Professionalism Counts

[by Judy Herrmann]

Living in a house that’s undergoing major renovations has taught me a lot about professionalism.  Our contractors, José Batista and José Salamanca, take responsibility for every detail.  They’re careful about the sub-contractors they hire, they stand behind the work that’s done, they listen carefully when we explain what we want and take our concerns very seriously.   They offer suggestions to improve the project but always acknowledge that it’s our call, our choice.  They make our problems their problems.  And they solve them.  José Batista said to me the other day, “You know, every job we do, it has my name on it. My name matters to me.”

The carpenters they brought in, Milton and Antonio, sweep up every night.  They take the time to reseal the plastic sheeting between the work zone and our living space every single time they go in or out so our space stays warm and dust-free.  They bring our empty garbage cans up from the street, answer our 3-year-old’s endless questions, and work incredibly hard with amazing efficiency.  They inform us of any problems they encounter but always give us solutions and options at the same time.  They gracefully accept our input even when it means more work for them.  They treat our home with the same respect as they would their own. From big decisions to small niceties, they do the right thing, and they do it consistently.

For the first time in my life, I’m the client on a major project where I’m spending a lot of money and have a lot at stake.  In other words, I’m in the place that my clients live just about every time they hire my studio.  As I write this post, I can hear the plumbers debating the best way to run the radiant flooring to make sure that a room with 8 large windows stays warm.  The roofers are busily pounding nails, the wall guys are mixing cement and the dog’s barking wildly as yet another workman carries stuff up our front stairs.  It’s total chaos but my stress levels are well under control simply because I know my project’s in the hands of professionals.

Fake It

[by Leslie Burns]

One of the biggest problems many, many photographers face in their businesses is being and acting confident. Just today I was speaking with a client who said, essentially, that he’d rather have scalding coffee poured in his lap than have to talk about himself. That’s pretty typical.

Most photographers (and all creatives) are terribly insecure. And yet we see some who appear totally confident, if not downright proud and even egotistical! How do they do that?

For most, they are faking it.

At least at first. They’re scared someone is going to say “I don’t know how you’ve gotten this far!” or “Who do you think you are?!” or the like (we pretty much all fear that), but they just don’t show it. They act confident, regardless of how they really feel. That is the trick.

Just look up “fear” and “courage” on any of the quote sites. You’ll see that generals like Patton have said that everyone is afraid, including the most courageous. Your normal to be afraid. But you can appear confident and courageous on the outside.

When I speak to groups, people talk about how confident I am. Really, I’m scared out of my shoes, every time. But I chose early in my professional life, actively chose, to act like I was having a great time when speaking publicly and, guess what, now I have a great time. That fear has become like the thrill some people get from bungee jumping or riding roller coasters.

So, what I suggest is the well-worn advice of “fake it until you make it.” Imagine what a confident photographer would do in a similar situation and play the part of that photographer. Wear the clothes (costumes really help, so invest in some great outfits), practice things you might say when you’re alone, and next time you have a big meeting, or show your book, or whatever, fake it.

Afterwards, when your heart stops racing and you are alone, review what worked. Think about how you did it. Don’t focus on any mistakes, but instead celebrate the success. And the next time, it will be a little easier, and the next, and the next.

Are You Communicating With Your Key Business Partners?

[by Jim Cavanaugh]

Most photographers spend countless hours developing and implementing marketing programs, direct mail campaigns, e-mail, web communications and social networking all designed to make clients aware of them and their work.

But clients are only part of your business. What about other key support people like your banker  or your CPA? What about your insurance agent, internet service provider, camera shop, printer, design firm and delivery service? All of these key partners play an important role in your business by providing service and advice. Are you keeping them informed? Are they on your e-mail list? Do they receive your promo pieces? Are they linked to you on social networks?

Make sure they are and let them know what your business is doing. If they understand your business, they will be better poised to advise and help you in their areas of expertise.

What is a Professional?

[by Thomas Werner]

A lot of people with guitars can play guitar. The person who plays at the coffee shop is a professional to some, the person who plays at the wedding is a pro to others, the guy doing tours of local or national clubs is a pro to others, and then you have the rock star. The point being that what a Pro is, is often in the eyes of the client or the audience.

The client wants what they want, and in an increasing number of instances they don’t care where it comes from as long as the image works. This goes for editorial, advertising, fine art, video,  and other forms of what we do. This has always been the case, it is just that in the past clients had access to a smaller number of shooters and a different type of imagery was acceptable for public consumption.

