Miki Johnson: How did the idea for Photo Brigade come to you?

Robert Caplin: As a fairly new blogger myself, I’ve been learning the ins and outs of how to actually build a following and bring traffic to my personal blog. After months of research and good old trial and error, I found the best way to increase my traffic and find readers was by sharing my link by way of social media like Facebook, Twitter, and referring links or stories on other blogs, such as this one. I quickly realized that if I combined my Facebook and Twitter networks, I was suddenly reaching a much larger potential viewership, which only multiplied when someone else decided to share or re-tweet my link.

Suddenly, not only was I reaching thousands of people through my personal network, but I was also reaching the networks of those who were kind enough to share my link with their followers. The viral nature of social media can really work to the advantage of photographers to get their work seen by the masses. So it went to figure that if photographers as a whole worked together to build a vast shared network, all would benefit by the added traffic it would bring their websites and blogs…and that’s how the The Photo Brigade came to me.

MJ: How long did it take you to make it a reality?

RC: Not long actually. My original idea was to start a blog, but that would take a while to design (because I wanted to do it properly) and it would take time to actually build a following. It occurred to me that I could test the concept quite easily by simply making a Facebook Page where I could easily share direct links to the cool blogs I was reading and people could easily subscribe to the feed by becoming a fan.

I also started a Twitter account. Over the next week The Photo Brigade page gained hundreds of followers and within weeks had over a thousand. I should also mention that this happened completely unsolicited and 100% organically, proving how well social networking can get the word out. It was obvious that not only was there a desire for a service like this, but also a genuine need.

MJ: It seems like a lot of work for something you do on the side of your own photography business. What makes it worth it?

RC: Well, to be honest it has taken a good chunk of my time to build … but that was the hard part. I should also note that I worked with my wonderful designer Laia Prats to create the brand and build the blogs using custom templates she tediously tweaked and designed. I couldn’t have done it without her help!

Now that the blog has been designed and content has been uploaded, the rest is really quite simple. There’s no lack of amazing photography out there. Given that The Photo Brigade was built to promote the work of freelancers, those photographers have been happy to share their work. Also, with a number of shooters submitting work, it’s almost as though it’s running itself. As Photo Brigade grows, I’ll be implementing some really great tools and resources for photographers and editors alike … but you’ll have to stay tuned to see what those are!

MJ: What has the response been like so far, from contributors as well as viewers, especially editors?

RC: The response has been very positive! The website is receiving steady traffic and it’s growing by the day. The same goes for contributors. Everyday I’m receiving emails from photographers from around the world, some I know and others I’ve never heard of, sharing their latest blog posts of their work.

Editors are a little harder to track and gauge because they’re obviously not submitting work themselves, though I’ve received a number of emails from editors praising the blog. There are also editors and directors of photography from major media outlets who follow the Facebook feed.

MJ: How do you choose photographers to feature?

RC: The featured photographers have either submitted their work from the submissions page, or I’ve reached out to the them personally. Because we receive many submissions, not every submission is featured. The best way to be chosen is to have a blog, as our mission is to encourage blogging. In your blog post we’d like to see a number of strong images with a well written explanation about the photography. We will pull 2-3 images as well as take some of the copy and post it on Photo Brigade teasing the blog.

It’s also encouraged for the photographers to supply a Twitter account so we can plug their account when we tweet to our followers about the post. By doing so, we’ll raise awareness for the photographer, and also help build the photographer’s social network. Many are adverse to using Twitter, but it’s one hell of a marketing tool. It would be silly not to tap into the millions of Twitter users out there, many of whom are photo editors and image buyers. We’re all about viral marketing and social media — the more we link to other people, the more visibility our blog gets, which trickles down to the photographers we feature.

It’s important to note that photographers should not be discouraged a submission isn’t accepted. Please continue to submit whenever you have a post you feel is worthy!

MJ: You just added three university blogs. Why was that important and how do you see them growing?

RC: While I was answering these questions, we decided to start one more! My friend and fellow photographer Chip Litherland is helping me run the Colorado Photo Brigade, which will feature the University of Colorado at Boulder. I decided to branch out further and focus on universities because there are so many photography students producing amazing work on a daily basis. I figured I could use the same concept to create a community of students, alumni, and faculty to showcase the work coming from each school as well as former students.

Obviously I’m only a team of one, and don’t have time to moderate all these blogs and make a living myself, so I enlisted the help of eager students at each university who are closer to their classmates and can encourage them to blog. The regional branches also create a wonderful place for everyone to see the end product of what each institution is producing. Each post is tagged and categorized…so if you want to reference a particular class (photo 101) or search only for alumni work or just the class of 2002, you’ll be able to. Check out our regional blogs: Ohio, Missouri, and Rochester, all with their respective Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Many more to come!

