Backing Up is (Not) Hard to Do

[by Barry Schwartz]

The same old song: it’s not a matter of if there will be a problem; it’s a matter of when.

Backing up is not just for data, though.

How about this: you talk to a potential client, you agree on what you’re supposed to deliver, what you’re supposed to be paid, and how they will use the photos.

You send your client your contract.  Your client signs it and sends it back.

You shoot the job.  You deliver the job.  You send an invoice.  You wait for your money.  And wait.  And wait.

You call your client, who responds with variations on the following:

“I didn’t get all the images I was promised.”

“I didn’t think I owed you that much.”

“I don’t understand why you’re upset I gave the pictures to all my vendors and my friend at Time Magazine.”

Here’s the backup-thing:  Did you put in your contract exactly how many images your client would get, exactly what you would be paid, and restrict the use of the photos just to your original client?

If you did not put those things exactly in your contract, you have a problem.

Even if you did, you have the same problem: a confused client.  However.  At least you have something concrete to help resolve the problem, right there in black-and-white.  A back-up.

Now it’s up to you (and your people skills) to get your client’s happiness-quotient up to speed so they’ll pay you what you’re owed – and hire you again.

Barry Schwartz is a photographer in Los Angeles who once had a singing voice with a three-octave range.  It’s all phrasing, now.  Further proof it’s not about the equipment.

Small Victories and Big Goals

[by Jay Kinghorn]

This summer, I completed my first XTERRA off-road triathlon. It was exhilarating and downright exhausting. Happily, I crossed the finish line muddy, tired and satisfied with my accomplishment.

The key to being able to complete the race was a 12-week, self-paced training program to prepare me physically as well as mentally for the big day. The plan gave me six detailed workouts per week with swim distances, running sprints and biking hills. Each workout was, in itself, a small victory on the way to the larger goal of finishing this tough off-road challenge.

Believe it or not, training for a triathlon and starting business as a professional photographer are not all that much different. They both take a great amount of dedication, drive and staying power. And, just like there were many paths for me to train for my race, the photography business also offers myriad ways to reach your goal. The hard part is sifting through those options and separating the paths that just put food on the table from the paths that actually advance you toward your ultimate business goal.

My best advice to anyone starting out is to first establish, as clearly as possible, your ultimate goal (to become the leading architectural photographer in Miami, to feel comfortable lighting portraits, to have a mastery of Photoshop, for examples), then break the path down into individual, manageable goals. If I had looked at my training plan at one huge plan and not a series of small victories, I may have given up just from the sheer number of hours it would take. Make sure you celebrate the small victories along the way. The momentum created by completing these individual steps will propel you onward toward photography success.

Jay Kinghorn is currently training for a far more grueling and difficult endurance sport than the XTERRA, parenting.

A New Path

[by Suzanne Sease and Amanda Sosa-Stone]

Starting out in any new business is filled with excitement and the unknown.  Here are some tips we recommend to finding your path.

1.    Know where you want to go in your business (consumer: portraits, weddings, commercial: still life, architecture, fashion, editorial: portraits, etc…)
2.    Make sure you have images to support this direction (minimum of 15-20  strong images)
3.     Find someone to guide you on along this path: a seasoned photographer, a potential person who works in that industry (i.e. if you were architectural photographer – find an architect to possibly guide you)
4.    Pull together your personal resources – who do you know and how can you ask them to personally invest in your business (ask them to make referrals for you).
5.    Make sure you have the website and portfolio available to show someone if asked.
6.    Present yourself and your work in the best light.

Your life and work go hand and hand – so merge what you know from both and ask for help for what you don’t.  This industry is not an easy path to take – but if you find the right road for you, it can be a really interesting and fulfilled career – filled with lots of stories to share and hopefully some great imagery.

Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease consult with photographers around the world assisting in marketing and presentation efforts.

You Can’t Rush Experience

[by Paul Bartholomew]

I often get emails and calls about my work from emerging photographers. I’m always open to sharing what I know and feel it helps educate those who may affect the future of our profession.

