Finding and Keeping Clients

In February I go to Hawaii to teach in a photography school. We’ll cover Lighting, the heart of photography, and Business Practices in Photography, the lifeblood of the business. Below are some of the points we’ll cover that might work for you in your industry.

Finding Clients

Before you start building a database of names determine your niche. Targeting the specific audience you need to address will make your research and set-up time more productive.

Get Organized

Software programs such as Microsoft Outlook (PC) or Entourage (Mac) are helpful in organizing your material. Also, these programs are integrated with Microsoft Word and facilitate emailing.

What To Do With Collected Contacts

Set-up files in a database for the name of the company, the personal contact’s name, their address and phone numbers, email and website address. Assign each contact to a category.

I specialize in photographing people, but setting up a category for companies who hire photographers that photograph people is too broad. By assigning a contact to a category such as “Education” I can send a promotional piece to only those contacts in the education field. Assigning multiple categories to individual contacts further refines target marketing.

Contact management software has space for making notes. Keep this up-to-date as new information about your client comes to light. Use this field for their Facebook page and other information that don’t fit in any other field.

Time To Party

Parties (some parties) are a good way to build your database. Attend the “after-hours” events many civic and trade organizations sponsor that are designed to promote getting to know people and businesses in the area. Usually held monthly these events are great ways to meet a lot of folks and have fun doing so. It beats sitting at home with a computer.

Work The Room

Be sure you know your two-minute “elevator talk” about your business. Find someone you know. Get them to introduce you to the person to whom they are talking. Exchange business card and ask if you can follow up at another time for coffee or lunch. Be sure to give that person your full attention while you are with them, but move on after about five minutes. Remember, almost everyone in the room is there for the same reason you are, to meet people and find clients.

Be Relevant/Current

I recommend to the students to read industry magazines. Photo District News helps keep photographers informed on happenings in the world of photography. It is filled with the latest trends and techniques, business and legal news and new product reviews.

Contact information for magazines that might be interested in your work can usually be found in the masthead. Many magazines are online today. Read some back issues before contacting them. Offer a story idea to the editor. If you did your homework your idea should reflect the trends that are going on in the industry or plug into the style of that magazine.

Investigate – Dig Deep

Put on your investigative reporter hat and dig around for your niche. Use Google and type in your categories. Combine them with the word “organizations” and you will find many of the trade associations. When you find their websites click on the “About Us” section. It often will help you know the image the company is trying to convey. This is invaluable if you contact them and land an appointment.

Dale Carnegie said it best; “You can close more business in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you.”

Qualify Your Lead

I know of a photographer who contacted a designer for a couple years. The photographer sent out beautiful newsletters and promotional material. One day the photographer dropped off a portfolio and met the designer. He asked if he was the person that hired the photographers. He said no, that his boss picked the photographers; he just designed the pieces.

Connecting With A Client

If you find common interests with a prospect, you can establish a business relationship. In a prospect’s office look at: pictures and plaques on the wall; the books on the shelf; anything that shows their interest. Commenting on that interest is a good way to start a conversation. People love to talk about their interest. Try to find common ground for a friendship. People are more likely to buy from a friend than a salesman.

Sales consultant Jeffrey Gitomer says, “If you establish common ground with the other person, they will like you, believe you, begin to trust you, and connect with you on a deeper level; a ‘things-in-common’ level. The best way to win the connection is to first win the person.”

Finding clients is hard work. Keeping them is all-important.

What Kind of Photographer Are You?

I’m not asking if you shoot weddings, sports, or just make snapshots of your family. These are one way to define a type of photography, but there is another way to describe your pictures.

If you have your subjects turn and look at the camera and say “cheese” there is a good chance you enjoy making photos for mainly your personal use. You like making photos and putting these in photo albums so you can revisit these moments in time. I think everyone likes to make these types of photos for recording their family history. Earlier in my career when I managed 1-hour photo labs I saw some incredibly well done photography that would fit into this category.

I had a few customers who did an excellent job of getting good expressions of their friends and family looking at the camera. The photos were not so tight of the people that you didn’t know where they were, but they would show their friends in front of the Eifel Tower where you could see the people close to the camera with the location in the background easily identifiable.

This type of photographer, snap-shot or memory jogger photographer, is concerned in recording a moment in time and who was there at that moment.

Another style is abstract photography. This would be an instrumental composition with no words to use music as an analogy. The composition and lighting may be well done, but the viewer’s responses are usually wide-ranging.

