What I Learned on my Way to the Commons

[by Richard Kelly]

It is my perspective that the role of copyright is to promote publication. Copyright is the engine that allows professionals to grant permission and collect money for the use of their work, that permission is a license. I see no reason for this to change. The fundamental change is how our images are published and what publishing really means in a world wide searchable channel like the Internet.

As commercial photographers our client relationships are primarily creating photographs on assignment or licensing existing images as stock to satisfy a need to sell an idea or to tell a story. Many of us routinely work for the same handful of clients for years. In this regard much of our business practice will not change. But with a new world of image buyers at their browsers, how do we engage them?

As professional photographers in the 21st century we need these things, universal image search with a licensing component, simple and easy to understand industry usage licenses with representative icons and a searchable images and license registry.

These are all possible now.

One model that is worth looking at very closely is Creative Commons. Built on top of Copyright law, this non-profit has built a series of iconic easy to read licenses that explain to the user what permissions they have when using a particular photograph. The image may be embedded with the license and with attribution which is a primary part of all the CC licenses. The simple language icon is built on top of a legal license that a lawyer could only love but one that is translatable in most languages around the globe. I wonder how many of my licenses are universally readable? Many photographers mistakenly assume that Creative Commons is just free pictures, which is just part of the story but not the only story, I suggest reading this.

If the standard copyright is ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, think of Creative Commons as SOME RIGHTS RESERVED.

For most professionals the CC licenses may not be part of your business plan, but some photographers have built their businesses around a hybrid model. This is something each photographer has to establish on their own, but what is interesting is the CC+ option, this model built around the Creative Commons Non-Commercial licenses, but with a component to license commercial rights. Yes, to make M-O-N-E-Y. Read about it here.

By the way, for you first timers, if users of Creative Commons Licenses fail to follow the license, they are infringing the copyright like any other infringer and all courses of legal remedies are available. Registration Counts and your photographs should be registered with the Copyright Office to protect your investment.

Creative Commons licenses are not for all photographers, but we can learn a number of important lessons,

•    Make licensing iconic and simple to understand in all languages.

•    Make attribution a basic requirement of all licenses.

•    Make it searchable and embeddable.

Richard Kelly is a photographer and educator living in Pittsburgh. As President of ASMP,  he is a progressive advocate for copyright and professionalism. Learn more about Richard here.

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.

Post Symposium Thoughts

[by Richard Kelly]

If content is king, distribution is its queen. What does distribution and publication really mean today and in the foreseeable future? How can independent artists exercise their rights and gain fair compensation for the use of their work?

I believe visual artists must adapt. We need to do business more efficiently by creating systems that allow us to be easily found and identified with our visual works.

ASMP has reached 1000 photographers through our symposium and copyright registration workshops and the work will continue. Our hands on workshops are training photographers on the importance of registering their photography and walking folks through the steps to actually do it. Register your work and train a friend to do the same.

Without a searchable image registry, the path forward in image licensing is not possible. ASMP supports the Picture Licensing Universal System’s development of this registry and has donated $180,000 from our Authors Coalition Funds to ensure this happens. The registry will launch this year.

Help us by creating a new marketplace thus establishing new business models that address the needs of the consumer, the artist and the publisher.

The Four “R”s of Pricing Photography

[by Richard Kelly]

The Four “R”s of Pricing Photography are Relationships, Rates, Rights and Reputation. One of the most valued benefits to my ASMP membership is the relationship I have with my fellow photographers. Not just the chapter meetings or the membership list serves, but real one on one relationships with my peers. I mostly interact with photographers in other markets who do similar work for similar sized clients. The ability to bounce ideas about project proposals and price has proved extremely valuable.

When you are entering an unfamiliar market it is important that you engage fellow ASMP members and other knowledgeable professionals working in that market to introduce you to their customs. It might be a good idea to assemble a business plan for this new market. Traditionally business plans are used to raise capital or get a loan. But they are useful for this exercise as well. For instance, if you are interested in architectural photography, what are the deliverables the client is expecting? What rights do they typically license and what is the range of rates that have historically been paid? Who are your target clients and who is your competition?

When it comes to licensing your copyrights for client projects it is important to research the most common licenses for the market you are working in. There are  major differences between pricing for commercial advertising, editorial and retail uses and even within those areas each photography specialty has unique rights requirements. Another important attribute is that you probably will be working in one of the many micro economies around the United States. Each of these has it’s own pricing factors to consider, which is another reminder that one size does not fit all.

Finally, We want to think that we are all created equal. But photography is a field built around marketing mythologies, unique artistic vision and professional reputation. I don’t have to tell you that there is a big difference between Richard Avedon and Richard Kelly. Especially when it comes to price.

Create a plan, learn the market, and build confidence in your abilities and most important build relationships with your marketing targets, your clients and your fellow ASMP member photographers. There is so much more to photography than pixels on a screen or ink reflecting light on paper.