Some of the most asked questions are about the camera or lens I use and if I use some special technique in Photoshop. Some think that buying the same equipment will achieve the same results.  These are just plain technical questions that are easy to address because they tend to have straightforward answers. However, I can talk all I want about techie stuff but it all comes down to experience and the intangible aspects of what a photographer does to get the results.

So what are the intangibles? Intuition, creativity and sensitivity to the subject come to mind. This all takes time and requires dedication and talent to nurture.  My advice for those starting out is to ask questions no matter how simple or odd they seem.  Finding a mentor who is comfortable and open will help you find the right path.  Even after 13 years in business I’m still finding new mentors.  We all have our own personal journey but we often need some company along the way.

Paul S. Bartholomew is an architectural photographer based in the Philadelphia & New York region. His work can be seen at www.psbphotography.com

Taking Care of Business

[by Jenna Close]

If you are just starting out in the business of photography, do yourself a big favor right from the get go.  Find software like Quickbooks or Quicken and keep track of all your expenses and income from Day 1.  Set up a company bank account that is separate from your personal account.  Figure out what type of business you will be (LLC, Sole Proprietor, Partnership, etc), and how to properly pay yourself through your new company.  That way you can easily follow every aspect of your business as you grow.  You will be able to look at your marketing investments and see which ones are working and which aren’t.  You will be able to compare your income year to year or even track which months are consistently your slowest (and then you’ll know when to do an extra marketing push).  Set everything up correctly from the beginning and your life will be easier down the road (and at tax time). 

Jenna Close, along with partner Jon Held, run P2 Photography.  They specialize in imagery for the alternative energy market.  You can find Jenna at www.p2photography.net.

Find a Photographer

[by Todd Joyce]

Membership has it’s privileges and one of the benefits of being and ASMP General Member is being listed in findaphotographer.org. For what I do, I don’t get a lot of calls, but every so often I do get a call that is a result of FAP.

Over the years, I’ve gotten about ten jobs from FAP.  Some have been editorial and some industrial.  This past December, I got a call from an industrial client that needed about four shots in one of their client’s facilities for a limited use.  They wanted me to shoot about eight for choice, but were willing to ultimately choose four.  They were interested in an estimate, so as a regular practice, I first asked if they had a budget.  They assured me they didn’t so I worked up an cost and sent it to them. I always try to follow up with a call to get a client’s reaction to my estimates, so when I called they said the price was way too much and they only had $1500 in their budget. Ah, now they HAVE a budget…   I’ve heard it before. So we worked up a way that I would only shoot four shots, not eight, so that I could do it for closer to their “budget.”

Come the day of the shoot, everything was flowing well on site, so I shot more than the four I had promised.   I shot about ten set ups.  When I sent the jpegs for choice, they loved what they were seeing and wanted to use them all for a few other purposes. “Sure,” I replied. “Let me work up a cost for the additional use and get back to you.”  I’ve learned through talking with fellow members over the years that when a budget is smaller, I back out what I’m required to do so that the client sees that there is value in my time or what is used.  I also negotiated a maximum number of images so that the client understands that they don’t just “get” everything.  By the time the negotiation was finished, the total for the shoot and usage was $5600.  A far cry from the budgeted $1500 and the client was very happy to get what they did for the money.   Thanks FAP and to ASMP and fellow members for the experience in negotiating. It pays to be a member.

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

Efficient Freedom

[by Charles Gupton]

I once had a strong disdain for franchises as a means of business ownership. It seemed to me to be a sell-out to a system that limited the freedom of an owner too much for my liking. Especially after I watched a photography buddy of mine give up his heart and passion for photography to explore, and eventually buy, a franchise business so that he could earn a stable income for his family.

Although I’ve not hit a point that I’m ready to buy a franchise, I’ve come to appreciate the value of having systems in place which allow me to have other people do repetitive tasks that distract from my creative idea generation and production. We all have basic duties such as billing, accounting, client follow-up, photo file backup, etc., which needs to be taken care of on a consistent basis but don’t require any creative brains cells to get completed.

