Photo Advice

• advertising - use videos/past work to remove customers fear
• portrait - notes for taking photos of people
• posing - general notes on posing, photographer actions while shooting people
• innereye - pre-visualize the image, decompose the lighting, composition, etc
• technique - techniques
• darkroom - photoshop and lightroom, etc
• talks - summary notes from photographer interviews/talks listened to
• wedding - advice for shooting weddings

From the getting started in photography blog article

1. What do you want to shoot? - define a style that is your own
   • Is there a REAL demand for it? go out and ask, you need to make a $$ living
     • talk to potential clients, magazine photo/art directors, etc
     • submit photos/stories to magazines (travel, fashion, etc)
   • Work for someone else, or freelance on your own?
     • spend more time taking photos, or running a business and make time for photos?
     • need business skills, college
2. Closing the creative gap: “Get it” and “Practice”
   • if you know how to recreate the photo - your creative gap is small - if not, the gap is large. Always work on closing the gap! Practice!
   • “Our jobs as photographers is to show the world to people in a different way”.
   • Be objective, edit vigorously, get portfolio peer reviews
   • are you good enough? submit your work to judgement:
     • camera club competitions, magazines, online, stock agencies, photo books, etc
3. Gift of rejection:
   • “Your strength as a photographer doesn’t come from working on your strengths. It comes from working on your weaknesses.”
     • rejected based on quality of your work → now you know what needs work!
     • rejected due to timing: some shoots need photos 6 months in advance!
   • School vs. Learning (Getting it)
     • School is tests and credits and notetaking and meeting standards. Photography, on the other hand, is ‘getting it’. It’s the conceptual breakthrough that permits the student to understand it then move on to something else. Photography doesn’t care about workbooks or long checklists. Experimenting, making mistakes and learning more about photography and technique is something else. It is the ‘getting it’ part of the quote above.
     • While passing your subjects is important, remember that no client will ever ask for your report card.
     • A client will ask you for your portfolio.
   • “There isn’t a magic formula. There are no secrets. You have to make the images, and then manage to get them in front of the people making the assignments. That hasn’t changed for as long as I’ve been looking to get published. It’s all about hard work.” - Bill Franks
4. Learn the value of your work - not “free”/photo credit
   • “No, you cannot use my imagery for free. I am a working photographer and I understand the value my imagery brings to your requirements. If you wish to use my imagery, then you will need to license my imagery accordingly”.
   • Website Perfection - focus on the photos, SEO optimize, CONTENT is KING
   • “In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away…”
5. Get Your Name Out There
   • If you _expect_ the phone to ring → you need to get your name out there
   • Get a website, get CONTENT, SEO optimize, list yourself in directories, other tips...
     • Listen to clients/advice | Show the client you understand their perspective
     • Learn and practice good business | Differentiate yourself | Specialize and build a full collection
     • Work really hard on your website and SEO

• http://cameradojo.com/2008/12/09/podcast-26-interview-with-dane-sanders/
  • Fast Track Photographer - Gallup self identifier, pDNA test
  • when do I feel strong/what am I doing vs weak, lean into your strengths
• Branding “tactically” or “strategically”
  • tactic (tools): things I can employ (email, youtube, blog, facebook, twitter, flyers, notes)
    • constantly changing, misses the point, “how you do it”, sells your image
  • strategy: who you are as a photographer/person/style/image/brand, authenticity sells
  • image/branding is: giving people an accurate reflection of who you are
    • do it to ourselves, as we do to our subject
• use of social networks/media
  • use the right tool for the task, add value to improve peoples lives!
  • don’t try to sell something, twitter auto replies - be funny/interesting
  • like dating: buy a drink, don’t propose to someone. earn permission to enter their lives.
  • you decide what you want to disclose (family, kids, activities, faith, whats important to you)
    • people get to know you/feel comfortable, want to know you but maybe can’t afford you!
  • find beauty and put it on display
• business is building relationships
  • referrals, new ideas and advice, work together, pub meetups, photo walks
• start small
  • free wedding 2nd shooter, free shooting

