“Pay your dues!” You hear it all the time, but what does it really mean? While colleges and schools teach photographic technique, theory, and marketing, nothing can compare to the experiences of on-set learning from a seasoned professional. It’s not just in how he or she sees, lights, composes or captures the decisive moments, but the unique subtleties of the day-to-day running and operating a professional photographic studio or business.

Frequently, “new to the industry” photographers want to run before they adequately learn how to walk. It is not about photographic talents…the streets are littered with unemployed talented photographers. No. This is more about the desire to understand and learn the nuances that make up the business side of this crazy profession we know and love.

Early in my photographic career, while assisting many of the wonderful and talented photographers I was fortunate enough to work with, I learned several business traits I still carry forth today. It didn’t matter that several of them shot subject matter that I knew I wasn’t interested in pursuing. What truly mattered was what they did in between the shots – how they interacted with the client; their personality style on the set; how they conducted phone calls to art buyers and clients alike; how they thought in terms of business practices – things you can’t possibly find out unless you are in it.  Assisting these photographers gave me the license to see what worked and what didn’t without the jeopardy of my business being on the line.

So, if you truly want to pay your dues, find someone in the industry that is running a successful photo business and do what it takes to earn their trust and learn. I promise, you and your business will be better off in the long run for the time and the investment you make.

Ed McDonald serves on the ASMP National Board of Directors as Chair of the Social Media Committee.  When Ed isn’t writing a post for Strictly Business, he’s trying very hard to use all his charm and wit to keep and attract new business for Ed McDonald Photography. You can reach Ed at ed@edmcdonald.com

You can find out how other photographers priced and negotiated real jobs. Take a look at some on ASMP’s web site in the paperwork share section.

Go to ASMP.org  under Business Resources/ Tutorials and forms/ licensing and paperwork share. Or, go directly by clicking here.

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the Arnold Newman impact and influence presentation given by Greg Heisler, by the Arnold and Augusta Newman foundation and the Maine Media workshops, Sponsored by PDN and the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP).  Greg Heisler told wonderful, touching, and humorous stories of his time with Arnold in his early days of his assisting career and paid homage to the late Arnold Newman and his intriguing and captivating portrait work. The evening also included a video of Newman at age 71 photographing Heisler in his NY apartment, which was poignant and humorous. Newman commented that many photographers have lost their sense of humor and need to take things and themselves a lot less seriously. Heisler wrapped the evening by fielding questions from the audience. It was an amazing display of a true pioneer of our industry and we are all better for the gifts Arnold left with us.

Go to our ASMP Facebook Page to see photos of the event.

Unless you have unlimited amounts of time on your hands, you should automate as many steps of your social media as possible. Like cross-posting all content in multiple social media outlets. Take some time to set up a few steps to automate the process. Here are a few good tools for sharing and automating content through social media outlets : Hootsuite, Ping.fm, Involver, Tweet later, Social too. These are just a few. Make sure to keep it in your own voice and keep it personal.

Leave it to big business and old thinking to try and control Social Media. In a report released this week the NFL has revealed their plan for a Social Media Policy. One of the new rules of the policy would prohibit players or anyone representing them from posting to social media networks during a prohibited block of time spanning from 90 minutes prior to kick off to 90 minutes after game time. This new rule applies not only to players but also to coaches, team personnel, and officials. The media has also been put on notice.

I understand the idea of protecting the leagues lucrative TV contracts, but social media hardly serves as any threat to the NFL league broadcasted games. I doubt seriously that any fan would opt out of either attending a game in person or watching it on TV, just to read tweets about it instead. Quite the contrary, many fans that might not be able to attend or be near a television might be well served by the fact they can follow the NFL via their twitter accounts. What the NFL does not say in the report is how they intend to stop the other 75 thousand plus people in the stadiums from posting and tweeting their thoughts and photos of the game. Meaning anyone with a cell phone will have a leg up on any professional news gathering agency. It is unfortunate that the NFL seems to be missing a golden opportunity here to involve the fan on a much deeper level with their product. This would only serve to improve the game and the overall fan experience. Now I’m not advocating wide-outs tweeting from the end zone after their latest T.D., no, far from it. The missed opportunity here is, to join the conversation, have a voice, and take part in the direction of the fan perception of the league.

I can think of at least a dozen ideas on how the league could use twitter to enrich the overall fan experience. Here are my favorites:
1. Encourage players to tweet to their followers right up to game time. Give the fan the locker room experience.
2. Encourage fans to tweet about favorite teams using hash tags for following, trending and better SEO.
3. Open a direct dialog with fans to tweet about their product.
4. Show tweets during the NFL network reports.
5. Run contests trough twitter using trending and search tools.

Trying to control the conversation won’t work for the NFL and it won’t work for your business. You can build your brand awareness and credibility by using Social Media, but you have to genuinely participate and you have to be willing to give up control.

In closing, let me assure you that social media is NOT just for being social. Anyone who thinks these outlets are going away is mistaken. The way in which we market and communicate with each other about our products and services has radically changed and will continue to shift more to the side of permissions marketing.

Ideas used in this post were compiled from a recent webinar I attended presented by Mari Smith, a relationship marketing specialist. To get more information about FaceBook or Mari go to http://www.marismith.com and http://www.whyFacebook.com