For Customers

Seeing Beyond The Tools

If you bought the same guitar as Eric Clapton, would you play music just like him? If you owned the same golf clubs as Tiger Woods, would you play golf just like him? If you used the same pen as J.K. Rowling, would your books be just as successful?

The answer to all of the above is, of course, a resounding “no”, (despite what the product manufacturers might say).

But yet, many people think that if they buy the same camera as a professional photographer, they will shoot the same pictures. Why?

From Margaret Atwood’s 2002 book Negotiating with the Dead :

To be an opera singer you not only have to have a voice, you have to train for years; to be a composer you have to have an ear, to be a dancer you have to have a fit body, to act on the stage you have to be able to remember your lines, and so on.

Being a visual artist now approaches writing, as regards its apparent easiness – when you hear remarks like “My four-year-old could do better,” you know that envy and contempt are setting in, of the kind that stem from the belief that the artist in question is not really talented, only lucky or a slick operator, and probably a fraud as well. This is likely to happen when people can no longer see what gift or unusual ability sets an artist apart.

The amazing technology built into digital cameras has created an under-appreciation and a devaluation of photography. Many forget that a camera is just a tool, like a guitar, a golf club or a pen. An experienced photographer is not someone who knows how to push a button. But rather, they know when to push that button. A professional photograph gets its value from what it shows and from what it doesn’t.

 

A Penny For Your Thoughts

If online content becomes a free commodity, will your creative thoughts have any value? Everyone loves free but sometimes free costs too much.

Should everything be supported by advertising so that all content can be free?

If yes, then the inevitable conclusion is that all online content will become advertisements. Advertising disguised as news. Ads disguised as entertainment. Ads disguised as relevant information.

 

Why Cheap Stock Pictures Are Too Expensive

A while ago, I was asked to shoot corporate portraits for a multi-billion-dollar international insurance company. The communications director explained that the issue with the images on their website was that none of the people featured actually worked for the company. Every photo was a generic stock image of anonymous individuals.

The director admitted he was embarrassed by this. However, the company was more concerned about the cost of custom photography. In the end, they decided to stick with inexpensive stock images for their corporate identity. (Did I mention this is a *multi-billion-dollar* company?)

The irony is striking: this is an insurance company, an industry built on managing and reducing risk. Yet, the company is taking a huge identity risk by relying on photos that don’t reflect its true workforce.
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Hiring the wrong photographer

Here’s a funny video showing what can happen if you hire the wrong photographer for the job:

 

While this video may seem far-fetched, situations like this do happen, especially when a client shops price only and hires the cheapest photographer.

Some photographers may be a jack-of-all-trades and they can do half-decent pictures of almost anything. But a true professional knows their limits and won’t waste a client’s time and money by trying to shoot a project that’s not within their field of photographic expertise.

A professional photographer knows that doing it right the first time is good not only for the client’s business but also for their own.

 

Canada’s War on Photography

Canada has started its war on photography (and also on sketching and taking notes).

The Gatineau/Ottawa transit system, along with the federal government, is asking people to call police if they see: “[a]n individual taking photos or pictures in a location that has no particular interest, drawing maps or sketches, taking notes or wandering in the same location for an unusually long time.”

What’s the difference between taking photos and taking pictures? How would you like to be arrested for being armed with a sketch pad and a charcoal pencil? Watch out, I’ve got pen and paper and I’m not afraid to take notes!

Haven’t they learned anything from the ongoing problems in the USA and UK with their silly anti-photography laws and bans? Far too many links to list but here are a few: Link 1, Link 2Link 3, Link 4, Link 5, Link 6, Link 7, Link 8.

Haven’t they learned that taking pictures has nothing to with terrorism? Haven’t they learned that photography increases security?
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Word Appreciation

Hard work or work hard
Pay more or buy more
Price or worth
Efficient or effective
New idea or new effort
Follow up or follow through
Lack of resources or lack of resourcefulness
Revise or refine
Adopt or adapt
Maximize or optimize
A part or apart
Propose or oppose
Prepare or repair
Compare or contrast
Complicated or complex
Correct or perfect
Zero in or zero out
Speak up or speak out
Fit in or stand out
Tear down or build up
I think or I believe
Idea or dream
Push or pull
Customer service or customer appreciation
Receptionist or rejectionist
Money or wealth
Picture or image
Change or opportunity
Setback or step back
Shortcut or detour
Bridge or tunnel
Aspire or inspire
Create or complete
Success or achievement
Profit or progress

 

Scandal-free Photography

The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the city’s public transit system, has suffered a few front-page scandals over the past several weeks. And yes, there’s another front-page scandal today.

Today’s scandal is not so much that a married TTC executive was living a double life and got his “long-time female companion” a contract with a TTC design consultant.

The real scandal is that the woman, described as being “an amateur photographer,” was paid “at least” $50,000 over ten months to take pictures at public meetings and of roads where new streetcar tracks might be built.

$50,000.00 for pictures of meetings and empty roads.

$50,000.00 for an amateur photographer.

Attention TTC: Since the woman has been, uh, “released” from her contract, I’m available for your photography needs. Not only do I charge less than $50,000, but here’s a bonus I’ll throw in: I guarantee I won’t end up in a front-page scandal.

 

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