Ansel Adams is one of the most prominent abstract photographers. His photos create a mood and tone rather than deliver a specific message.

Elliott Porter, another giant in the genera of abstract photography, gave a prefect example of the portrayal of beauty or eliciting of an emotion with his photography rather than a photojournalist statement of fact. When asked (by a photo editor for a news magazine) what he would do if he came upon a stream polluted and covered with oil Porter said, “I could not help but show the beauty of it regardless of the tragedy.”

In some abstract photographs the subject is recognizable, yet others may be so bizarre there is no subject recognition at all. The common theme for these types of photographers a striking image. A specific message is not the purpose.

Then there’s the communications photographer. Their goal is to deliver a precise message. Many techniques used by the abstract photographer are employed, but the message is the thing.

Some communication photographers are conceptual in approach. Their work is thematic. The theme maybe as simple as illustrating an intangible, say hot or cold or “going green.” Their photos communicate an idea.

Life magazine was one of the first places Americans were exposed to photojournalism. These photographers deliver a message, but beyond the message they are pursuing truth. They want to tell the subject’s story accurately in order to obtain a response from the viewer; to make those seeing the photos want to take some action.

In between the conceptual photographer and the photojournalist are many breeds of photographers who are concerned with capturing a message and having the audience engaged with it.

Some photographers can move easily between these approaches. One day they may be covering a news event for a wire service (photojournalism) and the next day shooting and annual report or recruiting guide for a college. They know how to adjust the approach so they are not violating ethics of the professional photojournalist.

What do these styles have in common? The finest photographers shoot what they love most. This enjoyment usually means they have invested time into their subjects and know them well.

Understanding these approaches will better help you identify the best photographer for your projects. Maybe you’re the best for the job. Maybe you need to hire someone to shoot the project for you.

Most clients look beyond a photographer’s ability with the camera. Can you trust this photographer to do the job on his own? They will be representing you. Do you need to be there directing this person?

If you have a message you need communicated you don’t need have a snap-shooter or an abstract photographer – they can fill the “holes” where the pictures are to go, but that doesn’t express your message to your audience.

Be sure your photographer can communicate your message and be someone you can trust. It is easy to hire a known quantity. It’s not so easy to find the one who will get the job done, but the search is worth the trouble.

Be a Joiner

Too many individuals are isolated in their jobs. Outside of their work they are unknown. In today’s volatile economic times this may prove to be a costly mistake. Staff positions have been cut, freelancers’ clients have cut budgets or gone out of business.

If your source of income is drying up one good way to find new work is through your network. Membership in professional organizations can be an outstanding resource. Having your name on a membership list can give you access to others in the organization, but to make the organization work for you - you must work for it.

Volunteer. Become involved. Help the group accomplish its goals. Volunteer to call members and invited guest to attend meetings. In the process of making these cold calls you are laying the foundation for a stable career.

You are getting to know others and they are getting to know you. If you ever need to call one of these people for a job you will be way ahead. They know who you are and it is no longer a “cold call.”

Serving on committees lets others see your skills and how you work and communicate. Committees provide an opportunity to show what can’t be shown in a resume, portfolio or reference letter.

You are probably considered an expert due to your experience. People want to employ experts. It is a good idea to volunteer to lead seminars and workshops. While this shows your knowledge in their field, it also shows your ability to communicate clearly your ideas to others. It shows you as a person who wants everyone to succeed.

Volunteer with more than one organization. They don’t all need to be within your work area so long as the help you connect to your community. Rotary clubs, coaching a youth sport team, volunteer for the Red Cross and other groups will help you expand beyond your profession.

Industry leaders are involved in community programs. What better way to get to know leaders than to volunteer along side them?

The number of groups you are a member of is not important. What is important is not to be just a name on the membership role. Active involvement develops the all-important network.

I have been working with college recruiters and admissions offices for most of my career. Many of the suggestions I have listed are things colleges look for when going through applications. They want the best students to attend their college. It is the same with employers and clients they want the best.

Networking builds communication skills. Volunteering improves skills in service roles and leadership positions.

All this volunteering is not just for the future it is for right now. The benefits of networking help in current jobs.

The foundation of building a network is giving. As we learn to give of our time and talents to those around us we learn that our greatest rewards are all the relationships we develop in the process.

Presidential Politics Teaches Us Something About Marketing Ourselves

How is running your business like running for office? For one thing, the candidates are scrutinized for more than just their position on issues. We are also evaluated for more than just our product.