So maybe the question isn’t what we think a professional is, that is easy, maybe the question is what does each client think a professional is, when do certain skill sets matter, or not, and what will be the definition of a professional photographer in the future.

Having Confidence

[by Paula Lerner]

There’s a story I sometimes tell about myself when I speak to student groups. Many years ago at the beginning of my career, my husband walked into the room we then shared as an office to find me under my desk. Surprised and bemused, he asked “What are you doing under there??”

I had been attempting to make cold calls to clients, and had gotten cold feet. Rather than face the prospect of talking to people and trying to sell myself to them, I indulged an urge to curl up in a ball and hide under my desk. Eventually I came out, plucked up my courage and started to make calls. When I trusted myself to speak in an articulate manner, I was fine and the people on the other end of the phone were interested in pursuing a business relationship.  The point is that in order to convince others that you’re worth their attention and the money you’re asking for your services, you first must convince yourself that you’re worth it. You will never convince someone else if you don’t believe it yourself, as they will pick up on your cues. It took time, patience and courage to get the rough spots of my presentation worked out, and I made plenty of mistakes along the way. But in the end I learned from my mistakes.  In the end, I was fine because I managed to trust myself, and that trust came through to others.

For what its worth, I have an undergraduate degree in philosophy from a famous ivy league institution (Harvard). Many of the very smart people with whom I went to college were very insecure under the surface (in some cases, extremely so). Some of the most famous, well-respected people I know still get butterflies in their stomachs before they have to present themselves, their work and their ideas to others. Take heart in this, and know that you’re not the only one. The longer you do it, the easier it becomes, even though many of us never get over it completely. Take a deep breath, steady your voice and remember that whoever it is you’re talking with is human too. After its all over you can go collapse in the corner somewhere….

Follow the Lawyers

[by Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua]

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in law school has been to look at both sides of every issue and to negotiate solutions–not as antagonists, but as two “sides” with a common goal. If lawyers can do this successfully, leaving the venom and aggression out of it, photographers and clients can.

Think Different

[by Thomas Werner]

Think of video as more than documentary or an interview; think about how you can use video to create physical and emotional space, architecture, think of ways to immerse people, control their experience. Begin to use video in more ways than just a moving version of your still imagery. Get one step ahead of the game in video instead of playing catch-up for the next ten years.

Jumpstart Your Business

[by Charles Gupton]

While presenting her program, “I Need to Jumpstart My Business,” during a recent visit to our chapter, Judy Herrmann emphasized the importance of developing deeper relationships in one’s approach to business development. More than ever, it’s critical to form alliances and collaborations that will expand opportunities you may have never had before. It can also open doors to your partners’ networks and make your creative vision available to potential clients who would have not known of you otherwise.

For those of us who were taught to bootstrap our success and to never ask for help, collaborations are a difficult practice to embrace. The image of the lone cowboy may have a glimmer of romance to it, but it’s no model for a successful business today.

Building a Cash Reserve

[by Jim Cavanaugh]

Are you building a cash reserve to get you through future financial tough times? Seems like a crazy question to ask in a tight economy. But it’s something you need to do. It’s simple. Just set aside a small percentage of your fees in an interest bearing checking or money market account every time you receive a payment from your clients. Just 5% to 10%. It’s a small amount out of every job, but the amount will grow quickly. If you put away 10% and have $150,000 in fees in a year, you will have built a $15,000 reserve by the end of the year. Start today!

Organize Your Image Collection with a Catalog

[by Peter Krogh]

One of the most powerful tools that we have for making the most of our photographs is an image catalog. Catalogs allow you to organize vast numbers of images into groupings that make sense to you. dpBestflow recommends that all photographers make use of catalog software as a critical component of file management and workflow design. Read about it here at dpBestflow.org.

Stretching Your Wings

[by Judy Herrmann]

A lot of photographers I’ve met recently are avidly searching for ways to expand their businesses and diversify their income streams.  Some are exploring new technologies like digital video, Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) or immersive environments.  Some are looking at education  – joining academic institutions, developing seminars and workshops or creating information products like webinars, podcasts or DVDs.  Others are offering a broader range of services by partnering – formally or informally – with others.

All of them, regardless of what direction they’re going in, are looking to expand beyond the core competency (still photography) that’s been the mainstay of their careers.

A 2006 Bain and Company study of US retailers expanding into adjacent businesses offers some valuable insights that anyone looking to diversify should consider. The study discovered three principles that dramatically increase the chances of successful expansion:
1) Look for new businesses that are close to your core business.
2) Concentrate on markets with larger profit margins than your core area.
3) Estimate the potential for growth in that market before entering it.

