This shows how your effort the first time may be great and the reward very low, but over the next three times the effort diminishes and the reward increases. if you quit because effort doesn’t give the reward too soon you will miss out on a good idea.
Before you implement a new marketing idea you need to be ready to commit to executing it three times, before you decide if it is a good idea. –Steve Robinson, Senior Vice President, Marketing for Chick-fil-A
No matter the idea you come up with to use to market your business the first time you try it is not the best time to evaluate it’s success or failure. Your effort the first time to pull off something is pretty high and it takes time for a good idea to truly take hold of your audience.
First time
The very first time you try something you will spend a great deal of time, effort and money to pull off an idea.
Effort
The first time you try anything it is quite difficult. Just imagine if you learned to ride a bike using your present method of evaluating a new market idea. Would you have ever learned to ride the bike?
I think we all understand that the amount of effort due to the learning curve can be overwhelming the first time we try anything.
The first time I created a postcard to send out I had a lot of learning to do. I had to find a vendor. From my previous experience with business cards I realized I could spend a lot of money or no so much for the exact same quality. I had to shop around and investigate.
I went with the company SharpDots after getting a recommendation from a friend. It was a great recommendation.
My first layout was done by my good friend and creative director Tony Messano. We decided to use one photo on the front and my logo and return address as well as my web address on the back.
My first postcard cover shot
The back of my first postcard. I had a different logo then.
I also needed a mailing list and bought one of those as well. That took some time to find the best fit for me.
I printed the labels and bought the postcard stamps to mail them. I put the lables and the stamps on that first run of about two thousand postcards.
Reward
The phone did not start ringing a few days after the mailing. Not a lot of response to that mailing.
Second Time
Effort
Now this second time I didn’t have to do all that much work as compared to the first time. I already had a printer, a mailing list and someone to help me with the design.
Some of the postcards came back and I had to investigate this time to get an address if they moved or delete them if they were out of business. How I did this the first time took some time to get a process down that worked.
Reward
I was getting some response. Still not overwhelming response.
While the phone wasn’t ringing off the hook, most everyone I sent the postcards to now have only seen my name two times in the mail. Now I hadn’t started a e.Newsletter at this time. I didn’t have a blog at the time either. So I was just sending emails to check on these prospects.
What was happening at that time was introducing myself and what I did to these prospects. I was branding myself. They were starting to see my images and my logo together. I was slowly starting to build a brand.
Third Time
Effort
While I had down my process I decided to change up the layout on the back of the card. This was Tony Messano’s idea. He said maybe running a series of photos on the back along with the photo on the front would communicate I wasn’t a one shot wonder. After all everyone has at least one good photo they can make, my goal was to help separate myself from my competition as someone who can deliver multiple storytelling images.
My last postcard cover shot.
Tony had a different design, but I modified it a little here for the latest postcard. It has my new logo and we went to four color on the back. Not a lot of cost through SharpDots.
Reward
Today, I am getting more jobs and the clients comment often on my postcards as being a deciding factor on contacting me.
Summary
If after three times you are not getting any rewards out of an idea that is a good time to stop doing it. However, as you can see from the first diagram if you base your decision on the first attempt you would cancel some great ideas.
If you are just starting out, this is when you are trying to create a brand awareness of you. This is like you being a young entrepreneur like S. Truett Cathy who started Chick-fil-A. He started first running a diner in Hapeville, GA in 1946. He worked hard and it took time before he even invented the Chicken Sandwich. Since the first Chick-fil-A restaurant opened in 1967, the company has posted 43 consecutive annual sales increases. This was not an over night success, but one where they tried ideas and kept them if they worked.
Take your time to find a good idea and before you implement be sure you are ready to do it three times or you might quit before the big payoff.
When I travel I have a lot of different cords that I need to have. I need power cords for my computer, cellphone, ipad, and card readers. Thinktank has designed a few different Cable management bags. I use two of them.
To store my RadioPoppers I use the Cable Management 10. You don’t have to use these bags for just cables. When you go to your bags and need to find something these bags help keep you organized and more efficient when shooting.
Be sure you are prepared before you go to a job. Have everything you need or might need with you. Nothing is worse than being on a job knowing what you need you own, but is at home or your office.
This is my Great Grandfather Henry Leary on the far right with his family. My Grandfather James Stanley Leary is in the middle. I am named after him.
Today is Father’s Day and you are seeing many people honor their father’s this year in ways that haven’t been able to do many years ago. You are seeing people change their profile photos on Facebook to their father’s.
My wife Dorie Griggs is honoring her father on her Facebook page by making his photo her profile photo for father’s day.
This is my grandmother and grandfather (James Stanley Leary) as I remember them growing up.
Now what I am seeing as I go through our family photos is that I really like the photos where the photography was technically good, but also captured them in a way I remember them.
This is my grandfather on my mother’s side R. Knolan Benfield. I love this photo because it shows him as I remember, enjoying some down time in the family room watching golf most likely. By the way I called him Daddy B. The B was for Benfield.
While we didn’t always have professional quality photos of our family, we cherish many of the photos because they help our family remember.
My grandmother, Emma Benfield and grandfather, R. Knolan Benfield with my mother and their daughter Bonita.
On holidays like father’s day we wish our children could have known some of their relatives they never got to know. Funny thing I have noticed through the years is our families have certain characteristics that tend to be handed down. I think in a way as we live our life out for our children they are seeing parts of their relatives from the past.
My mother took this photo of my sisters with my dad and I. This is Emma, Hannah, David (my dad) and me when we were camping.
My father cherishes photos of the family and I can never remember a family gathering without him have a camera or a movie camera in his hand.
My dad doing what he loved to do, take photos to help us remember these moments.
My dad recording video of our Christmas day one year.
One of the best ways you can celebrate your father’s is to take photos to help remember them. Take photos that help capture them at their best, like a professional portrait. Also, take photos of them in everyday life.
