If nothing else, business portraits

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You’ve probably seen or heard a movie advertisement that used a phrase like, “If you see only one movie this summer, be sure to see . . .”

On a somewhat similar theme:

If you hire a photographer only once this year, be sure it’s for business portraits.

If your business sells a service, the photos on your “About Us” page are the most important pictures on your web site.

A 2013 survey showed that the About Us page is the second most important page on your web site next to the home page. Anyone who views your About Us page is more than a casual window shopper. Taking the time to find out who you are means that these people are starting to kick the tires. They’re looking for credibility.
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Through the looking glasses

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It’s amazing how many business portrait photographers don’t know how to properly photograph someone who’s wearing eyeglasses. Photographers like myself, who wear prescription eyeglasses, might be more sensitive about this than photographers who don’t wear glasses.

Creating a good business portrait of a subject wearing eyeglasses is not difficult to do. The photographer has to pay attention to the position of the glasses and the lighting. The subject’s eyes are the highlight of the photo and should always be unobstructed.

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Insurance for Canadian Photographers

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(Updated August 1, 2023)

It should be obvious that insuring your camera equipment and your business is very important. Some customers and some locations may require that you show proof of insurance (i.e. a certificate of insurance). In some situations you may have to increase your coverage or temporarily add a customer or venue to your policy as an additional insured. Any such additional insurance costs should be billed to the customer.

Here are some Canadian companies that offer photo-related insurance. This is not meant as a recommendation.

Disclosure: I was insured with CG&B Insurance (aka. Unionville Insurance) from about 1985 to 2016. I’ve been insured with Front Row Insurance since 2016.

For annual insurance, I currently pay about $1.22 per $100 of equipment insured, plus $260 for $2M liability insurance, plus other insurance options, plus provincial sales tax. The cost may vary from province to province.

 

PhotoPac from Arthur J. Gallagher Canada is insurance for photographers and filmmakers. Photographers may recall PhotoPac from Unionville Insurance Brokers (late 1970s to mid-1990s). Then it became PhotoPac from CG&B Group (late 1990s to 2010s). It’s now PhotoPac from Gallagher which is part of an international insurance brokerage. Note that the provided link to stepinsure.com is correct but it doesn’t always work which isn’t reassuring.
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The colour of business portraits

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Are you superstitious?

What happens if a black cat crosses your path? Does the colour red lead to good fortune? Will wearing green bring unhappiness? Does white cause bad luck?

Have you ever turned green with envy, felt blue with sadness, become red with anger or turned yellow and ran away? Why is a red car sporty, a black car elegant and a yellow car fun? Would you prefer medicine pills that are green or pink? Does yellow taste sweet or sour? Does blue feel hot or cold?

Every colour seems to have symbolic meanings and these can vary from one culture to another. But are these meanings based on superstitions and stereotypes?
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Still Life and Portraits

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Still life photography is making pictures of inanimate subjects. Portrait photography is the opposite; it’s about making pictures of animated subjects. Yet the photo techniques of the two are the same.

What separates still life photography from portrait photography is that the former is still while the latter should have (e)motion.

A still life is about the photograph but a portrait is about the subject.

In a still life, the photographer is visibly important. But in a portrait, the photographer should be invisible.

It took me a long time to understand this.

 

If it sounds too cheap

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A Toronto-based mining company just found out that if it sounds cheap, it probably isn’t a bargain.

In February this year, a mining company requested a quote for business headshots of six executives for its new web site. I quoted about $1500 which might be average for a job like this. The company replied that it had “decided to go in another direction.”

A few days ago, the same company e-mailed to ask if my February quote was still good.

Before replying, I went to the company’s web site and saw six business portraits. The photos’ EXIF data revealed that these were shot by another Toronto photographer in late February, about two weeks after my quote was turned down.
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The Death of Customer Relationships

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Most larger companies outsource their customer service to the Internet. Got a question or problem? Use the online user forum, online help pages, online chat or search the company web site and hope you find something. The customer is pretty much forced to self-serve, self-diagnose and self-fix their problem.

This reliance on the Internet allows companies to cut costs. But outsourcing to the lowest bidder, in this case the Internet, pushes customers away. It kills personal interaction and eliminates customer relationships.

No customer relationship => no customer loyalty => no business.

Customer satisfaction is worthless. Customer loyalty is priceless.

– Jeffrey Gitomer

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