Yeah, THAT. The reaction you get when you tell someone what lens you used for a session or a particular photo. The face that is made may as well imply that you grabbed Thin Mints off the table outside the grocery store being manned by munchkins wearing green and RAN.
The dreaded KIT LENS reaction.
Frankly, I think it would be great if camera manufacturers started pairing bodies with 50mm 1.8 lenses. That’s how it was in film days. You pretty much got a 35mm lens with your body. That’s how it should still be. Yet, I digress…
So, if you own a kit lens, that pretty much means that you bought a package deal when you bought your camera body. You didn’t know about the “body-only” deals, or else it just didn’t make sense to go that route because buying a lens on top of it was more than you wanted to spend.
So, you have a lens that is sneered at. What to do?
Ignore the sneering. It’s a viable lens. Really. It doesn’t have the versatility of a lens that can go from f/1.8 to f/22, but right now, you probably don’t need that, anyway. Learn to use your kit lens. It will be restricting in some instances. You’re not going to be able to get good bokeh out of it, no matter how hard you try, but you’ll be able to get some great usable images out of it early in your journey.
When I started out, I bought a kit lens, the lovely 18-55mm. After a year or so, I heard a story about a newer photographer who had something tragic happen to her kit lens and she just couldn’t swing the cost of a new one. She was dead in the water. So I sent her mine. And just told her to pay it forward some day.
So, quit yer whining about your gear and learn to use it to the fullest capacity you are able. After you replace it, keep it as a backup (you all know about having backup gear, right?). After you have a better backup – find it a new home with someone just starting out.
For the past few years, the photography industry has been flooded. Absolutely flooded. With photographers, with choices, with product lines ranging from the dirt cheap to the merely ridiculous.
When I began analyzing the market for my entrance into it, it didn’t look like this. But while I was busy learning and prepping to open my business, it changed drastically and I entered the market at the same exact time as all the other newbies.
Yes, I’m a newbie. One that worked her freaking ass off and reached major heights within a handful of years. But unfortunately, professional heights do not equal income heights.
And I find myself and my high quality technical photography having a pity party of two.
Business is not good. There, I said it. Frankly, it sucks and it’s not anywhere near what I projected it to be.
I have a little boutique studio, let’s call it Tiffany’s. But unfortunately, Tiffany’s is placed smack dab in the middle of a county that shops at WalMart, K-Mart and Goodwill. Heck, even *I* shop there.
So, while I’m running my little tiffany-boutique with tiffany-products sporting tiffany-prices, my competition has chucked together some WalMart products with Goodwill quality and KMart prices. And the community that shops at those stores feels right at home.
So, while I’m sitting up on my tiffany-throne, catering to the occasional client, my competition is running blue-light specials 24 hours a day. And staying as busy as a one-armed paper hanger.
So, what to do? I imagine I’m not the only throne-sitter in this predicament.
The way I see it – if I don’t stock the items that people want to buy, they’re not going to shop at my store. I can either keep up with the tiffany-inventory, making the old boys happy to have me in their midst, or I can start carrying some mart-inventory and pulling clients away from my competition.
Are you thoroughly confused at this point? Here it is in simple-speak. I’m too expensive. I don’t sell digital files/CDs. My prints are more expensive because they’re mounted and sprayed and I constantly have clients asking if they can have their prints without these tiffany-features in order to make them more affordable. I keep sticking to my guns and not complying with these requests. And why? So I can make the old-regime happy? Frankly, they’re not paying my mortgage payment, so why do I care?
I need to change the stock carried by my little tiffany-boutique in order to attract more clients . No amount of explaining the difference in quality is going to make them change their minds about what they came in to purchase. The last time I walked into a store, looking for a particular item at a particular price point, I walked back out if it wasn’t sold there. I shop around until I find what I want. The only time I will bend on this is if I just *CAN’T* find it anywhere else.
Photography clients *CAN* find it anywhere else. Multiple places, in fact.
So – the tiffany-stock in my store is going to be somewhat reduced. It’s going to share shelf-space with some lower-end popular items. Prints will be available without all the bells and whistles if that’s what the client desires. Digital files on CD for portrait sessions will be available for the first time ever. Clients are not going to find bottom of the barrel quality and prices, but they’re going to find a refreshing new inventory that will capture their interest.
And I’ll be making some trips down the road to the bank. Thank God.
Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I remember it well. It was 2008 and I had made the decision to transition to full-time photography. Until this point, I had been a freelance newspaper photographer and had also photographed weddings for several years. Now I was going to change my focus to studio photography. I decided to learn all I could before making that leap.
I began attending every workshop and class I could. Luckily, there were a multitude of opportunities available. I’m midway between Cleveland and Columbus, and seminars in those cities were abundant.