We hope these conversations continue and that “After Staff” and RESOLVE will continue to be a place you come to for community as well as resources. If you’d like to look back at any content from last week, a permanent page with links is here. A few highlights from later in the week included very personal insights from David Leeson, his first public comments about leaving the Dallas Morning News last year, and a no-holds-barred interview with the inimitable Bill Owens.

~Miki Johnson

• What is your favorite thing about what you are doing now? Are there things that have been hard to adjust to?

Nanine Hartzenbusch
I love that my work hours are flexible. I have a nine year old son I enjoy spending time with so I schedule my work during his school day, and schedule only one photo session a day on the weekends. I miss having newsroom colleagues, but have joined a photographers networking group for creative support. I also regularly get together with clients or potential clients for coffee…

My favorite thing really about having my own business is just that — that I can take the skills I’ve acquired over 20+ years and do something different with them. I can provide storytelling images of children that will be cherished by their families for years to come.

Stuart Thurlkil
I love when we are done with a project and our clients express how happy they are with the final results. I am an affirmation junky and love when what I am doing makes others happy. It is really gratifying to do work that people respect and appreciate. It is amazing when a client gives you creative freedom to run with your vision.

I had a hard time at first with the identity shift out of newspapers. I considered journalism a calling. I had been a journalist for a long time, and transitioning towards running my own business had many unexpected challenges. I realize now that I will always be a story teller and journalist at heart and that I will continue to create images that speak to our social, economic, and cultural condition. The amazing thing has been how many people have wanted me to do this for their family, company, publication, etc.

Eric Larson & Jen Sens
We love working together on every project. Brainstorming, traveling, shooting. We’ve worked hard at creating a niche that keeps us working for great clients who are still willing to fly us to shoots. The fact that we get to do it together is a dream.

That said, it’s still a tough road to hoe, and you pay a certain price for living the dream. We don’t get paid vacation. While our friends and family think our life is a vacation, we work our butts off and the travel that we do isn’t something I would slip into the vacation category. We have to force ourselves to schedule downtime, somewhere where cell phones don’t work. And when we do, we usually turn down paying jobs for it.

The same applies to things that most people take for granted, like making dinner plans with friends or, here’s a big one: having kids. Sometimes we feel like we live to work, but then we realize that most people feel this way, and at least our job is something we are very passionate about. We are always thinking about our photography. This can put a strain on even simple things, like trying to enjoy dinner (which we’ve made a no business-talk zone). We’re slowly learning how to balance the business with the personal — otherwise we will go crazy.

Christopher Record
My favorite thing about what I’m doing now is the freedom I have in my life. I used to have to commute through rush-hour traffic twice a day to get to my work and then drive all over town for assignments. That has been cut down a great deal. But my favorite thing is still taking pictures. I still get a thrill when I capture a great moment or a striking image.

The hardest thing to adjust to is probably coming to the realization that it’s not just about great photography. You really have to work at the marketing and promotion, and those things were all new to me coming from a journalism background.

Heather Hughes
I rarely work the holidays now and after almost 9 years of working the Saturday shift every week, it is really nice to have some of them off (I only shoot 30-35 weddings a year and some of those aren’t on Saturdays). The hardest thing to adjust to would be the ebb and flow in income, with lots of checks arriving from April until September and sometimes none in slower months like December or January. I had to learn how to budget my annual expenses better, expect the unexpected, and save more money than I think I will need so I still have enough to cover the bills through the slow season.

Ask her about technique, workflow, marketing, or anything else that’s on your mind — I’m sure you’ll be equally impressed. Leave a question in the comments section, along with your website if you have one, and she’ll respond asap, also in the comments, so others can benefit from the good advice.

Rachel LaCour Niesen

www.lacourphoto.com

As a photojournalist, I have pursued projects focusing on rural communities in Latin America and the Southeastern United States. My work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. I earned a degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri, where I was named one of the Scripps-Howard Foundation’s Top Ten Young Journalists.

When I stumbled upon wedding photography, I quickly traded my front row seat to world history for a front row seat to family history. Along with Andrew Niesen and Mark Adams, I started a wedding photography company, LaCour, which was named among the “Top Ten Wedding Photographers in the World” by American Photo magazine. I’m also a co-founder of ShootQ, innovative web-based studio management software designed to free photographers from the tedious tasks of managing their business.

Click here for a list of all other “After Staff” posts.

US soldiers take a break from the invasion of Iraq with a leap into a desert irrigation pond. ©David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News

Miki Johnson: How long were you a staff photographer and where? Did you think when you started that you’d be a staffer for life?

