Pass on this pass

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With the proliferation of cameras and web sites, almost everyone is claiming to be a photographer or a journalist. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a wedding – portrait photographer asking how he can get a Press ID card. And, he was in a hurry because he wanted to get into an event this weekend.

My answer was: Press ID cards are for people who work for the Press.

If you run any event in Canada, be aware that there is no such thing as a generic “Press card” or “Press pass”. Anyone who tries to use such a card to gain entry to your event is a fraud.

Anything that simply says “PRESS PASS”, “PRESS” or “MEDIA” is fake. A business card is not a press pass.
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Grammatically Correct

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Today, March 4th, is National Grammar Day in the USA. However, here in Canada, we don’t got no Grammar Day to write about.

A few days ago, I had reason to review and edit photo captions from a number of photographers. The spelling and grammar were atrocious. The photographers should have been extremely embarrassed that they weren’t smarter than a fifth grader.

All of these photographers work for daily newspapers and they assume that someone else at their newspaper will correct their captions. But after checking some newspaper websites, this was not always the case. A photographer’s poorly written caption was often copied verbatim onto the website.

Every self-employed photographer knows, or should know, that good grammar and proper spelling are essential business tools. Grammar and spelling add to a photographer’s credibility and professionalism.

 

Why not to lower prices in a poor economy

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Architectural photographer Brad Feinknopf explains why photographers should not lower their prices in a slow economy:

Please, do not let a poor economy bring the industry of photography to its knees by merely bending to market pressure. (…) We, as architectural photographers, bring great value and please do recognize that! (…) we are assisting our clients to sell their wares, to generate new business, to help them win awards and sometimes, even get them published. Without architectural photography, the publications would merely be words, as would be the websites. They do need us and, believe it or not, most value what we do. We need to value it, too. Do not forget the value you bring and demand adequate compensation for that value.

– Brad Feinknopf

It’s worth reading his entire blog post to understand the clothing store analogy that he uses. Although he refers to architectural photographers, the analogy Feinknopf uses also applies to other professional photographers.

 

Increased earnings

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It’s often said that there are three general types of media that a company can use to spread its business message:

Paid: the company buys an advertisement.
Owned: the company places information on its own web site(s).
Earned: the company gets free coverage in the news media.

Paid and owned are easy to understand and implement although most companies under-utilize their web sites. In these two cases, the company controls the message but both suffer from credibility issues especially with paid media.

Paid advertising only increases brand recognition (i.e. exposure). It does nothing for brand acceptance (i.e. trust).
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Chequing and Saving

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Some professional photographers may still have to write cheques to pay bills, models, stylists, assistants, etc. When your customized business cheques run out, there’s no need to buy refills through your bank. Purchasing cheques from a third-party printer can be much less expensive.

There are a few companies in Canada that produce cheques which meet the same standards and have the same security features as the cheques purchased through your bank.

Although cheques are becoming obsolete, if you need custom business cheques, consider ordering from a third-party printer, (very often another small business), rather than automatically buying from your bank. I recently purchased a bundle of cheques for 53% less cost than from my bank.

 

Firewire 800 card reader

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Since Firewire 800 card readers are no longer sold by Sandisk or Lexar, even though many photographers still use FW800, it may be difficult to find a suitable speedy card reader. Apple’s painfully slow rollout of USB 3 also doesn’t help.

For photographers who need a FW800 card reader, there’s good news and bad news:

The good news is that there’s one company which still sells a FW800 card reader. The card reader, which is sold in Canada, is small, reasonably priced and, when in stock, delivered quickly by Canada Post.

The bad news is that the card reader works only with UDMA compact flash cards. However, it won’t work with first-generation UDMA cards such as the Sandisk Extreme III (30MB/s). So if a photographer uses older compact flash cards or other formats such as SD cards, it will still be necessary to carry another card reader.

 

Penniless Canadians

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Starting tomorrow on February 4, the Canadian Mint will no longer be distributing pennies. The once copper but now mostly steel coins will be taken out of circulation, melted down and the metal recycled. The last one-cent coins which were minted on May 4, 2012, cost 1.6¢ each to make.

After tomorrow, banks will not distribute pennies to their customers but the public can still use the pennies they have. Businesses which accept cash are being asked to change their pricing policy to accommodate our new “penny-less” world.
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