Just like the politicians we are evaluated on our looks, our color, age, how healthy we appear and how well groomed we are. Our clients and prospects note all this and more about us.

What message are we sending by how we look? What part of our message as an individual can we control? Well, there’s our choice of clothing. Occasionally someone may compliment us on what we are wearing, maybe the like the color or style.

Some people have gone so far as to wear certain types of clothing to distinguish themselves from others in their field. Take my lawyer for instance. I think he dresses funny. But I have to give him credit, people remember him, first because his clothing makes a bold statement, but then they remember what a good lawyer he is. Your business success may profit from a little more attention your visual presentation of yourself.

The way we talk, how we express ourselves can make a major impression on clients and prospects. As we watched the debates we listened to see if the candidates answered the question. We listened to how clearly they stated their ideas. We listened to their inflections and pace of their comments to see how confident and knowledgeable they seamed to be on the topics.

The candidates wanted to answer the questions in ways that they thought would connect with the audience at home. We too must be aware of our client’s perspective. Are we addressing their concerns or our concerns?

The candidates are being evaluated for the company they keep and so are we. This is where your community involvement makes a difference. We should let our clients know when we go a mission trips. We need to find ways to let them know that we volunteer as a coach for kid’s sports, or anything outside of work actually is valued by clients.

Obama’s two young daughters help him appeal to many folks just as Pailin’s special needs child makes her special to others. While our outside activities are not our primary message to a prospect — it may be important to some of them and shouldn’t be left out.

Greg Thompson, director of corporate communications for Chick-fil-A, says when he hires folks he looks beyond the hands to the head and heart of the person. The hands represent to him the transactional relationship within most of business. You need a writer, well hire someone with experience and they can most likely meet the immediate needs. However, if you look beyond the transaction you will see that some writers are experts on subjects and then some have given much of their time to a cause. Their passion for the subject makes them a much better hire than just a professional writer.

The candidates running for office have people give them feedback to help them improve and refine their campaigns. We need to turn those who can offer us feedback. We can all benefit from some sandpaper helping to refine us.

Certainly prospects are interested what we can do for them, but they are also influenced by who we are as people. The candidates must present a pleasing total package, so should we.

I’ve come to realize that the dream job is not determined by pay alone; it’s working with someone who appreciates and makes use of my total package.

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Corporate Cummnication Visual Tips: 10 of them

There can be no words without images.

--- Aristotle

More than any other technological innovation, computers are responsible for the explosion in images. Today, 20 percent of the U.S. population can use a computer. But 80 percent of school-age children have learned to become computer literate. By the turn of the century, Sculley predicts that 98 percent of all the words and pictures created in the world will be computer mediated. By that time, virtual reality -- the ultimate fusion of computer and television technologies in which viewers become active users of the medium -- will be inexpensive and accessible.

Educational psychologist Jerome Bruner of New York University cites studies that show persons only remember ten percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they read, but about 80 percent of what they see and do. When all members of society whether at home, in school and on the job learn to use computers for word and picture processing, the switch will be made from passive watching to active using. There will no longer be the barrier between the two symbolic structures. Words and pictures will become one, powerful and memorable mode of communication.

-- Professor Paul Martin Lester, Ph.D., Department of Communications, California State University

Visual forms of communication grab the attention of today’s audiences. Graphic representations such as diagrams, charts, tables, illustrations and photographs not only catch the eye; they draw the viewer into the information being presented.

Corporate communicator departments who took advantage of this visual revolution early on are today’s leaders in the communication field. They saw this “explosion in images” coming and jumped aboard.

Endless, long blocks of type spreading across pages are rarely read. Early editors discovered a visual tool that cured this ill… they broke the copy up into short, more manageable paragraphs that didn’t intimidate or bore their audience.

Today, many no longer read traditional text. Just taking brochures from the past and posting them to the web will not get the message out.

Okay, if it’s true that a skilled use of visuals will improve communication and if expertise in this area seems like a foreign language… what then?

We’d probably take classes to learn a foreign language, so to become proficiency in the use of visuals perhaps we should study art, photography or theater at the local community college. This is one way to learn how the masters in these fields used the visuals.

Mr. Bean was a British comedy television series starring Rowan Atkinson. Bean, an almost totally silent character used physical comedy to entertain. The series did well internationally because words were not important to the success of the show.

Instead of a brain storming an idea try playing a game of Charades to express what needs to be communicated about that idea. The game forces thinking in visual terms. Pictionary is a board game where teams try to guess specific words from their teammates' drawings. More than Charades Pictionary requires forming mental pictures. Both games provide a fun way to practice visualization.