ASMP Membership has its privileges.

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.

I want my ASMP Video….

For as long as I have been on the ASMP board, first as Education chair and now as President, I have heard from members and chapter presidents that we need to know more about video / motion, that we should use video for our education programming and that video should be utilized on our ASMP website.

During the SB2 seminars we utilized video both in the live seminars and later to capture some of the key presentations. They are available on our SB blog as well as a free download at iTunes Podcasts; see link to the right or search ASMP at the iTunes Store.

I have been researching possible solutions for both video podcast and live streaming meeting options. I discovered one possible solution literally below my studio, Vivolive, a local Pittsburgh startup, had just launched a consumer / soho live streaming service at the Consumer Electronic Show. I have been experimenting with the service for a few months now and ASMP will use the service to broadcast for the first time, our ASMP Annual Meeting to members, wherever they are. Members will receive an e-mail link to attend this meeting online.

The broadcast will include a segment featuring ASMP’s Executive Director, Eugene Mopsik, discussing our current education and advocacy efforts. I will speak about some ASMP policy initiatives moving to the future. We will then invite ASMP member Jack Hollingsworth for our Keynote presentation, “Leveraging Social Media for Your Business.”

This ASMP Member Meeting Live Stream is a good test for a very affordable and simple solution for ASMP and our chapters who desire to broadcast their meetings.

One of the initiatives that I will be discussing at the Annual Member Meeting is the creation of a “Motion Study Group” to look at the business practices that we may need to address regarding the business side of Motion Production, as well how ASMP can use video more effectively in our communications and education platforms.

Charlie Rose is Free!

For those of you who know me, you probably know that Charlie Rose is my favorite show on TV. As a curious person, I find the guests on the Charlie Rose show peak my interest even if I know nothing about the subject or topic. The number of books I have read based on the CR Interviews, actually fill a library.

Recently a series of interviews involved two interesting people, the first was Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine , author of the article  Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business  and the book, Free, The Future of a Radical Price. It is an interesting perspective on the “economics of abundance” and  the FREE concept, go here to watch the interview – it’s free! 

The second interview was with Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu.com. Mister Kiler explains better than anyone, the Premise of FREE economics as well as what it really means to media companies and to the consumer. He uses real world examples like the New York Times as well as Hulu.com. Mister Kiler also give prime examples of how new media and social media companies may monetize themselves using the FREE and FREEMIUM models. This interview is online here.

 As a creative services business owner, not everything they advocate will apply to my business, but I think Mr. Kilar and Mr. Anderson lay out a series of models that our clients will be using to make money, from FREE.

Summer Book : TRIBES by Seth Godin

It is summer 2009 and while some of us are packing the car for vacations to the sea shore or the mountains, many of us are choosing to “staycation”, or rather staying close to home or taking day trips to area attractions. Today’s economy is forcing us to re-evaluate, not just the family summer vacation but our business priorities as well.

Seth Godin the master marketer and author of the book Tribes, recalls that often quoted phrase, that life’s too short,  “…too short to fight the forces of change. Life’s too short to hate what you do all day. Life’s way too short to make mediocre stuff. And almost everything that is standard is now viewed as mediocre.”

It sure seems that business like we know it has changed forever, and that everyone with a camera is a photographer. Many companies require employees to self evaluate their work performance. These performance management systems feature not only an evaluation of the job description but also a personal development track. As self-employed photographers we rarely take the time to self-assess our development.

This summer I am staying close to home, spending time with my wife and daughter and taking the time to evaluate my personal goals, my business goals and even my photography goals. Am I making the kind of photographs that mean something to me? Am I working for the clients who use the type of photography that I want to create? Is my business plan providing the rewards that I expect? I am optimistic that the economy will recover. I am even more optimistic that I will emerge from this summer with a better picture of where I am going. Life is way to short.

If you are packing books for your summer, consider the Seth Godin Library and at the very least check out Tribes.

Our First Week of Business Quick Tips

ACCOUNTING TIP – pre-filled W-9 Form

When working with a new client, after the job is complete and delivered the next step will be to send an invoice to get paid. David Oster, my accountant recommends having an IRS Form W-9 filled out and ready to send to new clients with your invoices. The W-9 will be requested by the accountant in the payable department so they will have the basic IRS required information, including your business name, business address, Tax ID / EIN number or Social Security number and your signature. These days I send PDF versions of my invoices so having PDF versions of the W-9 forms pre-filled and saved with electronic signatures makes the process of getting paid that much faster.

Here are the tools you need to do this.

[1] W-9 PDF Download

[2] Creating a signature stamp

[3] Adding Electronic Signatures to Text and PDF Documents

A Social Media Strategy

“There are no small decisions in moviemaking.” Change moviemaking to photography and that Sidney Lumet quote can teach us a lot about our photography and the business of.

