Tag Archives: photo business

January 25, 2012

Photographers: Start Right Now – Don’t Wait For Perfection

By scottbourne

Every single day of the week, young photographers email me, tweet me, fax me, send me snail mail or call me to ask how to get started as a professional photographer. Their stories are usually quite similar. When pressed, they usually say that they are waiting on a good logo, a new business card, a updated-release of their favorite photo software or the holy grail – a new camera or lens.

Whatever their excuse for not getting started on their journey to becoming a professional photographer, it’s just that – an excuse. It’s much, much, much easier to blame your lack of this or that for not succeeding than it is to simply go out there and try.

I’ve talked about this problem in many ways, but I was inspired to use today’s headline on this post by a young man I have long admired. C.C. Chapman is a consultant, motivational speaker and social media guru as well as a big fan of photography. I became aware of him years ago because of his work as a podcaster. Since I’ve done a fair bit of podcasting myself, it wasn’t unexpected that our paths would cross.

He’s co-written a great book called Content Rules. It’s NOT a photo book. It’s about getting off the couch and doing something TODAY that will help push your brand out to the masses.

The book hasn’t gotten much attention in the photo community because it’s not aimed directly at photographers, but I’ll tell you this – every single GoingPro reader should read “Content Rules.” There are tons of lessons there that emerging photographers can benefit from.

If you can’t afford the $15 I’ll sum up the book (from and for the perspective of a professional photographer) as best I can in one sentence. Make your photo business about helping people and start doing that right this minute – start making stuff and putting it out there right now without thought or concern about it being perfect.

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This post sponsored by Adorama – More than a camera store

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Marketing, Motivation, Review

December 2, 2011

CNN Fires Photojournalists – We May Be To Blame and We May Be Next

By scottbourne

According to this article in the Hollywood Reporter, CNN has fired 50 people, most of them photojournalists. Why? Because they can get cheap or free media out of the public who seem to cover every event with their cell phone cameras, etc.

This could be partially our fault – I’m speaking from an industry perspective. As professionals, it’s our job to differentiate ourselves from Uncle Harry. Too many professional photographers have fallen into the trap of allowing themselves to become commodities. The problem with commodities is that they are fungible. If you’re one of those photographers who simply competes on price, you are a small part of the problem.

CNN’s employees also bear some blame for not finding ways to constantly show their bosses the value of true photojournalism. Every employee, every day, in this economy has to show how they contribute to the bottom line. It’s not enough to do great work. You have to remind the bosses about it.

CNN itself is due some criticism for being so short sided and so ill-informed, as to think that they will get the same quality of content using “citizen” journalists. Why visit CNN if all they are is a content aggregator? There are already plenty of companies doing that.

The bottom line here is this. As professional photographers we need to go out EVERY DAY and prove to the world that we matter. We need to have the best technique, and the highest respect for craft and we have to show what that means to everyone around us.

Wether you know it or not you’re constantly selling yourself to everyone you meet. Your spouse, your family, your vendors, etc. We need to do a better job of selling our VALUE – i.e., what we’re worth, not just how much we cost.

CNN made this decision based on the COST of the salaries of the photojournalists involved, NOT on their VALUE.

Don’t let this happen to you. And if you’re one of the suckers who’s sending CNN (or others) free content, I advise you to re-evaluate that decision. Not only are you helping them to make decisions like this – which cause working media folks to lose their jobs, but you’re de-valuing YOURSELF. Don’t work for free. Nobody else does.

One last thing – watch CNN carefully. I predict that they will start using media they don’t have rights to. If that happens, I encourage anyone infringed to go after these folks with everything they got. Give no quarter. If they ever used any of my stuff without permission I’d go nuclear on them and try to beat them down with every legal action available to me. There are consequences to actions like these.

CNN used to be a great company. Now it’s proven it’s an unreliable, short-sighted, greedy entity that only cares about the money.

P.S. What’s really funny about CNN is that they may have inadvertently made THEMSELVES fungible. If they are going to rely on “social media” as they claim, why exactly do we need them? All of us can get our info from the same sources they do, minus the banal analysis of the silly talking heads they pay high prices for and oh yeah, minus the commercials!

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This post sponsored by Album Epoca

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Motivation, News

November 30, 2011

Photographers: Thinking Of Offering Discounts To Stimulate Business? Think Again.