The one thing I think most upsets families after a natural disaster destroys their home is the loss of things like their photos of the family. After Katrina some camera clubs helped families recover their family photos by scanning the ones they found and helping restore them.
For my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary we went through and scanned photos from the years and made a slide show. We also made a copy of all the images and gave them to all the kids.
Take time today and find some of the old photos of your families fathers and reminisce. Then be sure and take some photos to help preserve the memories of today for generations to come.
Have you asked yourself this question? Am I the best photographer for my client?
If you are wanting your business to grow you need to answer this question from the client’s perspective and not yours.
So, who else can your customer use? How does your work stack up to the competition?
It will take some time for you to be competitive. You must first being doing your best for you. You cannot be the best overnight. It takes time to develop.
Before you can soar you have to learn to fly
Let’s be reasonable, when you are starting out there are a lot of photographers better than you. However, you need to be sure you are at your personal best at all times.
You are building a reputation. You need to have your reputation precede you by word of mouth from your Google ranking, and from your business social media presence. What can you do now to help you have something that when people investigate you there is something for them to find.
When you go for it you need a good parachute
Preparation
Before you call on a prospect and hope they will hire you you need to have done your homework. You need to know all you can about the client. What do they need a photographer to do for them.
You need to be conveying value and not benefits and features. The only way to do this is to know enough about them to help phrase your benefits and features in ways that can be of value to them. How will this help them?
Always have two or three ideas to propose to them when you call. I like to think of stories that my customers could be doing. Most of the time these are typically best practices stories. Every company wants to feature those that are doing the very best in hopes that others can copy some of those techniques to improve their performance.
How will you back all these claims up with new clients? How about using video testimonials from your present clients?
Keep yourself focused on a goal
Keep your standards higher than your clients
It is easy to be satisfied with a certain level of work when you are getting work. What is dangerous is becoming complacent. Your competition only needs to show they are a better fit for the client than you.
If you are always growing and looking for how you can improve your competition will be behind your more often than in front of you.
Realty Check
Your clients are looking for a trusted adviser who has good ideas and thinks of of how to help them. They are not needing someone who is slick and great with a presentation. They need something solid and not about a great sales pitch.
Are you the best person for your client? Can you honestly feel that in your heart? If you can great. If not do all you can to be your best and be able to believe this about your talents.
When we were younger we used to play musical chairs.
The game starts with any number of players and a number of chairs one fewer than the number of players; the chairs are arranged in a circle facing outward, with the people standing in a circle just outside of that. A non-playing individual plays recorded music or a musical instrument. While the music is playing, the players in the circle walk in unison around the chairs. When the music player suddenly stops the music, everyone must race to sit down in one of the chairs. The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game, and one chair is also removed to ensure that there will always be one fewer chair than there are players. The music resumes and the cycle repeats until there is only one player left in the game, who is the winner. When down to the last two players the chair may be moved as long as the music has stopped before the chair has been touched.
In the early rounds people are excited that not only they got a chair when the music stops, but their friend did as well.
What does musical chairs teach us?
To stay in the game requires you do be on your toes and paying attention to the music, the chairs and everyone around you.
Alliances are often formed between friends. You will find that often friends will help one another and force you out.
There can only be one winner of this game
Musical Chairs is a fun game to play, because rarely does the same person always win. There is a certain amount of serendipity to this game.
Photography is a profession in a Red Ocean
Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant. Instead of dividing up existing—and often shrinking—demand and benchmarking competitors, blue ocean strategy is about growing demand and breaking away from the competition.
Kim, W. Chan; Renee Mauborgne (2004-12-16). Blue Ocean Strategy: How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant . Harvard Business Press. Kindle Edition.
When you look around yourself as a professional photographer and you notice that there is more and more competition each year you are experiencing a game of musical chairs, but in this game the number of people is growing and the number of chairs is the same or maybe less.
I can tell you from personal experience this is not a fun game to play. It isn’t a game at all when after so many rounds you find yourself not winning at all because the odds are too tough.
Where are the Blue Oceans for photographers?
Unfortunately, blue oceans are largely uncharted. The dominant focus of strategy work over the past twenty-five years has been on competition-based red ocean strategies. The result has been a fairly good understanding of how to compete skillfully in red waters, from analyzing the underlying economic structure of an existing industry, to choosing a strategic position of low cost or differentiation or focus, to benchmarking the competition. Some discussions around blue oceans exist. However, there is little practical guidance on how to create them. Without analytic frameworks to create blue oceans and principles to effectively manage risk, creating blue oceans has remained wishful thinking.
Kim, W. Chan; Renee Mauborgne (2004-12-16). Blue Ocean Strategy: How To Create Uncontested Market Space And Make The Competition Irrelevant (p. 5). Harvard Business Press. Kindle Edition.
Picking the right instrument early can help you get a college scholarship in music. The reason is simple–less competition.
If you wanted to major in music and decided to be a voice major, the number of scholarships verses the number of students applying is like going to Las Vegas and playing the slot machines.
However, if you were to pick an instrument like viola, bassoon, oboe or french horn for example the odds are more like playing cards with your friends at home.
One way to separate yourself from all the other photographers is photographing subjects that time wise cannot be done after normal business hours.
The first place I find hobbyist dipping their toes into the profession are those subjects where they can do this without conflict of work.
Here is a quick list I have of places many people can enjoy shooting after work:
Concert Photography
Weddings
Sports
Nature
Everyone of those subjects in my opinion is over crowded with photographers. Those photographers who are successful have done so by choosing a strategy of low cost (free) or differentiation or focus, to benchmarking the competition.
Zack Arias was one of those photographers shooting concerts and not making enough money to leave his day job at Kinko’s. He was also helping shoot as a second shooter at weddings with his friend. Both of these allowed Zack to have a job to pay the bills.
Zack however looked around and noticed everyone was giving these bands free photos of them playing in concert. Zack saw little room for any way to make a living doing this, yet this is where he was most motivated.
Zack noticed most of the local bands didn’t have any good publicity photos and good photos for CDs. Two things collided for him at one time, he decided to use an off camera flash to photograph a concert and his creativity for finding a blue ocean.
