Business

So I'm just going to come right out of the gates swinging and put it out there; dedicated Facebook business pages are not relevant anymore. The year is 2017 and Facebook has evolved into one of the most efficient advertising machines out there, giving users the opportunity to spend money at every glance. In doing so, it has become the same old commercial that everyone hates and has destroyed the need for a Facebook business page at all.

Do you remember when it was easy to trick search engines into ranking your website high for a search term? Or the time when it was sufficient to insert your keyword all over your website and you'd rank high in search listings? The good ol’ days of purchasing a domain name that was literally your top preferred search term to rank for, and stuffing your website with that same keyword and tricking Google into listing your website first are long gone and the rise of content marketing has taken over.

When I was starting out as a professional photographer, I felt I had to be all things to all people. Any work that came in, no matter what genre of photography, how boring or bizarre, I said yes. If a company came to me with a request and they said they couldn't afford my quote, I'd bend myself in to unnatural shapes to accommodate them, because some money is better than no money, right? I eventually came to the conclusion that this was unsustainable and I began to say no and to quote those awful click-bait titles, you'll never guess what happened next.

Primarily, I'm a NYC Wedding Photographer. However, I also photograph business headshots in my NJ Studio as well. I love doing this as a side-gig that brings me extra money for practically no work at all. To be honest, I wasn't really all about it when D.C. Headshot Photographer Moshe Zusman told me I should start implementing it into my business. Seemed a bit boring and I didn't get how it would make me more money than the $10,000+ High-End Weddings that I photograph now. I was wrong.

I’m sure everyone at this point has explored the vast array of articles discussing all the technical aspects of the newly announced D850. If you haven’t here is one from your very own Fstoppers writer, Adam Ottke. You can read the announcement here. While I agree with most of the assessments that I’ve read or watched so far in that the camera will be a powerhouse with really innovative features, my thoughts come back to what was in the news just a few months ago. What is the financial health of Nikon? Do they still need help from other companies like Fujifilm? Most importantly, should I invest in new equipment from a company whose financial standing is in question? With all this in mind, I did some research.

Being a professional photographer is an expensive game. Even really basic equipment is hard on the pocket. A lot of us (myself included) get this nagging doubt that our current kit is holding us back. I'm also guilty of getting gear envy when I see other photographers behind the scenes shots on instagram. However, professional photography is a business just like any other and it needs to make a profit, meaning spending on kit needs to be proportionate to your profit.

Scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed this week brought up something interesting. Dan Fable, a Manchester musician turned photographer/videographer, was offering an insane deal for bands. What’s more insane is that people weren’t taking him up on the cheap offer.

Is your Instagram really working for you? We all know how important a tool such a social media is to help create a brand and attract clients who may want to hire you. If you're finding that your account is struggling to grow then you might be making some of these many mistakes.

When you rely on creativity for work, a battle with the absence of these abilities can be detrimental, especially when you’re freelance. No matter what type of creative work you do, there will come a time when you feel like your powers have dried up and you are no longer capable. It will seem like the ability to do anything is gone forever, everything you make is crap, and no good ideas seem to be coming to you. To understand this problem as universal and cyclical is a step towards understanding what it is that drives your creative abilities. There are ways to elevate past these woes and continue creating your best work. Here are five easy practices that can help you in your woes next time you are met with a creative block.

Do you have images or films that are sitting on your file servers and nobody, except for your team and the client, knows you did them? Even if you don't, you will eventually have a few some day. How would you handle such requests to not publish images and can you take any advantage of that?

In August 2015, I quit all working commitments and took the leap in to full-time photographer. In March 2016, I wrote an article of advice about being a photographer I wish I'd known earlier after I began to scrutinize my performance under the new, professional microscope. Well, time has elapsed, shutters have shut over 100,000 times, and more things have been learned. My photography business has grown in this interim and I found myself thinking about this aforementioned article again. Here are seven of the most important things I have learnt about being a professional photographer that I wish I'd known earlier.

A little over a year ago, I came to a point of wanting to take the next step in growing my photography business. To me, opening a studio space made the most sense. The ability to have a dedicated place to work, meet clients, and sell prints out of, as well as wanting a way to make my business appear more legitimate, all factored in to why I believed a studio space was the next step. I recently finished up my first year of having a studio, and although it has been successful and definitely worth it, I wish I would have had a better idea of the costs you can forget about when budgeting for a space.

Picture the scene: you’re at a party and end up chatting to a stranger. In amongst the friendly chitchat, your ears prick up as you realize this could be a potential photography client. But you don’t want to pull out the full sales pitch, you’re at a party after all. This is where having a premium business card can go to work for you.