I began plopping down $49-$79 dollars on a consistent basis, thinking the price was such a deal. After attending every single seminar offered in 2008 using this model, I began to question their worth.
I was so excited. I was going to network and meet other photographers and soak in the brilliance of the speaker for the evening. I just knew that my work would improve by leaps and bounds. But I was mistaken. Very mistaken.
I was seated in large room with 200-400 other photographers. For the next 4 hours, I was fed small doses of information in between large plugs for the speaker’s product line. There is nothing more disappointing than being told that an additional $400 purchase of tutorials and actions was necessary to churn out the same look as work of the photographer on stage. One speaker flew through their posing and light setups so fast that to this day, I cannot decipher the stick figure diagrams that I was scribbling out. Yes, I could have purchased the presentation on DVD and reviewed it at my leisure, but I refused to pay the $199 price tag.
I understand that leaving a studio to do a speaking tour leaves one upside down on studio income. But getting anywhere from $5 – $30K for admission fees for one night of speaking, topped off by sales of several hundred dollars minimum is absolutely ridiculous. If you can’t take the studio income loss without raking in the dough from fellow photographers, then I suggest you stay at the studio.
From DVD recordings, lessons and tutorials to CDs of templates, actions and posing guides, I was constantly encouraged to purchase. Most often, the minimum purchase was $199 or so. Sure, I’ve got that right in my back pocket.
Since that summer of non-learning, I have looked around and discovered that there is quite a market of photographers selling to other photographers. Backgrounds, clothing, gear, templates, actions, senior rep programs, posing guides, camera bags, websites etc. The list is endless.
How does one make the jump from photographer to educator to salesman?
Here’s an idea: If you have that much to say and desire to teach and share your knowledge with other photographers, but can’t do so without selling a line of products…how about you sit down and write a book? A real book of paper. With a cover. Sell it for somewhere in the $29 range. I’m a sucker for books. I have quite the library and value photography business and technique books highly.
If you’ve got something so all-fired important to say, that you just HAVE to share it with the photographic community, write it down. It sure beats you trying to hawk your wares under the guise of teaching a class.
I see a lot of photographers advertise that they are “award-winning photographers.” Heck, I even say that. Furthermore, I also say I’m a published author.
When folks read that, they’re going to assume that I’m good, that my photography for them will be on par with previous works that have won awards. And gee whiz, if I’m a published author, then I must really know what I’m doing.
But what if you did a little investigative work and found out that all of my award-winning images were not done in the studio, were not done of people and won awards no one has ever heard of? On top of that — what if you learned that my “published author” schtik was a few recipes I had included in a local church recipe book?
Wouldn’t you feel a little gypped? A little deceived? Wouldn’t you feel as if you decided to choose me based on false pretenses?
Fortunately for me, my award-winning images were all done in-studio of previous clients and my writing experience was as co-author of a photography book. *Whew!* there’s some relief, right?
In this day and age, it’s easy to try and pull the wool over peoples’ eyes. On the other hand, in this day and age, it’s also easy as heck to verify or disprove information.
I’d like to caution my fellow photographers: Don’t lay claim to what isn’t true about or relevant to the work you are doing. Don’t risk the embarrassment of being “found out” and don’t employ practices that make it hard on the rest of us.
It’s all fine and good if you are an exceptional nature photographer and have won a multitude of awards for your wildlife photography. I congratulate you on your accomplishments. Just don’t pass it off as an “award-winning” title for your maternity & baby photography business.
I hate self-promotion. I really do, but I’m going to make a teeny-weeny exception today.
I’m teaching a workshop at my studio in Dover, OH on May 14th.
This is NOT a money-making venture on my part – it is sponsored by the PPA as part of their Super Monday series.
The title of the workshop is “Amateur Photographers Anonymous: A 12-Step Program to Going Pro.”
*Sigh*, yes, I heard of the 10-step “system” that was released last week. No, this is not a joke. In fact, I submitted this course on February 6th to the PPA, far in advance of all of this 10-step mumbo jumbo. Yet, I digress…
This workshop is specifically designed for the new photographer. It outlines the 12 steps *I* took to get where I am today. 4 years ago I was employed full time as a quality specialist, doing some freelance newspaper work on the side with the occasional wedding here and there.
Today… well – click HERE and check it out yourself. I think my resume speaks for itself.
I think I have a lot of guidance that will be valuable to the new and struggling photographer. I know how it is out there. You have many questions and no one will give you answers.
Well, let’s cut the bullshit and sit down and talk. I don’t even care if you are in my area. I’m a mentor and a teacher, not just a photographer. The knowledge I received is not something that I should protect and shield from others. Seriously. Give me a break.
