hiring a photographer

Credit card photo scam

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Internet scams that target photographers have been around for years. Over the past couple of years, there’s another scam involving credit cards.

Posing as a customer, a scammer will ask to hire a photographer for an upcoming event but only if the photographer accepts credit cards. If the photographer agrees to the work, the “customer” will then mention that they also need to pay another event supplier who doesn’t take credit cards.

The scammer will offer to send extra money to the photographer which the photographer can use to pay that other supplier. To tempt the photographer, the scammer will promise the photographer a couple hundred dollars extra for their trouble.

The scammer will use a stolen credit card to pay the photographer’s fee, the other supplier’s fee and the extra money for the photographer’s trouble. The unsuspecting photographer will be told to pay the other supplier immediately – it’s urgent! – but only in cash through Western Union.
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Why your company needs a photojournalist

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The British Columbia Liberal Party recently hired a former photojournalist to photograph its leader, the current premier of that province. The party is heading towards a 2017 election.

The Wildrose Party of Alberta did the same thing a year ago by hiring (on a part-time basis) a working photojournalist.

Almost every photographer, hired by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to cover the Canadian Prime Minister, has been a working photojournalist.

In the first two cases, the photographers are paid by the provincial party, not the taxpayers.

Political parties could save a lot of money by hiring the lowest-bidder-with-a-camera, by doing the photos themselves, or by not hiring a professional news photographer at all.

But these political parties know that they need authentic, story-telling photography to communicate their message. This is today’s marketing 101.
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Business Headshots at Conferences

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Are you planning a business conference, convention or other similar corporate event? Would you like to add more value?

At your next conference or convention, arrange to have a business portrait photo studio at your venue. Conference-goers could then get a new business headshot while they’re at your event.

This is not to be confused with those photo booths you might see at parties and other social events. A business portrait studio has no silly props, no crazy backgrounds. It’s a no-nonsense, business photo studio with photographer, editor and makeup artist. Conference delegates would get a first-rate, professional business headshot.
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Driving Emotions

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How often do you see a photo credit on a company’s press release pictures? Have you ever seen a credit line on a product photo?

For example, when you see a photo of a new car, supplied by the car manufacturer, there’s either no credit line or it simply names the car manufacturer that supplied the photo.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Company launched its advertising campaign for the 2017 Lincoln Continental. Newspapers like The Globe and Mail did their usual car review and included handout photos of the new car. But this time, the handout photos had a credit line. The November 10th print version of The Globe and Mail used:

(Photo – Annie Leibovitz / Ford)

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Ministry of Photography

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cop21a

Opening day at the COP21 Summit in Paris, France, 29 November 2015.

These conference photos were shot by France’s Ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Energie et de la Mer (MEDDE) photographer. Unlike Canada, these French government photos were put into the public domain.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) is being criticized for paying a photographer $6,662 to take pictures of its minister and her staff while they were in Paris for the COP21 climate summit late last year. [The French government’s COP21 site.]
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The Photographer Kings

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Two decades ago in a television documentary, legendary US photographer Richard Avedon said:

Images are fast replacing words as our primary language. They define our ideas of beauty, truth and history. In our age, the photographer, not the philosopher, is king.

Today the Internet is the dominant means of communication and images are the most effective, most powerful, most universal language. People don’t read, they look.

What does this mean for you and your business?

If you’re not using photography to market your business then you’re not worth looking at, you’re not part of the conversation, you’re pretty much invisible.
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Photography value and quality

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When hiring a business portrait photographer or other corporate photographer, you might be tempted to shop by price. You may think that the lowest price means the best value.

With some tangible products, the lowest price can be the best value. But this doesn’t apply with services like photography and especially not when quality matters.

What’s the difference between value and quality?

Value: Usefulness or importance.

Quality: How good or bad something is. A degree of excellence.

Ideally a photograph has both high value and high quality but that’s not always the case. For example, a poorly exposed, out-of-focus family photo can be very valuable to you.
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