With one camera, one lens and one off camera flash Zack went after a blue ocean. He sent letters to those bands he researched that most likely had enough money to afford paying him for quality poised band photos.
He offered them a free session if they contacted him within 30 days. Zack shot many of those bands and found himself in a blue ocean.
Keith Ladzinski is another photographer who has found a blue ocean in photography.
I met Keith Ladzinski through my friend Dave Black. We were looking for a photographer to help connect with some of the younger students at a conference. Dave said Keith is your guy.
Keith was first a kid who loved skateboarding and rock climbing. He started to photograph his friends when they were out doing some of these cool moves.
You are not going to find a pool of photographers who are willing to climb the side of a mountain with their bare hands and while up there photograph their friends doing the same thing.
Keith was able to separate himself from the crowd due to access. There were two things that gave him access to these sports: 1) he was one of them and 2) they trusted him.
Today you are very likely to pick up a magazine that has rock climbing or skateboarding and find Keith’s byline below the photo.
Dave Black is another photographer who was able to separate himself from the pack of sports photographers to become one of the most premier sports photographers of the industry.
Before becoming a photographer, Dave was a gymnast. He and his brothers were all world class gymnasts.
After college Dave was coaching and doing photography of his students. His brother was working with the Olympic committee in 1980 and asked Dave to come and help them with the photography to promote the US Olympic Gymnast team.
It was Dave’s knowledge of the sport that help separate his photography from the competition. Dave knew the gymnast routine so well that he would be able to anticipate the exact moment that showed the athleticism and art of the moment. I forgot to mention Dave majored in art. Can you see this all coming together for Dave?
For a gymnast to do well on the world stage they practice over and over a routine to where it is all muscle memory when it comes to the performance. This work ethic is what separates Dave even today from all the competition. Dave was the first person to show up at the Kentucky Derby each day. He was there when the trainers would arrive and there when everyone left.
Dave showed up at the Augusta National Tournament the same way catching the lawn crew at sunrise preparing the course each day.
Dave’s Blue Ocean was his knowledge of the sport and the understanding of preparation. He is so well prepared that he can isolate the moment that will capture the beauty and excitement in a way not seen before.
Strategy for a Blue Ocean
Be the expert in a subject to help separate you from the pack
Get access to something difficult for everyone to access
Photograph subjects that hobbyist cannot because of their day job
Once you find a Blue Ocean–Look for another because your competition will follow you.
You will never have someone hire you and say they don’t like you. However, just because someone hires you doesn’t mean they want you.
It may shock you that there are people who will hire you just because of your price and not because of your quality.
Photos are just from the beautiful weekend we had here in Georgia.
It was so beautiful this past Saturday that my wife and I drove to Amicalola Falls in Dawsonville, Georgia, to enjoy the day. We found this after climbing the 175 steps to the top.
What is also challenging to understand is that many of your clients will never pay you more? It isn’t because you cannot articulate your value and need to charge more. There are just people out there who do not value anything but price.
When you start in photography, you may end up with price-shopping clients. I had a few of these clients. I needed the work and was willing to take their low price to get some money.
It took me years to realize I wasn’t charging enough for my services to pay my bills. This is how I am defining success for this article. The ability to pay your bills for your household, pay your taxes, have healthcare, and have enough money to buy/replace equipment over time.
Sunday was just as beautiful in Roswell, GA, as Saturday. We drove down Canton Street, stopped, and enjoyed our time at Roswell Provisions.
Time to Educate the Client
My first thought when I learned I wasn’t charging enough was to try and educate the client. I would talk to my clients about the cost of doing business. News Alert!!–they didn’t care.
I needed to educate myself first. I was starting to learn what my operating costs were and that I had to charge a minimum or lose money to cover these costs and grow my business.
Day Rates
I discovered that day rates were day labor. How I learned was quoting day rates and then showing up to be burned a new one.
Clients would hire me to come to their location, and I would quote the day rate. I felt like I was in the big leagues. I went to professional photographers’ workshops, where I learned about the cost of doing business. The National Press Photographers Association even has a calculator to help you consider all your expenses and generate a day rate.
It didn’t take long before I felt abused by clients. “While you are here, can you shoot …?” was becoming too familiar.
Later I would get with other photographers and find out that they were getting 3 to 5 times more for what I was doing. They, however, were not quoting day rates.
Ken Touchton was the first to educate me that I needed to use project rates.
Project Rate
Unlike a day rate where I am pricing myself the same way as a day laborer, the project rate quoted a price based on the end deliverable.
Honestly, learning how to price a project, so the client understood and appreciated the pricing structure took years; frankly, I am still learning how to do a better job.
This is peanut butter and chocolate cupcake with my mocha latte. It is a lot of sugar and tastes great.
GWC vs PS
My career shifted from the Guy With a Camera to a Problem Solver. The client hiring a GWC knows more typically than the photographer and must direct them to get what they need. I cannot tell you a specific date that this happened, but over time I discovered I knew more about what the client required than the client at some point.
My stepson is early in his career working in restaurants. He doesn’t know enough to do it all and is learning the ropes. Clearing tables is where he has had to start. After doing this for a while, he will move to help the waiters and become a waiter.
Hearing him talk about his work day brings back many memories and reminds me how it takes time to become a problem solver. You need enough information and how things relate before you can find solutions for people.
Working for more than 30 years in the industry means that I, more often than not, am covering something I have done in some way in the past. While the exact situation is new, it is often similar to other things I have covered.
While groundbreaking and check presentations seem routine, after 30 years, I can tell you there have been times when I was challenged to take a photo. I remember walking into one business where every wall, except for the bathrooms, was glass. Try and use a flash in this situation, and you find yourself working harder than usual to avoid a glare caused by your moment in the photo.
I enjoyed my coffee, watching people walk by and look in the window. I was enjoying people-watching that afternoon. I enjoy photographing little slices of life like this one.