Here are Ten Tips to consider when thinking about using images:

1. Humanize – Illustrate how products affect people. For example, to show how small something is, rather than using a ruler, put it in someone’s hand. If something improves lives – show it doing just that. Today the trend is to use a more photojournalistic approach or, at least, to make it look photojournalist. To make sure the expressions are genuine set up a situation, give it enough time and it can become real.

2. Good Lighting – Sometime the natural light is perfect. Just cut the flash off and use a higher ISO for the available light. Remember that whatever has the most light on it will become the main subject.

3. Try Black & White – Some war photographers feel that color may make even war look pretty. Black and white is a good way to focus attention on faces and graphics.

4. Get Closer – Almost any photo will be better closer up.

5. Watch the background – Look around the subject. Be sure nothing is growing out of a head or sticking in from the edge on the frame. Use a shallow depth-of-field like ƒ/2 versus using ƒ/16 to make your subject stand out from the background. If the background helps tell the story increase the depth-of-field by using f16 or f22, or vary the background anywhere in between fuzzy or sharp.

6. Consider a worm’s eye view or the bird’s eye view – Shoot really low or high above the subject. Change the height of the camera in relation to the subject; avoid making all the photos from a standing position.

7. Turn off the date stamp – Digital cameras embed the time and date in the photo information so it is not necessary to have it print on the photo itself.

8. Variety – Make plenty of photos from different angles. In addition to using the zoom actually get closer and farther away from the subject. Make wide-angle and close-up photos. Try some without flash, some with direct flash and bounced flash.

9. Give it time – Make a few photos then stop for a few minutes. Let the subject get used to being photographed. After a while they’ll relax and the really great photos will start to happen.

10. Action and posed –Show the subject doing what they do. Let them do their job and make lots of pictures. Pose them for a good portrait, not just a headshot, but do an environmental portrait showing their work environment or signage of the place they work in the background or foreground.

There are many other ways than these that can improve visual communication. Like everything worth doing visual skills come from doing… from practice.

Think about it this way: Who is going to SEE your message today?

Taking an Interest in People Is a Reward in Itself

According to Mark Twain, "America and England are two great nations separated by a common language." He was right. For many Americans arriving in the U.K., it's a shock to discover that American English can be vastly different from English English. When we think we fit right in and don't stand out from the natives, it's easy to make some embarrassing mistakes. (Don't ask for an order "to go" at a British restaurant; it's a "take-away.")

Lately, I've been reading about autism. Asperger's syndrome is a type of high-functioning autism where the language skills are better than with other forms of autism; people with this condition are often found in higher education as professors. They have the capacity to lock in on a subject and stay focused. In the movie Rain Man, Dustin Hoffman showed us the savant aspect of autism with his ability with numbers. He also showed another aspect of autism -- being clueless about things around him.

As a photographer, I study people and how they act and react to all sorts of things, so that I can photograph them and show who they are. As a result, I have over the years become an armchair sociologist. I'm fascinated with people's behavior, especially within groups.

Converting the Natives

I have watched missionaries in Africa "convert folks," only to find out that the locals were just being kind and didn't want to embarrass them. These missionaries were used to how people respond "back home" and were unaware of the foreign culture.

In parts of America, people are extremely polite. It's difficult to know where you really stand with them. In other parts of the country, people don't hold back their feelings and, unless you are accustomed to this behavior, it's easy to take it personally. Sometimes your best friends will point out your worst faults, yet your worst enemy is always pleasant to you.

The most successful business people try to win and hold clients for the long run -- not just long enough to close a sale. If we focus on selling a product and just finding a one-time buyer, we are focusing on the short-term. Like the missionary who thinks she has "converted a soul" but has not learned the culture, it's a short-sighted approach to life.

Many successful people I have encountered are collectors. They may collect baseball memorabilia or classic cars or art. They enjoy finding something and holding on to it. I think this is also how they feel about people. They enjoy "collecting" them and keeping them around. They are interested in developing a relationship with these people -- not just conducting a transaction.

In some cultures, it is rude to immediately jump to the transaction or point of the visit. You must spend time with a cup of coffee or tea, talk about families and complete other cultural necessities before getting down to business. Most cultures reward those who pursue relationships and not just transactions.

With Relationships Come Rewards

I believe if we focus on connecting with people, the rewards will follow. On the other hand, I believe focusing on rewards, rather than relationships, is the surest route to failure.

