Lines of SightThe business side of photography

Why do fax machines still exist?

I suspect it’s because of the non-stop flood of press releases sent to newspapers and other publications everyday. E-mailed releases exist, but these risk getting redirected into a user’s junk folder or getting lost in the deluge of other e-mails an editor might get each day.

For some (most?) publications, press releases are a blessing. It’s a source of free content, and who doesn’t love “free”?

Smart businesses, public relations agencies and other marketing companies should be taking advantage of the weak economy which is forcing all newspapers to cut back. Now is the time to produce quality, newsworthy and timely releases for their business or clients. Of course, to be fully effective and greatly increase the chance of success, all releases must be accompanied by photography.

Having sifted through hundreds and hundreds of press releases over the years, most of which were either instantly tossed in the garbage recycling bin or deleted with a mouse click, this is what I’ve learned:

Top ten signs you may have written a bad press release:

10. Number of pages is more than two.

9. Entire sentences are in all-caps.

8. Number of exclamation marks is more than zero.

7. No contact information.

6. Title of the release is : PHOTO OPPORTUNITY !!

5. The release promises free lunch or gifts for media in attendance.

4. Use of any of the following: strategic, solution, next-generation, baby boomer, going forward, outside the box, game-changing, 2.0, drill down, impact, progressive, buzz, social, blogosphere, mission-critical, cut through the clutter, vectoring, dialogue, trending, traction, monetize, ramp up, roll out, proactive, win-win.

3. The 5 W’s are not all covered (who, what where, when, why).

2. No news value or even no information at all: “Come and see what all the excitement is about !!!”

1. No media shows up for your event.

Any other no-no’s or common mistakes you regularly encounter in press releases?

So who doesn’t love having their picture taken?

Getting your “official” portrait taken starts when you’re one day old, courtesy of the hospital photographer. This is followed by, perhaps, thirteen years of annual school pictures. Some grade schools now have “picture day” three times per year. If you played sports when you were younger, then you have many more official pictures. Add graduation and prom pictures, driver’s licence photos, passport pictures, and perhaps even a few police mug shots :-) and you’ve had a lot of official portraits, probably all with fake, forced smiles.

When I worked at a daily newspaper in Toronto, there were occasions (but thankfully few) when I had get a last photo from the family of someone who had died as a result of crime or mishap. It was always amazing yet sad when a person’s last photo was either a school picture taken a decade or more earlier, or a driver’s licence.

While some folks make it a point to get pictures done regularly, others would sooner go to a dentist for a root canal. Funny how many photographers are in the latter group.

Now to the real point of this post.

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Since I’m on this “cheap” rant:

Awhile ago, a local Toronto business e-mailed and asked for a quote to shoot some public relations photos to be used mostly as media handouts. I quoted $2600 (photography spread over two days, assistant, post-processing, expenses, taxes) and didn’t hear back. “Oh well,” I thought.

Perhaps a month later, the same company called and asked when I might be available. On the day of the shoot, I met with the owner, who said he had previously hired another photographer for $800, but the pictures were lousy. Not only did he not like the photos, but his PR agency refused to handle them. The business owner showed me the pictures: the photos were technically excellent, but they were useless for the intended purpose.

I completed the assignment and a week later, delivered a CD of photos.

A few weeks later, I got an e-mail from his PR agency: as media handouts, every daily paper in Toronto used the picture(s), (the Toronto Star was 1/4 page colour), the largest weekly picked it up, a large city magazine ran a photo, and some trade magazines used a photo. The business owner was thrilled with the response.

His $2600 investment paid for itself many times over. On the other hand, his $800 “lottery ticket” was nothing more than an expensive lesson.

What did he learn?

He called me last week to shoot another of his businesses. He didn’t question my quote. A few days after delivering the photos, he e-mailed to say that his ad agency mentioned that the photos were “fantastic” and better than they had expected.

There are many good photographers out there, but none are cheap. There are many cheap photographers out there, but how do you know if any are good?

Sure thing or lottery ticket?

A couple of months ago, I got a phone call from the photo editor at one of the largest newspapers in Canada. He wanted “magazine-style” portraits of a business person here in Toronto. The photo editor said they required at least six different looks, with different backgrounds and different lighting. Best part of all? Not only were they willing to pay $150, but they would also pay mileage!

Two weeks ago, I received an e-mail from a photo editor of large, well-known, UK publication. They wanted “stylized” executive portraits of the CEO of a very large, international corporation, which had an office in Toronto. The publication, whose rate card lists $40,000 for a 1/4 page B+W ad, wanted “a large selection of portraits, all with high-quality lighting.” The punchline? The e-mail said they would be “happy” to pay $250, including expenses.

Here’s the deal:

In the 1980s, $250 per assignment was great. But over the past 25 years, something strange has happened. The cost of running a photo business, not to mention the cost of living, has gone up a wee bit.

Lenses are now double the price; cameras are triple to quadruple the cost; $5000 computers, $1800 monitors, $2700 laptops and thousands of dollars of software, which were non-essential in the 1980s, now have to be replaced every few years. (Staying up-to-date is an expensive pain); the cost of business and equipment insurance has tripled; health insurance has tripled; car insurance has doubled; in 1987, my (then) new station wagon cost $13,620 and in 2007, my (current) new station wagon cost $31,600; and, they say the cost of gasoline has gone up too.

Did I mention that the cost of living has gone up? According to the Bank of Canada, from 1985 to 2009, the Consumer Price Index increased 83%. This means that $250 in 1985 is now worth $457 in 2009, and that accounts for inflation only.

Photographers are not magicians. They cannot charge below profit, let alone below cost. If they do, then the only magic trick they will accomplish is making their business disappear.