David Leeson: My career in newspapers began on Nov 20, 1977 at the Abilene Reporter-News in Abilene, TX. When the newspaper hired me, I was 19, a full-time college student working a part-time job sweeping floors at a local jewelry store.

I had no portfolio or degree and was unfamiliar with the term “photojournalist.” I was an avid amateur photographer, however, and built my own darkroom in my parents’ home when I was 17. The newspaper photo staff knew me as someone who would occasionally show up with a contact sheet of images from an event. I was never discouraged that they didn’t use my photos — I was happy just to be shooting.

I fell in love with photojournalism when I realized the power a camera could possess in the hands of a compassionate photographer. My life became consumed with perfecting my skills, including my heart, mind, and soul, for the purpose of affecting my community with images that would hopefully make a difference.

That essentially describes my 30 years in news photography. The last few years were dedicated to helping my profession navigate difficult changes, a new era fraught with demands for rich online content, declining readership, shrinking resources, and more work. I didn’t enjoy the work but believed it was important to give back as much as possible to a profession that had given so much to me. Besides, I saw my industry facing extinction and I was ready to do whatever I could to change the tide.

Unfortunately, I feel that I failed. My grief was more than the loss of something I loved — newspaper photojournalism — it was the feeling of having failed to be everything I could possibly be. I have wondered many times what extra part of myself I could have given that might have made the difference. My solace today is in realizing that I can still impact the industry from outside its walls. Perhaps, in fact, it is the ideal place for me to do it.

But the further I get from my life in newspapers, the more I realize that the best I can be is to be who I have always been, a small voice hopefully providing something of value to my world. In many ways, little has changed in my life. The day I knew that my career as a newspaper photojournalist had reached the end, I told my boss (and friend), the director of photography at The Dallas Morning News, that I had never been dedicated to a newspaper. Rather, I had always been dedicated to the ideals of photojournalism: through credible and ethical image making, we can bring needed change to the world.

I did believe I would likely retire as a newspaper photojournalist at The Dallas Morning News. But understanding that I am still in active service to my profession, even though I am no longer on the DMN staff, has softened the blow. The loss of a title did not change who I am.

First Gulf War - Iraqi prisoners of war - shot at night against burning oil fires. ©David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News

MJ: What are you working on now? What is the biggest difference between what you’re doing now and what you were doing as a staffer?

DL: There is little difference today from the life I was living the last few years of my career. My position at The Dallas Morning News could best be described as “research and development.” I spent inordinate amounts of time on finding new workflows and methodologies to help speed the process of rich media integration. Oddly, I found that I enjoyed that kind of work, although I knew it failed to “scratch my itch.”

I began shooting video for the newspaper on a full-time basis in 2000 after integrating video online at my personal website as early as 1998. I have never viewed myself as a photographer. I was always a journalist, so the idea of using a different form of communication was never a concern.

Nonetheless, the device that filled more than a quarter-century of my life with indescribable awe and wonder was a still camera. I have never lost touch with it. In many ways I am a far better still photographer today than I have ever been because I shoot images almost daily — just for pleasure. No one calls me to shoot stills anymore. Everyone calls for my video skills. I enjoy my work, but my heart is never further than a beat from my still camera.

I have been “reinventing myself” since the day I first held a camera. Today I am seeking new journeys that could ultimately lead to a reincarnation of my life as a still photographer. Few people realize that I have dedicated nearly as many years to my photographic art as I did to newspaper photojournalism. The time is right for me to pour more of my energy into that area of my life passion than I have ever done before. Time will tell whether I was right or wrong, but I said the same thing when I chose photojournalism as a career (or did it choose me?). I also said the same thing in 2000 when I began shooting video.

The shoes of a dead Iraqi soldier tell a silent story. ©David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News

MJ: What was the hardest or scariest thing for you when you left your staff position? How did you get past it?

DL: The most difficult part of leaving my position at the newspaper was how similar it felt to my divorce in 1997. My children from that marriage were still young and I knew that I would no longer walk through the door to the sound of them gleefully yelling, “Daddy’s home!” I was deeply burdened by the realization that I would no longer be there for them in the stability of a loving home. Our lives would be changed forever. It was an understanding that left me stricken with guilt. But, I also knew that the life I was living had already reduced my effectiveness as a husband and father. I knew things were not going to change and I was faced with a difficult decision I never believed I would have to make. I became a divorced man.

I felt similarly when I left the paper. I knew that I would no longer be identified as an insider, a proud member of an outstanding photo department. When the news spread that I was leaving, some of the staff tearfully told me that the newspaper would never be the same. They described it as the end of an era. I wanted to be there for them, but knew that my effectiveness in newspapers had long since ended.

