The business side of photography
Basketball coaches seem to yell a lot. They yell to get the attention of their players, they yell when arguing with the referees and sometimes they yell for no apparent reason.
Basketball arenas are very noisy with non-stop loud music, shouting arena announcers and screaming fans. It would seem that the only way to be heard above the ambient noise is to yell.
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If you bought the same guitar as Eric Clapton, would you play music just like him? If you owned the same golf clubs as Tiger Woods, would you play golf just like him? If you used the same pen as J.K. Rowling, would your books be just as successful?
The answer to all of the above is, of course, a resounding “no”, (despite what the product manufacturers might say).
But yet, many people think that if they buy the same camera as a professional photographer, they will shoot the same pictures. Why?
From Margaret Atwood’s 2002 book Negotiating with the Dead :
To be an opera singer you not only have to have a voice, you have to train for years; to be a composer you have to have an ear, to be a dancer you have to have a fit body, to act on the stage you have to be able to remember your lines, and so on.
Being a visual artist now approaches writing, as regards its apparent easiness – when you hear remarks like “My four-year-old could do better,” you know that envy and contempt are setting in, of the kind that stem from the belief that the artist in question is not really talented, only lucky or a slick operator, and probably a fraud as well. This is likely to happen when people can no longer see what gift or unusual ability sets an artist apart.
The amazing technology built into digital cameras has created an under-appreciation and a devaluation of photography. Many forget that a camera is just a tool, like a guitar, a golf club or a pen. An experienced photographer is not someone who knows how to push a button. But rather, they know when to push that button. A professional photograph gets its value from what it shows and from what it doesn’t.
If online content becomes a free commodity, will your creative thoughts have any value? Of course, everyone loves free but sometimes free costs too much.
Should everything be supported by advertising so that all content can be free?
If yes, then is the ultimate conclusion that the only online content will be advertisements? Ads disguised as news. Ads disguised as entertainment. Ads disguised as relevant information.
Far-fetched?
A little while ago, I was asked to shoot some corporate portraits for a multi-billion-dollar international insurance company. The problem with the pictures already on its web site, as the communications director explained, was that none of the people shown in the photos worked for the company. Every picture on the site was a generic stock image of anonymous people.
The director actually said that he was quite embarrassed about this. But his employer was more concerned about the cost of custom photography. In the end, the company decided to stick with cheap stock images for its corporate identity. (Did I mention “multi-billion-dollar company”?)
The irony here is that this is an insurance company which, by definition, is all about managing and reducing risk. Yet the company itself is taking a huge identity risk.
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Here’s a funny video showing what can happen if you hire the wrong photographer for the job:
While this video may seem far-fetched, situations like this do happen, especially when a client shops price only and hires the cheapest photographer.
Some photographers may be a jack-of-all-trades and they can do half-decent pictures of almost anything. But a true professional knows their limits and won’t waste a client’s time and money by trying to shoot a project that’s not within their field of photographic expertise.
A professional photographer knows that doing it right the first time is good not only for the client’s business but also for their own.
Canada has started its war on photography (and also on sketching and taking notes).
The Gatineau/Ottawa transit system, along with the federal government, is asking people to call police if they see: “[a]n individual taking photos or pictures in a location that has no particular interest, drawing maps or sketches, taking notes or wandering in the same location for an unusually long time”.
What’s the difference between taking photos and taking pictures? How would you like to be arrested for being armed with a sketch pad and a charcoal pencil? Watch out, I’ve got pen and paper and I’m not afraid to take notes!
Haven’t they learned anything from the ongoing problems in the USA and UK with their silly anti-photography laws and bans? Far too many links to list but here are a few: Link 1. Link 2. Link 3. Link 4. Link 5. Link 6. Link 7. Link 8.
Haven’t they learned that taking pictures has nothing to with terrorism? Haven’t they learned that photography increases security?
Are they stupid?
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Just a silly little tip for when you’re creating your business web site:
Remember to mention your business name on your web site.
One might think this is obvious and there’s no need to mention it. But no. I’ve just spent some time reviewing web sites for three other photographers, and noticed that none mentioned their own name.
Search engines need to see real text of your business name somewhere in your web pages. An image of your logo won’t work. A Flash or other type of movie displaying your brand name doesn’t help. It must be text.
A domain name isn’t good enough. A domain such as dianebrownphotography.com is viewed as one word: dianebrownphotography. Somewhere on the site, it must actually say Diane Brown Photography.
Saying “Diane shoots business portraits” or “Diane has won awards”, doesn’t work. You must type out your full company name. “Diane Brown Photography does executive portraits” or “Diane Brown is an award-winning photographer”.
Add it to various page texts, place it in meta tags, put it in alt or comment tags, or any other appropriate places.
Remember to mention your own name, so that people who are looking for you by name, can find you.