The companies Bain studied that didn’t follow any of these principles had just a 6% success rate.  Those that followed one principle increased their chances for success to 30% while those following at least two of these principles had a 60% or higher chance of success.

Go here for the full study.

Spending Your Money Wisely on Digital Image Storage

[by Richard Anderson]

With every New Year, digital photographers, (which is pretty much all of us now), face decisions about how to make room for a new years worth of image files.

Most of us have been shooting digitally long enough to know approximately how many gigabytes we create in a year’s time. It has inched up as we traded up to higher megapixel cameras of course, but the good news is that hard drives have become larger and cheaper. So what is the least painful way to accommodate these growing collections?

There has always been a lot of buzz about RAID enclosures, but I would propose that buying the largest available drives and arranging them in JBOD enclosures is the easiest, cheapest, safest, and most workflow friendly arrangement for digital image storage.

I’ll make my case:

• Easiest—Each drive needs to be backed up. Take a 2 TB drive and fill it to approximately 75% capacity. Now do the same with a second 2 TB drive. Now your hard drive storage is properly backed up. Easy!

Take the backup drive offsite for maximum protection. If that isn’t an option, keep the backup drive disconnected and only connect it when you need to synchronize with the primary drive.

• Cheapest—In a JBOD setup- you get full value of the drive cost because you get to use the whole drive for storage. With any RAID other than RAID 0, you lose some portion of the drive space to redundancy. With RAID 5, you will lose the entire capacity of one of those 2 TB drives. On an energy saving note, RAID arrays keep all the drives running when they are on. A JBOD enclosure can have drives on or off independently of each other.

• Safest— If RAID 5 didn’t have to be backed up, you’d come out ahead moneywise, but unfortunately RAID 5 doesn’t protect you from data loss due to equipment failure, file corruption, Fire, theft, or other disasters, so you will still need to back up all the data on the RAID, the same as you would for JBOD. I have discovered that many people don’t back up their RAID 5 setups because they focus on the word “redundant” and figure they’ll take the risk. Since JBOD is cheaper, there is less temptation to “cheap out” and not make your setup truly redundant.

An important fact that impacts safety is that in a RAID 5 setup, when one disk fails, there is a high chance that a second one will fail.  The theory behind the error correction in RAID assumes that failures of drives are independent. It is often the case that the drives making up the RAID are the same ages. Since all drives are on when the RAID is on, this means that they all have the same number of hours of use. This means that the chances of failure of all the drives in a RAID are statistically correlated. Occasionally, manufacturers have a run of bad drives. Think about what happens if the RAID is made up of these drives.

• Workflow friendly—RAIDs are great until you run out of space. At that point, you will need to offload ALL of the data on the RAID, rebuild it with larger drives (or get a bigger box), and then restore ALL of the data back. It can take 6 to 8 hours to migrate each 2TB of data using a validated transfer utility. If you skip the verification, you will save some time, but you can never be sure that every “bit” of your data has transferred and is uncorrupted. With JBOD, you can migrate your data to larger drives on a less hectic schedule because you only have to do it one drive at a time.

Data Robotics DROBO enclosures relieve some of the pain of scaling up your storage capacity because you can mix and match different drive sizes. DROBO enclosures still consume more drive space than JBOD however, and the data contained on a DROBO still needs to be backed up.

My advice is to stay away from the fancy boxes. Get a sturdy multi-bay drive enclosure and a double set of 2 TB drives. It’s Easier, cheaper, safer, and more workflow friendly IMHO.

For more information on hard drive storage go here.

Investing In Efficiency

[by Paul Bartholomew]

Most of us try to cut back on expenses, but when does it affect our productivity and time? We often decide on the bigger monitor, the faster computer, the better camera and the list goes on.  Sure, this all costs money but think positively about the investment if it saves you time.

Your time is valuable and it’s important to free yourself as much as possible. I thought about this a lot over the past year. Besides equipment upgrades, I no longer manage my own website and my marketing is now handled by someone who is more knowledgably and efficient. Does this cost me extra money? At first, but it becomes profitable rather quickly and I can concentrate on being a photographer.

Are You Planning for the Future?

[by Jim Cavanaugh]

In challenging economic times, our business focus often becomes one of survival. How will we pay the bills due at the end of this month?  How can I get that next job in the door? While getting work and paying current bills are urgent issues, they are not the most important issue.

