Team RV performing at the Peachtree Dekalb Airport’s Good Neighbor Day Airshow

Core essentials to success:

1. Be honest and truthful
2. Deliver on your promises
3. Stay customer focused

Most people dislike salespeople who waste their time. Not being prepared with something of value and a purpose can make it more and more difficult for you to get appointments.

If you have done your homework you will be able to leverage the customers resources from within their organization.  To do this you must know their goals and objectives.

Just imagine starting your meeting with after studying your website and some of your companies materials I understand your purpose to be …  You can ask them if this is a good assessment. If you have done your homework you know you are on target.

I want to propose something today that will help you achieve this goal.  What I am proposing will help you and this is how it will benefit you.

If the customer decides to do business with you and you deliver as you have promised, you will be able to leverage this experience to get more business.  You are proving your trustworthiness.

Overtime you will build a reputation to get more customers, but also raise your awareness with your competition.

Zero-Tolerance

Every year 32 NFL teams compete for the Super Bowl Championship. All of these teams have the best football players they could find.

Last year the NY Giants did something different than other teams had done in the past. They brought in consultants who were not football players to help them win.

Team RV, the world’s largest air show team, provides an exciting and memorable performance that combines precision formation flying and formation aerobatics.

Afterburner the global leader in Flawless Execution℠, offers three strategic quality management solutions – Equip, Embed, and Empower, a set of business process improvement principles inspired by elite military professionals and military fighter pilots that revolutionize the way you look at and do business in today’s fast-paced environment. They took their fighter pilot training and helped the NY Giants understand it isn’t about trick plays or new plays, it is about executing the plays flawlessly that will set you apart.

Many photographers I know are very much like their NFL counterparts.  They continuously are working on their skills to improve them. Just like some of the NFL teams that never are making it to the Super Bowl are photographers who are a struggling franchise.

Last year’s Super Bowl Champions are put under the microscope of all the other teams. They look for things to copy and look for weaknesses to exploit.

When you do things right it doesn’t become easier, sometimes it becomes harder.

Very Old Example

Many years ago there was this guy that rose to be one of the greatest leaders of all time.

Here are some of the things he did:

1. Healthy Diet—As a very young boy he was eating very healthy and avoiding junk food.
2. Remained pure and spotless—He was a gentleman all his life
3. Knowledgeable and easy to understand—he was well educated and also was an excellent communicator
4. Servant’s Heart—lifted up others around him

The political leaders of the day found out about his skills and had him as part of their leadership team.

He rose to such prominence that it infuriated many who wanted that power. These people spread rumors. They told lies about him in order to tear him down so they could get his job.

He was fired and thrown in jail for things he never did.

He would get out of this situation and rise again to the leadership teams only to have this happen again and again.

The reason he continued to rise is he didn’t become vengeful.  He continued to be honest and truthful. He delivered on his promises and he was focused on being a servant.

By the way the name of this guy was Daniel and you can find him in the Bible.
The men chosen to serve the king were …

“in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace.” (Daniel 1:4)

The US Army Silver Wings from Fort Benning.

Grow your business

Remember that to grow your business is not just about finding the newest thing, however this is important to know, it is your flawless execution of doing the small things right every time.

Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. WOW them by giving them something more. Be careful not to tell them everything you are going to do. Be sure you can go above and beyond their expectations.

Ask good questions and do all you can to get to know your customer. When you do this you will be thinking of ways to help them even when you are not technically working on their account.

Are you overestimating your trustworthiness with your customers? Research shows that customers don’t trust their vendors as much as vendors think they do.

While you may do everything perfectly, many other vendors will not. Because you are a vendor you are often tarnished by their performance. They don’t want to get burned.

Be sure you help your client know your value. You need to find ways to show them how you are helping them. Sometimes this is entering your work into competitions and showing them it is winning awards. Sometimes it as simple as asking them if their sales went up after the campaign you helped them with.

If sales went up compare this to past campaigns.  Let them know you care about results as well as they do.

Shoppers in Savannah, Georgia.

Now we have heard of shopping tips and here are some just as a reminder:

1. Plan your spending and avoid impulse buys
2. Don’t grocery shop when you are hungry
3. Larger is not always cheaper and smaller isn’t always cheaper
4. Buying emotionally because you deserve something is dangerous
5. Buy things before you run out—this allows you to shop for sales cycles

These tips and more are given to help people control their spending and stay within their budget.  When you are able to live being debt free you discover a peace about life that is missing when you are always just one paycheck from homelessness or bankruptcy.

