Photographers Helping Photographers

[by Judy Herrmann]

Photographers helping Photographers

A few weeks ago, ASMP Minneapolis-St. Paul hosted my I Need to Jumpstart My Career seminar.  After the program, I went out for a bite with a small group of attendees including Steve Umland, who had served on the ASMP National Board in the 1980s, Bruce Kluckhohn, whose tenure on the National board overlapped with mine and Karl Herber, who’s currently serving as the chapter’s Treasurer.

As we were sitting down, Steve relayed a story about a shoot he’d done several years ago in Dallas.  He’d never shot there before, he said, and needed help lining up resources.  So he phoned the president of the Dallas ASMP chapter, who was home, in bed, with the flu.  Steve explained what he needed and a couple hours later, this flu-stricken stranger in Dallas had sent him a comprehensive list of reliable local resources.

Laughing loudly in agreement, Bruce told us of several similar experiences with ASMP members across the country. “I got my best client through ASMP!” Karl announced.  Several years ago as a chapter volunteer, helping to organize a members-only exhibit, he asked an Art Director he respected to jury the show.  The A.D. got to know Karl in his capacity as the organizer, saw his work in the show and invited him to estimate on a project.  They’ve been working together steadily ever since.

As the evening wore on, I watched the pair of young emerging photographers at our table avidly soak in the stories and anecdotes, gleaning tidbits of wisdom and advice between the jokes and laughter.
There’s no doubt that ASMP’s actions on a macro level – advocacy, information, education – have placed our Society on the map.  But each and every one of us contributes to ASMP’s success by sharing these moments, being part of these stories and practicing these small, yet life-changing acts of kindness and generosity towards our peers and our colleagues.

Judy Herrmann, photographer, business consultant and former ASMP national president volunteers on ASMP’s Strategic Research and Web Oversight committees. Learn more about her at www.HSstudio.com

My Road Map to Success

[by Jenna Close]

6 months after graduating from photography school, I was lucky enough to attend Strictly Business 2 in Los Angeles.  The timing could not have been better, as I was new to the San Diego area and had just begun to think about setting up my business.  At that point I was an ASMP member but had yet to really utilize or become involved with the organization.  Strictly Business 2 provided two major benefits for me and my company.

One: I met and socialized with members of my local chapter of ASMP who were also attending the workshop and I learned more about what it meant to be involved on the board.  I was invited by the chapter president to attend a board meeting, and since I wanted to continue the relationships I had established at SB2, I agreed.  I am now the VP of the chapter and count my ASMP member colleagues as some of my closest friends.

Two: SB2 provided me with a road map to a successful business.  For someone just hanging out their shingle, this was absolutely priceless.  I received more valuable information in that one weekend than anywhere else in my studies.  Since then, I have implemented as much as possible from the workshop and watched as it took effect.  3 years later, I still refer to my notes from the conference when presented with a challenge.

I can say with certainty that without the SB2 experience my business would not have grown as quickly or as completely as it has, and my support network would not be nearly as large.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  Contact Jenna at jenna@p2photography.net

Glad to Help

[by Todd Joyce]

Environmental portraits in nineteen cities in three months was the commitment.   It seemed easy…  Nineteen in twelve weeks.   After about three weeks, it was apparent that the client was dragging their feet and was taking their time in getting the info for me.   As the deadline was approaching, it was obvious that I was going to have to do some “hoop jumping” to meet the deadline.

The client wanted to book my travel so there were times that I was being told where I was going, the day before I was leaving.   “You’re going to Atlanta tomorrow and your flight leaves at 7am” was the kind of call I would get.   It was quite a commitment for me, but without ASMP, I would never have been able to do it.   Every time I would find out where I was going, my first call was usually to the ASMP area president to get recommendations for an assistant and a makeup stylist.   Every time I would call one of the presidents, I was treated wonderfully.  “Sure, I’d be glad to help” often came the reply.