So, just like I had to learn to be a father apart from marriage, I also had to learn how to be a true friend apart from staff affiliation.

MJ: What did you do to build awareness of your new business and availability?

DL: I have been very fortunate because I have not reached a position yet where I have needed to look for clients. I was so busy during the first six months after leaving the newspaper that I jokingly told people, “I’ve been working so hard for my business that I have not had time to work on the business.”

Many years ago I realized that the world had changed as a result of the Internet. I was no longer “just” a staff photographer. I was in business for myself and my largest client was The Dallas Morning News. I hated it but knew that the day would soon come when I (and many of my peers) would be forced to consider a life apart from the newspaper. Sadly, I was right.

Nonetheless, I have been actively pursuing better ways to function in business. For instance, I just created a spreadsheet for creating video bids. It is based on a series of questions that I call “complexity points.” Each answer is attached to a point total and the sum of all points is added to a multiplier based on average time spent producing a video versus the final minutes of the delivered product. This helps produce more equitable bids and helps clarify the client’s needs for each project.

Otherwise, I am living as I always have. The key ingredient for me is passion. If I am not passionate about what I am doing then it’s likely I won’t do it at all. Ultimately I love the journey — the process of creative endeavor. Indeed, I enjoy it so much that I often have to remind myself that the process may be beautiful, but the product has a deadline.

Texas death row prisoner a few days away from his execution. “I’ve been waiting so long, it’s like a trip to the dentist.”©David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News

MJ: What is your favorite thing about what you are doing now? Is there one thing that has been hard to adjust to?

DL: One thing that surprised me in my new position as owner of a small business is how much I enjoy meeting clients and selling my services. I remember my first “sales meeting.” I was exuberant as I left and called my wife to say what a blast I had in the meeting.

But once I had time to reflect on the experience, I recognized the truth about that first meeting. For years I described news photographers as some of the best used car salesmen you’d ever meet. Success in photojournalism is far more than talent or a sensitive heart. If they want access, photojournalists have to win hearts and minds, sell themselves and their story. We have to win trust rapidly. Something that might ordinarily take weeks or months to accomplish often has to occur in the first moments of meeting someone.

So, the truth is, I was exuberant because I felt at home. It had been a long time since I was on the streets being forced to sell myself to a stranger. It was like a reunion. I realized how much I missed being a daily newspaper photographer, where events like that occur so rapidly and often that we cease to recognize them as a skill.

Oddly, even I have always been fascinated by entrepreneurs and studied the subject for more than seven years. Despite the fact that I accumulated a fantastic library of business books (review copies sent to the newspaper that no one wanted), I have never once considered myself a good businessman. I suck at business.

It takes extraordinary creativity to be successful in business. Everything from the original idea, to marketing, to closing the sale depends on a highly creative mind. Perhaps that’s why I feared it so much. Failing at business was the ultimate test of my creativity. I hated to believe that my creative abilities were restricted to life behind a viewfinder.

Ultimately I am learning that none of this matters. I see now that my father’s advice to pursue my passion is the only chance I have for success in my personal and professional life. Unfortunately business success is measured by the bottom line and, more unfortunately, I’ve never had a passion for money.

Nonetheless, my dad’s advice still works. I have no trouble attracting work because passion leads to taking risks and, ultimately, great work. Clients are attracted to people who care about what they do and are good at it. So, perhaps I’m not as bad in business as I thought. Perhaps business is just like photography — a style we create from the innermost parts of who we are.

I cherish the memory of my days as a newspaper staff photographer. I miss them at times, and then I remind myself that I am the same as I was.

A signature image from LaCour Photo. ©LaCour

You are the enterprise story

Transitioning from full-time staff photographers to business owners is one of the greatest challenges the LaCour team has faced. Mark, Andrew, and I have experience in editorial, where the editorial staff doled out assignments and the road map for our careers was well-defined. But what happens when that road map is ripped out from under you like a rug? Suddenly, you’re faced with an unfamiliar challenge: charting your own course by becoming a business owner.

We viewed this paradigm shift as an opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship.

Since the term “enterprise story” is familiar to photojournalists, it’s a helpful lens through which to see your transition from staff photographer to business owner. Enterprise stories are created by journalists to explain or contextualize issues or events. Enterprise stories require big-picture reporting and the ability to identify and articulate comprehensible patterns. These are also the skills required to build a business.

A successful business owner, like a successful journalist, cannot just be an “order filler” who simply executes someone else’s vision. They must come up with their own ideas. They must be enterprising, big-picture thinkers who have a vision and can strategically implement their own initiatives.

