Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips
Your website is your single most important online asset for marketing your photography business. A poorly functioning website can negate all of your other online marketing efforts, driving away potential clients and leaving existing clients wondering whether or not they should hire you again. The following website problems are common but easy to fix. Making a few simple changes will drive more visitors and ultimately, drive more bookings for your photography business. [Read more…]
Toronto advertising agency Zulu Alpha Kilo created this video to demonstrate how absurd it is for people to ask for the advertising industry to do spec work in hopes of getting more business. As described by AdWeek, “a guy approaches real men and women (not actors) in other businesses and asks them to provide him with a product or service for free, to see if he likes it before committing to more.”
While they are talking about advertising gigs, this 100% applies to other creative industries as well – including photographers. [Read more…]
I’ve been a fan of MOO’s business cards and other printable products for years. Now, the company has stepped up the business card game with the introduction of its new Business Cards+ product line that features an embedded NFC chip. [Read more…]
Professional Photographers of America now provide $15,000 of photo gear insurance for U.S.-based PPA Professional Active or Life members with no additional charge beyond the annual membership cost. [Read more…]
The following post is by Atlanta based photographer and writer Zach Matthews, who explains why it’s worthwhile to photographers to get the window seat when flying. Learn more about him at the end of this post.
Back in 2006, I went on my first assignment as a magazine writer. The Cloudveil company had just come into the fly fishing market (my area of specialty) and American Angler wanted me to cover the event. As the proud owner of a (then) new Nikon D70, I took every opportunity to take pictures, including candids of myself in my new role as a fancy journalist.
As we gained altitude on the Salt Lake City to Jackson, Wyoming leg of our flight, I snapped a shot or two out of the airliner’s window. Your modern airliner, say a Boeing 767, has double-paned window glass. The exterior skin has a thick glass plate, while the interior is a thin piece of Plexiglas, with an inch or two of space between. Generally, the interior pane will be very scratched, possibly distorted by oilslick defects, and in some cases flaking to pieces. That doesn’t mean you can’t take a picture through it, though—just as when shooting through chain link fencing, if your point of focus is far enough out, the glass will blur to a misty gray fog. [Read more…]
The following post on commercial magazine photography is by Atlanta based photographer Zach Matthews. Learn more about him at the end of this post.
Every amateur photographer who’s ever flipped through a magazine has shared the same fleeting thought: I could do this. I am this good. And who’s to say that’s wrong? With the advent of digital image-making, cameras have become not just tools to record and describe, but tools that teach. The mean of photographic quality has skyrocketed in recent years, as a casual perusal of Flickr or a photography hobbyists’ board will immediately illustrate. What, then, is holding amateur photographers back? Why aren’t they selling images to magazines and commercial clients? Why aren’t you?
The difference between a working professional and a dedicated amateur is fairly minimal these days, and it has a lot more to do with business decision-making than talent or equipment. A number of important differences jump immediately to mind, however. The way I see it, there are two types of professionals: full time, and everyone else (and by that, I mean you, too). The full-time professional starves his way to the top. Typically a full-time pro goes to photography school, where he learns darkroom techniques, film chemistry, light physics, and the hard, cold reality of living paycheck to paycheck for decades. Most full-time pro photographers share one thing in common: they’re broke. But not all. A sizable population of working professionals make a living at photography, and they do it with the same business acumen necessary to operate as any entrepreneur. They set up a shop, build a client list, hire employees, and above all, they shoot their tails off.
Full-time pros of my acquaintance in the outdoor photography world spend as much as 40 weeks a year in the field. In my business, that’s in far-flung locations, involving international travel, injections, passports, broken gear, and hard deadlines. It isn’t an easy job, and it’s a long climb to the top, but eventually these pros tend to top out and make a respectable living.
There’s only one problem: chances are, this isn’t you. Full-time professional photographers won’t be reading this article; they know the route to success, they are logging their hours as we speak, and they’re aware of the rules of the game. But here’s the question: would you really want to be a full-time pro? What if you could have all the benefits, including international travel (for money), access to the best locations (for money) and the respect and praise of your peers, sometimes even for money, all while keeping your day job? It’s not a bad option, is it? [Read more…]