It’s time. It’s time to stop making it tough on people that are trying to make the same journey. It’s time to stop being a jerk and take a few photographers under our wings and help them out.
And you know what the bonus is? I don’t have a thing to sell you! You’re not going to sit in class and get some kind of hard-sell from me. I’m just going to be open and honest about how I went about going into business and the lessons I learned the hard way. There’s no sense in you learning them the hard way, too.
Seriously. Stop the bitching and whining and STFU.
Competition is healthy, it’s normal, it’s an Economics 101 fact of life as a business-owner.
Yes, the new sites that make fun of new photographers and/or their work can offer some light-hearted relief, but let’s not make them the focus of our every waking moment. The only thing you are doing by spending so much time moaning about the newbies is taking time away from upping your own game.
While you are busy submitting newbie websites to YANAP, they’ve shot 3 mini-session at the park and have pocketed $100. Is that loss of time and money worth it? Don’t tell me you’re going to sneer at making money over hanging out on a photographer bash-site. Nope, it’s not the money you think they should be charging, but since when are you the photography price-fixing police?
If you’re complaining, that means you’re scared. It means that these newbies are making your nervous. If you’re a professional, you shouldn’t have anything to be nervous about. If your skills are up there, what’s your issue?
Quit stalking the Facebook pages of your so-called competition and mind your own business entity. For the most part, these new business-owners are going to go by the wayside. Only so many business make it past the 2,3 and 5 year mark. Mostly because they have no business background and are not running their businesses with solid financial practices in place.
On the off-chance that some bright new photographer knows what he’s doing, both artistically and business-wise, and *gasp* actually succeeds – GOOD! You’re sitting around whining that the industry is going to hell in a hand-basket and the quality bar is being lowered by all of the newbies – well, here’s someone who is raising the bar. FAN-FLIPPING-TASTIC!! Call that boy up and congratulate him!
Lately, there has been an influx in professionals that are writing programs on how to succeed as a photographer. Heck, I’m writing one, myself. But, oh, here we go again….more whining, gnashing of teeth and beating breasts. Get over it! People will do what they do without any regard to what you personally think. Obviously, you are NOT their target market. If their program doesn’t interest you, do the same thing as I do at the grocery store in the produce section – don’t look, don’t pay any attention, especially to the asparagus. It’s not for you.
Come on, folks, lighten up and get back to work. You’re not doing the industry any favors with the constant drama.
Image: David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
At some point in time, you decided you could make some money at photography. That’s great. Really. Photography is a cool occupation. I like it a lot and I’m glad when others discover they like it a lot, too.
At the point that you begin to accept money for your work, you have entered the realm of professional photography. Some people say it’s as soon as you make your first dollar, some people say it’s when photography brings in a majority of your income.
Now, let me depart this line of thinking for a moment and talk about CPAs. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that they would like to be an accountant. They went to school, got the proper schooling, passed whatever exam is required and now they’re a CPA. The world does not dictate how much money they need to make before they call themselves a CPA – it is what it is – they studied – they do it – they’re a CPA.
So why is it – that professional photography isn’t so clear cut? Well, because it’s not a regulated industry. It would be nice if it was, but it isn’t. So instead of determining education and skills that you need to possess before you can call yourself a professional photographer – we hold mumbo jumbo conversations about levels of income earning.
Here’s what I think. If you say you’re a professional photographer, that’s fine. I don’t care if you do it 2 hours a week, 20 hours a week or 80 hours a week. It’s not up to me to dictate and judge the requirements to give yourself that title.
I call myself a professional and I certainly don’t work at it full-time. I’m also an author, educator and book designer. I’ve got more than a few irons in the fire. I’ve also cut back on my studio hours severely so that I can help care for an elderly family member. The title of professional is mine because I’ve earned it through education and skill. Not because of how many hours a week I do or don’t devote to it. So, I’m not going to put that as a requirement on you or anyone else I come into contact with.
What I *DO* expect, is that you are as knowledgeable and educated as you can be. Measure yourself against others who you consider to be professionals. Did they buy a camera 2 weeks ago and then go into business? No, they did not. Did they go to every class they could and practiced a bunch before they hung out their sign? I’d bet a big “yes” on that one.
I’m seeing more and more newer photographers who are charging money, but saying “oh, I”m not a professional, I’m not really doing this full time” – well, we don’t make that distinction with CPAs and we’re not going to make it with you. If you charge money, you have placed yourself into the realm of “professional.” Now, it’s up to you to deserve that title.
“What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”
I’m sure you’re all familiar with this little saying. And you’re probably going to think I’m crazy if I tell you to clean up your web-making habits.
As we totter along on our photographic journey, we’re going to come across people who ask for advice. Or people who show us their work and ask us what we think.