Transition to clients who value YOU!
In time you will learn to communicate how you are there for your clients. You will no longer price things that make sense to you but rather communicate value to your client.
However, I had to go through what I thought was why people would hire me. Most of these were “Fallacious Arguments” to justify my photography abilities.
Some of “Fallacious Arguments” in photography I used
The camera—If you own the right camera, they will take great photos. I wanted to ensure the client knew I had the best camera possible.
Use Composition Rules—Too many photographers will not only learn the classic rules of composition but will judge their work and others based on these rules. You can hear them in camera clubs saying that it isn’t a good photo because it is breaking the law.
Master the technical—Some photographers are obsessed with the technical details of photos. They will spend their time getting a “perfect exposure.” They will judge their work and others based on if the values of the photograph fall within what they determine as proper exposure. They may argue that their photo is perfect because they used different known values to assure perfection. They may use a GretagMacbeth® ColorChecker®.
I know that, for the most part, I am gifted with technical expertise, but so are many of my colleagues who are working professional photographers.
It is my total package that separates me from others.
One day I had my photo assistant helping me with a job. I was photographing different managers in a company for profiles that were being done on them. I was doing about 20 of these a day.
The photo assistant commented on the day as we were driving back from a long day. You are good at getting people to relax and get good expressions. The assistant was surprised about my ability to talk to a range of people and get them all talking to me about what they like to do.
The assistant could articulate what made my photos so much better than other photographers she had worked with. You get great expressions.
“How do you learn how to do this?” was her question. I talked about how I had majored in Social Work, where I was trained on how to do interviews and get to know people. I then spoke about how my mentor taught me to read body language.
I talked about how my interest in people drove me to seminary, where I studied education, and how people learned at different ages.
I also talked about how it took many years of practice to develop these skills and that classroom alone was not enough.
Hired for my expertise beyond the camera
A few years ago, I had one of my life’s most remarkable moments.
Greg Thompson, director of corporate communications for Chick-fil-A, called me to see if I could do lunch with him one day. We had only known each other a few months after my wife had met him and encouraged him to get to know me.
Greg read my bio and did some investigation about me. He went to Fort Worth, TX, to the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference, of which I am on the staff. He learned about my work with Youth With A Mission, where I taught students how to use photography.
Greg also had been to some Christian in Photojournalism meetings in Atlanta that I help with regularly.
Greg had done his homework and knew me well. Greg had to do this with his work. He knew that he had to trust whoever he was to work with because they represented the company and reflected on his management skills.
I will never forget that meeting in the corporate dining room. After we ate, Greg talked to me about my corporate rates for shooting assignments. I thought he was getting ready to ask me to do a job for him.
Greg then asked me to be a consultant and use all my skills beyond the camera to help him and be a part of his team. I have noticed how you teach, give your time to other pros, and still do excellent work. Greg said why not hire the guy, so many photographers go for advice.
Couple enjoying a meal together on Canton Street in Roswell, GA.
Light bulb moment
While this was a light bulb type of moment, honestly, it was more like I had someone turn on the light with a dimmer. I still understand all he said at that moment.
When I talk to other photographers who have been in business for many years, most have had a moment they can look at as pivotal. They had a client value them for more than GWC. They loved their expertise.
How do you communicate your value?
Everything you do is part of your brand. It takes time to develop a brand. The consistency of execution will help you develop into a desirable brand.
Your photos, over time, will show your skills. When time after time, you always come through and get a particular style of the image–your clients will come to expect this.
Some clients will need to try other photographers before they realize what they get from you. This is important to hear and understand. Sometimes losing a job to another photographer may be the best thing for you. When that photographer fails to deliver what they were getting from you and expect to get, they will come back to you.
This is when you realize you have value for that client. In some cases, this is the best time to raise your rates. Sometimes you raise your rates and then go shopping and return to you.
There is no easy road
My conversation with Greg Thompson didn’t happen until I had been doing photography for some twenty-four years. This is not something that happens overnight. It takes time to build a reputation.
You cannot easily talk people into understanding why they need to pay you the rate you need to be successful. If it were this easy, everyone would be a successful photographer.
It takes time for them to see your quality of work and to experience all that you bring to them. Sometimes the only way they learn all you bring to the table is to discover they cannot get this just anywhere.
Trust is earned over time and can be lost in an instant.
Grow your business by constantly looking for those clients that value you as a person and are not just interested in the lowest price.
I have a cubical at an office I do some consulting and they asked me to decorate my cubical so people know it is used and not empty. I had some prints at home that I brought in and realized after putting them up I started something.
You see the prints that are up in my office are 20″ x 30″ prints. As groups go on tours through the office I have noticed they are paying attention to my cubical. I am helping everyone know what I enjoy doing.
A consultant’s cubical at the same office
Now as I walk by other people’s cubicles I realize you must actually go into their cubical to see their photos and know who is in them.
The reason you want to put up photos is not just for yourself, you are helping people know something about you.
This is true also with your home. You don’t want people to have to walk across the room to see your family portrait or another image that you took. They should be able to enjoy it from across the room.
What size print? Use the face size as a guide. Have the face size the same as a clock face. If it were on your wrist then maybe a 4″ x 6″ print is fine. Same photo on a wall may require a 40″ x 60″ print to have the same affect.
One of the best ways to determine the best size is to project the image on the wall. The general rule would be in a normal size living room 20′ x 24′ is a face size of at least 3″ to 5″.
If the person is part of a scene you may need a very large print. If however the photo is a head and shoulder portrait then a smaller print will work.
My friend now has larger prints up of water projects she did around the world. She is always raising money to help drill wells to help in places there is no fresh water. What a great way to use photos to keep her passion in front of her co-workers.
Besides using photos in your office at work to help people know your passions, use photos throughout your office to help communicate your companies passions.
This nonprofit uses large photos of the children’s lives it touches.
With people coming and going throughout your offices each day are you using the wall space to help communicate your story? You should and give me a call and I will help you have photos that tell your story.
