Photographers Getting Arrested
I just got an email about another photographer that was arrested in Milwaukee. This is the second photographer in Milwaukee to be arrested for doing their job. You can see video and read the full story here: http://www.wisn.com/news/29677440/detail.html. OK two incidents that happen in one city, a poorly trained pocket of police, no big deal right? Wrong. It looks like it may be becoming a pattern.
Other journalists and photographers have been arrested, beaten, and even shot (with “less lethal” rounds such as beanbags and/or rubber bullets) in Oakland. This has happened in Oakland, NY, Chicago, pick a city and it has probably happened. Police are increasingly aggressive towards those with cameras. You may be thinking that well journalists try to cross police lines, they get int he way, they violate this or that when trying to get “the shot.” Well perhaps but then why is a mother of 3 arrested for photographing a tourist attraction?
Virtual vs. Digital
For a while now there has been the discussion that digital photography is cheaper than film and therefore prices that photographers charge should be decreasing and not increasing. In fact the truth of the matter is that the cost for photography has declined dramatically but that has nothing to do with digital vs. film. The major cause of that is that many unknowledgeable people entering the market and not charging properly for their services. These new photographers will learn in time that they are in fact cutting themselves short and they are driving the market down to their own demise. I won’t get into a discussion of what to charge in this article. I will however go into a bit of the cost of digital photography.
In the film days there was the visible cost of film, developing, processing, chemicals, paper/media, enlargers, and various other equipment. Today much of that has been replaced by computers, software, multiple hard drives, internet connections, and we still have the cost of media and printers. Cameras have increased in price dramatically for professional level equipment. In fact if you actually do the math it is more expensive today than it was 15 years ago and that is taking inflation into consideration. Again the cost is not a topic for this article. If you want to compare the costs of digital to the cost of film Google it; there are thousands of articles out there.
Are Your Customers The 99%?
For the last week or so I have been following the Occupy Philadelphia protest. It is a fellow movement to Occupy Wall Street that I am sure, or at least hope, you have heard of. The basic premise is that the people occupying Wall Street (self-proclaimed “The 99%”) have had enough of how banks have gotten bailouts and special treatment but still manage to take advantage of the average, middle class person in this country. This is not all they are protesting but this is a part of their core message. To learn more I would suggest that you look at their website www.occupywallst.org as I don’t want to say something that is not accurate.
Teamwork
As some of you know I spent last week in New England, mostly Vermont but also New Hampshire and Maine. Many more of you know that the Green Mountains of southern Vermont suffered drastically from Hurricane Irene. The devastation was epic.
One thing that I noticed when my wife and I were there was the speed in which these people rebuilt roads, homes and businesses. The outreach to their neighbors was as swift as the waters that swept away bridges, roads and buildings. In our travels we passed one business of some kind that was no longer recognizable; most… Continue reading
Stills As Video
Not much to say on this one, just something to show you. I made this for a client to give a virtual tour of his home. This is an extension of the Estate Legacy Products that I offer on www.estatelegacy.com and I can do this for you and your family too. I also offer leather bound, high end books with both photography and written word to tell the story of your house and home. Contact me and let’s capture the legacy that is yours.
Take a look…
Emotion or Passion?
I just read a post from a photography coach that says “the sale of photography is an emotional one” (full article here: http://www.zenologue.com/blog/2011/09/photographers-who-click-connecting-with-your-client/). Well I have to disagree. I will agree with Nigel that there is definitely an emotional element to photography and that the desire of any image is to instill an emotion in the viewer or have them react in some way whether that is to buy the image (portrait, wedding etc.), buy a product, or just support the views and/or opinions of the subject of the image. But to say that all photography sales must be… Continue reading
They Can Take Your Investments, But Not Your Memories
I just got back from a road trip with a client where we had 3 shoots in 2 days in 3 cities. Oh, and one flat tire. It was a great trip and a fantastic shoot! During the trip we covered a lot of miles and a lot of roads – over 600 miles to be exact. On almost every road, around every turn, we saw signs of the times: real estate “For Sale” signs.
The neighborhoods changed every few miles; small homes, big homes, estates and even condos but the single thread going through it all was those signs. All I could think of was how hard it was when I sold my house just over a year ago. I had a very small place where I used the basement as my studio. It had a small back yard but a nice deck I had put on, and with all the problems you have with a house the best part was that it was mine.
Paying the Photographer
Photography has many different categories and business models. There are photographers for weddings, portraits, seniors, events, architecture, commercial, fashion, nature, fine art, stock, the list can be virtually endless; if you can think of a category I can probably name a photographer that specializes in it. With each specialty there seems to be a different payment method and in some cases it makes total sense. A portrait photographer probably should be paid at the time of the photo shoot and a wedding photog should get 50% down to book the date and the balance the day of the wedding. But when these payment models are applied to other types of photography I begin to wonder.
I specialize in high-end estate and portrait photography but that is not the only work I do. I have different payment terms for each part of my business. Also how I get paid depends on who I am working with, not just the type of photography I am doing. If I am doing portraits for an individual, model or just regular family type portraits, I need to be paid at the time of the shoot. The reason is simple; I may never see that client again. They can just up and disappear. Corporate portraits are a different story. Continue reading
To Retouch or Not to Retouch, THAT Is the Question
This morning I read an article by Beate Chelette, (http://PhotoBizCoach.com), titled “Advertising Under Fire for Doctored Images” asking photographers where they stand on the issue of retouching images and the ethics of doing so. Click the links above and read the story. It’s short; I will wait here for you.
Tap, tap, tap…. Oh you’re back. Sorry, I got distracted.
If you read the article you may have seen my response as well: “Some retouching is a good thing, too much, not so good.” I whole heartedly believe that and I live it with my work too. I am not opposed to doing whatever my client wants. If the client wants china doll skin, I can do that. However I prefer to keep the image looking real.
Let the Photographer Help You
Recently I was asked to bid on a rather big job and to be honest I was very excited to do so. The job required travel, multiple shoots in multiple locations and, while not out of reach for me, would still present a challenge and give me an opportunity to be creative.
While working with my client we did the usual overviews, strategy planning etc. I took the information given to me and I worked up an estimate and presented it to the client. When I spoke to them a few days later the client was a bit taken back over the cost. Although they knew that their original budget was very, very low they didn’t expect the cost to be almost 4 times the planned budget.