One last minute notice came on a Tuesday evening, that I was going to Las Vegas the next morning to shoot the next day.   If you are familiar with ASMP chapters, the nearest chapter to Vegas is Los Angeles, which is over four hours away.  I knew I needed to find someone in Vegas to recommend an assistant and a stylist, instead of someone in Los Angeles.   In a bit of a panic, since it was almost 5 pm in Vegas, I called an ASMP member there.   He answered and was very nice.   I told him what I needed and he said, “can I call you right back?”   I said “sure, I guess.”   I mean, I was desperate because of the last minute nature, but I was asking him for the favor.   As I waited, I looked for another member to call.  I tried another and no answer.   It was now after five and I knew I was in trouble.   As I was looking for another member to call, the phone rang.   It was the first photographer I had spoken to, calling me back.   His first words to me were “I have an assistant and a stylist booked for you.”   I was astonished.   He wasn’t putting me off, he had asked to call me back so he could make a few calls to set up what I had needed.   He said he understood the position I was in and just wanted to help.   “I’m glad to help a fellow ASMP member,” was how he said it.

Todd Joyce is a recent Past President of ASMP and specializes in conceptual people photography for advertising. See Todd’s work at joycephotography.com and contact him at todd@joycephotography.com

Phase One Buys Expression Media

Microsoft has sold Expression Media to Phase One, the Danish company that makes Phase One cameras and Capture One software.

Phase One is offering the following to existing customers:
* Capture One owners can get a free copy of Expression Media
* Expression Media owners can get a free copy of Capture One
* iView owners can get a free copy of Expression Media 2

Details available here. Offer good for the next month.

I am a Strictly Business 2 Grad

[by Kevin Lock]

The American Society of Media Photographers Strictly Business 2 was a defining weekend for me.  It was the beginning of a series of significant and concrete ASMP experiences that continue to positively affect my business some two years later.

That weekend I received a wealth of information, was introduced to leaders from chapters around the country and I connected with over a dozen photographers from my own chapter (over half of us had not even met). It was the beginning of relationships with numerous photographers that have become good friends in the interim.  Today I can call upon this core group of photographers, when I require assistance, advice, to talk pricing, copyright and for clarification on a myriad of issues.

SB2 was also a turning point in my involvement with ASMP.  That weekend reaffirmed the importance of my commitment to the ASMP and what our organization offers our community.  It also provided a platform to connect and recruit an energetic group that has lead our chapter forward in difficult times.

SB3 is currently in the planning stages.  I encourage you to continue your involvement with the ASMP and to keep your eye out for this incredible opportunity.  When SB3 is officially announced, my suggestion is to drop anything you might be doing that weekend and run, don’t walk, to a weekend that is guaranteed to change your business.

Kevin Lock is a photographer based in southern California.  Recently he was elected to the National Board of Directors for the ASMP.  Contact Kevin at kevin@lockphoto.com

Step Up

[by Thomas Werner]

Soon after taking over the ASMP New York Chapter in 2001, our city and our industry was thrown into a dramatic state of change due to 9/11. Work virtually stopped as ad agencies and magazines did not know what to do next, photographers were lowering their rates in an alarming fashion just to get enough work to stay in business, and stock imagery was rapidly taking a larger piece of the pie due to lower prices and the growing role of the internet. This all left me with a lot more time to work with the NY Chapter and for networking to build new avenues for my career.

That manifested itself in my moderating a series of panel discussions; one of which brought together the leading stock agencies, another focused on editors in the editorial field, and yet another hosted leading gallerists and corporate collections in fine art photography. Each of these events allowed me to meet, befriend, and later work with people that I would not have had the opportunity to otherwise meet. More importantly, as the moderator it allowed us to meet as equals and discuss important issues of the day.

Many of these relationships have directly benefited my business as a commercial and fine art photographer, as well as an educator. I was lucky enough to receive jobs and personal referrals as a direct result of these presentations. Jobs and referrals that helped support and diversify my business at time when I was struggling. Additionally, unbeknownst to me faculty and administrators from a local university were also attending these presentations. That lead to an adjunct position teaching business practices, then to teaching a three course schedule, and finally to my becoming the BFA Director of the Photography Program at Parsons The New School for Design in NY. This also lead me to get my MFA in New Media and Performance, and opened the door to my producing photographic research and series of visual projects in Russia.