It's easy to tell the difference when you deal with people. How many people have you met who made you feel like you were important to them? How many made you feel that you were just a stepping stone on their path to success? Which of these did you look forward to meeting, or working with, again?

Showing an interest in other people and cultures is not only good business. It's a more personally rewarding way to go through life.

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Backing Up for a Disaster

The severe weather warning sirens in my town have been going off more and more lately due to tornadoes. But this isn't what prompted me to write about the importance of backing up your computer.

One of the students I taught in Hawaii packed her computer and backup drive in the same bag. This, of course, is the bag the airline lost when she flew home. She lost everything she had worked on at school.

My cousin works for a large furniture store. They dutifully backed up all their computers; however, they kept the backups in the same store with the computers. One night the store burned to the ground and they lost all their computers and their backups.

I am not even going to go into my losses through the years.

Tornadoes, computer crashes, lost luggage, burglars, floods -- there are a lot of things that can make our important files and photos vanish. So I'd like to talk a bit about planning a system for backing up our computer files.

My Backup System

First, I prefer a permanent backup of important files to CD/DVDs. It is a more stable solution than a hard drive. Hard drives fail more often than CD/DVDs.

I make two copies of these backup CD/DVDs and put them in different locations. I keep one backup with me where I can get to it in a hurry if my computer fails, but I put other copy in a safety deposit box or at a friend’s house.

Second, I have an external hard drive and make regular backups to it. Most external drives come with software designed to help you make backups.

I use this external hard drive to mirror -- completely duplicate -- my computer's hard drive. When my computer dies, I only need to do a restore and everything will be put on the new hard drive or new computer.

Third, I bought yet another backup hard drive. I labeled one A and the other B. I alternate backups between the two. I make sure these A and B drives are rotated, not just with the computer, but the location where I keep them (bank vault, neighbor, etc.)

Another option for backing up important files, like photographs, is to use an online backup. To take advantage of this solution, a high-speed connection is needed. Your first backup takes the longest, but once this is done only the changes to your hard drive from the last backup are needed each time. I program my computer to do this at night after I've gone to bed. It takes longer than backing up to a hard drive connected to a computer, but it is off-site, and it is one more place to keep your data. One such provider is Carbonite, which is only $49.95 a year for unlimited storage.

I stay away from tape backup systems. The computer department where I used to work decided to use a tape system to backup their image library. The system corrupted the files and, after five years of inputting data, everything was lost. After restoring all that had been lost and adding four more years of images, it happened again. As far as I know they never recovered the images from those nine years.

You Need More Than One Safe Place

The estate of President John F. Kennedy's personal photographer, Jacques Lowe, archived all their images in a safe deposit box housed in the vaults at 5 World Trade Center next to the Twin Towers.

I make sure my images and other important files are stored in more than one location.

Now, when I hear a weather alert, I've got one less thing to worry about.

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Seeing Eye to Eye Isn't Always Best

In Psychology 101 we learn the value of relating to others at eye level. Many books on photography discuss unusual angles such as a worm's eye or a bird's eye view. Such perspectives can create interesting photos, but there is much more to the choice of the angle of view than just making a nice picture. Indeed, the angle from which you photograph a person sends a message to the viewer about that person. Do you know what message you're sending?

The three letters in the illustrations below stand for Parent, Adult and Child. If you photograph another adult at their eye level the camera (audience) is, of course, on the same level with your subject. This adds dignity to the subject.


On the other hand, if you shoot down at the subject you place the audience above or over the subject much the same way a parent is above or over a child. This makes the audience feel responsible for the subject. We often see photos of starving children in Africa photographed this way.


Lower the camera angle and you reverse the camera (audience) to the subject relationship. This "shot from below" adds prominence to the subject. It increases the stature of the subject and makes them more authoritative. (Don't use flash from below a face unless you want to create the look of a monster.)


To carry the audience back to their childhood, place the camera on the floor and crawl around photographing a child at the child's eye level.


When photographing an expert, like a research scientist, keep the camera at eye level, not below. The eyeball-to-eyeball angle helps to humanize or "warm up" the expert.


Photographing people using this simple PAC principle allows you to make statements about who they are, not just what they look like.

Like everything else in photography, knowing more than ƒ-stops and shutter speeds will make you a better photographer. And remember, seeing eye-to-eye isn't always best.

How much do you cost?

My stepson looked at his first paycheck and asked, “Who is FICA?” This was his first hard lesson about where the money goes - the cost of doing business.

