Assignment photographers, do you use Binkbid? You should. [click to continue…]
This is written for the emerging pros, although the established shooters might get something out of this post too. After all, I teach myself something every time I write one of these.
Who are you? What experience do you have? I’ll wager that even if you don’t have loads of experience as a working pro photographer, you have a great deal of life experience behind you that can help you in your career.
Maybe you’re really good at dealing with people, or perhaps you’re a marketing expert, or someone who is resourceful, budget minded, an expert with ropes and gear in the rugged outdoors. Maybe you’re great with kids, or maybe you’re a pilot, a musician or a videographer or a graphic designer.
Whatever you’re good at, find a way to apply those skills to your photography business. More than ever, these days, photography isn’t just about how well you take photos, it’s about how well you present the entire package of your photography brand to your client and followers. [click to continue…]
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In addition to businesses connecting and communicating with their customers and clients through their website and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, it is also important to have a newsletter that existing or potential clients can subscribe to. Most people assume businesses will offer more than just a website, so it’s essential to give them what they want and what they’ve come to expect.
Here’s a look at several advantages to having a newsletter connected to your photography website:
Helps build a relationship with your clients. Keeping in touch with your clients will help you establish a closer relationship with them, which will ultimately build their confidence in your skills and ability as a photographer. Further, once you’ve formed a relationship with your clients, they’re more likely to become repeat customers and use your services in the future, as they will already have a sense of who you are and what services you offer.
Keeps your clients updated. Having a newsletter connected to your website is a great way to keep your clients updated on recent news, milestones, and upcoming events. A newsletter also provides you a means to send your readers a personal message that wouldn’t be suited for or would go unnoticed if added to your website. Including a personal message within your newsletter is also something that will help build a relationship with your readers, as you are offering them a voice behind the lens. [click to continue…]
So you’ve been shooting for a few years. You’re on your second or third camera body by now, and you’ve acquired a handful of lenses, as well as a flash or two. Or three.
You’ve watched your skills and techniques improve to the point where you think that your work is equally as good as, or better than much of the work that you see published out in the world.
You lay awake at night wondering whether it would be a smart move to try and go pro, and what that would look like if you did.
As much energy as you might spend thinking about whether you want to try and take your photography to the next level, it pales in comparison to what this actually requires. Creating a successful photography business is a long term process that will continuously require a great deal of creativity, mental energy, and incredible perseverance.
Like any self employed venture, building a career as a freelance photographer requires a huge amount of risk, sacrifice, an open sense of adventure, a rock solid belief in yourself and, more than anything, the dedication to stick with it, even when it seems that you’re stumbling along and not getting ahead. [click to continue…]
Lesson #1 – Opportunities Come From Unexpected Places
You never know where your next gig will come from. Thanks to my Facebook page leaning heavily towards my passion for photography, I was asked by a friend three days prior to their Halloween party if I would bring my camera and take photos. I was flattered but nervous — it was a daunting task. Did I have the right equipment? Would I be able to pull this off? But I quickly told myself to get over it and figure it out, and that the opportunity to shoot a party at a nightclub would be a great learning experience.
Lesson #2 – Be Prepared [click to continue…]
Just one link for this morning: the New York Time’s enormous collaborative photography project “A Moment In Time” launched this morning. Take some time this morning and throughout the day to click through all the (thousands of) images for a diverse portrait of the entire planet at one single moment. I was really charmed by the diversity of image types; the serious black and white, the kid snapshots, and the arms length self portraits.
The Times has always been on the cutting edge with public photo projects done for the right reasons. Often, when a large publication asks for reader pictures, it’s usually a cute, innocuous way to replace the efforts of their dwindling staffs (see: CNN iReport) or a cynical pageview generator. It’s fun to see the Times not replace the hard work of their photographers but enlist the public for a task that couldn’t be done without them. A project and idea so big it was bigger than the paper itself. This was certainly a go big or go home moment and the public (as well as the Times) delivered.
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