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Shooting a package

This is the bread and butter assignment for the editorial/photojournalist. You get a call from an editor and they have have a story on a person and want some photos to go along with the story.

While it would be great to just hangout with a person for a week and then pick the best images, the budget is just not there for those type of coverages. What is typical is to talk with a subject about all that they are doing and to stay focused on what the story is all about.

A health clubs national office contacted me and wanted me to show how their health club was helping people in the community live healthier lives since becoming involved with the club.

The environmental portrait

I photographed this engineering professor at Georgia Tech. We wanted to show that their clients have great leadership positions in the community. I knew I needed something that read Georgia Tech quickly. Having the sign behind the professor seemed to be just the thing to work.

I also photographed him at one of the icons for the campus, a steam engine, located in the center of campus.

I wanted to also show you that I shot some available light like this vertical shot here. I also wanted you to see why it is so important to use off camera flash as I did in the first two photos. The off camera flash really separates my work from so many GWCs [Guy With Camera].

At Work

I made several photos of the subject at work. Here he is in a team meeting with some colleagues. If you look at the slide show you can see some others as well.

At the Gym

I photographed the subject working out. I turned in photos from each thing he does at the gym. Now mind you I shot literally hundreds of photos and then had to go through those and eliminate all the ones where face expressions were just not good, or something may have blocked a good view of his face.

By the way to be sure these images were the best color I used strobes in the gym to help with color, but also freeze him and get the sharpest images I could of him working out. Notice the detail in the clothing of the instructor wearing all black. That is the clue this was not available light.

Click on this to see larger

I turned into the client 391 images in two folders: 1) Edits & 2) All the photos. They will probably only use three images; 1) portrait, 2) At work shot, and 3) workout photo.  By shooting as many photos and narrowing down to capture the best expressions and best moments I am able to give the art director choices and they feel like they can then have some variety to show in the end to their audience.

In the contact sheet above you just see a very small number of photos that I turned in. I wanted you to see this is after I have already eliminated all the blinks and funny expressions. Hopefully this will let you know how important it is to shoot enough photos to be able to have a selection that shows off the subject in the best way possible.

Types of clients

I believe there are two types of clients—Educated and uneducated. I am not talking about how bright the client is or how many degrees they might have. For example, when hiring me, I am talking about their experience working with photographers.

Sometimes, clients will have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations. Most of the time, this is done with clients who need more experience hiring photographers.

I generally have little communication problems with those who hire photographers regularly because they are better at communicating their needs, and we establish a solid paper trail together.

The first place the client relationship needs to be corrected is often in communication. When dissatisfaction about something from the client arises, the best thing you can do is look at the paperwork.

A written contract is best for helping resolve these disputes. The second best to a written contract is written documentation that could be as simple as emails. 

Even with a written contract, the one thing plaguing client relationships is more planning. The better the planning, the better the results and satisfaction for all involved.

With the ability to scout a location and walk through the assignment, it is possible to anticipate all the needs that might arise.

How do you know you have a problem?

Your client will need to tell you about a problem so you can fix it. Sadly, I have found that in my career, many people will never tell you there’s a problem. They don’t hire you again.

If no one ever tells you, there is a good chance your personality turns them off, and they don’t want to fix the situation. I advise seeking counseling; it will be worth every penny you spend knowing how to stop certain behaviors from undermining your career.

If you are lucky and get a customer complaint, this is good for you. Often, this means people think you need to know so you can both correct this and continue to work with them, or they think you need to know so you can avoid this in the future—either way, you see no problem that needs to be addressed.

How to handle the conflict

Listen—the best tool you have is the ability to listen. Listening is not just being quiet. Good listening requires you to respond appropriately to the comments.

Apologize—A genuine apology lets the customer understand that they have been heard and understood. This should be carefully worded. If you don’t feel that you have done anything wrong, then be sure to convey regret for the other person’s experience due to what you did. This is assuming it was unintended. Apologizing for the effect this caused doesn’t mean you will resolve. Be sure you take responsibility for the impact you caused, or it will not be sincerely taken.

Take Action—After apologizing for what has taken place to cause this problem, move on to letting them know you want to correct the problem. You can say, “Obviously, what we have done is very upsetting to you, and you need to know that I am going to get to the bottom of this.”

