January, 2010

for Photographers — No Comments
29
Jan 10

Free gift with purchase

Photographers often deliver pictures on CD or DVD. One photographer I know, delivers his work on an external hard drive and the client gets to keep the drive.

I’ve read about wedding photographers who deliver their pictures on an iPod (along with the normal photo albums, of course).

Apparently, there are even photographers who have delivered their work on a Macbook laptop and yes, the client got to keep the laptop. (Have to assume that this type of gesture is just for the very, very well-paying jobs). Client starts up the laptop and all the pictures are ready to view on pre-installed slideshow software. Impressive?

With the introduction of Apple’s iPad, this opens up a new possibility. How cool would it be to deliver a photo assignment on an iPad?

Cheaper and more fun than a laptop, and definitely more memorable than an iPod. For the better-paying clients, this may be a great way to stand out from the crowd.

(Yes, I know “free gift” is redundant and “free with purchase” is a bit of an oxymoron, but a lot of stores still use the phrase).

for Clients — No Comments
25
Jan 10

Portraits that mean business

Q: What’s the difference between an Executive Portrait and a Business Portrait?

A: About $500. (Old joke, but sometimes it’s true. Read on.)

Business Portrait:

This is usually a head-and-shoulders photo against a plain background. Eye contact with the camera is important and a hint of a smile never hurts. A plain background, while not absolutely necessary, won’t distract the viewer. It’s also easy for any photographer to duplicate a plain background in any future business portraits of other employees, should the need arise.

This type of portrait should never look like a passport picture, a drivers license photo or a family snapshot. On the other hand, depending on the company, a Business Portrait doesn’t have to be a serious suit-and-tie picture.

Continue reading →

for Clients — 1 Comment
18
Jan 10

Better Public Relations Photography

What’s the difference between a photographer and a photojournalist?

A photographer takes pictures of nouns whereas a photojournalist, or news photographer, takes pictures of verbs.

If you remember way back to grade school: A noun is a part of speech that’s used to name a person, place or thing. A verb expresses an action or state of being, and is the most important part of a sentence.

The average photographer usually takes pictures of animals, nature, architecture and still lifes. Nothing wrong with that, but all nouns.

Photojournalists take pictures of people expressing or enacting such things as anger, joy, sadness, happiness, victory, protest, excitement and more. These are images of people engaged in some sort of physical or emotional state of being. Verbs.

Continue reading →

for Photographers — 1 Comment
15
Jan 10

Help your photography customers buy

Some companies have reacted to the recession by circling the wagons, laying-off staff and raising prices. It’s about protecting themselves and putting the company’s own best interests first.

If customers aren’t buying, then raising prices to compensate for low sales volume only closes the door even more. Raising the price of a product or service can often boost sales, but not during a recession.

Close doors or open new paths?

Let’s say you own a restaurant and people aren’t coming into your place as often as before. Folks are either going to a lower-priced fast food outlet or they’re eating at home more often. What can you do?

Raise your prices to compensate for lower sales? Shorten your business hours or lay-off staff to reduce costs?

Continue reading →

for Clients — 1 Comment
13
Jan 10

How to save money when hiring a commercial photographer

Which is more important to your business: saving money or making money?

While everyone loves “free”, that usually isn’t even on the menu. For businesses that are considering hiring a photographer, here are a few suggestions that will help save some money.

First, congratulations! Hiring a photographer to help with your business, corporate or commercial photography needs, means that you know the value of having a professional photographer create original images for your web site, public relations or other marketing needs.

But what if your budget doesn’t quite match your plans?

Continue reading →

for Everyone — No Comments
11
Jan 10

Best and Worst Jobs

The Wall Street Journal published the Best and Worst Jobs in the USA, based on a recently-released 2009 study. The list is based on five criteria: environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress.

The methodology and the criteria used are limited and subjective. There really is no way to produce an accurate and objective list since best and worst are relative terms.

Take this list with a grain of salt and a big dose of humour. Just for fun, see where your job ranks.

for Everyone — No Comments
8
Jan 10

Small Business Oath

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.”

– attributed to Aristotle

A few years ago, when dealing with a large national corporation, I pointed out that the company’s conduct was the exact opposite of its mission statement. The corporate lawyer laughed and, referring to its mission statement, said, “That’s just for the public, it’s not for us.”

A code of conduct may not be needed by a small business because the owner is usually close to the “front lines”; there’s no room for bad behaviour. But sadly, a big business can have plenty of such room.

Small business owners may want to create their own code of conduct, not just to impress their customers but also to remind themselves of why they are in business.

––

As a small business owner, my purpose is to serve the customer, without whom my business has no reason to exist. My business may be small in size but my pursuit of excellence shall be boundless.

I promise:

  • To run my business with integrity and the highest ethical standards.
  • To treat customers fairly, honestly and with respect.
  • To be responsible for my actions and accountable to my customers.
  • To acknowledge and then, to the best of my abilities, repair any mistakes that I might make.
  • To protect the interests of each customer as if they were my own.
  • To improve myself and my business for the benefit of my customers.
  • To be a good citizen of my community.

––

Anything left out?

for Everyone — 1 Comment
7
Jan 10

Name of the times

It’s now the second decade of the 21st century, so stop using the phrase digital camera. It’s been redundant for years. All cameras are digital, film is the exception. Feel free to use the term film camera when talking about a camera that uses film. Otherwise, it’s just camera. No more DSLR either.

And another thing:

Long ago, motion picture cameras produced motion pictures, which were commonly nicknamed movies. An amateur motion picture camera was called a movie camera and it produced a movie.

Since the 1950s, it’s been possible to record moving pictures onto magnetic tape which was called videotape. Since the 1980s, a movie camera that used videotape was called a video camera and the product it produced was called a video.

The moving pictures from today’s camera is neither a movie nor a video. Cameras do not use film or videotape, but instead, flash memory. Through photo history, the end product has been named after the medium or the technology used.

So a new, modern name is required to keep up with the changing times.

We could use the name memory because of the flash memory used, and it would be quite appropriate. For example: “Go to my web page and watch some of the memories I made last week.”

How about the term flashie or pixie?

Any other suitable name for digitally-recorded moving pictures?

:-)

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