Because I worked in the “solo-prenuer” mindset for most of my career, I found that I did most of the work myself. When I did delegate tasks to assistants, my directions were not very clear because there was no effective system in place to get consistent results until my assistants established them.

As it dawned on me that I needed more effective means of getting rote tasks completed, three different people – within a one-week period, no less – recommended the book “E-myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber to me. Having read it, I realized that great systems are less about limiting one’s freedom to work than they are about creating opportunities to be creative. Also, creative people need to see that systems require an ingenuity of their own and systems-oriented people often use creative process to manage and tweak their systems to make them more efficient.

I doubt that I will ever be a systems person by nature. But I’ve come to appreciate that a lot of my creative energy gets drained by a lack of reliable, repeatable systems to get the seemingly mundane tasks off my mind so that I’ve got the brain space to devote to the heart-centered projects that do fuel my life.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

FedEx Days

[by Jay Kinghorn]

In 2005, an Australian software company, Atlassian, began an experiment they called FedEx days Their software developers were given 1-1/2 days to develop something “out of the ordinary” and show it to their colleagues at the end of the session.

Atlassian’s goal was to inspire their developers to break their daily routines, work with unfamiliar technologies and tackle a small project, often with a coworker. These FedEx days, patterned after Google’s 20 percent time for employees, has been widely emulated by other software companies and has repeatedly shown its value to these organizations through expanded skillsets, new collaborations and renewed excitement about projects.

As summer brings a dip in your client work load, consider implementing your own version of FedEx days. Have you been itching to try a new lighting setup, test a new software application or tinker with creating your own iPhone app? Dedicate time to tackling a small project and expanding your skill set at the same time.

I typically take my FedEx days at the end of the day on Fridays. My client work for the week is done and I take 2-3 hours to learn new technologies. I typically leave work on Friday energized and spend much of the weekend brainstorming ways I can incorporate this newly acquired knowledge into my business.

Expand Your Thinking

[by Sean Kernan]

The reasons to do it are obvious. The best way expand your thinking is to just do something. I suggest going to Paris.

Not that you’ll think more there. You might even think less, but your thoughts will all be new, fresh. With the micro-gravities (shopping, picking up the cleaning, all that stuff) removed from your life there’ll be room for a whole new set of experiences. Give your mind a little time and it will be thrilled to spend hours forming your new thoughts into a new you. Call it Traveler’s Rapture.

Can’t swing Paris this year? So take the afternoon and head for some place half an hour beyond your usual circuit. Park your car, leave the camera in the trunk (this is important), and start walking. Walk until you’re bored. Slow down. Sit. Listen to sounds. Make up stories about things you see. Use your imagination. Don’t go home for dinner. Stay until dark.

What do you remember in life? All those times when everything went just as planned? Of course not. So take this little trip right now and you can have an afternoon that you’ll remember all your life. And when you come home, you won’t be quite the same person that left.

Start to CUS

[by Charles Gupton]

Are you feeling the financial heat build along with the summer heat? Do you need to build some cool business and generate some cold cash?

Well, before you get frustrated and start to cuss, why not CUS instead! CUS is an acronym for Courage, Urgency and Shamelessness.

Courage does not indicate a lack of fear, but a willingness to move forward in the face of it. It also doesn’t mean that one should act foolishly or without a thoughtful strategy. Too often we can over think and “what if” ourselves out of taking the steps we need to make our ideas successful.

Urgency means that a task requires immediate action or attention. There are often tasks that we need to give attention to that are critical for our success, but we just don’t want to face them. By designating one or two of those items every week as “urgent,” we can trim down that endless “to-do” list into actionable items. Every item that gets done builds the confidence to get the next one completed too.

Being shameless indicates a boldness or audacity in one’s work. How often do we allow what others might think about us to stand in the way of doing great and significant work? Is there an area where you need help to break your inertia and move your business forward, but are afraid to ask for help? Don’t let embarrassment stand in the way of your success. As a creator, you have great gifts to contribute. By holding back and being reticent, whom are you serving or helping?