When you help people make a wise investment, you are looking out for them as a customer. You need to know all the shopping tips for customers, so you don’t fall into making mistakes.

Ye Ole Fashion Ice Cream in Charleston, SC. People love to buy ice cream.

1. Not knowing your product
2. Not knowing your competition
3. Selling without establishing the needs of the customer
4. Failing to qualify a lead
5. Neglecting to collect customer data
6. Going to market too soon with product
7. Tunnel vision on the BIG sale client

When you have bills to pay you can become the desperate sales person. This is why it is recommended that you have enough money in the bank to pay your bills for the next six months.  This cushion can help keep you relaxed and better at closing the deal.

People love to eat out and find their favorite places like Kona Taeng On Thai located in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

1. Face-to-face: More important than ever is the time you actually see a customer or prospect in person.
2. Find something in common. When you do find something in common this can help relax everyone.
3. Use YouTube or Vimeo. You can post short videos where you talk to people and give them some tips. This helps to give you visibility, credibility and worldwide exposure.
4. Blog. Create a blog and give a tip to help your customers. You need to do this regularly and a minimum of once a week is a good starting point.
5. Actively listen. Just listening to someone to help you find a quick way to sale your product is a mistake. I listen to what they see their long-term and short-term goals are for their business. If you are actively listening you will be asking clarifying questions that show your interest, but are helping you understand their problems. Their problems are opportunities if you have a way to solve them.
6. Become a partner. You should be helping them see you as someone who is part of their team to help them achieve their goals. When you are helping them achieve their goals you will be achieving your goals as well.

Shoppers taking a break in Savannah, Georgia.

When the salesman is pitching the “Value-Added” concept, there is an assumption. The words assume you have to buy something in order to get the value.

This idea is totally dead today in sales. To compete today you have to establish value before the sale.

One of the ways restaurants and other food establishments establish value is in sampling of their food.  But no matter your industry you have to establish in some way your value before the purchase and not something “Value-Added” later after the purchase.

Sampling

One great example of how music recording artists sale their music is to look on iTunes.  Notice you can preview the music before you buy.  They are establishing value before the purchase.

In visual communications it is very easy for the designers, videographers and photographers to have enough work to keep them busy that is not worth showing anyone for future work.

I had a lady come up to be at a party this weekend and talk about wanting understand how to get more business.  She was a designer working for a small agency. I talked to her about what she was doing.

She said what most of us in the business complain about. The work they are doing is not portfolio worthy. She was concerned the longer she stayed at this job the harder it was going to be to get any other job later.

To get a job in the arts you must show the work they will hire you to do.

Personal Projects

The solution is basically a personal project. This is when you do a project the way you think it should be done for yourself. At the end of your project you will have something to show that establishes your value to the customer.

Projects will most likely involve others and I recommend finding an organization to work with, because you can trade out your work for access.

You can do it pro bono or maybe work a deal where they contribute to the costs. Your purpose is to create a body of work that will show what you can produce.

The key if doing work that someone can use is for you to truly have artistic control to show what you can do when given the opportunity. Free will help you maintain more control.

The more they foot the bill the more artistic control they deserve.

I went on a trip to Haiti and most of the time I was in a meeting.  Not very exciting, but nonetheless I was in Haiti.  This was many years ago and I just put together a quick slide show to show the photos to music.

http://www.stanleylearystoryteller.com/haiti/_files/iframe.html
Later after this slide show I explored using a digital recorder and added interviews on another project.

http://www.stanleylearystoryteller.com/Yucatan/_files/iframe.html
Now I was adding another layer to the services.  I wasn’t going to stop here I continued to add more value to my own personal projects.

I decided to create some tutorials with the computer that were then output as video.  Here is an example of this project:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5BR_5Zvoto]
I hope you are seeing the evolution. It takes time to continue to add value.

The key is to continually look for things that will give more tools to your clients to communicate their message.

I even explored and added to my tool belt 360º tours.

Click on the image for a Panoramic interactive image

I still wasn’t satisfied. I then went out and shot some video to add to the still images on my trip to Mexico to cover the coffee growers.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9wmMSv3SoY]
WOW THEM!

If you want to get cool jobs then show your potential and your present customers what you want to do for them–don’t tell them.

I will give you a few key things that will make this work for you.

