livebooks blog

Our thanks to APA for the following article, penned by our very own Matt Bailey.

Do you want to add more dimension – and distinction – to your brand? Start using video on your website.

Video can help you market yourself as a professional who brings more to the table than a handful of carefully selected images. It can help you develop an effective brand, communicate your personal vision and illustrate what it’s like to work with you. And, with a slew of HDSLR cameras on the market and numerous other gadgets to help you capture video, it’s never been easier.

Where should you start?

The uses of online video can range from highlighting your videography work to showcasing a slideshow of stills. You can also use videos in lieu of a traditional “bio” page, to present testimonials or as a behind-the-scenes look at how your studio operates.

To view some different ways that photographers are using video online, check out these photographers’ websites:

Emilie Sommer

David Emmite

Justin Francis

Mark Wallace and

Jules Bianchi.

Follow the link if you want to read  the full article @ APA

Justin Francis won’t tell you he’s a big deal, but he is. He’s a New York-based director, filmmaker and photographer who made his name in the music industry and has worked with the likes of Mariah Carey, The Cure, 50 Cent, Eminem, Gwen Stefani and The Roots. He’s the mastermind behind Alicia Keys’ award-winning “Unbreakable” and “No One” videos, and this year he directed commercials for companies such as Target, M&Ms, Dunkin’ Donuts and Adidas.

It wasn’t until later, after he had established himself in the film industry, that Justin began to focus on his other passion: Still photography. It was then – in January of 2008 – that he decided he needed a website to house his images, as well as some of his videos. He was one of the first liveBooks customers to effectively implement video on the Web.

In this Q and A session, we asked Justin to share his insights and offer advice to those who are just starting to incorporate video on their websites.

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I don’t care if you’ve been in business for 2 months or 20 years; this is something that is always of concern to small business owners.  And, for those people who feel comfortable in their pricing, it is a short-lived comfort.  Pricing must always be examined and re-examined.

Photo courtesy of Laurel McConnell Photography

Are you priced appropriately?

Take a look at the following factors and consider how they impact your pricing:

• the median price of photography in your region and target market
• your specialty, your niche
• the value that you bring to the client
• your education, your experience, and your on-going training
• your artistry and talent

But, in the photography world there is one major component of pricing that is often forgotten: YOU. What about your TIME, your LABOR?

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Editor’s Note: Dr. Jeffery M. Levine was recently featured in the New York Times article, “The Elderly, Through the Eyes of a Geriatrician.” Levine (a liveBooks customer) discusses geriatrics and the combination of art and medicine on his healthcare blog, www.jmlevinemd.com.

As a young doctor starting out in my profession I wanted to stake a claim in academia – doing research and teaching about human aging.  What I achieved is something different from what I originally intended when I began my project of visually documenting the process of growing old.

Initially I tried to catalog the physical manifestations of aging.  Using Kodachrome slide film and flash, I captured changes of the skin and musculoskeletal system, supplementing my portfolio with x-rays that enhanced understanding of the physiology of growing old.  One day out of curiosity I switched to black and white film, turned off the flash, and stepped back to photograph my patients in their natural environment and captured the interactions between me and my subject.

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