The truly important issue and bigger challenge is the tremendous change taking place in our industry. We are seeing a massive shift from traditional print publication to web and other electronic delivery systems. While this shift has been going on for well more than a decade, the changes are accelerating at a remarkable rate with the growth of bandwidth and the flood of new digital devices to access content.

We are also seeing a rapid shift from the practice of simply placing an electronic version of a print publication on a web site. We are seeing the evolution of completely new forms of electronic publication designed for greater interactivity between the content provider and the viewer. Social network platforms have grown exponentially in importance for communication. Video and motion imagery are core components for these new forms of publication. And it’s not limited to editorial and advertising markets. A great untapped market is corporations’ web sites, e-commerce platforms and e-communications.

Are you planning for these changes? Does your business plan address the need for education and capital investment in new technologies? Are you exploring the concept of partnering with other creative people to offer more comprehensive services? Are you talking with your clients to learn how they see themselves becoming involved with these new technologies? Are you applying these new avenues of communication in your own marketing?

If you are only reacting to current economic pressures and not spending some time each week learning about and planning how to take advantage of these major changes, you may unexpectedly find yourself looking at a career change, even after the economy improves.

Continued Convergence

[by Gail Mooney]

My thoughts on the future – in a word convergence.  I see continued convergence with the tools we use as visual communicators – still cameras and video cameras becoming one and the same.  And with that, the convergence of the two industries – still photography becoming part of larger production companies that will facilitate the video/motion needs of a client, as well as their still photographic needs.  This may be done with one camera, a high-end video camera, fully capable of producing high quality “frame grabs” that will be delivered to clients for their still image needs. I think we’ve only begun to see hybrid cameras being developed by the manufacturers.

As society continues to move more and more to an electronic platform and away from print as a means for communication, we will expect more than static imagery.  We will expect sound and movement.  And as technology enables the electronic pipeline to deliver information faster and seamlessly, the Internet will become our primary source for information.

The good news is that the Internet is open to all – a conduit for the democratization of communication.  But is this really true?  Or, will the information that we get be ranked by entities like Google?  Will this ultimately effect the distribution of what information we get as a society?  Those are the questions that run through my head and should be in everyone’s psyche.  Because if or when the Internet becomes our primary means of communication we must be diligent in keeping it open. We must be the watchdogs now to make sure that control isn’t secured by the few who are making the rules in their favor.
You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.

I think there will always be print, just like movies were still made when TV came along.  But it will be a niche in a greater array of visual platforms.  It may become something more high end, something that is meant to be kept, rather than be recycled at the end of the day.

My thoughts on the future are just that – thoughts and speculations.  It’s anybody’s guess really what the future holds.  But we are all creating the future now with the choices we make and let others make for us.

So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

[by Richard Kelly]

No one predicting the future ever seems to get it right. So, I shouldn’t try either. Instead I am going to share what I am starting to see happen. 
 
Traditional “old media” Publishers are still trying to figure out how to survive the shift from print to pixels. One way would be to collaborate with creative contributors, like photographers and writers, as partners rather than just expenses, sharing both the creative process and the revenue. In the meantime, photographers are collaborating with editors and other creative partners to create new outlets.
 
Three examples of photographers collaborating with other creatives and creating channels delivering content to the consumer:

Consequences by NOOR
The photographers’ collective NOOR was founded in Amsterdam in 2007 with a mission to pool resources and interests to produce, exhibit and promote both individual and group projects by  its members.

Lonny Magazine
An online magazine created by a former magazine designer Michelle Adams and photographer Patrick Cline.

Demotix
A citizen-journalism website and photo agency. It takes user-generated content and photographs from freelance journalists and amateurs, and markets them to the mainstream media.

Memories of Futures Past

[by Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua]

This term in law school, I am taking Entertainment Law, which will involve exploring many of the issues photographers face. My very first reading for that class was a series of articles about what might happen in the near future in movies, TV, music, and book publishing. The articles were fascinating–a series of insiders’ thoughts and well-reasoned predictions. They were also mostly very wrong. And they were all written between 1999-2001.

In other words, I read the predictions of future past and, like so many predictions, the industry experts missed more than they hit.

So, when I was asked to think about the future of our industry and write about it for this blog, my readings gave me pause. I thought about it, and here’s what I think about the future: it’s going to happen no matter what any of us say about it and to try and predict it is, at best, guess-work.

With that in mind, here is what I guess may happen in the relatively near future:

1) Technology is still on a wickedly steep upward curve for change. There are going to be more and more inventions and many of them will cause effects in our industry and our clients’ industries. It will be difficult, but important, to keep up.

