issues of how much to charge for new skills and services. I have no doubt that useful guidelines will be established soon. However, I am most interested in addressing another business-related topic that often occurred in my interviews: How to replace dying revenue streams with new ones.This is a subject close to my heart. More and more I hear from clients that they’ve bought their own, usually digital, cameras and that they are now doing much of the shooting themselves. In my interviews I heard other photographers are experiencing this as well.

Not long ago this happened with one of my larger clients. This time, instead of hitting my head against the wall in frustration, I approached the same client who was constructing a walk-through Web-site, with a portfolio of interactive panoramic images. I used QuickTime VR technology to create these dramatic 360 degree scenes. It was quickly apparent to my client that they couldn’t do this themselves. I landed a nice contract and because the work was similar to film production I was able to bill for rental costs and post-production as well. The client was thrilled with the result and never questioned expenses that could have been challenged if this were a standard still photography shoot.

(I’ve heard similar testimonials from photographers who have immersed themselves into digital video, and are offering these services as well.)

Clients who no longer order additional prints because they scan the original and make copies of their own represent another dying revenue stream. For many photographers this makes a serious dent in the bottom line. Only a few photographers I know are aware they can post digitized images with commercial services that automate the process of providing prints. Clients go to the Web site 24/7, order prints and pay prices determined by the photographer. The commercial service does all the work, including delivering the print to the client, and after deducting a standard printing charge, credits the photographer the difference. This won’t stop some clients from scanning images and making their own prints, but it streamlines the process so most clients will find it easier to use the service.

For a good reference to online photo services I suggest going to: [www.andromeda.com/people/ddyer/photo/albums.html].

Bringing clients and traffic into a Web site can reap other benefits as well. I know that many photographers spend thousands of dollars to design and put up beautiful Web sites. It also costs hundreds of dollars a month to maintain these sites. Wouldn’t it be great to recoup some of these costs, and even make money directly from a Web site? I’ve been adding associate links to amazon.com , barnesandnoble.com and hoodman.com, (makers of a digital camera product that I particular like) to my site. If a visitor to my site clicks through and makes a purchase with any of my associates, I automatically get a percentage of the sale. During the last six months I’ve received about $600. Not a lot of money but I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg. A worthy project for ASMP would be to publish a list of potential associates so our members could add links of their own.

And then there is Ebay. Nothing has revolutionized Internet commerce as much as Ebay, making it easier than ever to buy and sell photographic equipment and to sell prints and other services as well. I interviewed one photographer who financed a trip west by selling a lens. Having gone digital, he was using Ebay to liquidize his film-based cameras. Another photographer was actually successfully selling framed prints of famous rock and rock stars.

I could fill pages with anecdotes like this, but you get the idea. Sure, there is important work that needs to be done in educating clients on the real expense of digital photography and coming up with a standardized nomenclature that we can use. There should also be an equal amount of energy going into finding and communicating new ways for photographers to make a living doing what they do best: creating beautiful and compelling images.

I once saw a two-frame cartoon that sums up these times up very well: In one frame a man faces a seemingly insurmountable wall. In the next frame the same scene is zoomed out and we see that the wall isn’t really a wall but just one step in a staircase leading ever-upwards.

Mikkel Aaland is a San Francisco-based photographer/writer who has written numerous books on the subject of digital imaging.

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