Being an entrepreneur is the ultimate enterprise story, with a twist. The story this time is YOU.

Our personal journey has been filled with epiphanies, many having little to do with the actual process of photography. Most of what we’ve learned involves important business principles. We’d like to share some tips and tools you can use to make a smooth transition into entrepreneurship.

Camaraderie is Critical

As staff photographers, we had the security blanket of teamwork to keep us motivated. If we had a bad day, or a bad assignment, there were fellow staffers who helped rally for the next, better opportunity. Plus, there was a newsroom team, helping generate story ideas and assignments to keep you busy. As a business owner, it’s easy to feel isolated and disconnected. There’s no built-in support network. And there’s nobody telling you what to do. That’s why camaraderie is a critical component of business ownership.

We advise business owners to connect and contribute to communities. Forums, like The Digital Wedding Forum and OpenSourcePhoto, are a great option. They are accessible places for you to ask for advice and bounce ideas off colleagues who understand the challenges you face as a business owner. I also think forums can be like virtual watering holes for small business owners. Pull a stool up to the online bar and share stories with other entrepreneurs. You’ll be amazed by how cathartic the conversation can be.

Don’t just get involved online. Pursue personal networking opportunities through organizations such as WPPI and PPA. Both offer valuable resources that will help you avoid years of trial-and-error. Learn from their sponsored seminars, trade shows, and conventions. Having face-to-face interaction with other business owners will help you establish strong relationships that you’ll need as you grow your business. When you need to call someone to discuss a problem or project, you’ll have a group of close colleagues ready to listen and help.

©LaCour

Reach beyond the obvious photographic community to business owners such as event designers, caterers, florists, and cake artists. Other wedding professionals not only relate to your struggles, they also provide business opportunities. Get to know them, express sincere interest in their businesses, and help them by photographing their creations.

The best tip we can share about networking is a simple principle from Seth Godin’s book Tribes: “The first thing a leader can focus on is the act of tightening the tribe. It’s tempting to make the tribe bigger, to get more members, to spread the word. This pales, however, when juxtaposed with the effects of a tighter tribe. A tribe that communicates more quickly, with alacrity and emotion, is a tribe that thrives.”

LaCour has applied Godin’s advice by tightening our tribe of key wedding professionals. Referrals are the lifeblood of wedding photography businesses. Like Seth, we recommend growing your network deeper rather than larger. You’ll see a greater return on your investment in select relationships rather than a cursory investment in a broader audience. We’ve seen a large amount of revenue come directly from a few key vendors with whom we have close relationships.

Know Your Audience

As a wedding photojournalist, the clients (bride and groom) are your primary audience. Unlike newspaper editors, couples are actually present to witness you working. So credibility is just as important to them as it was to your editors and readers, but now it’s more personal!

The bride and groom will not only remember their wedding through the photos you create, they will also remember how you conducted yourself on the big day. Were you gracious? Were you dressed professionally? Were you hands-on or hands-off? Proactive or reactive? Engaging or aloof? These are important questions to answer as you seek your signature style and begin to approach weddings as a business owner.

Remember, you’re not just in the image making business anymore – you’re in the business of creating an experience. You have a responsibility to your clients to provide superlative service. They’re as likely to remember (and tell their friends about) that as your photos.

Branding + the cult of personality

Sam Abell said, “Who we are is the most important thing about photography.” While this is true for staff photographers, it’s paramount for photographers who are building their own brand and business. Your brand and your business are directly connected to YOU.

In my opinion, photographers’ most common pitfall is visual schizophrenia. And I’m not referring to anyone’s mental health. Rather, I’ve noticed many photographers lack a strong sense of identity. This leaves them vulnerable to the whim of trends.

In the course of many portfolio reviews, I’ve seen work from photographers that looks like a collection of the best images from a diverse sampling of stylistic influences. Looking through a photographer’s portfolio, I can clearly see a visual history of all the workshops they’ve attended. The problem is that the photographer has so successfully emulated the styles of different industry icons that the collective result is a failure.

A prospective client looks at a portfolio like this and has no clear sense of the photographer’s identity. It’s natural to be influenced by other photographers and to experiment with styles. But when the resulting images end up in a photographer’s portfolio, they usually create ambiguity that can work against marking and sales efforts.

The most successful people in any field stand out because they’ve found a way to express who they are through what they do. This becomes increasingly true in a saturated, competitive market. So, I encourage photographers to ask themselves some soul-searching questions:

• Who are you?
• How do you approach photography?
• What is your style?
• Can you articulate this to your client in two sentences?
• Is your branding and marketing message consistent with your vision?
• Do your images work together to reinforce your identity?