None of this would have happened if I had not stepped up, reached out to local experts in out community and then partnered with them to produce programming beneficial to our industry and our chapter. Too often we wait for people to find us, to approach us with opportunities, to recognize our talent. It is essential for you to begin to create your own opportunities and to let  more people know how diverse your talent really is.

The bottom line is, if you want to diversify your career, network, and open the door to new business opportunities I would strongly advise becoming an member of your local ASMP board or that of another local organization, and then proposing and producing programming for your group. You never know who you will meet who may increase your income, diversify your business, change your career, or in my case, change your life.

Keep Playing

[by Jenna Close]

Trying out new tools can lead to new discoveries.  Experiment with flashlights, LEDs, toy cameras and different reflective surfaces and objects.  Heck, don’t just experiment…PLAY.  You might find something to add to your bag of tricks.  Take, for example, this behind the scenes video of the Hennessy light painting campaign shot by Atton Conrad.

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  Contact Jenna at jenna@p2photography.net

Keep Your Blog Safe

[by Rosh Sillars]

Someone hacked the New Media Photographer site last week. It was a high-level attack through the GoDaddy.com servers.

These attacks have occurred in last six weeks to blogs and Web sites large and small. You might want to enlist a service to monitor your site such as sucuri.net . If you discover your site has been hacked they have scripts and tips to help clear your system.

I was able to clean out my site in forty-five minutes using their recommendations.

What tips would you share to protect your site?

Rosh Sillars is a veteran photographer, digital marketing consultant, host of www.newmediaphotographer.com and co-author of the book Linked Photographer.

Preserving Your Options in Photoshop

[by Judy Herrmann]

Want to keep the most flexibility with your data but still work in Photoshop?  Try using Smart Objects.
Smart Objects allow you to import a stand-in layer that references your RAW data.  The stand-in functions similarly to a normal layer – you can apply several different types of filters, add layer masks, apply adjustment layers, and more – but double-clicking on the smart object takes you right back to Adobe Camera Raw [ACR] where you can reprocess the RAW data if desired.  Your smart object will automatically update using the new ACR processing parameters you set.

Smart Objects don’t just let you reprocess the RAW data in ACR, they also allow you to resize the file or transform it and get back to the original size and shape without any loss of quality.  You can even crop (inside ACR) and remove or change the crop later.

There are some things you can’t do with Smart Objects – certain filters can’t be run on them and you can’t do any pixel level editing directly on the Smart Object (though you can create a transparent layer and retouch on that with the “sample all layers” box checked).

To create a smart object from within Adobe Camera Raw, click on the processing options tab (blue link in the lower-center area) and check Open In Photoshop as Smart Object. In Lightroom, select Edit In Photoshop as Smart Object from the Edit In menu. In Photoshop, use the File > Open as Smart Object command and navigate to your proprietary RAW or DNG file.

Top right: This crop at 100% magnification shows how sharp and clear a Smart Object (shown full frame at left) remains after being sized down to 216 x 288 pixels and then sized back up to full capture size (3024 x 4032 pixels).

Bottom Right: The same RAW file, exported into Photoshop as a normal pixel layer and resized the same way results in a pixelated, unsharp image at 100% magnification.

Judy Herrmann has taught seminars on digital photography since 1995 and is a presenter for ASMP’s dpBestflow program, I Need A Workflow That Works For Me.

Maintain Your Marketing Momentum with a Google App

[by Carolyn Potts]

When it comes to increasing your productivity– for the non-image-making part of your business–there are many great applications to choose from. Lots of people use Apple’s Mobile.me account. Yet there’s another good way of developing the workflow of integrating all of your contacts, tasks, and calendar events–no matter what operating system you use– and it lives within the free universe of Google apps. (There are even more feature-rich applications that a developed solely for the purpose of managing the sales and marketing aspects of your business, but that will be the subject of a future blog post).

Google has created yet another great productivity tool called TASKS. If you have a Google account, you can use it to help you take regular and weekly steps in implementing your marketing plan. 

Use TASKS to create a marketing to-do list filled with daily, weekly, and monthly “micro-steps” E.g. find the address & phone number of three prospects/add them to mailing list/pick image for June mailing/create subject line for promo/etc.Then add those items to Google TASKS. 

