The business side of photography
A public service announcement for photographers: Get your eyes checked every few years.
We take our eyes for granted but they need to be properly maintained.
Continue reading →
Four weeks ago, Google made a small but potentially good change to Google Images.
When someone searches images on Google, there is now a tiny, barely noticeable, new link below the larger version of some images that reads, “Image credits”:
A well-known stock photo company is currently hiring for many positions including human resources, sales and marketing, numerous tech positions, product directors, business development, photo editors and photographers.
All of these jobs are salaried and come with “first-rate Apple gear, generous vacation plan, health benefits, solid compensation/bonuses and a company culture that values empowerment, passion, integrity, courage and transparency.”
In fact, the company states that their employees enjoy “Stellar medical, dental, and vision insurance”, “Generous vacations. Game rooms”, “Competitive pay”, “Tuition reimbursement. Holiday parties”, “Fully-stocked beverage fridges. Complimentary breakfast, lunch, and snacks”, and “Subsidized gym memberships and fitness plans.”
Continue reading →
You’ve probably heard that Canada has negotiated the so-called “NAFTA 2.0” trade treaty. This US-Mexico-Canada treaty, which has yet to be ratified, has both pros and cons for Canadians.
Continue reading →
My annual, very, very long rant about the recent 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from a photographer’s point of view. If you’re not somehow involved with TIFF then it might be better to skip this post. I’m just trying to reach a certain audience. The reason is that each year, TIFF sends out a survey asking for journalists’ thoughts about the film festival but there are no questions for photographers. The film festival treats photographers as an afterthought and never bothers asking for their opinions.
TL;DR: This year, some things got better, some got worse and a few things sadly haven’t changed. TIFF has no real focus as it tries to be everything to everyone. Middle age is showing as TIFF just reiterates what it did the previous year. Final rant at the end of this post.
Continue reading →
Are you thinking about starting a photo business in Canada and do you speak French? Then do yourself a favour and read En photo et en affaires written by Quebec City photographer Francis Vachon.
This is one of the very few Canadian books about starting and running a photography business. It covers starting a business, getting customers, pricing, licensing, contracts, taxes and copyright.
The book was written in Quebec but most of the information is applicable anywhere in Canada. But keep in mind that Quebec’s privacy laws are different from most other provinces. There might also be some small differences when it comes to contracts as this falls mostly under provincial laws.
September is the start of a new school year and every student will be getting new school portraits done. When is your company planning to get new pictures?
Every business needs to refresh the photos on their web site. Refreshing your web site shows that your company is still alive and it keeps customers interested. It also helps your site rank higher in web searches.
The second most popular search engine after Google is Google Images. This image search engine is used more than all other search engines combined excluding Google itself.
This means that people using Google Images are searching visually (because we process pictures much faster than text) and they will click on the best looking or most interesting pictures. Stock pictures are rarely interesting because stock pictures look like stock pictures. Of course, having no pictures means you’re invisible.
Continue reading →