1. Find something you have passion about. 
2. Don’t do a story on something everyone is doing or has done
3. Be sure to show it the way their customers might use it. 
1. Put it in your blog
2. Create a DVD
3. Maybe create a coffee table book 
4. Show it as a magazine story layout
4. Know what you need to charge to do this type of work

I wanted to revisit the Photo Story in case you missed my earlier post and also just to give some photos to go along with each of the points.  Here is a link to that earlier post.

Here are the basic things to look for in a Photo Story:

1. Opener: Sets the scene for the story
2. Decisive moment: The one moment that can by itself tell the story
3. Details: Besides being like visual candy to the story, help often with transitions–especially in multimedia packages
4. Sequences: give a little variety to a situation
5. High overall shot: Gives a good perspective to how the elements all fit together
6. Closer: Besides the classic shot of the cowboy riding off into the sunset there are other visual ways to help bring the story to a close
7. Portraits: These photos are great for introducing the characters of the story

Just a nice moment where people are enjoying themselves at the event.

Stephen’s mother and sister are sitting at the table listening to the lady gesturing and in the background is Stephen.

Lane Alderman the senior pastor of Roswell Presbyterian Church.

Lane Alderman the senior pastor of Roswell Presbyterian Church.

Emily Wright Associate Pastor

How do you get the photo above and not the next one?

PowerPoint or Keynote

PowerPoint and Keynote presentations often take place in a dark room.  So if you use a flash, even just off camera you might end up with something like the photo above, where the screen is washed out.

If you are not careful you will end up with a silhouette as I have in this photo above. Hey that might work occasionally, but don’t you want to see the presenter at some point in your photos and their presentation?

Off Camera Flash using Zoom

In this photo here, with the man in the red vest, I put the Nikon SB-900 flash off to the side and zoomed the head to 200mm.  The Nikon SB-900 is on the PocketWizard Flex TT5 and on my camera is the transmitter which is the PocketWizard Mini TT1 with the AC3 to control the output of the flash.

While this is far superior to the first photo it can still be better.

Use a snoot on the hot shoe flash

In this photo you can see the speaker and the power point equally well. Now the people closest to the camera are in the back of the room where some of the fluorescent lights are on and giving that green cast.

I played with the exposure compensation on the camera and the flash.  For the photo where the best exposure works, I dialed the camera to -2 stops and the flash to +1 stop.  Since I am basically overriding the auto exposure of the camera and flash there really is no settings that will work exactly the same every time. It will for that room, but could fluctuate even then.  I just know to do a few test shots getting the settings the way I like them and then start shooting to capture moments.

I put over the SB-900 the LumiQuest Snoot to help keep the flash off the screen and only on the speaker.  It is just $23.95.

Here you can see the setup.  Now notice there are a few light leaks around the snoot kicking light back on the wall.  Not a real big deal for me in this situation.  However, it could affect you in another situation.  Just take some gaffer tape and wrap around the snoot covering that up if needed.

Nikon D4, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 28-300mm

This past Saturday I drove up to North Georgia College in Dahlonega to photograph The Citadel playing them in Rugby.  Honestly I just don’t shoot a lot of Rugby.  I can probably count the number of times on both my hands.

There are a few things I knew from shooting football that I would do to insure good photos.

Nikon D4 Camera Settings:

• Auto ISO with lowest ISO set to 100 and highest to 12,800
• In Auto ISO I also set the minimum shutter speed to 1/2000
• Capturing the images as RAW
• Dynamic-area AF 21-point
• Continuous-servo autofocus (AF-C)
• Focus Tracking with Lock-On 4
• AF Activation Off (Focus is done with the back button and shutter is only fired with shutter button)
• 10 FPS and not 11 FPS.  At 11 only the first photo is focused.

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Lens Choice

• Camera #1: Nikon D4 with Sigma 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 and 1.4 extender.  This gives me a 168 – 420mm ƒ/4
• Camera #2: Nikon D4 with Nikkor 23-300mm ƒ/3.5 – ƒ/5.6

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Where to stand?

There are basically four sides to pick from.  I picked the sideline where the players are backlighted.  It is extremely important to use a lens hood or you will be getting lens flare.

The advantage I see in shooting with backlight is the contrast is dropped in the middle of the day. The players are rim lit, but you are not having the really strong bright area of the face with a strong shadow.

I am also watching my backgrounds.  The first photo, while a good moment, the background is distracting. Sometimes you cannot get a clean background. There are two things you can do. Use a shallow depth-of-field and pick an angle so the background is darker and cleaner. Maybe you pick an angle where the grass is predominate, or where the background is so much in the shade it goes dark.

Nikon D4, ISO 900, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

What I am looking for?