For more than thirty years I have been a photojournalist. I started working for newspapers as a staff photographer and now work as a freelancer for the media and corporate clients.
Many times, the public relations office is not ready when I show up. Most PR professionals love to show how much free space they got for their company in a magazine. They show this to the company leaders and then show them how much it would have cost to buy that space. This helps with their job security.
The smartest PR people know the value and are prepared. They treat this moment as if they hired an advertising agency to produce an advertisement for them.
Take advantage of this free publicity and invest in it. You will be glad you did.
While a photojournalist is trained to be truthful and unbiased, it is difficult not to respond to negative or positive behavior towards them. If you want the best story on you, then I have some tips for you.
This is what sometimes I show up on a job with in addition to a photo assistant. Getting this gear from my van to the photo shoot can be difficult. Help out the photographer by a good parking space, knowledge of where the elevators are located and handicap ramps to avoid stairs.
Tips
Have your subject ready. Often your photojournalist has multiple assignments during a day. You not being ready and delaying them will have them rush your coverage. If computers and technology are part of the subject, be sure to have them running before the photographer arrives. Too many times I have arrived nothing is setup and ready to go. I have spent 4 hours waiting for a researcher to set everything up.
Know where the subject is located. Too often I will show up at a corporation and be led around a building or property while they are trying to find the room, we are to meet the subject. Do this before the photographer arrives. It shows you value their time.
Scout for options. Go a few days early and work with the subject. What is the best setting to help tell the story? Are there items that you may need to collect before the photo shoot? Be careful not to remove everything. Photographers are sent to you to capture the subject in their environment.
Take a few photos yourself. Evaluate the photos you take for what is in the background and can we clean that up for example. Check to see if you have enough room to move around while taking photos. Too often the subject is in such a small room that photographer cannot move to get a good angle. See if you can take photos without a flash. This may alert you to some lights that are burned out and need new bulbs.
Plan for parking. Often magazine photographers will bring lighting gear. Don’t expect just a photographer to show up with just a camera and on camera flash. If they are showing up with a cart of gear, know where the elevators are in the building and where the handicap entrance is located. This will help them avoid carrying material up and down stairs. If you need a key to access the elevator, get the key before the photo shoot is to start.
Pay attention to clothing. Solid colors are better than patterns. Avoid white due to the difficulty of reproduction process for printing press. The one time you may want white is where the white lab coat helps add information to the photo. Avoid red if there is more than one subject. Red is such a dominate color that it makes the eye go to it first. This is why it is used for emergency lights and signs. Fine patterns like haring bone can create moiré patterns. (Here is a link to an earlier blog I did on clothing for portraits.)
Have business cards or printed names and titles of the subjects to help with accurate spelling.
Plan adequate time for the photojournalist. Let the photographer know how much time the subject has for them. Maximize their time if it is very small amount by saying the subject only has 30 minutes and since it is a limited time, why don’t we just let you start and anything I can help you with just ask. This is better than you talking and taking away valuable time of them shooting. You can always help them with information after the shoot or if you know you have limited time be sure they know they can come a few minutes early and you can help them prepare.
These are just a few of the things that I have noticed over the years that would really help me get the shot needed for the media outlet.
Think of yourself as a host or hostess in your home entertaining guests. Make the photojournalist feel welcomed and treated as your guest, because they are your guest.
On SportShooter.com one of the hot topics these past few years has been USPresswire. While many are upset with them, to me they are just like Getty or Walmart. The business model is working for them, but taking out a lot of professional sports photographers in their wake.
D’Aveni says, “The arrival of a dominant low-end player shakes up the market power of the industry, as Southwest did in the airline industry, Dell once did in computers, or Walmart is still doing in retailing. It is very hard for incumbents to compete with these disruptive players using their existing cost structures.”
These are the signs of a Deteriorating Market for D’Aveni
A dominant low-cost competitor has emerged in your market, disrupting the status quo.
The economies of scale enjoyed by the disrupting company make it impossible for you to compete on price.
Customers are less and less willing to pay for additional benefits such as superior service and industry expertise.
Your margins are falling and you are losing market share, even though you have lowered prices and product benefits to catch up with the competition.
We have to concede the low-end price market and step aside. Photographer John Harrington talks about a client of his chose another photographer for something he did annually for them and were disappointed. The following year when they came back to John he realized he had a niche´. John not only got the job but he raised his price knowing they didn’t want to get burned again.
I don’t think there is a quick fix to the deterioration of prices being paid for coverage of sporting events.
I do think where there are no spec shooters and low ball photographers shooting events are places for profit to be found.
If we are not careful we will become like moths drawn to a flame. We need to remember the saying “Don’t fall in love with the car.” It will make it difficult for you to make a sound business decision.
If you have fallen in love with standing on the sidelines of sporting events with your camera, you are prone to helping deteriorate the industry even more. Once more you will deteriorate your own bank account to support your habit.
If what you offer (photography) is similar to a large group of photographers then you are just a commodity and the low price will always get the job. Basically, you can’t tell the difference between one company’s product and another’s. When something is viewed as a commodity, it generally means that the only difference is the price tag.
If you cannot distinguish yourself from other photographers in a way that customers desire, you will have a very hard time making a living. Sometimes you may have to leave a certain niche´ due to saturation.
In May 2002 these were in my camera bag. I had two Nikon F100 cameras and was shooting mostly with Provia 100F transparency film.
It has been ten years since I went full-time freelance. It is time to celebrate.
As I look back over these ten years I have made some really great decisions and not so great decisions.
Good Decisions Made
Digital Capture
Going digital from film was the best decision I could have made. The timing couldn’t have been better for me.
In 2001 the Nikon Digital Camera at the time cost about $15,000. In 2002 Nikon introduced the Nikon D100 in the $1,500 price range. The timing was perfect to jump into digital. The cameras were rivaling the film of the day.
Back in 1993 I was using PhotoShop and scanning my images from film. This was very time consuming, but this helped me make the switch to digital capture enjoyable.