Take the emotion out—Now that you have expressed your concern with emotion, the next phase is exploring the facts. This is where you are just getting the facts of the situation. Often, clients may state what is wrong and how this complicates their ability to solve the problem they brought you on to help. Remember, sometimes they have already concluded that this is not fixable, and you have wasted their time. The tendency is to fix things quickly, but be sure you fully understand what they think is wrong at this stage. Once you have all the facts laid out, restate them in your own words and ask if everything is correct. It would be best to put it into your own words because it will help them know you heard them and understand.

Empathy and not sympathy—Focus on actions and not words. You need to come to the client with ideas and not problems. Remember, time is money, so don’t waste theirs or yours.

Patience—It is best to stop after getting all the facts and tell them you need time to process if required. “Do you mind if I take a few minutes to see what I/we can do? I will call you back with our ideas in the morning,” this is one way to give you time to process all that you have discovered.

Deliver on your promise—The genuine apology you started with entails a resolution. It would be best if you delivered on this promise to be sincere and complete. Without this, you will undermine your reputation and brand as not trustworthy. 

Fire the client

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY]
When clients have naive, impracticable, or inappropriate expectations, it is time to fire them. Sometimes, ending a relationship with a client is better than making your life miserable.

Here are some things I know I have and other photographers have let their clients go:

Slow or no payment—I have had a few clients where the company policy was to be slow paying, and then I have had clients that had such severe ADD that they regularly forgot to pass along my invoice to the accounts payable department. Use this paragraph with your invoicing to avoid this problem:

Administrative Fee – We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices and float the payment cost to our vendors, which requires 30 days’ payment. This fee is approximately 15% of the total invoice. If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount. A notation will be made to this effect on the invoice.

Lack of boundaries—You have a client that expects to own you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Sometimes, clients do not respect that you have other clients and a personal life. To avoid this, put the times you are available in your contract.

Challenging to work with—They are just tricky to work with. Maybe they tell off-color jokes. Try to say politely but firmly that you don’t appreciate the off-color jokes. You may not get a positive response at first, but you may. You’ll also benefit from speaking your mind and at least getting the message out there for everyone’s consideration.

Poor Time Management—The client has trouble keeping appointments or is constantly late. This can become a problem when it starts to affect your bottom line. You have trouble getting things from the client that you need to complete a job. Be sure your contract spells out that missing deadlines or whatever you need from them that there is some penalty. The problem you are trying to address is doing work and delayed payment due to the client dragging out a project. You can put the full payment into the contract by a specific date if the delay is due to the client missing something.

Unwilling to accept price increases—Over time, your prices need to go up due to increased living costs and other expenses. When the client is reluctant to adjust their budget, you must let them go; you cannot afford to work for them.

I am in Los Angeles this week on our family vacation. We stopped by our family friend Pam Goldsmith’s for a visit.

I shared how photographers discuss the triangle to describe those working as pros. Many years ago, that triangle base was not as broad as it is today. The tip is still tiny, and many believe it to be smaller for those earning a living as full-time photographers.

Pam Goldsmith then shared how the Professional Musicians Local 47 has about 13,000 members, of which less than 1,000 are doing enough gigs to make a living full-time as a professional musicians.

She said she thinks this number is smaller than the 1,000 and smaller group than years ago.

If photographers had a union

I am not advocating forming a union for the primary purpose of knowing how many of us are working, but the union was created to help people get work in the music industry and for a fair wage.

If we had a union, we would have similar numbers, if not even more members than 13,000. But, even if we, too, helped with regulating rates, we still would have dismal numbers of those who have invested time and money to pursue this as a career.

Later in the day, we went to Richard Bugg’s home office studio, where my daughter was getting to see what it is like to do sound mixing. Richard had the Broadway musical Wicked tracks and let my daughter listen to the different orchestra parts and vocals and how they can be mixed.

We learned from Richard that to stay employed; he had to continue to be flexible, adapt to new situations, and apply his problem-solving skills to unique problems.

My takeaway from today

After visiting not just average professionals in the entertainment industry, but the top in their respective fields, each talked about getting jobs. They had to be the best they could be.

Pam talked to us about when playing in the orchestra; there is a different approach than when in the recording studio for a movie. It would be best if you were exact with the film because the editors have the scenes timed down to Milli-seconds. So she had to be 110% accurate with the beat.

Richard shared about equipment breaking and fixing equipment in pressure situations.

Richard also talked about how he and my wife’s brother Richard Zvonar determined that laptops have stage fright. They would have sound systems running with their notebooks, and everything worked great in rehearsal, and then they would crash during a performance.

