Breakfast of Champions

No Comments

A box of breakfast cereal might cost $5 and it could contain about a dozen servings. A restaurant breakfast might cost $15 and it would deliver exactly one serving (unless it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast :-) ).

A box of cereal is fast and cheap. This is good when it’s just you or you’re in a hurry.

A restaurant breakfast costs more but you can have whatever you want and it’s made to order. This type of breakfast is perfect when you’re trying to impress someone.

Stock pictures are like a box of cereal. Custom photography is like a restaurant breakfast.

Stock photos are fast and cheap. This is okay if your web site, brochure or other usage is only for yourself. But this is not okay if you need to make a good impression on someone such as your customers.

You wouldn’t serve a box of cereal at a business breakfast, so why would you serve stock pictures on your business web site?

There’s a saying that you should write to express, not to impress. But if you do a good job of expressing then that can lead to impressing.

The same thing applies to the corporate photography on your company’s web site. The pictures must first express something positive and genuine about your business. Only then do you have a chance of making a good impression and looking like a champion.

 

Driving Emotions

No Comments

How often do you see a photo credit on a company’s press release pictures? Have you ever seen a credit line on a product photo?

For example, when you see a photo of a new car, supplied by the car manufacturer, there’s either no credit line or it simply names the car manufacturer that supplied the photo.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Company launched its advertising campaign for the 2017 Lincoln Continental. Newspapers like The Globe and Mail did their usual car review and included handout photos of the new car. But this time, the handout photos had a credit line. The November 10th print version of The Globe and Mail used:

(Photo – Annie Leibovitz / Ford)

Continue reading →

To Your Credit

No Comments

If you accept mobile, point-of-sale credit card payments by using something like Square, there are a couple things you need to know:

• As you’ve probably heard, Apple has removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from its new devices. Lenovo has also started doing this and it appears Samsung may do the same. The problem caused by removing the headphone jack is that credit card readers, and many other devices, use the headphone jack.

Sidenote / rant:   The reasons why Apple removed the headphone jack aren’t exactly what Apple tried to spin by saying it was an act of “courage.” The move to the proprietary Lightning connector and the concurrent move to USB-C ports (which can accept proprietary restrictions) greatly increase Apple’s control of third-party devices that can connect with Apple products.

This move is expected to generate a lot of money for Apple since third-party manufacturers will have to pay for licensing, pay for Apple’s proprietary MFi chip and other components, and pay a royalty on each and every device they manufacture. By contrast, USB and 3.5mm audio connectors are royalty-free, OS-independent, device-independent and they fall outside of Apple’s control.

Continue reading →

Taking the long way

No Comments

Been sitting at your computer for a while? Need some exercise?

A long time ago, a Yellow Pages advertisement used the slogan “Let your fingers do the walking.” Now you can let your fingers do your exercising by scrolling for a mile. (That web page is a mile long: 6,082,560 pixels at 96 ppi (monitor resolution) = 5,280 feet = 1 mile).

Twenty years ago, web-page scrolling was considered bad design maybe because most folks used slow dial-up Internet and page content had to be kept minimal. As broadband Internet became the norm, longer pages, and scrolling, became popular. Five or six years ago, scrolling went out of fashion maybe because it took too much effort or because people were in too much of a hurry to go below the fold. Today, scrolling is trendy again probably because scrolling is easier and more preferred on mobile devices.

Both the photo pages and blog pages on my web site have several long pages with lots of text. Scrolling is often required on my site. This is intentional and the reasons are:
Continue reading →

Nikon Canada Repairs

No Comments

Two or three years ago, Nikon Canada implemented a repair tracking system that lets you check the status of your equipment while it’s being serviced. This system tells you when your gear has entered the repair process, when it’s being repaired, when it’s been completed and that your gear is either being shipped back to you or is ready for pickup. It will also tell you the cost. Sometimes you may be required to pre-approve a repair.

This system doesn’t provide up-to-the-minute or up-to-the-hour tracking. It seems to be up-to-the-day but it can vary a lot.

The problem is that the web link to check your repair status has always been wrong. Nikon Canada knows this but it’s never been corrected.
Continue reading →

The Photography Gig Economy

No Comments

You may have heard the trendy phrase “gig economy” which, I suppose, is the opposite of a job economy. Of course, if you’re a self-employed photographer, you’re probably laughing at the discovery of this “new” economy. Another laughable trendy phrase is the “sharing economy”.

In the old days, someone could have one job for their entire life but that is disappearing. Today, more and more people are self-employed and they freelance for a number of employers. A short-term job here, a temporary job there.

As every self-employed person will tell you,the (growing) problem is that freelancers fall through every crack in every labour law. No minimum wage, no set hours, no legal overtime, no guaranteed meal breaks, no sick pay, no holiday pay, no statutory holidays, no benefits, etc.

Canadian freelancers aren’t covered by any labour law. In fact, Canadian freelancers aren’t even guaranteed that they will get paid for their work.

A few days ago on October 27, 2016, New York City passed what could be a landmark new law in the USA. The so-called “Freelance Isn’t Free Act” will help protect freelancers from late-paying and non-paying customers.

Recognizing the shift toward the gig economy, a British MP yesterday called for a minimum wage for self-employed people. The United Kingdom already has a late payment law which helps freelancers collect on late payments [link to PDF].

The number of self-employed and freelancers is going nowhere but up (and here). And it will get worse.

Canada is doing nothing.

 

Before The Flood

No Comments

(This post has nothing to do with photography).

US actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio (L) and US director Fisher Stevens arrive for a screening of their documentary “Before The Flood” during the 41st annual Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, 09 September 2016.

National Geographic yesterday released “Before The Flood”, its documentary about climate change and how it affects our environment.

If you have 95 minutes, give it a view:

Edit: It appears that National Geographic has removed the documentary from the Web. It’s been taken down from its own site as well. Apparently the “free” movie was a limited time offer.

More information is on the film’s web site.

 

css.php