A lot of the money we pay for a service doesn’t stay with the service provider.

According to Dun & Bradstreet, “Businesses with fewer than 20 employees have only a 37% chance of surviving four years (of business) and only a 9% chance of surviving 10 years.” Of these failed businesses, only 10% of them close involuntarily due to bankruptcy and the remaining 90% close because the business was not successful, did not provide the level of income desired or was too much work for their efforts.”

So many good photographers I know have to turn to other ways to make a living not due to any lack of photographic skills, but because of poor business practices.

Two things caused their businesses to fail: 1^st - they didn’t know their real cost of doing business and 2^nd – they failed to promote themselves.

In 2001, I left a staff position and started full-time freelancing. My business has averaged a 20% growth rate each year for the past six years. Many of my colleagues ask me how I do it.

This coming week I go to Hawaii to teach business practices for the third year in a row at the University of Nations in Kona. First, I require the students to calculate how much it costs them to live for a year. I’ve found that even the older students who have been on their own for a time typically do not know what it costs them to live.

No matter the profession, if you do not know your cost you cannot estimate what you are worth in the market place.

Once you’ve know your cost and decided how much net income you want to earn it is easy to determine what to charge for each project in order to reach that goal.

Take a moment and think of everything needed to do your job. Here are some categories from the National Press Photographer’s Association list I use just substitute your terms for similar categories to figure your annual cost of doing business.

• Office or Studio
• Phone
• Photo Equipment
• Repairs
• Computers (Hardware & Software)
• Internet (Broadband, Web site & email)
• Auto Expenses (Lease, Insurance & Maintenance)
• Office Supplies
• Photography Supplies
• Postage
• Professional Development
• Advertising and Promotion
• Subscriptions & dues
• Business Insurance
• Health Insurance
• Legal & Accounting Services
• Taxes & Licenses
• Office Assistant
• Utilities
• Retirement Fund
• Travel
• Entertainment (meals with clients)

Add your desired net income to your annual business expenses, divide that total by the number of projects you reasonably expect to do in a year. The answer gives you the average per project you must charge clients so you can pay those bills, stay in business and live the way you want to live.

Now you must find out if the market place will sustain this charge.

Let’s say you need to charge on average $1,000 for per project to reach your goal. If the services you provide are what people can get anywhere then they will shop for price. If the going rate in your community is $1,200 then you are in good shape. If the going rate is $900 then you need to look at cutting your overhead—your hoped for income or business expenses or both.

The key to earning what you want comes down to service. You must be able to demonstrate to potential clients that you offer something more if you want/need to charge more than other photographers do.

I have found that I need to know about the subjects I cover more than other photographers do. In addition, I deliver my images a good deal faster than most others do. I also listen carefully to what clients say they want and try to, not only meet their needs, but to go beyond their expectations.

When I first determined my cost and income goals, it was a revelation just as my stepson’s response to FICA and other deductions from his pay were for him.

I do my best to keep my overhead low, but even so close to 50% of my gross goes to business expenses. It was quite shocking for me to see what I must charge to pay the bills. This knowledge was the fire I needed to get me to put the time and effort into finding ways to make me more valuable to clients and to find those clients by seriously marketing myself.

Do you know what you cost?

Guidelines for Portraits, Headshots and Mug shots

There are a few do’s and don’ts, which if you know them can help you look your best the next time you have your photo taken.

When you are having a head and shoulders photo made the photo is suppose to be about the person and not the clothes. I doubt seriously a clothing manufacturer wants a headshot of the model to sell their shirts—they want to see the clothing predominately.

The reverse of this is what will help you look your best—the photo is about you and not your clothes and/or jewelry. So here are a few guidelines about how to keep the attention on you and not the clothes.

Solid Colors—Avoid Patterns
Keeps the viewer from looking first at the clothing due to the design over the face

Darker clothing is preferable
Your eye will go to the lighter area of the photo, which will be the eyes. White shirts are difficult for printers to hold together and makes your head look like it is floating on the page without a shirt sometimes.

Avoid herringbone jackets
On the web and television you will get a moiré effect.

Classic over trendy clothing
The classic look tend to stay fresh looking without going out of date as quickly as some of the fashion trends of the day and makes the photo look more current longer.

Simple or no Jewelry
One strand of pearls and matching earrings verses pendants and large earrings help keep the attention on you.