If you use Gmail, your preferences can be set-up to allow you to create tasks alarms, add items to your calendar, and always see your tasks list whenever you check your email. Because you can access and update your progress from any internet-enabled device, you can maintain a good marketing momentum. Enjoy the thrill of ticking off the check-box! Daily progress creates real progress.

Carolyn Potts, perpetual photo evangelist; international consultant & speaker; and former photo rep, shows seasoned & proactive photographers how to get more work. Find her at www.cpotts.com

Save and back up your Photoshop Actions

[by Jay Kinghorn]

Don’t forget to save and back up your Photoshop Actions. Should Photoshop crash, you will lose any unsaved Actions. More likely, unsaved actions can be lost when you reinstall Photoshop or switch computers.

To save your Actions, first group them into Action Sets then single-click on the Action Set within the Actions panel and select Save Actions from the flyout menu in the upper right corner of the Panel.

I recommend saving your actions immediately after creating or modifying your Actions and integrating them into your regular file backup routine. Losing the Actions you rely upon daily to process images can be a significant blow to your productivity.

Jay Kinghorn is a workflow trainer and consultant. His company, Kinghorn Visual helps companies use photos and video for marketing and outreach purposes.

ASMP Copyright Symposium Videos

On April 21, 2010, the American Society of Media Photographers presented an important symposium in New York City addressing the sweeping changes in the way images are used and distributed. The symposium, Copyright and the New Economy: Issues & Trends Facing Visual Artists, was a big hit with the packed TimesCenter audience. According to ASMP President Richard Kelly, “During the coming year, ASMP plans to lead in moving forward on copyright issues and identifying sustainable business solutions for our changing world.”

Videos of individual presentations and the panel discussion are available here.

Copyright Is Important, But Not Like It Used To Be

[by Thomas Werner]

Copyright is an important right, it affirms ownership, allows us to protect our rights, helps control usage, and gives us the ability to collect damages when our imagery is misused. Though too few do so, as a content creator copyrighting your images, video, animation, etc., continues to be good business.

What has, and will continue to change, is the manifestation of your copyright in both the commercial and non-commercial marketplace. There are a number of forces changing the focus and function of copyright. The first is contractual, as clients continue to ask for ownership, or full rights of release in print and online, you will not only see individual ownership of imagery decline, but also see a rise in how imagery is used in the market place. Clients need to repurpose imagery in multiple forms. Video, photography, graphics, animation, etc., are put into the market with the hope that they are reposted and reused. That is what viral marketing is about, it drives the clients message deeper into the market place, and hopefully onto the personal pages of Facebook, Twitter, etc., at which point the posting of that image, ad, or video becomes a “personal recommendation” of the product, an end result that advertisers have been working to achieve for years.

This also changes the public’s perception regarding fair use. The general public is being “taught” that reuse of an image or video is good, to have a large number of people take or view your work for free it is a positive and normal practice. It is that perception that is driving the value out of your copyright and forcing companies to ask for outright ownership of your work. Given the nature of advertising, increased liability, and the need for viral communication, clients would be foolish not to ask for complete ownership or full rights of use.

In addition to the above, there is also generational gap in the perception of fair use and copyright, a change in how imagery is used to populate blogs and zines online, a move away from a “search based” (think Google) to a “socially based” (think Facebook) method of finding and receiving information, a move from computer to portable device based engagement with each other and media, and a need to redefine and expand educational fair use, all of which are and will affect the value and scope of your copyright as well. I will address these issues in later posts.

On the plus side, as greater control, corporatization, and monetization of the web continues to occur there will be greater control exerted over the use of content and how people pay for it. The desire for profit will drive the desire to exert greater control over content. On the downside, as a pure content producer you will see a decreasing slice of that pie. That doesn’t mean that you should not copyright your work, you should, but it does means that where and how those rights apply will most likely diminish, as will the amount you receive should your imagery be infringed.