Even earlier in 1987 I bought my first computer and was active on CompuServe. I was enjoying bulletin boards before the World Wide Web which would take off in 1995 with Mosaic being introduced.
Laptop
As you can see I had already been using computers and digital imaging for many years before I went freelance full-time.
November 10, 2002 in Mossy Grove in eastern Tennessee a tornado hit. I was called and asked to go and cover it the next day. On November 11, 2002 I bought my first laptop computer.
While I new how to download images and transmit them, covering that Tornado was the first time I was transmitting photos from the field.
Cell phone as modem
In August 2004 I was asked to cover hurricane Charley. I would shoot images in the earlier morning at a location, jump in my car and edit those images. I then would transmit using my cell phone that was tethered to my laptop to transmit images. Since the computer just needed to run for a while, I would drive while it was in the passenger seat transmitting.
The client and newspapers all over the country were shocked that I was getting images out when telephone lines were down and power was out. I was building my reputation as the guy who was able to use technology before my competition.
Today I shoot with the Nikon D4.
Continuous Upgrades
I have gone through a number of cameras since 2002. I shot the Nikon D100, Nikon D2x, Nikon D2Xs, Nikon D3, Nikon D3S and today I am shooting with a Nikon D4. I did these upgrades to keep me giving my clients the best possible images I could produce technically.
I have upgraded software programs like PhotoShop, PhotoMechanic, Lightroom, Microsoft Office and more regularly. Each time the improvements and performance more than paid off over time.
Switch from PC to Mac
For many years I was a PC guy. However, during these years I also helped many people with their Macs. From 1993 to 2002 I had Macs to work with and due to this knowledge I was helping organizations on the side as their IT guy.
Two years ago I had another PC laptop give me a lot of trouble. I had learned I was loosing a lot of time trying to fix this, so I bought a new PC laptop with Windows 7 and it ran on i7 processor. It was fast. Less than a few months later the laptop screen went blue.
While I had everything backed up, I could not get that new laptop to work completely after reformatting the drive and starting over. I lost two to three weeks of long days trying to make it work.
Dorie, my wife, gave me the best advice–go buy a Macbook Pro. She had a Mac and knew I was spending more and more time fixing my computer and she rarely had to do anything with her computer.
It was the best decision I had made as far as computers. I knew I could buy a faster PC for about half the cost of a Mac and this is what kept me buying PCs. I was saving money.
Dorie pointed out to me my time was money. Lesson learned about how important my time was to our family and me.
My cell phone today. Motorola Razr Maxx. It lets me connect wireless to the web over 4G network in most places and lets me see my emails instantaneously.
Smart Phone
While on photo shoots in those first few years as a freelancer I would stop and take a break and check my email. It would take about 3 to 5 minutes to start-up my laptop to check those emails.
I was starting to also see a shift in the expectancy of customers for you to respond to the emails being timelier.
The cost of a smart phone like the PC verses Mac was expensive. The monthly financial commitment to the higher cost kept me from getting one for a long time.
Once again Dorie pointed out to me how important it was to get one for me. “It is a business decision,” she told me. It will help you make more money if you can respond quicker to job possibilities.
She was right–as always.
Today I use the Motorola Razr Maxx because it is the fastest phone on the market with the longest battery life. I charge it at night and when I plug it in at the end of the day it usually still has 60 – 70% of a charge left. I am now able to connect my computer and iPad to the web using it’s 4G hotspot. I am able to connect in many places at a faster speed than my cable connection at home.
Spouse
The best decision I have ever made was marrying Dorie. Having a spouse who supports you as a freelance photographer is very important. Her father ran his own business and I think she learned a lot just growing up in a home of an entrepreneur.
While I lost many nights of sleep worrying about how we will pay our bills, Dorie never doubted my abilities. She never told me to look for another job.
I have watched many of my friends whose largest obstacle for success is their spouse. Having a supportive partner can get you through just about anything.
Dorie is taken so if you don’t have a spouse, be sure you find someone who believes in you and can walk by faith. I believe God helped me find such a wonderful wife and mother to our children.
Bad decisions made
Lack of Faith
My number one mistake that I continue to make is thinking that I am in control of my destiny. No question if I don’t get up and work hard I will not succeed, but just because I do that does not guarantee success.
I really think it is my faith in God that has sustained me the most. I believe there is a God in control on the universe. I do not think we are all puppets either, but I do believe he works in peoples hearts and minds and due to this it is God who has helped me more than anything at all. My mistake is not acknowledging this daily.
Saving Pennies while Loosing Dollars
I grew up with a Irish and Scotch heritage. My parents watched every penny and I learned the value of a dollar from them.
My mistake has been that driving around town to find the cheapest gas can actually cost you more than you save.
While I don’t have time to research expenditures made, I try to do my best to get the best value. My mistake has not to value my time as money. I believe outsourcing some of the things I do to those who can do it better or at least remove this from my plate is something I will be trying to do more in the future.
Staying with PCs too long
I most likely have lost months of my life working on my PCs trying to fix the registry and defragging my hard drives. You see every program on a PC interacts with all the other programs through the registry. I was using so many different programs and they ended up over time screwing up the computer.
My programs on my Mac do not interact through a registry like on the PC. They really don’t affect each other and therefore over time I am not having the same corruption problems I was having on my PC.
Slow to my competition as my colleagues
Today I try to get together with other photographers as often as I can. I not only like to hear what they are doing, I am willing to share a good amount of what I am doing. Of course if I have something that gives me a competitive advantage I am careful sharing this.
Today some of my photographer colleagues are some of my clients. They get too busy and call me to help them out. I too return the favor.
Today I enjoy working with more people I call my friends than any other point in my life. How did this happen? I am now focusing on building relationships and this is how my business has grown. Prior to learning this secret I was trying to build me up.
Thanks for reading and being apart of my celebrating ten years.