Jack Hollingsworth, an Austin based Photographer and Content Creation Partner, and a student of social media and marketing, spoke recently at the Picture Archive Council of America conference on Social Networking as the newest place to do business. “Tools in the hand of a craftsperson make art, in the hand of a person without a plan make noise.”

ASMP Strictly Business contributor Leslie Burns Dell’Acqua often says that everything we do is marketing. But photographers marketing without a plan are just sending pictures. As Jack pointed out in his presentation, “It’s not about the picture anymore, it’s about the picture, the personality, the story behind the picture.”

Hollingsworth laid out a strategic Equation for social media marketing, “Build a Fan Base + Content Value + Fan follows = Customers, Clients and Evangelists. “

By the way, ASMP members receive a 15% discount on Jack Hollingsworth’s upcoming workshop Photographer Makeover: leveraging web 2.0 tools and techniques to redefine your business and brand. June 1-4 in Austin, Texas.

“Marketing Management is now Tribal Leadership” Seth Godin

If you haven’t yet read TRIBES  - We need you to lead us by Seth Godin, today is the day to do just that, at 160 pages it is easily a weekend read. The basic tribe concept is that groups of people form  tribes around a person or an idea or a product to create change. For  a photographer this can lead to many opportunities, , but the one that stands out for me is that “Marketing Management is now Tribal Leadership.”

Back when I first started out as a photographer, I had dinner with very successful and famous fashion photographer. His advice to me was , “you really only need five clients in your career.” In essence he was advising me to create  a small and devoted tribe. You build that tribe with your story and with images in your portfolio that confirm that story. Your Tribe wants to be “lead” by you, their leader.

TRIBES follows tribal innovators using the social networks of new media to build tribes My advice is to follow along while creating a plan for your tribe, and make it a part of your overall tribal strategy.

The Only Way Out is to Shoot Our Way Out

“It’s the economy stupid” was from the Clinton campaign (Bill’s not Hillary’s) and it is as true today as it was back then. On Monday, I attended the ASMP Chicago/Midwest Soup Kitchen & Town Hall Meeting “On Surviving This Economy (because failure is not an option!)” when Chicago based advertising photographer, Jim Krantz, offered the great advice, to “shoot your way out of this.” He wasn’t referring to the wild, wild west but to the attitude adjustment that we need to make, while continuing to make pictures because that is what we do. Basically “getting off our fear.” I made the point to the crowd, that as photographers much of our work is alone. This is a good time to reach out to your creative community and create real “social networks.” Maybe assemble a team to create new pictures, or get together with a designer and work on portfolios or design projects, maybe offer to shoot their new work for their portfolio. Or it could be an invitation to a group of photographers to talk about photography. Not the business, but the pictures. Remind yourself, why we do this and that shooting our way out is the way to survive.

My Online Watercooler

As an editorial photographer living in Pittsburgh I am not really in the center of the magazine publishing world, but by subscribing and reading Meg Weaver’s weekly newsletter, Wooden Horse Publishing, I feel connected to the who, what, when and where of the publishing world.

Like any resource, especially online, I only consider it one source. It is always a good idea to confirm business news and gossip. It seems every week, I learn of a startup magazine or of a change in editors at a magazine I sometimes work with. It used to be that photographers exchanged this type of “watercooler” news at the local photo-lab, these days it seems we meet more on-line than in person.

Some additional online resources that I find helpful to keep the pulse of my clients are “A Photo Editor” blog, CREATIVITY online, PDNPulse blog and ADWEEK.

Every now and then, it is nice to get my information in person. For those living in or near Philadelphia, Brian Smith will be speaking there on “The Future of Editorial Photography” on April 30th. Join us!

BUILDING YOUR OWN TEAM – The Accountant

It is that tax time again. I just met my accountant for our semi annual cup of coffee to drop off my paperwork and financial records for him to use in preparing my taxes. I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is to know that I have someone on my team. Being a photographer is a business, and although it is important to be creative with the photographs we produce, it’s not a good idea to be creative with the record keeping or the financials.

So how do you build your own team? First you will want to identify your business strengths and weaknesses to determine what professionals you will need on your team. I am pretty good at organizing my receipts, invoicing and paying bills, so I don’t need a bookkeeper, but I don’t like the tax reporting and tax forms, so I was looking for an accountant to add to my team.

When looking for a new business team member, ask other ASMP members or other professionals in your creative community and ask for referrals for professionals that handle other small creative businesses. Do a meet and greet over coffee, my wife calls this the dating part, and just like a first date, find out a little about how they like to work and then tell them a bit about your business. Like all aspects of our business it comes down to chemistry and relationships.

I heart my accountant. Tax Day is April 15

How to find an accountant.