Copyright & The New Economy: What I learned

[by Jay Kinghorn]

The Copyright & The New Economy symposium held on April 21st was, for me, an eye-opening event. As the moderator for Copyright and the New Economy, I did a lot of research leading up to the event. A common thread that ran through the research, the morning presenters and the afternoon panel discussion point to a publishing landscape for photographers that is radically different than today. This landscape, while challenging, holds tremendous promise for photographers willing to proactively seek out new opportunities and new ways of serving clients.

I’ve spent a good deal of time mulling over and replaying the kernels of information presented through the symposium, and here are a few lessons I’ve taken from the event.

- Be an explorer: Photographer Chase Jarvis seems to embody many of the traits I think will be essential for thriving in this new landscape. He’s willing to take risks and experiment in the services he delivers to clients and doesn’t tie himself to traditional notions of what a photographer should be if those notions aren’t serving him well today.

- Be a publisher: Brian Storm, of MediaStorm.org, clearly articulated his vision for the future of photojournalism-multimedia presentations that educate, raise awareness and generate profit for those sites willing to publish MediaStorm’s hard-hitting productions. Rather than looking at yourself as just a contributor to larger projects, consider expanding your vision to the big picture and “do it all.”

- Be your own advocate: Victor Perlman, ASMP’s General Council, traced the history of image licensing, describing photographers’ current situation as a convergence of several events. One primary cause is photographers abdicating licensing negotiations to stock agencies. Once photographers stopped controlling pricing negotiations, the market was ripe for commodification.

We live in a time of tremendous upheaval. Traditional industries are quickly collapsing and new ones are emerging. More content is being consumed than ever before. Though very few of us have a recipe for success in this new market, one thing is for sure, success is often based on one’s ability to adapt and as the ancient saying goes, fortune favors the bold!

Jay Kinghorn is a workflow trainer and consultant. His company, Kinghorn Visual helps companies use photos and video for marketing and outreach purposes.

Copyright Registration – Protecting Your Investment

[by Richard Kelly]

With The Copyright Act of 1976 and later revisions including the Berne Convention, artists were no longer required to register for copyright nor to provide copyright notice. In my opinion, these two facts have led to two decades of visual artists thinking that they were protecting their visual investments. For a commercial artist, registering the work prior to delivery to a client insures, in situation whereby a client fails to pay, the artist can use the copyright registration as a means of getting paid. Any attorney would rather pay an invoice then to be hauled into Federal Court for copyright infringement. If the work was registered prior to infringement the artist may be entitled to attorneys fee’s in addition to statutory damages.

Another advantage is one I experienced a decade ago, when a publisher / client called me after he had published a series of musician portraits for a fashion story. He had discovered a local newsweekly had scanned the image from the magazine for an advertisement for a local nightclub featuring the singer’s band. He wanted to know what I was going to do to protect his “exclusive” image? I was able to resolve the situation by working with the infringing publication to publish an apology, but without the registration prior to the infringement I did not have as big a stick to collect any real money.

I am sure that we rarely think of our assignments as investments, but my clients spend “real” money to build a visual brand with my photographs and if I do not register the photographs, I am falling short of my professional obligation.

If you shoot stock, personal projects for fine art, books or multimedia projects not registering your work is similar to leaving your front door unlocked while on vacation with out insurance.
Registration counts.

Monetization Matters

[by Judy Herrmann]

My Mother’s day gift this year included a leisurely morning that allowed me to make a small dent on my rapidly growing stockpile of New Yorker magazines (I love the New Yorker but I mean, seriously, does ANYone have time to read an entire magazine every single week!?!).

The issue I grabbed (March 29, 2010) included an article on Polyvore – a fashion website that encourages members to clip photos of clothes & accessories from all over the internet and create collages or “sets” demonstrating their sense of style.  The author, Alexandria Jacobs, likens the experience to “…playing paper dolls with real clothes.”

The question of who created, owns or paid for the creation of those photographs wasn’t raised anywhere in the article.  Now, before we get all outraged and up in arms and cry “it’s the Napster of the fashion photography world” let’s look a little deeper.

The creators of this website are tracking pretty much every click that users make.  The data they’re collecting has enormous value to the apparel industry, which has started to embrace and in some cases, even sponsor, Polyvore sets.  Well, sure, you say – they’ve got nothing to lose, they make their money from the clothes.