While this photo shows everyone in a room at a meeting and even an interesting angle, you need photos showing people being engaged. This is a photo that is important to have. You need photos helping to show the size of the meeting and location. This helps establish how important this meeting is to the company.
If you were to calculate the cost of meetings it would shock most of us. Just how effective and important are these to your organization?
Meetings are important and help in business or they wouldn’t be done. However, if you are the one putting one on you quickly discover how important it is to get all you can out of the investment.
Photography is one of the best ways to help stretch your budget.
Training a sales force on how to use the iPad with their companies resources. This photo is helping show what was presented and who was presenting. Also, it is important that you capture a moment where you can see the presenter is enthusiastic about the material. Just a shot with the elements will not inspire people. This is a medium shot which is needed to help bring the reader into the content. If you have an iPad or iPhone you will quickly recognize iBooks. You might want to know why is this being taught at a meeting. This will inspire you to read more of the text.
Improve Retention of Content
You can have a photographer cover your event and then use the photos to help put the content online for the rest of your company. It also helps those who attended review what was covered and improve retention of the material.
This is a good example of what a photojournalist can capture for you during a meeting. They will help capture moments showing people are interested and engaged in the material. Here the two sales people are helping each other learn how to use the iPad. This photo also celebrates your employees. When your workforce sees that others are interested this helps using peer pressure to get them on board. If you let the photographer know which folks you would like to try and get photos of doing this, then they can try and capture it. As you know some people showing interest will have more impact than another.
This is a photo that not only shows audience participation, but the face expressions shows genuine interest in the topic. You see interaction from all in the photo. A person talking, people listening and even getting two people to turn towards the person to hear better.
Celebrate your people
When a photographer is pointing a camera towards your people in a meeting, they know this is important or the company wouldn’t have a photographer their. This is like the red carpet treatment for your employees.
People will sit up and pay more attention when they are on camera. They also get excited when they later see these photos in publications or online. This recognition can help them feel good about themselves and the company.
A good photographer is going to be aware of capturing these moments where people are engaged.
Having people look at the camera and smile is not the same as catching them in a real situation. This authentic moment will help communicate a message as well as authentically show them participating.
Having activities for the participants will help them retain information better than a pure lecture. These also translate into wonderful photo opportunities. Here the photographer is trying to capture the activity engaging the people.
Photographers will give you good detail shots as well as the personal interaction. This photo with the one above it will help talk about not just an activity, but what they company is now emphasizing. The detail shot in combination with the other photo now helps tell a more complete story. It is a faster read than had you written text about it. Also, the text would have a difficult time explaining how interested the participants are in the content.
Its about relationships
Your photos will help do something that cannot be done with text as effectively. It helps show the relationships.
Before the meeting is even officially started, you can see relationships that communicate the family atmosphere for your company.
While you think the photos are just to communicate what happened at a meeting, this type of photograph is something a recruiter could use to show how much people like working with the company. I can see this and the photo above communicating how the company is a place where relationships are encouraged and to create a family atmosphere.
Too often companies focus on the wrong type of photos. Sure you may want photos of people receiving awards, but other than the person getting the award who else would really want the photo.
This is a typical awards photo that happens quickly on stage. These are good photos to make prints and give to the person receiving the award.
Too many companies use only these award photos in their publications after a meeting. Do you think having 30+ of these award photos really is the best use of photography or do you think the other photos above can help you more? Why not make prints of all the award winners and give these to those in the photos?
You need both, but remember you can use photography to communicate and not just celebrate.
How to help your photographer
What is the purpose of the photography? You need to be able to give a clear direction on why you need the photos.
Who is the audience? A photographer needs to know the audience. Shooting for the media, your internal company people or to give photos to the award recipients makes a huge difference in approach.
What medium will it be used in? If all the photos are going to be part of a video later, then the photographer will probably shoot more horizontals than verticals. This is true also if it is primarily being used on the web.
Have someone assigned to the photographer. This is important for a new photographer working with you. They could benefit as to someone pointing out key people in a room. This person should not be a micro manager. Too much direction to a seasoned pro can actually stifle the creative process. They should help point out the key people that have been predetermined as important to the story. That is the CEO and this is the major donor can help the photographer then capture a moment where they may be interacting very naturally. This is almost always a better photo than when they CEO call them up and they have an official moment on stage. Having a photographer who you use regularly and understands you should be something you are willing to pay a little more for, because you will be saving costs on someone with them all the time.
When is your deadline? A photographer needs to know before the estimate is given when you expect the photos in your hand.
What is the deliverable? Will the photographer give you a DVD of high resolution, low resolution or a combination? Are you wanting these delivered as an online gallery where you can order prints and/or download high to low resolution photos?
What is the dress code? While most professionals will dress professionally, be sure they know this is a black tie event or if everyone is expected to wear jeans. Sometimes you may require them to wear all black since you are having video crews shooting and having them in all black when they are near the stage will look better.
Give them directions and time expectations. Be sure and provide parking close to the event. These photographers will be bringing tens of thousands of dollars of equipment. For their safety and security be sure they are not walking blocks back to their car after an event. Let them know when you expect them to be onsite. Do not assume they know you expect them an hour before the event starts onsite–tell them.
Give clear billing instructions. Be sure they know who is to get the invoice. If they need to provide a W-9 form to be paid, tell them to do so when they send the invoice. If there is a PO# required by accounts payable for them to be paid–get that to them right away.
Photographers should be capturing moments like this where the speakers are engaged on the topic and where the audience is also excited. Now the photographer cannot shoot what doesn’t exist, but few employees would not want to look engaged when a photographer is present.
Good meeting photography will not be all smiles. Here you can see this guy is thinking and engaged. I think the reason for most meetings is to give people new material. Showing the employees digesting the material is showing them engaged.
Did you hire the right photographer?
If you did not provide the information to the photographer and they don’t ask about those topics–it is a good clue you have a rookie or a clueless photographer.
When you get the photos you will also know if you got the right photographer. Do you see moments of people interacting with each other or only posed looking into the camera? If only posed–you hired the wrong photographer.