So if sales are down, don’t just run out and buy the latest action set or add trash-the-dress sessions. Start with finding yourself. Then the clients will find you.

Business basics

Establish systems early – The early phase of business development is the best time to establish systems that streamline and automate your business processes. These good habits will serve you well as your business grows. It’s also the time to invest in cost-effective tools to help you pinpoint revenue sources and create a unique client experience.

Manage time or time will manage you - Time is your scarcest resource. You must manage time well or your business won’t grow and succeed. Business guru Peter Drucker said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” It’s easy to get mired in the busy work of your business. When we started LaCour, we tried to do everything ourselves: sales, shooting, editing, photoshop, shipping, accounting…and the list goes on! We resisted outsourcing and juggled the daily tasks of our growing business. This dangerous path leads to stress!

You will inevitably drop tasks you’re juggling and disappoint clients and yourself. Learn from our mistakes: Do what you do best and delegate the rest! Make a list of each task or action item and decide which you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy a task or you’re not particularly good at it, let someone else do it. Every minute not spent shooting or marketing is business lost. This means unprofitable activities like scheduling, customer communication, and production need to be as efficient as possible. If you don’t think this is a top priority for your business, think again.

There are many ways to streamline administrative activities such as ordering, scheduling, reminders, routine client communication, and production. You can start by creating an efficient workflow, or a well-defined and repeatable process, which enables you to deliver orders on time without taking on additional costs associated with hiring studio employees. There are also online studio management solutions and post-production tools that will manage these activities. It’s amazing what inefficiencies can be discovered by simply taking the time to analyze how you’re currently doing things.

Smart marketing – Since your network is your net worth, maintaining an organized relationship database is one of the best investments you can make in your business. It may sound basic, but trying to grow your business without a relationship database is like trying to drive a car without an engine.

If you want to grow your current relationships and develop new ones, you must keep track of communications with every client, colleague, referral source, partner, and prospect with whom you interact. With a well-managed relationship database, you can easily reach thousands of prospective clients in a single moment. Keep your contacts up to date on events, new services, awards, specials and other relevant information about your business. That way, you will come to mind first when they are seeking photography services.

• Are you pursuing work beyond video and stills?

Pouya Dianat

Personally, I’ve had a few ideas for books, I’ve shot video, looked at starting a stock archive of my sports work, and explored every avenue of where my photography can take me. Currently some of the work I’m doing in my free time may be best suited for an art gallery, but as football season comes around I’ll be implementing my stock archive of sports images. I’ve toyed with starting video projects as part of a 501c(3) venture, which has a classification under which literary, artistic projects can be funded. Looking at grants that also go in hand with non-profit status, there are a lot out there. Bella Pictures is a great resource for people interested in going this route.

David Walter Banks

I have been speaking with a few different conferences and workshops about speaking, and have plans to work with some colleagues on a few different ventures outside the already established workshops. I believe that in a time where print media as a whole is up in the air, it’s important to diversify. This goes beyond the speaking or conducting workshops and flows into the realm of art photography print sales, producing books, and even working to generate a model of online content that is actually profitable.

Gary Gardiner

I have discovered there are a great number of advanced amateurs who want to learn about photography from real professionals. A recent marketing study suggests that most of them are willing to pay for small-group or on-on-one sessions with pros. The success of Strobist, Scott Kelby, and NAPP are great illustrations of that market. I have already begun a series of speaking engagements and free workshops to build that community.

I also created a local website, Westervillelife.com, in 2007 to cover the city’s 150 anniversary. It received great praise but little monetary return. I’m still expanding it’s marketing plan and coverage. One of the result has been more local merchants and clients asking for my services.

Making the bride happy, not an editor

• Tips – RESOLVE weekly contributor and destination wedding photographer Gene Higa shares his approach and inspiration

• Etiquette and Optimization – When and when not to shoot, WPJA’s posts on manners and communication
• Preparation – Leaving nothing to chance, Jeff Ascough blogs to be “fully prepared and focused to give 110% to every wedding”

• Scenes, mistakes and tips – Wedding photojournalist Roman Zolin’s gives lessons about what’s “In the Bag of Wedding Photographer”

• Help your clients – Standing out from the crowd, Suzanne Sease offers ideas to provide add-on services

• From weekend-wedding shooter to full-time pro – How to make the transition 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from SAS Becker

Strength in numbers

• One wedding photographer and 4,500 twitter followers – How social-networking tools connect and drive business, RESOLVE contributor and wedding photographer Becker explains

• Pillars of social media site success – Seth Godin’s five cues to use in the digital world

• Conversation with the pros – Rangefinder features LaCour, an award-winning international photography group – download the PDF

• Edit your wedding website – Recommendations for putting together a website of your wedding photography, “Dos and Don’ts” by Amanda Sosa Stone

• Diversify and multiply – Ann Hamilton’s complementary brand strategy: how to diversify, multiply revenue streams, and balance a thriving wedding photography business

An image from Wéyo illustrating a program in the Dominican Republic that teaches young mothers pre-natal and infant care.