2) Publishing is not going to die, but it is folding into its chrysalis and what the butterfly will be is still too amorphous to know. Best guess: some format of e-mags will take over for most print mags; books will move more into the e-world, but still be in print for a long time. Look to how the Apple tablet works to see what the future really holds there–let’s see if it’s an iPod or a Newton (bonus guess: I say “iPod”).

3) Images will be more, not less, important in the new publishing and in the advertising  and even corporate worlds. However, more of those images will be in motion. Still photography won’t disappear, but it will become more art and less commerce over time. For now, exploring motion is a good idea to see if you will be able to express your vision (and your clients’) with that medium.

The one thing I can say with a high degree of certainty is that no matter what the future holds, your success depends on you continuing to develop your own unique vision and to get that out to your targets.

Future Success

[by Rosh Sillars]

The last decade brought the standardization of digital photography, an increased interest in the craft and the commoditization of photographic images.

Many of the bread-and-butter jobs that once fed our families are now gone. Let it go and don’t look back.

Change is constant. Turn around and face the future. Technology, which has taken our opportunities, now offers new possibilities.

Photographers can be more creative than ever with higher quality image capture, unbelievable post processing and multimedia opportunities.

The Internet and social media have eliminated the barriers to sharing your vision with an international audience.  Photographers are connecting with people in cities, states and countries not even on the radar just a few years ago.

Over the next year we will hear more about real-time applications and augmented reality. People will become more connected, social and mobile.

In the future, photographers will need more creativity, communication and marketing skills to succeed.  One thing that will not change: people and relationships. They are and will continue to be the foundation of a photographer’s success.

Computational Photography

[by Jay Kinghorn]

As we close the book on the first decade of the 21st century and look forward to the next 10 years, computational photography looks to make the greatest technological impact on the craft of photography as we know it.

Computational photography is a broad, if imprecise, term most often used for any imaging techniques that expand upon the normal capabilities of a digital camera. Common examples are High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos or panoramas, the outcomes of which are digital photographs that could not have been taken by a traditional camera. Less established technologies allow a photographer to set focus and depth of field on their computer instead of in-camera.

Most examples of computational photography use multiple images to enhance the quality, or flexibility of a single image. For example, when using a high ISO setting in low light, a camera will automatically capture a quick burst of images. The image processing software (either on-camera or on the computer) compares the content of the images, separating detail from image noise. The noise is discarded and the detail preserved. Other techniques still in the lab use still photos taken at regular points during a video clip to improve the detail, tonal range and quality of video footage, or allow an artist to relight a scene in post-processing to tease out hidden detail.

These technological improvements should be embraced as they come to light, because they will allow photographers to capture, create and publish photos in new and even more compelling ways. While the tools of the future of photography are important, ultimately it’s the creativity and artistry that’s applied to them that will help people tell stories that continue to move, engage and inform.

Looking forward, a photographer’s ability to exploit new opportunities and assimilate new technologies into their workflow will be a defining characteristic of the future of photography. The profession of photography will be less about being a technician and more about being a visual artist fluent in the language of color, shape line and light who communicates across mediums with greater facility than any technician ever could.

Mozart in the Barn

[by Sean Kernan]

I’m just back from doing a creativity seminar for photographers and art directors at General Mills. In gathering my thoughts for it, I considered how the kind of eye-opening and thought-provoking work I do with people might really be justified in business terms. Of course, I think the value is obvious, and so did the folks at General Mills, since I was going at their initiative. But I’m sure it would be tough arguing the point to the accounting side at a lot of companies, particularly in a downturn.

The day before the workshop I stopped in at the Minneapolis Art Institute and spent a few hours among their fantastic collections. And as I was leaving I noticed the donor list by the entrance. There at the top—General Mills.

I doubt that such philanthropy really generates enough revenue there in the company’s home town to cover the donation, and nothing at all outside of town. But there it was. Set against ROI is this idea that there are returns that can’t be measured in dollars, but that effect the community, which comes back to effect the donor. It’s a circle. (Or maybe it’s fractal, I’m not sure.)

I wanted to express this for my workshop wrap-up, but if you can’t measure it, it is also hard to express it in words. Then it came to me!

“Happy cows give more milk.”

It was a good laugh line for our group, but it is also a clear and quick analogy. The more rounded and balanced the rest of our life is, the more that we will be present and focused at work. Conversely, a whacked-out life will mess things up on the job.

It all weaves into a circle. True in the corporate setting, true for free-lancers as well. It adds up to a good argument for consciously making our lives rounder, more balanced. And who is that up to? Guess.