Hire a pro every once in a while, even if you shoot most meetings
Why would you hire a pro when you know how to take a photo? On the job training for one. I know many organizations that have so many meetings they cannot afford to hire a photographer all the time. Be careful not to never hire a photographer.
Try and hire a seasoned pro once in a while so you can learn from them. Your photography will improve when you see what they are doing.
Knolan Benfield in Hawaii with me helping teach posing to photography students with Youth With a Mission. (Photo by: Dennis Fahringer)
I don’t do all I do alone. This is who I call my photo team. They help me as assistants or when a client calls and I cannot do the job. This is who I call regularly.
Photo Assistants
Today I use photo assistants as much as possible. The reason, the client gets a much better product whenever I do.
Now I have posted various things on lighting for example that for the most part I have an assistant helping me with setting up photos and moving lights. I often joke about assistants as VALS. That stands for Voice Activated Light Stand.
One of my favorite photo assistants to use is my uncle Knolan Benfield. He taught me so much about this industry and he has such a great personality that he makes me much better when he is along.
You can see some of Knolan’s work on his website http://knolanbenfieldphotography.com/. Knolan is also a writer in addition to being a photographer and sometimes my photo assistant.
Laura Deas is another one of my photo assistants. I met Laura when she was a nanny while going to school for photography. I was most impressed with her people skills and work ethic. This was before I ever saw her abilities as a photographer.
Being a photo assistant requires a lot of lifting of heavy bags. You might think that it is a man’s job, well I can tell you that Laura can out perform most any assistant I know.
One of the ways you first encounter her confidence is in her hand shake. It is amazing the confidence she exudes.
Laura shoots as well as a professional photographer. She does weddings, portraits, events and commercial. Here is her website http://www.lauradeasphotography.com.
More Photo Colleagues
Both Knolan Benfield and Laura Deas I call upon to do assignments when I cannot do them. It is quite common that a client will call me to do a job and due to another client already booking me I am not available.
I make it a priority to take care of my clients. I know most of the time better than they do who would be a good fit for a particular job. For the most part I go with someone who is near to them to help them out.
Robin Nelson is another photographer I like to call when I am unavailable. Robin and I have been both represented by Black Star agency in New York for more than 30 years. Whenever Ben Chapnick or before him Howard Chapnick needed someone in Atlanta one of us would get the call.
Robin has shot for all the major magazines you could think of and just about every other major media outlet. New York Times, Newsweek, Associated Press and the list could go on forever with Robin. He continues to get called back over and over for good reasons.
In my role as a consultant at Chick-fil-A for the past four years I have had to call freelancers to help us out. In corporate work how you handle yourself with people is far more important than the photos.
The first thing we want to know when we send a photographer somewhere is did everyone like them and would they like having them come again.
Second, we also need someone who can get the shot at the highest quality for the situation. This requires more people sensitivity. Sometimes using lights will be more distracting and cause undo attention. We need someone who can make it happen at the highest quality and looking for ways to always make it happen.
Gary Chapman is another person I like to hire when I am unavailable or maybe he is the best photographer for the job.
Gary never takes on a job that he will not deliver back to you at the highest level in the industry. He is often asked to speak at photographers conferences around the world because his ability to talk about why he chooses to work a certain way.
Many photographers can shoot, few can articulate and teach photography. Gary has a lot of patience with teaching photographers how to use very complex software like PhotoShop and Lightroom.
This attention to detail is why he has made a living in stock photography for most of his career. His stock photography is conceptual and helps visualize concept that are popular in what is trending. This requires photographers to know what is trending. The best in this industry like Gary are the ones who can anticipate the trends and have images ready for when clients are looking for something to help illustrate a point.
Gary’s attention to detail shows not just in his photos but how he works with people. While many may think Gary is quite in conversations, he is actually thinking and wanting to join in. When he does it is like a flow of understanding people are so thrilled to hear. He cares not just about the topic, but how to discuss it with those he is in conversation with at that moment. He is sensitive to moments and cultures.
This sensitivity is why he is sought after by companies and nonprofits that work around the world. Gary’s ability to capture moments is just as incredible as his ability to create them.
Gary is a humanitarian photographer, that uses photojournalism, documentary, portraits and even some of his stock style to help organizations tell their story effectively.
Why do I use these photographers when there are many others out there to choose from? There are many out there that even they would say are better photographers than them.
However, the thing they have going for them is the way they treat people. Each one has a good reputation as treating people with honor, dignity and respect.
Things not to do as a photographer
Rather than telling you all the good things these photographers continue to do, let me list a few things that some of what I thought my colleagues have done and I no longer call them.
Don’t try and take a client away from a photographer, when you got the job because that photographer referred you to the client. You may always say to the client if the photographer is busy I am more than willing to help out.
Don’t stick it to the client who is in a pinch and charge more than the photographer who recommended you.
Don’t stick it to the photographer who recommended you and undercut their prices. Ask the photographer who is recommending you what they normally charge. Try to help them out.
Don’t assume the next time this client called they checked with the other photographer. Try your best to tactfully as possible to see if they checked with the other photographer.
It is possible you are a better fit for the client than the other photographer. Call and tell the photographer that this client is calling you directly. You may want to turn down a job sometimes for the friendship that could come apart by taking the job.
My recommendation when a client calls like this is to be sure you are now more expensive than the other photographer. If you are less, then this is a good indication of you getting the job for undercutting and not because you are a better fit–you are just cheap.
Do you have friends that you can refer work to over and over?
The key to being sure you have someone to call when you need help is to be that dependable person to others as well.
Knolan, Laura, Robin and Gary are all still very successful photographers. I think the reasons they are successful is the same reasons I want to hire them.
If you have photographer friends and they never call you to help them out, ask them who they use in a pinch and why. There is no need to confront them on why they don’t use you. It is valuable to see if they use anyone. Maybe they never call anyone because they are not that busy.
However, if they do use someone other than you, this might help you take some time for introspection to see what you can do to be more desirable.
