freelancing

Mind Your Own Business

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It’s been said the most important thing to learn is how to learn.

Most people will do a Web search when they need to learn something because it’s fast and free. But search engines offer disconnected, unverified information in random order. The searcher has to know how to interpret and verify the found information. They have to know how to learn.

The purpose of search engines is to offer shortcuts to what you *might* want to know. This is okay when you just want some quick information but it’s usually not good enough when you want to gain knowledge.

By making it easy, search engines don’t really help us learn. Search engines tell us what we asked for and not necessarily what we need to know. Search results can make you think you’ve learned something when, in fact, you haven’t (link to PDF). There’s a difference between knowing a few facts and actually learning something.
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Editorial Sports Photography Is Dead

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If you’re thinking of becoming an editorial sports photographer, don’t.

 

 

Or at least first read this 2015 interview with five veteran sports photographers.

This short article describes what has happened over the past dozen years in editorial sports photography.

Basically, the deal is, editorial sports photography is completely dead as a market for a photographer to make even a modest living. Dead. Kaput. Over. Flatlined. The best action photographers in the world, who freelanced or were staffers at the major sports magazines, are all out of work . . .

– Robert Seale, photographer

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Didn’t See That Coming

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Why didn’t the customer accept your quote? Was it too expensive for them? Did they find a better photographer? What did you forget to do? What did you not foresee?

 

 

• In February this year, a municipality requested a photo quote for an upcoming economic report. I sent a quote and heard nothing for a few days. Was my price too high? What didn’t they like?
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Give Yourself a Hand

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On January 1, 2019, Ontario’s minimum wage will rise 31.6% from today’s $11.40/hour. How much of a raise are you going to give yourself on January 1?

The average full-time, hourly-paid, Canadian employee makes $58,136/year, assuming a 40-hour week.

If you consider yourself average, then you should be earning the same $58,000 PLUS enough to cover all your overhead expenses. For example, if your annual overhead is $25,000, then you need to earn about $83,000 per year. Job expenses are not included in that sum.

Using the same example as above, if you do 100 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $830 plus expenses. If you do 50 jobs per year, then your average invoice should be at least $1,660 plus job expenses. I said “at least” because (a) your fee should be based on the value of your work and not on time or a flat rate, and (b) employees get paid benefits and you don’t.
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Life in the Slow Lane

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Most photographers go through a slow period, or two, during the year. Perhaps it’s the time from Christmas to the end of January or maybe it’s during a summer month. It depends on what type of photography you do. So what should a photographer do during a slow period?

What not to do

• Don’t panic (too much).

• Don’t use a slow period to catch up on your TV viewing.

• Don’t buy new gear. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that if you buy a new camera or lens, you’ll get more business. New gear won’t help.

• Don’t have a fire sale. Unlike a retail store, photographers don’t have marked-up merchandise on their store shelves that can be discounted. You have only time on your “store shelf” and, unlike a tangible product, time can’t be restocked.

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Violins and marketing photography

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When you play a violin piece, you are a storyteller, and you’re telling a story.

– Joshua Bell

You can replace the violin in that statement with a camera and it would still hold true.

A decade ago, The Washington Post did an unscientific social experiment where Joshua Bell, a well-known classical violinist, dressed in jeans, t-shirt and ball cap, performed incognito in a subway station. The newspaper wanted to see how many morning rush-hour commuters would stop to hear classical music being perfectly played.

On the morning of Friday January 12, 2007, Bell set up inside a Washington DC subway station and placed an open violin case on the ground for donations. The unannounced event was recorded by a hidden camera.

The Post was worried about huge mobs gathering and the possibility of needing police for crowd control. You can probably guess what happened.
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