You’ve got a solid website, your photography skills are on point, you’ve been around for awhile, but you still aren’t getting any clients. Peers’ businesses are booming, you know there are plenty of clients to go around, and yet, you’re still struggling to get by with your photography business. There are a ton of factors that go into why a business fails, but here are a few reasons why your photography business may be failing.

Life as a freelancer is different. People with "normal" jobs don't usually understand what we do, how we do it, when we do it, or why we do it. But, we do what we do, and it's not always easy. It's not consistent, it's not stable, but it's a great way to live your life if you do it right. Here are some small ways you can make it easier. They've helped me, and maybe they'll help you as well.

One of the challenges wedding photographers encounter is how to structure pricing for their services. One common mistake is to include a free engagement session in all wedding packages. There are a few reasons why you should offer engagement sessions only as an add-on to wedding packages.

For freelance creatives, earning passive income is a great way to increase your annual profits, but getting a large library of images uploaded can be a daunting task. Plus, which agency should you use? When will you find time? The simple answer is the time is now, and the sooner you jump on, the sooner it will pay out.

It doesn't matter if it's a scheduled business meeting, job interview, or you're cold calling potential clients, the items you bring along with you can dramatically affect how things play out. Here's what you should be taking to each and every meeting to maximize your chances of success.

In person sales (IPS) have been a part of the photography process for years. With the onset of digital, it died down a bit, much to the disservice of both photographers (who are missing out on sales) and clients (who are missing out on memories). Thankfully, it's started to make a comeback, along with the value of printing images instead of just letting them live in the digital world.

Recently as I was looking into some backlink research on Google, I realized that one of the first links that comes up when searching for my business is my Yelp business page. This isn't surprising. Yelp is an established business and has an established website with high domain authority, of course it's going to rank well within search engines. What was surprising, however, was how the title of the link read, "The Amberlight Collective - CLOSED."

Singapore Airlines' latest safety video mixes the regular safety video you'll see just before take-off with the dream of exploring Singapore. It's beautifully executed and shows how they'll push barriers to give you the travel experience you desire. Why is this important? Because it shows that the travel industry is really getting creative with their approach, and they are pushing the boundaries of just what's needed to evoke that curiosity and excitement of travel.

There are many paths in professional photography. I have gone down the route of commercial photography, and whilst I am nowhere near where I want to be in professionally, I thought I’d share a few points that can go a long way to making it as a professional commercial photographer.

The idea of discounting our work is something most of us don’t even want to consider. We’ve spent a ton of time honing our skills and have more invested into our work than the consumer can possibly understand. That’s why mini-sessions are perfect — if you have the time.

It's a huge risk to not ask the right questions before giving a prospective client a price. Not only does it make you look like an amateur, but you could end up agreeing to a job which really isn't worth the time or money. Here's what you should be asking when someone wants to know how much it will cost to hire you.

As a photographer, understanding the need and the process for copyrighting images can be overwhelming. Binded, the online company formerly known as Blockai, just released a tool that greatly simplifies the photography copyright process for no additional fee.

When I first discovered ShootProof, I loved it. The idea of handling all of my file delivery as well as print sales from an online platform easily through my website was just amazing. But after a good amount of time, I grew frustrated with a couple flaws in their system that were deal-breakers for me. I then switched over to Pixieset and haven't looked back. Pixieset isn't near the giant that ShootProof is (yet), but ShootProof could take a few lessons from the up-and-comers.

Ah, the Internet. I have a love/hate relationship with the Internet. On one hand, I view it as my own personal world of opportunity providing me with free education, marketing, and entertainment. On the other hand, I view the Internet as a cold dark place full of criticism. But alas, I think of myself as a weenie. As a person, I’m emotionally driven rather than logically driven. It can be one of my greatest weaknesses, and sometimes one of my greatest strengths.

Getting to “yes.” It is the story of our lives. Whether pitching a client a new idea or nervously asking the woman you met at the corner store for a date, that sweet little three letter word can be pure music to our ears. But as we progress in life and the choices become more complicated, we realize that the questions themselves aren’t always so black and white. And, sometimes, our three letter friend isn’t always the right answer.

I am sure most of us look back on our lives and think, “You stupid idiot, what on earth possessed you to do/think/try that?” I am certainly no exception to this, especially in the professional arena. During my early years as a photographer, I made a heap of mistakes and I worried about all the wrong things.

It really doesn't matter what kind of photography you do if you get paid for your services I guarantee that at some point you will be faced with price objections from a client. If you haven't already you definitely should arm yourself with a few tactics for when the inevitable happens.