Black Star Rising

In this month’s post, I answer the following question submitted by a Black Star Rising reader: “As a freelance photographer, should I be cold-calling prospective clients in this economy — and if so, how should I go about it?”

With so many photographers fighting to keep a toehold in the marketplace, it’s easy to understand why you would want to work as a generalist in today’s economy. After all, no photographer I know wants to turn down a well-paying job — and if you market yourself as a specialist, you’re limiting your base of potential clients, right?

I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with the photography of Ansel Adams.

The relationship started in 1970s, when I moved from New York to Oregon and began my career as a professional photographer and photojournalist. Once on the West Coast, I became passionately involved with the outdoors, in the form of backpacking, mountaineering, and cross-county skiing in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. My cameras came along for the ride and helped tell the stories of my wilderness adventures.

(The following is excerpted from Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition, by Black Star photographer John Harrington.)

A lot goes into that first call. Not the call you make, but the call you earn. Before your phone rang, lots of things had to happen: The client had to decide they needed a photographer, and where there’s an ad agency, PR firm, or design firm involved, they had to convince their client they needed photography. Then, they had to decide on candidates for the assignment. And that’s where you come in.

Your best work should be in your portfolio. According to Merriam-Webster, “portfolio” comes from the Italian portafoglio, from portare (“to carry” in Latin) plus folium (“leaf” or “sheet” in Latin).

As a freelance photographer, you might not think you have much in common with global brands like Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Apple or Nike. But no matter how small or large your business is, branding can be just as important to you as it is to these corporate titans.

Many photographers who leaped into Twitter because of all the hype are now wondering whether it is worth their time. Twitter has been heralded as a new communications platform that enables virtually instant mass marketing — for free. So why have so many photographers been frustrated by their experiences?

“Beware of illegal photo taking. Report crime for benefit of all.”

These were the words on a sign at Causeway Bay, a bustling tourist area in Hong Kong. Such a warning isn’t unusual here; wherever you go, you can find signs reading, “No Photos, No Videos, No Smoking and No Dogs.”

(The following is excerpted from Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition, by Black Star photographer John Harrington.)

Ignoring facts cannot change them. Far too many photographers and aspiring photographers simply ignore the facts before them, believing that the laws of physics and economics just don’t apply to them.

(The following is excerpted from Best Business Practices for Photographers, Second Edition, by Black Star photographer John Harrington.)

On one occasion, six or seven years ago, I got a call from the premier association of physicians in the U.S. for press-conference coverage on Capitol Hill. They’d regularly used a photographer who was not available, and the work bounced from him to two friends and then finally to me.

In my recent post “The Trouble with Online Photography Portfolios,” I argued that too many photographers’ Web sites focus on gee-whiz design tricks at the expense of coherent organization and easy navigation. This can make it difficult for an art director to hire a photographer based on a search of online portfolios.

Once upon a time, cameras, processing, access and distribution were the privilege of the few in photography. The business was an Old Boys Club with high barriers to entry. But now, anyone can join. And because the revenue pie seems to be limited, the photo industry is experiencing a Malthusian moment.

I’ve been writing in previous columns about business plans, and now it’s time to consider four financial-planning tools that are part of any business plan. We will look at one of these — the Break-Even Analysis — in this column, and save the remaining three — Profit/Loss Forecast, Start-Up Cost Estimate, and Cash Flow Projection — for future columns.

Ever wonder why some photographers carry around so much gear?

I’m not just referring to the shooters you see at sporting events — the ones with multiple camera bodies hanging around their necks. I’m talking about the ones who bring along assistants with dollies, all manner of light modifiers and even their own gasoline-powered generators.

With the number of media outlets financing and publishing international photojournalism on the decline, many documentary photographers are looking to NGOs, or non-governmental organizations, as an alternative route to shooting in faraway lands and creating work that has a positive impact.

What does it take to tell a story?  A talented writer might tell you that all it requires is a pen and a piece of paper, but storytelling doesn’t come the same way to all of us.  

For me, as for many photographers, I like to have all of the elements of a story in front of me — visible, in front of my eyes.  Then I can assemble them to make the story I’m telling come to life.

I’m a big fan of technology, and it’s easy to get swept up in the shiny new toys that the big camera companies roll out every year. I love the fact that I can now record video as well as stills from the same camera bodies, for example, and that the low light sensitivity of those bodies can produce amazing results without the digital noise we once had to work around.

In a Black Star Rising post last month, Paul Melcher beseeched photojournalists to not settle for trite images of “dying Africans” and to instead seek to cover the continent in a richer, more well-rounded way. I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve read articles by a number of photography business gurus arguing that if you want to make decent money from stock photos or prints, you need to find a niche that isn’t already saturated with images. They advise photographers to shoot model-released lifestyle photos or still lifes, for example, and to stay away from travel and nature — because everyone shoots travel and nature.

Editor’s note: Black Star Rising is pleased to introduce a new series of video blog posts, “Ask the Photo Business Coach,” featuring Beate Chelette. The high-energy entrepreneur and former Corbis executive has been profiled twice on this blog, once while with Corbis and again after leaving the company. Today, she is a successful consultant and author.

In the belt-tightening world of editorial photography, many media outlets now offer a photo credit, rather than monetary compensation, for the use of your photo. “It will be great advertising for your work,” they tell you, “and getting published by us will help you professionally.”

If you teach, you’ve probably found yourself in this situation at one time or another: many of your students are taking your course because it is required, not because they have a burning interest in the subject matter or, for that matter, the instructor.

(The following is excerpted from Winning Digital Photo Contests, a new book by Black Star Rising contributor Jeff Wignall.)

Getting your first close-up photograph of a wild animal is kind of like getting your first kiss; you’re often so flustered (not to mention grateful) at the opportunity and so satisfied by the conquest that you lose all critical perspective.

Not long ago, e-mail marketing in the form of e-bulletins and HTML-based solicitations appeared to be a better choice for photographers than printed direct mail. After all, they were comparatively inexpensive to send, and they arrived right where your prospects would be sure to see them: on their computer screens.

(The following is excerpted from Winning Digital Photo Contests, a new book by Black Star Rising contributor Jeff Wignall.)

When visiting a country where religion is a visible part of daily life, you’ll find that pictures of religious activities reveal cultural insights better than photographs of landmarks and landscapes. Rituals, festivals, and people dressed in religious garb personalize faiths otherwise unfamiliar to us.