So, while others are waiting for the heat to break or vacations to end or school to begin or whatever the excuse-of-the-week is, take a deep breath and start to CUS your way to a profitable summer.

Charles Gupton photographs real people, really well, by understanding and telling the stories of his subjects and clients. Find his photographs at www.charlesguptonphoto.com and his writing at www.charlesgupton.com.

I Like Facebook

[by Todd Joyce]

I like facebook. I admit it. I only have one identity too.Friends are people from college, family and clients. I try to keep it professional, but I don’t mind that my clients see the real me. I post some images just for fun or feedback and I don’t pester my clients with constant comments or posts on their walls.

I bring this up because I’ve seen a lot of hard sell photographers using facebook as a business tool. I realize facebook isn’t exactly a “private” place. The problem is that if you use it to push yourself in front of your clients too much, you may find yourself labeled a stalker and un-friended.

I have a less obvious way of using facebook. I find that reading client posts gives me a topic to talk about on that cold call. Obviously, I’m looking for work, but if I can start off with a fun comment about something they posted, it makes the conversation easy. It’s a way to stay lightly connected without seeming like a stalker.

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

Creating A Greater Divide

[by Paul Bartholomew]

We live in a highly saturated world of images and as photographers our profession is rapidly changing and at risk if we don’t adapt. I hear a lot about photographers losing projects because an amateur or new photographer was “good enough” and got the job. Some blame it on digital technology, but haven’t we dealt with this problem before? The equipment changed but we always have amateurs trying to get work because we have a desirable profession.

Does digital make the amateur a better photographer? I’d say true to a certain extent but there are limitations such as the need for natural talent, dedication and passion. These are things that filter some people out of the profession but some may still linger and we get that gray area that borders “good enough”.

The amateur may have climbed up the ladder closer to the professional, but what happened to the professionals? Instead of occupying valuable time by yelling down the ladder at the person catching up, perhaps it’s a good idea to motivate and start climbing too.

Stay out of the gray area and create a greater divide. Digital improved the amateur, so it should have improved the professional too. Instead of thinking how technology makes work easier, think about how it can make our work better. Research high quality photographers and do personal work that helps you evolve. Experiment and push the limits. If you feel uncomfortable and uneasy, then congratulations you’re making progress!

Paul S. Bartholomew is an architectural photographer based in the Philadelphia & New York region. His work can be seen at www.psbphotography.com

Still Photographers as Amateur Videographers

[by Gail Mooney]

These days many still photographers are frustrated when their clients decide to take their own pictures or get photos from amateurs who take photos that are good enough. And sometimes “good enough” is not only good enough – it’s pretty good because technology has enabled just about anyone to take a reasonably good photograph.

Indeed technology has lowered the bar to the entry into the realm of professional photography. But any pro knows there is more to “making” a good photo than the actual execution of an image. There are many problems to solve, and there’s the matter of being able to consistently make good photos.

But I must tell you, over the past year I have seen still photographers exhibit the same attitude that they abhor in their clients when it comes to the medium of video. As more and more still photographers embrace video because of hybrid cameras like the Canon 5D Mark II, many fall victim to the same line of thinking and that is if they buy a “good” camera that shoots “HD” video – that’s all they need to throw out the “video shingle” and they’re in business.

The problem is they lose sight of some very important things:
1. Shooting motion requires a different thought process
2. Audio is everything
3. Post production is very different for video than for still images
4. Video is a collaborative process

So when I get a question from a still photographer as to “what is a good video camera?” – I bounce the question right back at them and say – when an amateur photographer asks you what still camera takes good pictures – what do you say? Most quickly get the analogy and realize that while they are pros in the still photography world – buying a video camera or an HDSLR doesn’t make them professional a videographer. Motion is a wonderful medium, but get to learn the craft because it’s more than just the camera.

Gail Mooney runs a video production company www.kellymooney.com.