In Rugby you can only pass off to your team without advancing the ball. So you must pass in general backwards.  You can only advance the ball by running (most of the time) or by kicking.  Very similar to American football in tackling and running with the ball.  I wanted to show the competition rather than a guy all by himself running.

The major difference in Rugby and American football is just about the time they are getting tackled the players are often handing off to their team mates.

If they do go down they can hand the ball back to their teammates. I wanted to show how this is done in the photo below.

Nikon D4, ISO 1100, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

Even in sports expression counts

Occasionally even the flexing of the muscles can help communicate the effort of the athlete. The key to this success is being ready, because it is up to the athlete to make the effort and you then can catch it.

Nikon D4, ISO 1000, ƒ/5.6, 1/2000, 120-300mm ƒ/2.8 with 1.4 extender.

My suggestion is to shoot some shots when the teams are warming up.  See which side of the field gives you better light on the athletes.  See what combination of lighting and background works the best and then choose this side of the field for most of the game.  You can mix it up if you like, but the point is to get the best light to capture the action and the expressions of the athletes.

When I teach lighting I start first with just one light using a grid. After teaching about getting the proper exposure, I encourage my students to not move the light, but for them to move and walk around the subject and make photos. This is one of the examples I used when teaching this concept of them moving in relationship to the subject and how the light looks different. We need to do this with role models as well. Look at them from many directions to really learn from them.

• Sustainable business model. I want to have as my role model those photographers who are able to pay all their bills and are not in debt. I also prefer that they are able to support more than just themselves.  They do not have to have children, but I want to see a business model that could support them.
• People person. I want my role model to give honor, dignity and respect to all they come into contact with. I do not believe a jerk is something I need to emulate to be successful. 
• Balanced life. Workaholics is not what I want to follow. I want to know how to work hard and play hard. I respect those with strong families and friends in their life.
• Professional level work. I want to see work that is professional standards. I am also interested in seeing a consistency in their work. Having some outstanding work is good, but what is disappointing is someone who produces poor work too often.
• Servant’s heart. I really like following those photographers who give back. They serve as mentors or are involved in their professional organizations and even their community. I am not a fan of those who are greedy and it is all about them.

I do learn a great deal from other photographers, but that doesn’t mean I want to emulate them. I even study them and their work, but not all these become my role model–but I do learn from them.

What I learn from photographers that I would not consider role models:

• I learn a new technique. 
• I have discovered from one of the photographers how to carry a set of clothing that you can ask people to wear to improve the photo.  One thing I thought was cool was the coveralls he carried to factories. He would put workers in red, yellow or blue coveralls and this helped tremendously give a pop to the photo.
• Learned how to trigger off camera flash using a new technology.
• How to use remote cameras.
• Negotiating skills. I have learned from many photographers how to do a better bid for jobs.
• Gear choices. I have learned about camera bags, lighting kits and more from photographers.
• What not to do. 
• I have watched many “famous” photographers kill a kid’s enthusiasm by not giving them the time of day when they were trying to talk to them.
• How many photographers will use foul language when talking to a group. My comedian friend Jeff Justice helped me to realize this from his comedy workshop. He will not allow foul language when they give their performance at The Punchline” because if you cannot be funny without it using it will not make you funny. Also, his most successful students thank him because this helped them get on TV.

Summary

Just because you think someones photography is great or the places they are going is something you want to do–be very careful before making them a role model and start copying them. Don’t be an adolescent and get all caught up in their looks for instance. Look for the mate–the total package.

You need to separate the photographers who are being held up as leaders from those you make as a role model (LIGHT) and those who you can glean things from (DARK).

• Time of Day
• Weather
• Time of Year

Dawn — this is the 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise. The light at this time of day has a blue color cast to them. Also, there are really no shadows to contend with in the photos.

Morning — The light can still be pretty good at this time of day. The sun is up and can still shine on a person’s face so that you can still see their eyes and the color is more neutral.

Midday — This is when the sun is directly overhead. The dyanamic range is great and therefore your photos are more contrasty. You either expose for the highlights and the shadows are black or you expose for the shadows and the highlights are blown out. It is very difficult to find a middle exposure to hold it all together. Since the light is directly overhead more often people’s eyes are in the shadows and you often loose the detail of the eyes. You need fill flash to show people’s faces at this time of day.

Afternoon — Very similar light to the morning, but a little warmer due to the atmosphere being warmed up through the day.