By scottbourne

In tough times, it’s a natural reaction. Business slows so people lower prices to try to get new customers in the door. There are times and places and industries where this makes sense. But don’t automatically think it makes sense for you as a photographer, particularly if you run a retail (studio) or similar photo business. Sometimes discounts can bring you in some quick cash at the cost of long-term business.

Let’s look at some of the issues surrounding discounts.

If you’re discounting your wall portraits or your session fees or your 8×10” prints, then the first thing many of your customers will think is that the regular prices for these products are too high. Believe me when I tell you this has been very diligently studied and researched at the MBA level and it’s clear that this is at least a concern.

Another problem is that instant discounts do nothing to build long-term loyalty. There is no incentive for the client to return. They know the discount was temporary so they simply move on to the next studio with a discount. Compare this with loyalty programs that work on the basis of repeat business. An airline mile program might be a good example. This induces people to use the airline over and over to accumulate points redeemable for flights.

Discounts are also very easily copied. If you have two or three strong competitors in the marketplace, all they need to do is follow Walmart’s approach. They’ll match any discount and POOF – there goes your competitive advantage.

There are the obvious pitfalls such as the negative impact discounts have on margins, but the one really scary problem is that they potentially alienate infrequent customers.

Short-term thinking has killed more businesses than any recession. The next time you are tempted to discount your work, think about the long-term ramifications. I am not saying there’s never a place for discounts, but be careful and aware before you use them.

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This post sponsored by Bay Photo Lab

3 comments   |  tags: , | posted in Business

October 26, 2011

Photographers: All It Takes is 10%

By skipcohen

A couple of years ago my wife got me into WalkTheTalk. (www.walkthetalk.com) They’re short reads with a point, that in the past I would have misjudged, thinking there wasn’t much to get out of these little motivational books. How wrong I was!

Last night I was reading “The Power of 10%” and the subtitle says it all, How small changes can make a big difference.

Just think about the impact a 10% change would make on different aspects of your business. Most of us tend to do the same thing. We’re not moved to do anything in 10% increments. We don’t even consider a 10% discount on a sale at most retail stores and we tend to apply that same lack of enthusiasm in our “outgoing” efforts as well.

Now think about what 10% could do in your business. What if you set a goal to contact 10% more potential clients through direct mail and social media? What if next year you were going to attend 10% more workshops to improve your skill set? How about the decision to contact 10% more businesses in your community each week in order to make sure everybody knows there’s a great photographer in town…YOU!

You don’t need to reinvent yourself and do the full home makeover to see dramatic changes in your business. Just focus on small steps, one at a time and in the process you’ll see big results.

There’s a great quote in the book from Vincent Van Gogh: Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together!

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This post sponsored by Album Epoca

3 comments   |  tags: | posted in Business

December 24, 2010

Print Fade – Ethical Business Responses

By scottbourne

We received a question from Steve who asked:

“I bought a framed photo (unnumbered edition) a few years ago and hung it in a sunny location. It is now sun-bleached.  The photographer (who owns and runs his own gallery) wants full price for a new copy plus a reframing fee.  Is this reasonable?  My thoughts when purchasing is that I’m funding the effort of his travel, his skill, training and experience, etc plus gallery and printing costs. It seems to me that the second copy should reflect gallery and printing costs only. If it matters, the current unframed version price is $500 for size 18 x 24. He could have WHCC ship a print to me for a tenth of that. I would have been very happy had he offered it for a third or half price. Am I out of line here?”

Steve thanks for your question. This is a good discussion to have. In my opinion, if you are selling photography as art, you have an obligation to offer a lifetime guarantee on the print. Unless there has been obvious abuse, i.e., you left the print in direct sunlight against instructions to the contrary or put the print in an environment with wild temperature and humidity swings, I’d say he should give you the print for free. The frame is another matter. As a matter of good customer service I’d probably reframe the print for you for free, but I don’t feel as strongly about the frame as I do the print.

Professional photographers who don’t stand behind their work won’t be professionals for very long. If you sell prints, you should make sure you are using archival materials. You should also offer care instructions with every order you deliver. Every shirt, pair of pants or dress you buy comes with care instructions, why not your prints? Have a written guarantee that details what is and is not covered and stick by that guarantee.

I can tell you that I have offered a money back guarantee or a full replacement guarantee throughout my career and only had to remake one print in more than 30 years. It’s not a big deal given the quality of today’s print technology.

I’d suggest you ask the photographer for a free reprint, assuming you didn’t abuse the print.

Thanks for your question.

1 comment   |  tags: | posted in Business

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