This led them to help design systems that ran separately from the laptops.

Too often, Apple would upgrade an operating system that would crash their software. They would spend so much time trying to fix the problem that this is why the separate systems were designed to work design systems soundly. They don’t fail.

Again, I hope you see the importance of not just people; equipment must be perfect.

If we had unions, photographers would be even more aware of how many call themselves professional photographers and how few make it. The difference is in the nuances of details.

Bookkeeping??? I want to shoot.

If you don’t like keeping track of your spending or budgeting and can never see yourself doing this, then read no further.

However, if you want to make money with your camera and do this as a profession, you have no choice but to keep track of all your expenses and income, or you can go to jail for tax problems. It is just that simple.

Even if you hire an accountant, you must keep records to give to them.

This blog post is for those who hate taxes and are interested in a simple way to do it.

The IRS needs to know where all your income is coming in from and what are all your expenses. By the way, you need documentation to back this up in receipts and record keeping.

Here is what I do for my record keeping for the IRS. 

These are some tips I have to offer for photographers to help with taxes.

First, a disclaimer: I am not an accountant or lawyer, so please check anything I say with a Certified Public Accountant.

I recommend using Quicken Home & Business. Here is a link. [UPDATE 9-2-22] I am using Quicken for Mac to keep track of expenses and FotoBiz for Invoicing. Link to blog on FotoBiz

Why do I use Quicken Home & Business?

When I got my first computer, it came with Quicken, and I just started using this back in the 1980s.

I liked a few basic features, which for the most part, are the same as the first version I ever used.

The template looks just like your check register. You have a box for  Payee, the amount, and, most importantly, the category.

Categories

Quicken helps you set up categories based on IRS Schedule C for your business. Out of the box, you can select the default and be pretty close to being done. I suggest paying a CPA to consult on the categories you need to use for your business.

Now there are a few cool things that Quicken can help automate your bookkeeping. One of the best things is that many credit card companies make it so Quicken can talk to them and download all your transactions. So the only thing you will need to do is to be sure you are assigning the correct category to each transaction. But after the first time with a vendor, it goes to your last category the next time it comes up.

Using multiple categories for a vendor will let you choose which one from a pull-down menu.

Receipts

You can attach a receipt to any transaction. Receipts are essential for bookkeeping.

You may also be wondering about what the IRS thinks about digital receipts. The short answer is that digital receipts are as acceptable as paper copies. According to Rev. Proc. 97-22, the IRS allows taxpayers to save electronic images of documents and destroy the original hard copy.

You are meeting the IRS requirements if you scan your receipts and attach them to the transaction.

You can see here a scan of a cash receipt. I put this in my Cash Transactions.

Vehicles

Quicken even comes with Vehicle Mileage tracking.

Tips for tracking your mileage.

You will need the odometer reading for the beginning and end of each year. So, on New Year’s Eve or Day, you must write down the odometer reading.

Think of tracking your mileage like you would do a checkbook transaction. It would help if you wrote where you went for business. You need the starting odometer reading and the end reading. You can track your tolls in the same place and your parking if you like. I choose to track all my receipts for tolls and parking in either my credit card or cash account.

The IRS will want your actual business, personal, and overall mileage for the tax year.

Also, keep track of actual vehicle expenses. You can deduct whichever you want–mileage or actual expenses.

TripLog is a fantastic and easy way to track your mileage if you have a smartphone. I recommend you check out TripLog for use with your Android Device or iPhone.

TipLog Highlights

• The most popular GPS mileage tracking app with over 300,000 downloads
• The only app that AUTO STARTS when connected to power or Bluetooth devices
• The only mileage tracking app that reads a vehicle’s odometer from OBD-II devices
• Sync and merge data to TripLog Web from multiple devices with Fleet Management
• The most comprehensive reports compliant with IRS TAX returns

Since I am tracking all my personal and business expenses, I can easily see my actual costs for a vehicle in a given year. The note field is where you specify which car was at the shop. So you can use actual expenses or mileage for the IRS forms. The good thing is that TripLog and Quicken Home & Business help you decide the best to use in any given year.

Invoicing

I like the ability to use your logo and customize your invoices with Quicken.
 
To get paid, I must invoice clients for the work I did for them. I have set up a few categories of billables that I use for invoicing.

You can have, for example, an unlimited number of ways to charge for your services. Once created, it will automatically drop all the explanations you use to describe what you did for them.

