For Customers

Don’t call me maybe

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(Sorry about the title and this post has nothing to do with photography.)

Canada’s National Do Not Call List turns five years old in September. If you registered your phone number(s) with the Do Not Call List back in 2008, remember that registration lasts only five years. To keep your number(s) on the list, you must re-register every five years. Thanks to a recent change, once you register a phone number, it stays on the Do Not Call List indefinitely unless you de-register it.

Political parties are exempt from the Do Not Call List. A provincial by-election is being held later this week in the area of Toronto where I live. Today I received 14 phone calls, between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm, from the three candidates running for election. A few of these calls were from real people but most were automated “robocalls.” This telephone assault started a few days ago and will continue right up to election day.

Business to business telemarketing calls are also exempt. You are not supposed to register a business phone number, or even a personal number used for business purposes, with the Do Not Call List.

Surveys and opinion polls are exempt from the Do Not Call. So some telemarketers will use a fake, meaningless survey as a prelude to their sales pitch. Sometimes they will offer a fake prize for completing their pretend survey. To collect your “prize,” you have to phone another number which leads to their sales people.

Speaking of scams and fraud: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

 

How Not To Run A Photo Business

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Many photographers struggle with their pricing. This is normal. The best way for a photographer to establish their business is to understand how their business operates. They also should learn how any business operates.

A photographer learns to price according to *their* location, *their* business plans and *their* market positioning. This takes time and effort and mistakes will be made along the way.

And then there are photographers who like to take shortcuts.

Pretend Professional

I got a phone call today from someone claiming to be an office manager. She said they needed some business portraits. She asked how much I charged, how the pictures would be shot, whether I use softboxes or umbrellas, what type of backgrounds are best, how the photos are selected, what amount of retouching I do, and how the pictures would be delivered. After I answered all her questions, she suddenly hung up.
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Consistent Business Portraits

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A potential corporate client reached out, requesting a photographer who could replicate the look of their previous business portraits. Their new employees needed headshots that matched the style of the existing ones.

Matching previous portraits is a common request, and it reflects a company’s understanding of the importance of consistency in business messaging. Consistency fosters a sense of stability, which in turn builds trust.

Trust is built with consistency. – Lincoln Chafee, US state governor

It’s typically easy to match the style of existing business portraits but I asked the company to provide samples of the previous images, just to be sure.

Oiy!
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Failing A Class

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It’s not even necessary to read the news story. The picture says it all.

In a Grade 2 class photo, all the students are grouped together in the centre. Except one. A student in a wheelchair is off to the side. The child’s father said he cried when he saw the photo.

The picture is not just thoughtless, it’s also bad photography. It shows how not to do a group photo. The picture is what you get from an inexperienced photographer. School portrait companies, in this case, Lifetouch, are notorious for having a high turnover of photographers.

Lifetouch says, “Our school photographers take their role in preserving memories seriously” and “Our school photographers are committed to making each child feel special and valued.” It seems the company failed this class.
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Prisoners or Pictures?

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When did “photograph” become a bad word?

When writing online about their pictures, some folks will use statements like, “I captured this on…”, “this was captured at…”, “my favourite capture of the week”, “sunset captures from my vacation”, “holiday captures”, “best wedding captures”, “creative pet captures” and “candid kid captures.”

On sites where viewers can leave comments to posted pictures, people often write things such as “Nice capture!”, “Cool capture!”, “How did you capture that?”, “Lovely detail in that capture” and “I love the feel of this capture.”

There are many sites that offer tips on how to capture a winning photo, how to capture the perfect picture and how to capture your children.
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Budgeting For An Investment

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Earlier today, I received a call from a company asking for a quote to produce seven business portraits. After I sent my quote ($1,640 plus tax), the person said they had received quotes from three other photographers.

All four photographers, including myself, had quoted prices around $1,500. Unfortunately, the person continued, the company’s budget was “well under $500.”

 

Everyone has a camera built into their cell phone. Push a button and the picture appears instantly. Photography is seemingly free. This is the downside to digital cameras.
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Worst Job Ever

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The worst job in the country?

According to CareerCast’s just released 2013 annual job ratings comparing 200 jobs, “newspaper reporter” is the worst job around.

In 2010, “newspaper reporter” was ranked 184th; in 2011, it was 188th; in 2012, it was 196th. Notice a trend?

This year, “photojournalist” ranks 188th. That’s right, dishwasher and maid are both better jobs than photojournalist.

In 2010, “photojournalist” was ranked 189th; in 2011, it was 185th; in 2012, it was 166th.

The job of “photographer” is slightly better at position 172. But “photographer” is apparently a worse job than cashier, carpet installer, garbage collector, bus driver and janitor.

In 2010, “photographer” was rated 126th; in 2011, it was 144th; in 2012, it was 147th. Hmm, a downward trend.

Best jobs? Actuary, biomedical engineer, and software engineer.

Of course, reports like this are meant for “water cooler conversation” – something that folks can chat about while standing at the water cooler. Today’s water coolers are blogs, Facebook pages and Tweets.

 

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