Chris Tyree

In the beginning, Wéyo co-founder Stephen Katz and I started talking about how we could turn our photojournalistic skills and passion for working with nonprofits into a full-time career. We researched the nonprofit sector, talked to numerous organizations, and started to assemble like-minded journalists from a variety of disciplines (photography, film, writing, editing, designing), as well as marketing specialists.

Our goal has been to build a team that produces award-winning stories about nonprofits and then uses (markets) them in a way that can make a difference. Sometimes that is through designing websites and blogs around the content and sometimes it is crafting unique marketing projects utilizing our narrative-based material. Our fundamental principle is that, for people to act they must truly believe, and that comes from showing/telling them in compelling ways what it is exactly that our clients are doing to make this world a better place.

Starting a business in the middle of the greatest recession since the great depression may seem like a crazy move, and maybe we are a bit crazy, but it also presents a lot of opportunities. Nonprofits need us more than ever to tell their stories, and we have been able to attract people with not only great talent, but also great souls. We’ve grown (slowly) without taking loans or reaching too deeply into our personal finances, in part by appealing to nonprofits that we’d worked with when we were on staff at daily newspapers. Until now we’ve existed almost entirely by word of mouth, but we are currently in the early stages of a larger marketing campaign. So, we are growing at a comfortable pace,getting calls on a national level daily,but are ready for a larger role as organizations realize the potential we can tap into through our compelling work.

A Wéyo image of George Washington University students who set up clinic care in an unserviced Rwandan village.

We decided on a model for the business that brings together different disciplines in large part after looking at thousands of nonrprofit websites — we realized 90% or more have a hard time telling people what they actually do with the donations they receive. The images on these sites are often of smiling kids, if there are images at all, and the videos and words leave people more confused. Our group understands the importance of showing and telling the story. It has been an amazing experience working with all these talented individuals, whose hearts are as big as their ideas. It’s not the hustle and bustle of the newsroom, much of what we do is in the virtual office online, but when those kind of talented people collaborate for a great cause, there is an excitement and creative buzz that is unmatched.

There are two main concerns working in this sector. First, these organizations have generally relied on donated content. And now everybody with a digital camera considers themselves a photographer, so and there is a ton of really awful, but free, imagery available. Most of the nonprofits we’ve worked with realize the power of strong documentary photography, but can’t come to grips with paying for it — even though these same groups will pay a decent amount of money to an PR agency or consulting group to utilize the donated images. There is only so much they can do with bad photography and most of these agencies really have no concept in how to use strong documentary material.

Second, you really aren’t your own boss. I don’t think any of us imagined at the start how long it would take to get a project started. In the newspaper business, you get an assignment, an hour later you’re shooting it, a few hours later you’re editing it, and a few hours after that it is in print and sitting on your doorstep. Not so in this new world. We have proposal meetings, then contract reviews, then board approvals, lawyer approvals … then perhaps you get the chance to work. Wéyo has proposals out that are over a year old and still in contract review, awaiting board approval. So, you have to have a lot of patience and take solace in the knowledge that what you are doing has the potential to change many lives for the better.

Click here for a list of all other “After Staff” posts.

• What did you do to build awareness of your photography and your new availability?

Stuart Thurlkill
I talked with everyone I knew and then went and talked to everyone I didn’t know. I found out what each person’s greatest need was and tried to find a way to fill that need. I made it a point to go everywhere with advertising and marketing material. I worked with some great photographers here in Arizona who gave me a chance to cut my teeth while I built a portfolio. I also built my own flash website. I don’t recommend this unless you have a lot of time on your hands. I also put together a print portfolio and started to shop it around to as many people in my community as I could get an appointment with.

Michael Mulvey
I instantly jumped on getting my website together and I happened to use liveBooks. I also started a blog. This allows me to routinely update a photo area with what I am immediately doing at the moment. I joined several associations and jumped into the business end of photography concerning branding, copyright law, marketing, etc. I also started networking and using the various social media sites to get the word out, build new relationships, and keep the ones I always had.