Sunset — You need to know the time of sunset to maximize the Golden Hour before the sun disappears below the horizon. The reason you see a lot of silhouettes of people and sunsets verses sunrises has more to do with people being awake.

Dusk — I like to shoot architecture at this time of day, because you can put your camera on a tripod

Weather

Time of Year


There really isn’t a “best” time of year to photograph. However, my favorite time of year is the fall.  I love the cool weather and all the color in the leaves. I also like the fall since there are more high pressure days, which translates into less stuff in the air making it where you can see further on clear days.


Fall

Spring

Summer

No matter the time, as long as you have light you can make photographs.  Sometimes shooting at the time of day many avoid will make your photos different. My suggestion is to always try and shoot the Golden Hour when you can outside and then look for other opportune moments to capture people and places in the best light for them.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Do you feel like you need a vacation? 

Living life you will experience some ups and downs. One of the things that can make life difficult is thinking you are in control of everything.

We do need to exercise self-control and even this is difficult living life. When we loose self-control we realize there are often consequences to these moments.  However, you must be careful when experiencing a difficult time that it is not always the consequence of your actions.

I studied the concept of evil when I was in seminary. The basic thing I took away from this study was that God gave us the freedom of choice and due to that evil happens. Some of this evil is a moral evil due to people’s choices and other is natural evil which is things like natural disasters.

What I learned is that many times things happen due to someone else’s actions.  They drink and drive and I can end up dead due to their actions.

While we may choose to free fall ride at an amusement park, it isn’t so fun in life. Even knowing what you are riding can be scary because you are not sure when it will happen.

Reasons to just chill

Budgets: There are many times where everything is going well and the client has just been informed they have to make some cuts. There are many times that they do not communicate this to you. Sometimes the reason is they were just cut.

Timing: There are times that everything looks like you are being booked and then they say they need to wait.  Sometimes this waiting takes a very long time. You cannot make this move along by calling all the time. Actually this is where self-control is important. You might want to ask when would be an appropriate time to check-in with them again.

Personnel changes: While you have worked with a client for a long time, they get a promotion or go to another company. Sometimes this can be good and you end up with more work. However, the next person to take that job could have their own people they want to work with. This is not about you as much as it is about them.

Seasonal: There are times when clients will choose a direction for which you are not the best choice. They want a new look. While you maybe very flexible and able to even do what they are looking for, unless you have been showing them new work they will choose someone who is producing what they are looking for. I think of this as seasons in life.

You are not a super hero

There are times in your career where your client no longer is working with you, but against you. This is not a little bump in the road.

I had a client that was always wanting the lowest price and was letting invoices sit on their desk rather than passing them on to accounts payable. Because I was getting a fair amount of work from them I was doing everything I could to keep the client.

They were getting worse in paying me on time. I had to constantly remind them about not being paid. 3 to 6 months late was becoming the norm.

I was reading Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington when I finally found what I thought was a good solution to my problem. I now put this paragraph on my invoices:

We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices, and float the cost of payment to our vendors, which require 30 days payment.  This is approximately 10%.  If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount.

The responses I was getting from those who were habitually late shocked me. Now mind you I was willing to be flexible on the 30 days and go to 45 days.

Some of these clients were saying why am I punishing them for a late payment. The ones crying the loudest were the ones wanting the lowest rates.

I could only think of two solutions to keep these clients. Either raise my rates to compensate for late payment in the base price or put this paragraph, which isn’t a late payment, but rather a discount to pay on time.

I am embarrassed to say that one of these clients I was work-for-hire contract. I signed their contract which stated they will pay in thirty days.

I did not have those super powers to make the relationship work, because they were not treating me with honor, dignity and respect.

What can you do?

Marketing: You must continue to market yourself. In those times it is slow you must increase your efforts to find new clients.

While going out and shooting new material to show clients is a good idea, do not fall into the trap of thinking this is the problem. More than likely the problem is your contact list needs to grow.

Shoot new material: You need to always grow in your craft. Try something new and even just going back and updating your portfolio so that the people in the photos look like their were shot in this century can help.

Take a vacation: Sometimes you need a break and even when things are tough financially. One of the best things to get out of a funk is a change of scenery. One of the best things ever told to me as a parent of a baby was when your baby is crying and nothing seems to calm them down–go to another room or outside. If it works for a crying baby, it should work for a crying freelancer.

Here is a tip to help save yet still produce a quality marketing campaign.

You may be aware of the marketing funnel. When it comes to buget one of the most important parts of this funnel often gets overlooked. Repeat is the last thing in the funnel steps and is extremely critical to your success.

