For Customers

Better Public Relations Photography

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What’s the difference between a photographer and a photojournalist?

A photographer takes pictures of nouns whereas a photojournalist, or news photographer, takes pictures of verbs.

If you remember way back to grade school: a noun is a part of speech that’s used to name a person, place or thing. A verb expresses an action or state of being, and is the most important part of a sentence.

The average photographer usually takes pictures of animals, nature, architecture and still life. Nothing wrong with that but all nouns.

Photojournalists take pictures of people expressing or enacting such things as anger, joy, sadness, happiness, victory, protest, excitement and more. These are images of people engaged in some sort of physical or emotional state of being. Verbs.
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How to Save Money When Hiring a Commercial Photographer

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Which is more important to your business: saving money or making money?

While everyone loves “free”, that usually isn’t even on the menu. For businesses that are considering hiring a photographer, here are a few suggestions that will help save money.

First, congratulations! Hiring a photographer to help with your business, corporate or commercial photography needs means that you know the value of having a professional photographer create original images for your web site, public relations or other marketing needs.

But what if your budget doesn’t quite match your plans?
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Best and Worst Jobs

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The Wall Street Journal published the Best and Worst Jobs in the USA, based on a recently-released 2009 study. The list is based on five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

The methodology and the criteria used are limited and subjective. There really is no way to produce an accurate and objective list since best and worst are relative terms.

Take this list with a grain of salt and a big dose of humour. Just for fun, see where your job ranks.

 

Small Business Oath

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

– attributed to Aristotle

A few years ago, when dealing with a large national media corporation, I pointed out that the company’s conduct was the exact opposite of its mission statement. The corporate lawyer laughed and said, “That [mission statement] is just for the public, it’s not for us.”

A code of conduct may not be needed by a small business because the owner is usually close to the “front lines”. So there’s little room for bad behaviour. But sadly, a big business can have plenty of such room.

Small business owners may want to create their own code of conduct, not just to impress their customers but also to remind themselves of why they are in business. Maybe something like:

As a small business owner, my purpose is to serve the customer without whom my business has no reason to exist. My business may be small in size but my pursuit of excellence shall be boundless. I promise:

• To run my business with integrity and the highest ethical standards.

• To treat customers fairly, honestly and with respect.

• To be responsible for my actions and accountable to my customers.

• To acknowledge and then, to the best of my abilities, repair any mistakes that I might make.

• To protect the interests of each customer as if they were my own.

• To improve myself and my business for the benefit of my customers.

• To be a good citizen of my community.

 

Name of the times

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It’s now the second decade of the 21st century, so stop using the phrase “digital camera.” It’s redundant. All cameras are digital, film is the exception. Feel free to use the term “film camera” when talking about a camera that uses film. Otherwise it’s just “camera.” No more “DSLR” either.

Cameras no longer have motor drives. Nothing is being driven or pulled through a digital camera.

Cameras no longer shoot “frames per second” because there are no more frames, just exposures.

Digital cameras do not videotape, tape or film anything because there’s no videotape or film in a digital camera. Digital cameras simply record video.
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Post-processing and Retouching

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Photography customers spmetimes ask about post-processing. What is it and why is there a fee for it?

Most professional photographers either charge separately for post-processing or they build it into their overall photo fee. Listing it separately allows a client to see exactly where their money is going.

Post-processing is the computer work required to change an out-of-the-camera digital file into a good usable photograph. Think of it as polishing a photo to help look its best. It’s one of the many things that separates professional photography from amateur.
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Connect The Dots

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Why doesn’t a newspaper do this:

For each online crossword, sudoku, or other daily quiz, that is correctly completed by a reader, (within a certain time period), the paper donates, say, $1 to a local charity. The chosen charity can change daily or weekly.

The daily quiz would be sponsored by an advertiser which will make the charitable donation. The advertiser’s logo and message would sit right next to the quiz. Fifteen minutes to do the quiz means 15 minutes of exposure to the ad.

How many readers will take the time to complete the daily quiz knowing that it will do some social good? Word-of-mouth will help this spread as readers get their friends to join in and help fund raise for a charity.
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