Do you wear casual or a suit for the photo? If you are using the photos for business—it is always best to have the suit in addition to a casual dress if you choose to use as your primary photo a casual dress. The reason for the backup suit photo is we often need a more serious tone at times. If your company is going through a merger—the suit photo would probably be a better choice to send out with the PR packet.

As you plan for portraits in the future it is always best to follow these guidelines and always bring two or more outfits to change into. If you are part of the executive team of the company you want to look your best so the company will benefit. Having a few different portraits with different outfits to pick from gives you the ability to choose the best option—and this is what most executives do each day—make choices.

If you need additional help in planning your next portrait session—give me a call and I will be glad to answer any additional questions you might have.

No Setup Photos

The cry of all the focus groups when they review most educational recruiting pieces seems to always say they want natural looking photos and not setup.

After having spent the last twenty plus years as a photographer shooting pure photojournalism, where you capture what happens in front of the camera to shooting for advertising pieces, where there are stylists arranging everything in a photo; my experience says most focus groups are asking the wrong questions.

“Do you like the photo?” is not as good of a question to see if the photo was successful as a question like “What did you learn from the photo?” You can even have a photo again on a questionnaire from your recruiting materials and ask, “Does the photo help you see what a typical dorm room looks like?” You could even have a follow up question “What could improve the photo to show you a dorm room?”

The reason I have come to this place about evaluating photos is my experience with truly “real” photographs. I have spent many years shooting “photojournalism” for magazines, newspapers and wire services. You do not change a thing in these photos and you do everything you can use composition, lens choices, lighting and timing to communicate the mood and reality of a situation.

Often a photojournalist’s photos are not “pretty” pictures. Photographers will even use their composition to create more conflict to add to the mood of the photo. Having a focus group evaluate war photos with the typical questions we ask “Did you like the photos?” will give you results which would say the photographers were not successful.

How can you know the right moment to take a picture unless you have a fairly clear idea of what the subject means and what you are after? When you are interested in a subject, you want to learn more about it. You dig below the surface values to the truth beneath. That way you get to know it intimately and are able to photograph it understandingly.

Understanding does not necessarily mean a technical knowledge of the subject. Understanding is interest, sympathy, curiosity, the human element of the equation.

While photojournalism will give you “real” photos, sometimes reality for recruiting will keep your institution on the same path rather than to where you would like to be.

This is where what I call the “sitcom” photography works best. We all know the sitcom isn’t real, but it can create such a reality we are all tuning in to see “Who shot JR?”

This is the type of photography where the school has determined where they want to go and then create communications pieces to help them attain the goal. For example if you want to be more diverse in the future, you will need to show diversity. If you keep it real, you would then research to find those situations where diversity exists already. Then you would photograph those situations and play them prominently in your piece.

As one person put it “You don’t want to be the lone raisin in a bowl of milk.” If everyone works to help the school to become more diverse it can be done.

As you can see there are a few ways to communicate your message using photographs. The ideal scenario is to have “reality” photos. If you had a photographer go to everything you did this year—then maybe you would get the reality you need.

Sometimes “reality” isn’t what you want to show. The student wearing another competing schools T-Shirt. A student with major over weight issues or skin problems can detract from the message. This is why so often we re-create reality like the sitcom. If properly planned, you will tune in and want to know more about your school.

Photographs are made of light, mood, texture, form, and line. The value of techniques lies in how they are used. Techniques by themselves are barren. To come alive with meaning, they must be employed interpretively. This is where I come in. Give me a call and let’s make your recruiting photos—REAL.

Don't Be Satisfied with Just Showing Up

Many in today's iGeneration have had a childhood of T-ball, soccer, and dance classes where if they just participated, they were given a trophy. I assume most people know there is more to life than showing up on time -- but you'd be surprised how often meeting minimum standards will put you way ahead of the competition.

I just handed in the grades for a class I taught in photojournalism at Reinhardt College. Every project I assigned was designed to give the students a real-world experience. They had three assignments: an environmental portrait, covering an event and a photo story.

The students were asked to turn in their assignments as if they were submitting them to an editor. They needed a cover letter to tell me about what they were submitting. They needed a folder with their selects and another folder with all the images they shot. Each of the photos in the selects needed to have a caption embedded in the IPTC fields. Most editors enjoy being able to send a photo to the designer which already has the caption in the photo.

Some students forgot the captions, some forgot the cover letter and, yes, some were late handing them in. While most had everything done properly, we still had some where the captions were lacking the essential five Ws.

