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Showing Moms with Cameras How to Do It Right

Written by John Harrington

Sunday, 17 February 2008

One of the many problems for photographers is how those who couldn't care less about the business of photography do damage to the business of photography. Often, these are people who have other jobs that pay the bills, and they look to photo credit to give them pleasure, acclaim, and notoriety, getting their satisfaction at the expense -- literally -- of those who earn a living making pictures. Many times, these are "moms with cameras", or MWCs. What I'd like to highlight today is something different. It's a MWC who is endeavoring to do things right.

She is writing a blog, titled "Hey Girl, Nice Shot - It takes more than a camera to go pro." She's got several posts I'd like to highlight, and encourage you to read. They are:

In that last post on enrollment, she writes, in part:

And you may be thinking "What's the point of joining the PPA?"

What is the PPA? The Professional Photographers of America is an association created for professional photographers. The goal of the association is to help photographers be successful.

What are the benefits of joining? Well, I got two in the mail yesterday. One was the Professional Photographer magazine. I read it cover to cover every month. It has a section each month on helping you increase your profits, and it has lots of information on products and services for photographers. I look forward to getting it each month. The second item I got was the paperwork for my equipment insurance. When you are in an association you get the benefit of a group buy for insurance so the equipment insurance is less expensive than going it on your own, and the underwriter knows how to work with photographers!

So, thanks to this MWC for doing things right. My hat is off to you. Keep up the hard work!

P.S. MWCs -- I was featured in the January edition of PPA's magazine on business practices; I hope it was a good read for you.

Comments (3) >>

BillRogers said:

It takes, what? ... about five minutes to read "Professional Photographer" each month? I'm not particularly impressed with this magazine.

February 18, 2008 | url

John Harrington said:

Bill --

That's ok. I can practically guarantee that the time you spend reading the article about business practices that I'm in will be well worth the time spent!

John

February 18, 2008 | url

Jessica said:

Hi John and thanks for the call out! It is nice to see recognition for running my photography business as just that...a business. I've met many MWCs at local meetups that are overwhelmed with how to run the business side of things and I hope they can find some help in my blog. I've worked hard to improve both my photography and business knowledge and continue to learn more every day! As a portrait photographer that is still learning the ropes I find Professional Photographer magazine a great read cover to cover but I can definitely see that it may not be for every style of photographer or every experience level.

February 18, 2008 | url

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