Heather Hughes
I invested more in advertising with the more commonly known wedding websites like WPJA and The Knot. I also got to know the coordinators at the popular wedding venues in my area and gave a couple of them wedding albums to show prospective couples along with a stack of business cards. I decided to invest more in my website this year by getting the liveBooks site so I could have the look and feel I wanted. Now I have my work and my husband’s work represented in a way that it presented us, our personalities, and our style better than a template can. So far I have heard rave reviews from everyone that has seen the new site, and although it’s only been live for three weeks, I’ve already gotten more inquires from the contact form than I got from my old site over the course of the whole year.

My meetings with clients are still the same as when I started, we meet at a coffee shop and I always wear a suit and arrive early so I can lay out the albums. They arrive to see a nice visual presentation — which helps make up for not having a studio. I have gotten a lot of compliments from couples on my professional presentation, so besides having more albums to show now than I did in the beginning, I haven’t changed anything.

Barry Gutierrez
The first thing I did was interview ten photographers that were photojournalists and had moved into the world of freelance. I picked their brains and asked a lot of questions. I have always respectfully learned from those who have gone before me.

The one thing I had done long ago was build a website. So that was in place. Then I 1) I made a business plan. 2) Realized that my name had value because of my service at the Rocky so I named my business Barry Gutierrez Photography. 3) Set up an LLC 4) Opened a checking account 5) Contacted all the people I have worked for and told them I was available. That started a chain reaction (a.k.a. word of mouth). MISTAKE: I paid $2,300 for an ad on a website and I have not gotten one call from it. It was a mistake I made while I was in a frantic rush to get jobs going as the Rocky closed. Word of mouth will serve you best.

Gary Gardiner
I had a great phone list, many old friends who now were in responsible editor positions, and a few saved dollars for marketing. Built the SmallTown Stock site, beefed up my Web presence, used e-mail newsletter utilizing paid subscription lists such as Agency Access, and personal contact via phone for some possible new clients.

Once I had a solid body of work I was able to return to NYC and visit with editors. I also had a website at a time when most photographers were only showing a book around. The website made it easy for editors to find me. Now it seems like it’s the opposite – everyone has a website and fewer and fewer photographers are printing books. It’s still important to have a book. Andy Curtraro likes to say the website lets editors know where you’re at but the visit and the printed book let’s them know you’re serious. I totally agree.

Pouya Dianat
This being my first year on my own, having a professional sports team as a client allows me to have my schedule set and concentrate on growth, establishing a new business and getting settled. In the future I might dedicate more time to freelance, but for the time being I’m only doing freelance when somebody reaches out to me. I’m actually not promoting myself all that much, and I’m not killing myself to get work. I think in the long run this will pay off, I’ll end up with a more varied skill set, a stable business, proper accounting, and I won’t burn myself out in the first year.

I was starting to feel a bit cramped creatively by the end of my time on staff. Already having time to grow and expand my boundaries has made me a more versatile visual artist. I work on video if I want to — I don’t have to have a meeting to get permission first. If I want to mess around with macro studio photography (currently doing so), I have the time to do it. Moreso than anything else, I’m making sure that in 2009 and early 2010 I revive my creative side a little bit. It’s not so much about deadlines for me right now, and I’m taking full advantage of that luxury.

A long time ago at a college interview, I was rejected by an Ivy League interviewer…he said my numbers weren’t there. But he also looked me straight in the eye and said that I was the only person he’s interviewed that knew where I was going to be in ten years and that the people who know that are usually the most successful. He also said I was probably wrong about where I would end up, but having an eye on where I’m headed is what mattered. Since then, I’ve always set up a 10-year outlook for myself and worked toward it. As he predicted, that outlook has changed several times, but I’ve never lost sight of the road ahead. I really think taking a little bit of time to plot out where you want to be, what’s important to you, and how you’re going to achieve these goals is really important for the next phase of photography.

David Walter Banks
I strongly believe that there is no one key to marketing yourself, that it’s a conglomerate of lots of things that gets your work in front of the right people. I did build a strong portfolio and have my website in place before I quit the newspaper. I then proceeded to contact certain clients directly to introduce myself and let them know of my availability and where I was based to make sure I had some work to start off. I send HTML emails to a large list of magazine editors and art buyers on a monthly basis to let them know what new projects, assignments, and travel I have been up to recently.

I head up to New York to meet with editors and art buyers to show my print portfolio book and spend time face-to-face on close to a quarterly basis. I also mail out print promotional campaigns to a smaller audience. These are just the start of a long list of things that I believe work as a whole. This list also includes paying for different online portals where my portfolio can be found with links to more work, entering contests, attending conferences, and even more, smaller elements. One of the most important pieces for me has been working on collaborative marketing with the photographers of Luceo Images. With the industry in such a time of evolution and upheaval, I find it important to work with fellow photographers to benefit each other, instead of clinging to the lone wolf syndrome that seems to plague so many creatives.