• 2 things differentiate photographers
  • different eyes, we see the world different
  • our personality, how we deal with clients

• need to learn business techniques
• share contracts, client issues, etc
• build a “business”, not a job
  • more than a URL/website and can take photos
  • one that continues w/o you, creates value engine, scales/grow, allows you to retire
  • doesn’t die if you get sick, not an hourly/day wage but continuing
• HARD is new easy. Bad season to be photographer. going to get harder before it gets easy
  • easy to get in the game, its hard now though, need to be serious
  • lack of discretionary income and “new camera = new photographers” on craigslist
  • give up or get tough?
  • tough if you just want to make a buck, good hard knocks school if you want to break through
• integrity, authenticity, advertise on message, true, real, customer service, earn trust, over deliver
• 20% Marketing, 15% shooting, 30% Photoshop, 20% Archive (stock editorial preparation),5% studying, 5% personal project, 5% travelling.

• Chase Jarvis 32 Questions
  • under promise and over deliver, constantly - let customers be your advertising (word of mouth)
  • select your market, don’t spread yourself too thin on many topics
  • started out with commercial, had a great portfolio, photos that someone wanted
  • buy the best stuff first, don’t go cheap necessarily
  • work on business skills, where art + commerce
  • shoot what you really want to be shooting/love, what excites you, what inspires you (other artists/photogs)
  • be unique, carve your own path, don’t follow others (too closely)
  • culture: art, music, pop culture, magazines, feed creativity, film, books
  • set aside time personally for personal work

• Conferece - Making the Web Work for You
  • blog, educate your clients, people learning from you, when work together “its like known for 6 months”
    • talking about what you are doing helps you grow, don’t learn until you teach
    • help others understand your work
    • google - hundred of mentions of keywords from blogging, not just one ‘metadata’ page, pop to the top
      • google doesn’t know who takes the best photos, just who uses the words more often
      • google keyword tools “dubai wedding photography”, shows all order permutations as searched for
  • strobist.com - 60k hits/day to “learn about light”, offload forums to flickr group
  • something of value for FREE is of great value, it will come back to you
  • value drives traffic, traffic drives everything else
  • can learn a lot about you from you blog, whether to hire you or not
  • chasejarvis.com
  • taught himself, didn’t see other sharing what they learned and he wanted to teach others
  • was fielding many ‘howto’ questions, the same he encountered when he started.
  • no such thing as trade secret, very open guy, would just talk to people as much as possible - then blogging
  • sharing was good for his “brand”, though not directly for business at first, but created a community of followers
  • the power of free, detractors don’t complain, they just move on. else ‘refund is in the mail’
  • “SHOW” who you are, the travel NZ/helicopter video, not just say “i’m a great photographer”, people/names
  • share LOTs of info in a Short amount of time, show how you shoot, slight narration, good bg music, ENTERTAIN
    • “these are the best hiking boots”, then gets offers for free boots for life. no intent for commercial ad!
  • Ninjas video, for fun, creative juices flowing, willing to do weird stuff, behind the scenes, collaboration
    • reveal ‘not uptight personality’, not as ‘business oriented’ sometimes so it offers, low tech $600 vid cam
  • Tech video, cameras + gear mounted on bike for cyclists, equipment listed on blog - sold out afterwards
    • companies say ‘thank you’ for mentioning the brand with $$$
  • Community video, hosting 30k sq ft studio for seattle photogs to learn, blog as a vehicle for sharing
  • New Video Video - high speed ninja battling earth/water/fire/wind
  • Meet more people - That’s POWERFUL!!! Need to be using the web in your photography business
• Questions
  • Write blog posts (photoblogs.com) and post photos, your work, photobloggers network
  • Write 1st - add content before you advertise, 1st time they see site they have great content to read
  • Blogging is Community, you need to get links/make links/etc
  • Blog to present yourself to the world
  • Feed the blog as much as needed, but set limits - it can take up all of your time
  • Only thing you can do wrong, is to NOT do anything, to not get involved

• Google Company "Sucks"
  • company did not pay photographer, so rant about it, beware if others
  • always have clients/friends/family sign a contract, with basic terms at least