If you have taxable items that you invoice for, then you can set up those categories to automatically tax at the rates for your area.

It is pretty common to have some billables that are taxable and others that are not. But, again, this reminds you why you need to talk to a CPA to get your setup.
 
Another cool thing with the software is you can put in the due date for invoices, and Quicken will help you avoid late paying. Knowing late payments is critical when you are short on cash due to slow payment.     

April 15th

If you have used Quicken Home & Business throughout the year to track all your expenses and income, then TurboTax Home & Business can import all this data. Then basically, you click through questions to verify that it is correct.

Filing my taxes has never been easier.

Stanley on a school bus in Kinston, NC

While I have always wanted to be in control, I wasn’t in power for a long time.

Asperger’s Syndrome

It would not be until the adult years that I understood I had Asperger’s Syndrome. Early on, I went for psychological testing because of my behavior in the classroom. They suspected I had Autism, but they didn’t want to label me at that time.

You see, it was not until 1994 that the American Psychiatric Association recognized Asperger’s syndrome. While I majored in Social Work in early 1980, it was never discussed. When my sister was doing her Masters in Social Work, she came across it.

She recognized the symptoms in me.

There were a few things that made her aware I might have it. I didn’t talk until I was three years old. I was also socially awkward.

However, on the plus side of the characteristics:

• Persistent
• A perfectionist
• Easily able to identify errors
• Technical ability
• In possession of a sense of social justice and integrity
• Likely to question protocols
• Accurate
• Attentive to detail
• Logical
• Conscientious
• Knowledgeable
• Original in problem solving
• Honest
• Likely to thrive on routine and clear explanations

Once you get to know you

I have heard this phrase a lot throughout my life. The reason is those with Asperger’s Syndrome frequently say things without considering the emotional impact on the listener [faux pas].  Also, I tended to include too much detail when speaking on topics.

Those who have chosen to move past these social flaws soon learn to love me because of the many positive attributes that I do have. However, like everyone, I have some rough edges of a personality that don’t help me. Social Work and my Photography training would help me do a better job with my social skills.

Social Work & Photography

I find it quite strange that today I work as a professional communicator. You see, my greatest weakness is communication.

While I know I was called to do what I am doing; I am reminded of the scripture following 1 Cor 1:27.

It was my pursuing the call that I would be led down a path that has me working today as a professional photojournalist.

I went to college to major in Social Work, thinking I would be a pastor one day. Here I took these courses, which helped me intellectually understand people and social situations. Even with all this training, I still was not wired to grasp the social moments intuitively. So I can only say I have been blessed with opportunities that I alone did not merit.

Here are some of the coursework required for Social Workers:

Human Behavior Course—This first or second-year course explores the interaction of various factors in human behavior, including biological, social, cultural, environmental, and psychological. Discussions focus significantly on individual behavior in a larger social framework. Attention is also given to diverse populations, including minorities, children, and the poor, as well as the impact of discrimination and oppression.

Social Work Research Methods Course—Social workers, must be able to research both new and existing social data effectively. This course provides the techniques to perform both qualitative and quantitative studies. Students learn to critically interpret, organize and use research findings in everyday practice. This is typically a second-year course.

Generalist Social Work Practice Course—Students in this course learn the intervention process in the social work context. They acquire the skills to evaluate, engage and intervene in social problems. This involves a study of the principles and values of generalist practice through multiple social perspectives. These perspectives include multicultural groups, families, and individuals. Social work roles, professional relationships, and service delivery models are also examined.

Social Work Policy Course—Social workers, must be familiar with the significant administrative, legislative, and judicial policies that affect their work. They must also understand how to advocate for policy changes to improve social conditions and empower at-risk groups. Students gain this understanding by exploring the history, organization, and philosophies of social policies and their effect on diverse populations. This course is generally taken towards the middle or end of a social work program.

Field Practice Instruction Course—In this course, students apply knowledge gained in the classroom to practical situations that model real-world problems. Students develop oral and written communication skills, adequate supervision, and critical assessment skills. This course may include placement with a social work agency and an additional seminar. It is generally taken towards the end of a social work program.

Photojournalists with Social Work or Psychology degrees

Later in my career, I would discover that many of my favorite photographers would have majored in Social Work or Psychology. Don Rutledge and Joanna Pinneo, who I worked with in my early years, were psychology majors. Eugene Richards was a social work major and worked as one for years before becoming a photojournalist.

There will be more about how photography would help me more than Social Work in Part 2