I continue to hear horror stories from clients about photographers who didn't meet their minimum expectations. I even know of photographers who did the work and never handed in an invoice! It is amazing how just being sure all the elements are done for a project and turning them on time (or early!) will be received with excitement.

One of my favorite creative directors is Tony Messano. He gives sage advice. I can understand why he is asked to judge advertising work all over the world.

Tony expects a photographer to shoot the assignment the way Tony conceives it -- but his favorite photographers not only give him what he wants; they go beyond his concept and shoot it their way, too. Often, they will shoot it just as he says and then will push the idea a bit further with lighting composition or another element. They bring something extra to the table.

If you are meeting the expectations of your clients, you are doing better than most others in the industry. To rise to the top, go a little beyond the expectations.

Don't be satisfied with the trophy everyone gets for just showing up. Be the person singled out for going beyond the call of duty. Never stop looking for a unique approach or something different. The stretching will keep you youthful and nimble in today's ever-changing marketplace.

Photojournalism Is a Life of Research Papers

My favorite thing to do when I was in school was the field trip. I remember going to the fire station when I was in kindergarten and getting to sit on the firetruck and see the firemen go down the sliding pole.

I can remember so much from these trips because I could see what I was learning about. Sometimes I even got to sample things -- like a hot dog in a meat-packing plant.

As a photographer/photojournalist, I get up each day and go on a new field trip. Each time I learn something new. The excitement I feel while on these adventures is what I hope to capture with the camera. I need to take the readers of publications to places they may never go in their lifetimes, but can experience through photographs to expand their world.

As a photographer you must tune in with your ears and eyes. You must try to understand as much as you can and then capture those things which help not just document what you saw, but grab the excitement you felt when learning about the place.

Assignments also can be a little overwhelming -- like trying to write a term paper the day before it is due. In these cases, it helps to have some knowledge of the subject before you arrive. If you have done research in advance, you will be able to use the experience as icing on the cake and not the cake itself.

Doing research before every assignment is not always possible, and this is why it helps to find your niche or expertise. Formal education in a subject can be one of the ways to become an expert.

I studied social work to understand people better. I later did my master's in communication at a seminary, which helped me in working with people of faith. Another subject I have devoted a lot of time to is sports and, specifically, basketball. I enjoy playing basketball, and this gives me insights into the game that as a spectator alone I would probably not appreciate as much.

In school, we all did research papers. For me, learning to do papers on my hobbies or interests was what made it enjoyable -- and also made for a better paper.

This is true for photographers, too. After you have mastered a subject, transfer your skills to a new topic and in time you will have diversified your clientele and turned your passion into a career.

The Integrated Photographer

When the camera merged with the computer to give us digital photography, the skills to be a successful photographer changed dramatically. Prior to digital photography, the professional photographer only had to know how to use a camera.

Almost everyone who was working prior to the computer becoming commonplace has experienced this phenomenon. The computer was integrated into many people's jobs. Everyone has had to learn how to do word processing and e-mail. Using the computer to maximize your efficiency for work depended on your comfort level with computers.

There were those who didn't handle this transition well. They always had to ask the office's resident "computer guy" to help them with everything -- mail merge, printing envelopes, attaching documents to e-mails, and so on. Because they didn't learn, they became less valuable employees, while the computer guy became more valuable.

In 1990, the publication industry took a big hit. I was laid off due to the recession. Many of my friends also lost their jobs since newspapers were dropping like flies; many two-newspaper towns lost one of their publications.

Fortunately for me, I had computer skills to fall back on. These skills helped me to sell computer systems to corporations in Long Island for Tandy Corporation. I used my knowledge to help design networks for clients, and to create databases for mass marketing. I enjoyed the photography forums on CompuServe long before 1993, when the World Wide Web was created. I took a class at Georgia Tech on designing Web sites and created my own Web site back in 1995.

In the early 90's I was scanning transparencies and film to digitize photos for publication. Once the digital camera surpassed the quality from this process, it was easy for me to make the transition. Today I speak to my peers at conferences and workshops as an expert on digital photography and on how to use the computer to run their businesses.

Ever since I moved from a staff position to a full-time freelancer, I have watched my business average 20 percent annual growth. Many of my friends have been losing their businesses and staff positions during this time. I've come to realize that the greatest single factor in my success is the knowledge of computers as it relates to photography. Those who have failed have generally not kept up with technical developments.

The successful photographer today is the integrated photographer. In technology, "integrated" refers to two or more components being merged together into a single system. The integrated photographer is the professional who has merged mastery of the camera with mastery of the computer.