But, that same data has potentially even more value to photographers and other creators. Rather than using copyright to prohibit such uses of images, as the music industry has tried to do, why not try to monetize them instead?

Tracking the relationship between users of the internet and the data they touch is rapidly becoming an entrenched business model for everyone from major players like Google to small start-ups like Polyvore.  The next step – forging a connection between the data and its creator – is coming soon.  At the ASMP Copyright Symposium last month, Jeff Sedlik noted that the Picture Licensing Universal System (www.usePLUS.org) has developed machine-readable licensing codes and plans to launch a creator registry that will link images to their owners later this year.

We’ve learned from the music industry that trying to shut these sites down or arrest the users isn’t really viable.  If instead we embrace these technologies and find ways to work with sites and their users to make sure that the creators of the photographs and other content they’re appropriating receive fair and just compensation, we may just build system where everyone wins.

Acclaimed advertising & editorial photographer Judy Herrmann conducts seminars and one-on-one consultations that help people grow their businesses and build more satisfying careers. Judy@HSstudio.com

Copyright and Video

[by Gail Mooney]

As still photographers move and expand into video because of the convergence of their tools, they often ask me about copyright, licensing and usage and how to apply that to video. Essentially they are trying to apply a licensing business model from their still photography and sometimes that doesn’t work in video production.

The biggest distinction between shooting video and shooting still images is that for the most part a video camera operator is just one of the many creative people involved in a video production. So unless the camera operator is also the producer and in charge of the entire production, including the hiring of the crew, they will be working in a “work for hire” situation. One video project can’t have every collaborator on a project maintaining ownership of their part of the whole.

Depending on the job and the market you work in will ultimately determine who will maintain ownership, copyright and control. Generally speaking the end client or video production company holds the copyright to the finished production. This is why I made a conscious decision when I got into video many years ago, to position myself as a producer and not “just” a content provider. I wanted to maintain creative control and ownership of my projects.

But even in still photography these days, I see more and more “work for hire” contracts, and in market sectors like editorial where that wasn’t the case just five years ago. Sometimes I feel that in our efforts to protect copyright laws, we end up fighting for that right for big corporate entities that in turn grab those rights from the creators through lopsided contracts.

Something to think about – maybe with news eyes. Perhaps we need to start thinking of ourselves as “publishers” rather than just content providers. It’s never been more possible to be a publisher, because distribution has been democratized by the web, giving all of us a pipeline to a global audience.

It’s time to look at our creative businesses with new eyes and not just on the creative part of the process – but the business part as well. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts and ideas on this topic.

Cold Calls?

[by Kevin Lock]

Having a hard time reaching out to new clients?  Pick up the phone and personally reconnect with past clients that you may have not heard from or worked with in a while. You will be surprised how this will boost your confidence and assist you in making long over due “cold calls” to potential clients.

Kevin Lock is a photographer based in southern California.  Recently he was elected to the National Board of Directors for the ASMP.  Contact Kevin at kevin@lockphoto.com

Are You a Good Listener?

[by Blake Discher]

When you’re on that call talking to a potential new client, remember to count to two before you answer any questions or ask new ones.  This two-second buffer will help you to be a better listener because you won’t need to be thinking about what you’re going to say next while the other person is talking.  The best negotiators are good listeners first, good at selling second.

Blake J. Discher is a photographer, SEO consultant, and educator. He speaks nationally on the topics of web marketing and negotiating. Contact Blake at b@blakedischer.com.

Are You Using a Mac?

[by Carolyn Potts]

Want a rarely-used, no-brainer business tip for photographers who rarely read instructions because Macs are so easy-to-use. (i.e. about 90% of us!)?

Invest just 5 minutes with any of your applications’ Help files. It will increase both your productivity and the R.O.I. of your Mac investment.

Challenge: Take 5 now with the app displaying this blog post (e.g. Apple Mail, Safari, FireFox, etc.).

Carolyn Potts, former rep & perpetual photo evangelist, international consultant & speaker, shows seasoned and proactive photographers how to get more work. Find her at www.cpotts.com

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