This is not the time to be kind. Don’t be mean, but certainly don’t compliment photography that shouldn’t be complimented.
The sooner you learn to critique softly, the better. If someone asks your opinion, they trust you to be straight with them. Otherwise they wouldn’t ask. You’re not doing them any favors by ignoring obvious technical deficits in their work.
Always couch criticism with positive comments. Sometimes your positive comment will have to be “what a cute little girl!” but always try to find ONE redeeming quality in the image. This will help any criticism you give to be a little more palatable. Remember Mary Poppins? “Just a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down!”
Being more honest with photographers that are still working on their technical skills at this stage of their development will help them immensely.
On the other hand – do NOT criticize in an unhealthy manner. When I talk about criticism, it should be understood that I mean constructive criticism. None of us are “all that and a bag of chips.” I don’t care who you are, we all have room to grow and improve and we should stay humble. When someone asks for our input, we should be flattered. Don’t screw that up by being a jerk about it.
Never, never talk down to another photographer. They have already acknowledged your “photography superiority” by asking for your advice – don’t make them regret their request.
If the person in question shoots in a different style than you and you have nothing but negative thoughts when looking at their work, let them know that you don’t have similar styles and recommend someone who does that may be able to help. Ignore the style and critique lighting and posing, but don’t put down their skills just because they are developing a style that doesn’t trip your trigger.
So, back to the spider web thing. I’ve been thinking lately – that part of the problem with the rampant “bad” photography being offered up these days is perhaps we didn’t take the opportunity to be helpful in the past. It’s really easy to give a non-committal “nice work,” but it wouldn’t have killed you to say “Your locations are very nice and this is a nice example of creative posing, but I”m thinking your white balance may need some adjusting. I have a link to a great article on that if you’d like me to send it to you.”
So, let’s get on a little bandwagon and do our part to raise the quality of work out there, even if it’s only indirectly. Okay?
And if you’ve not been very helpful in the past because you were afraid of educating your competition, then shame on you. You’ve got bigger problems than spiders.
An H&H rep shows a product to recent tradeshow attendee Mark Fundak. An example of a good tradeshow vendor experience.
Sit right here ::patting seat beside me:: We need to have a chat.
I haven’t been to a multitude of photographic tradeshows. I’ve never been to WPPI or IUSA.
But, I have been to a variety of trade shows on a smaller scale – some with 5 vendors, some with 150.
So if you frequent smaller shows like this, I’d like to fill you in on a few things…
Yes, I “get” that this is probably a weekend and you’re not all that keen to be working on a Saturday.
And I “get” that you spent all day yesterday and most of last night setting up this lovely booth.
And people are walking through, touching all your stuff. And messing it up. And taking catalogs you’re pretty sure will wind up in the trash. And “oh my god lady, how many trips through my booth are you going to make so you can swipe another tootsie pop out of the candy dish?”
I “get” it. I really do.
But suck it up. Slap a smile on that face, look at my name tag , shake my hand and greet me by name.
If my name isn’t familiar to you – ask if I’m presently a customer of your fine firm.
If I’m not, give me your business card and a catalog. Or a flyer. Especially a flyer with a discount code. I like those.
If I am already a customer, thank me. And ask me what my favorite product has been that I have purchased from you.
Why? Because you need to make a little conversation with me. Don’t just say “hello” and let it melt into awkward silence. Also, because it tells you what your customers like. You don’t necessarily get that from sales figures.
It could be that I’ve purchased 50 8×10’s from you in the last week. But, I’ve only purchased 4 bevel mounted 10×10’s. Oh hello! I LOVE those 10x10s and talk them up all the time – but my wall can only hold so many samples. So, now that you know what my favorite product is, you will know to bring samples of that with you if you haven’t already. And you can bet, I’ll spy those 10×10’s, squeal in girly excitement, pick one up and show it to my BFF with me and say “you have SO got to try these, they’re FAB!”
OK, I don’t use the word “FAB!”, but you get my point.
I’m sure, for every ten people that walk in your booth, nine of them are “just looking.” But one of them has money in their pocket and are looking to spend. Hey, that’s what trades hows are all about – shopping! It’s like going to a mall for geeks!
The trouble is, you don’t know which one of us has money, so you have to act like we ALL do.
If I’m not interested in your product, I’m not going to waste your time chit-chatting. I’m not going to take your free tote bag and one of every printed piece you have. I may take your business card, though, for future reference.
If I have been a long-time customer of yours, and I have spent a substantial amount of money with you, and you can’t remember my name, or don’t make an effort to be social with me when I remind you of my name and that I’m a current client, I just might be tempted to go to a different vendor in the future.
