Month: September 2011

Race Cars and Photography Subjects have a lot in common

by Stanley LearyPhotography
Reading Time: 3 minutes
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Just a self portrait of me at the Atlanta Speedway

My last e.Newsletter sparked a reader’s comment.  He shot motorsports and wanted to do even more and get paid to do so.  He was commenting on my blog post “How to photograph what you love for a living.”

It was during the exchange of emails that I had a moment of clarity.  I had another example to help students learn how to understand marketing.

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If you look you will notice not just a major sponsor, but many others with their logos on these cars.

The guy had sent me some of his photos of cars on a track and I immediately saw all the sponsor decals. I see every sticker as a potential client–most photographers just see it as decoration.

For example Goodyear might be interested in photos and an article for their internal newsletter.  Every single sticker on that car is a potential corporate outlet.  Two departments at each of these corporations one should contact.  Their PR office which often has two parts an internal and external focus.  The second group is Marketing/Advertising. 

Every time you talk to anyone on the driver’s team you need to find out where they are from and what schools they went to.  Their hometown paper is interested and their college alumni publications are interested.

Don’t forget to then look at everything on your list and then think of all the associations these folks are members of.  Each of those organizations has publications as well. 

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Each and every sticker is another sponsor who would be interested in photos of this car.

Goodyear is most likely a member of TIA (Tire Industry Association).  They too have publications that need photos.  They run ads of their members in the publications.

While HomeDepot and Lowe’s maybe competition, most likely they are both members of the NRHA, North American Retail Hardware Association. 

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Even NASCAR driver Randy Baker has sponsor patches all over his driving suit.

You may not ever cover motorsports, but if you were to think of everything you photograph as having people interested in the photos the same reasons that sponsors put decals on race cars, then you have one of the biggest clues to know how to market your services.

Everyone has a story is based on another fact someone wants to know their story.  Learn to connect the dots between the story and the audience.

When you make contact

When you pitch a story you are pushing content.  Learn to pull content as well with each contact.  “…here is a story for you on ….”  Always let them know your availability and what you are doing in case they want to piggy back an assignment for you.  “I am going to cover _____ race on____.  If you need any coverage of this let me know.  Also, I can take time on the way there and back to stop and get coverage for you along the way.  This will save you the travel expenses since I am already in the area.”

Whenever you travel take time to stop by and visit some of these people you are contacting.  “Hey John I am in the area for a job tomorrow.  Do you mind I stop by and say hello.  Maybe we can get a cup of coffee.”  This can lead to more jobs.

It is about networking.  The more contacts you make the more times you will get a job that pays.

Photographic Significance—What does it look like?

by Stanley LearyPhotography
Reading Time: 3 minutes
John White talks to the new class of IMPACT 360 in Pine Mountain, GA

If you are like me, you want to create a body of work that makes a difference to the world. You want to have images that move people in some way.

The danger of pursuing this carrot in life is how you define what significant work looks like.

There are a few people who I admire for their body of work. Eugene Smith, the father of the modern photo story, is at the top of the list. Who wouldn’t want photos as he did of The Country Doctor, the victims of industrial pollution in Minamata, a nurse-midwife in South Carolina, or his coverage of Dr. Albert Schweitzer? Henri Cartier-Bresson is another photographer known for capturing the “Decisive Moment” in one image where the fleeting moment captured qualities, making them iconic in human history.

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Dr. John Basie talks to the students of IMPACT 360

I wrote about Lewis Hine in an earlier blog post here. His work helped congress change the child labor laws—impressive and significant.

Is this how you measure what is significant? Maybe there is another way to measure your significance.

Maybe today, when you make a portrait of a person the family will treasure forever—that could be significant. For example, Knolan Benfield, my uncle, made a portrait of a very substantial man. The older gentleman came in for a portrait session and didn’t tell him he was dying of cancer. The family later let Knolan know that he had died, and they treasured the photo because it captured him so well.

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You can see the impact already of the professor on these students.

While you may still be concentrating on the images you capture, maybe you need to realize you are maybe touching people’s lives by just being with them today. Of course, your camera introduced you to them, but your smile, handshake, and taking the time to listen to them turned their life around. Maybe they were pretty depressed and feeling insignificant.

I want my images to be significant, and all I can do is do my very best and critique my work and the next time, do something that makes it even better. However, I am not able to make my photos significant because it is the audience that will determine that part.

I am starting to learn more each day that people I meet need me to be present with them. I need to live in the moment, not the past or future. In doing this, then, they have my full attention. Being significant means learning to be present with those you are with. By the way, I have a personal confession—I stink at this. The closer I am to someone, the more difficult it is. I do a better job with strangers. I want to do a better job and struggle with this.

Think about it for a moment—who has touched your life the most? Of course, like most folks, you will mention a parent, teacher, or someone who just took some interest in you. However, most of us will not say a rock star, a celebrity, a political leader, a religious person like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, or a famous photographer. Instead, we will mention someone who was present with us and treated us with honor, dignity, and respect.

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Trudy White takes a moment to get to know one of the new students and ask how he is doing. Can you see the significance of this moment on both of them?

Be careful what you pursue because you may get it and miss the best part of life.

Looking for a staff photographer position?

by Stanley LearyPhotography
Reading Time: 3 minutes
 
Today’s “Storyteller” uses visuals and grabs the audience’s attention.

Are you looking for a staff position in photography? If so, then you have been seeing the same type of requirements I am seeing. Here are a few of the conditions I see in positions:

“Multimedia experience is a plus and should be included in your portfolio.”

“Applicants must be able to write photo captions using Associated Press style.”

“This position will photograph portraits, sports, general news, spot news and features.”

“Responsibility for taking or coordinating free-lance photography, only when necessary, for marketing, media and online/digital communications.”

“Identify and coordinate select images and design or coordinate design on assigned projects in collaboration with department team, assigned student workers, and external vendors as necessary.”

“Coordinate video projects in conjunction with team members, Media Services, and external vendors, with primary responsibility for coordinating script development, environment, needed equipment, direction and guidance to participants, schedules, on-site supervision, editing and production.”

Where are we going in this industry? In my opinion, we are looking for a storyteller. So while you are visiting a long list of skills that are adding to the traditional positions, what isn’t changing is the need for a storyteller.

Storytellers keep your attention.

From Wikipedia:

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot, characters and narrative point of view.

Traditionally, oral stories were committed to memory and then passed from generation to generation. However, in Western, literate societies, written and televised media has largely surpassed this method of communicating local, family and cultural histories.

I think today, what is necessary for your portfolio is examples of great stories. Do you have these in your portfolio? Of course, a single image can tell a story, but companies are looking for someone who can command the public’s attention.

Those professionals who can consistently tell stories and demonstrate they create a following are rising to the top of the industry.

You can even see by the body language this guy is a “Storyteller.”

These are my top 5 ways to improve your portfolio:

1. Find stories that have strong emotional pull. Visuals are their strongest when conveying emotions.
2. Have single images that tell the story. This shows you can tell a story in limited space.
3. Have a series of pictures that help tell a story. This will demonstrate you can capture variety of moments that together tell a strong story.
4. Create a package that includes audio. I think the strongest audio is the human voice. The first person narrative is by far, in my opinion, the highest impact of all. I think this is why Jesus asked his followers to be “witnesses.”
5. Keep your “Audio/Visual Story” less than 3 minutes. All the research shows that the public will watch 2 – 3 minute packages, but to be longer it requires an extremely compelling story and storyteller.