A one-off promotion just doesn’t typically work. Research shows that 80% of sales are made after the fifth contact.

What is shocking to me in the research was that 10% of sales is made by the fourth contact.

Too many marketing campaigns I see are spending a lot of money on the first impression contact with a potential customer.

One of the most expensive communication tools is video. It is very effective in telling stories. Many 2 – 3 minute videos start in the price range of $15,000+. How would you like to cut this by half or more?

Due to how one gathers video clips it takes time to produce a video. Take a moment sometime this week and watch one of your videos. As you watch it look for all the content in the video that you can use in another medium.

Now take a look at this package I did for a client and see how many images that can be used for other mediums.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-0FPmaH_-4]

Videos that I am doing for clients that use stills as the b-roll are starting at $3,000 for my clients. The savings do not just stop at the video. Now all those images shot for the video are now usable for the web, print, billboards and more mediums.

When you shoot video you are most of the time on sticks (tripod) and letting the action happen around the camera. With still photography the photographer floats around the action. They are looking for a moment and not a segment. Due to the difference in how the images are aquired, a still shooter can move around the room more and get many different angles while the video must wait for the moment to develop.

Next week I am speaking to the Grady School of Journalism’s photojournalism class. I will speak on the topic of business practices for photographers. One of the metaphors I use to help drive home this concept of marketing is to act like a freshman and not a senior. Here is a blog (Click Here) I wrote on the topic last year after speaking to the class.

Remember when doing your video projects to always get the still images of those projects. This is especially true when you are creating a new video of a major initiative for your organization. If it is that important using stills later in power points, PDFs, on websites, blogs and in printed material will be needed.

Give me a call or write if you would like me to help you stretch that budget with a multimedia project or if you just need some photography of your organization.

Bill Bangham is the keynote speaker at the Christians in Photojournalism meeting Saturday September 22, 2012 in Roswell, GA.

There have been times in my life where I really experienced isolation from other photographers. I moved to Long Island years ago and for the year that I lived there I just didn’t have anyone I knew that was a professional photographer to get together with and talk photography.

There have been other times where I have not had other professionals to talk with face to face. This is not good for me.

I believe we need to get together with other photographers doing what we do for fellowship and time to exchange ideas.

Do you have a photographer friend that you can have coffee with on a regular basis? Do you seek out someone to talk to that understands what you are talking about?

Organizations

I am a member of a few groups and have been a member of other groups in the past as well. Today I am a member of American Society of Media Photographers, Sports Shooter and Christians in Photojournalism. I have been for most of my life a member of National Press Photographers Association as well.

These organizations have been great because they all have meetings and social media presence where I can connect with other photographers.

In the early 1980s I was a member of ASMP in Richmond, VA. Since we didn’t have social media then and most all the meetings were in Washington, DC for our chapter I never really experienced the community I so desperately was wanting and needing in my life.

Living in Atlanta has been one of the best places for me because of the access to so many photography groups. I have spoken in the Metro Atlanta area to many photography clubs, colleges, and many of the organizations like ASMP. I have enjoyed attending all these groups meetings.

CIP Atlanta Meeting

What I get out of community

The number one thing I get out of all these groups is a relationship with people who enjoy photography. We have something in common to talk about and share.

How does my work stack up with the rest of photographers. I get to see other photographers work and not just see if I am better or worse than them, but to appreciate there talent. If your purpose is just to show how good you are and have people think you are great then your narcissistic behavior will keep people away from you.

If you think someone’s photography is impressive go and tell them at these meetings. Be a leader and learn to encourage others, if you do sooner or later others will return the favor.

Occasionally I am booked on a day a client calls and asks me to do a job. It is because I have met another photographer through these groups that I am able to help my client out and refer them to a competent photographer. I have also talked with the person long enough to know if they have a personality that will work well with my client.

There are more things that I get than these, but this should help you see the value of networking with your colleagues.  They are not just your competition.

Be a Joiner

Here are some links to the organizations I am involved with and I encourage you to check them out and see about joining one and getting involved.

• ASMP Atlanta Chapter http://www.asmpatlanta.org/
• Christians in Photojournalism Atlanta Chapter http://www.cipatlanta.org/
• Sports Shooter http://www.sportsshooter.com/
• Southwestern Photojournalism Conference http://www.swpjc.org/
• Atlanta Photojournalism Conference http://www.photojournalism.org/ 

Berrie Smith cleans and repairs cameras at the CIP Atlanta meeting.