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Photography + Small Business + PIPA and SOPA = Death To An Industry

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted Why SOPA/PIPA Affect All Of Us to help you better understand two bills that were before congress and the impact they could have on us all. I’ve been involved in groups for the past couple of years that have been watching and fighting this “concept” as it makes its way through both state and federal levels again and again.

I was happy to see both tabled and not put forward for a vote. But again, they were merely tabled, not stopped. Which means they will surface again. And probably again.

So of course I keep following what people are saying and what industries support these types of bills – and which ones are against it.

I was very surprised a week or so ago when PPA came out with a post on their site and also proceeded to email it out to their members. If you haven’t read it, head over and read it now.

SOPA and PIPA – Don’t Be Fooled

There are many things wrong with this lines of thinking – so many I could literally go line by line. But the one item in particular that stands out to me is:

“So when a behemoth corporate money-maker like Google attempts to stand on the backs of photographers to increase its profits, we as your association take exception.”

Yes I will agree, Google is a huge money making company. Yet they stand up for keeping censorship at bay and work to give everyone free reign to promote and do as they will to make money as a small business. They work to keep the playing field as equal as possible for everyone online. Google isn’t alone – Wikipedia and others all have the same approach to Internet regulation. Which is why a great majority of them went dark to support defeating the SOPA and PIPA regulations. And will continue to do so again and again.

There are two ways of looking at business today: old school or innovative.

The Internet made old school obsolete. If you’ve ever read the book “Who Moved My Cheese”, old school associations and businesses are still in the old store room, looking for “cheese” that has long since disappeared. Yes, there are still ways of making money with old school thinking, but they are drying up quickly. Not just in photography, but in every industry out there – think newspapers and book publishing.

Yet the Internet is what is allowing small businesses to be truly innovative. You can use sites like Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Pinterest with simply an investment of time (occasionally a little money) and a whole lot of magic to create a business beyond your wildest dreams. Its you, your innovation, a little time, and magic can truly happen.

Who is threatened by that? Old school businesses who like things the way they always were. We will never go back to the way things were. The only way to move forward is to allow us to keep the playing field as equal as possible.

Here are how others are sounding off

The Foolish PPA is Pro PIPA and SOPA

An Open Letter to David Trust and PPA

Photographers Supposrt SOPA and PIPA?

Open Letter to PPA and David Trust

And a few statistics to show you where others stand:

SOPA and PIPA Internet Blackout Aftermath

What’s your opinion?

Filed Under: Future Trending Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

What Makes A Wedding Photojournalist Different Than A Wedding Photographer?

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What is the difference between wedding photojournalism and wedding photography? As we learned early on in our career, it’s a blurred line.

For many photographers, photojournalism simply means capturing the event as it happens. They pose the formals, and along the way throw in a few candids for good measure. Then they use those candids to promote themselves as a “photojournalist”.

But is that really photojournalism?

Not by my definition. I like how the Wedding Photojournalist Association says it:

What sets our members apart in the industry is their candid, documentary approach – a distinctly artistic vision toward wedding photography.

We offer a new perspective on wedding photography – quietly capturing the real moments as they happen for the bride and groom. It is our goal to use photography to tell the story of your wedding day, not dictate it for you.

Its How You Approach It

A candid is simply a photograph taken without the subject’s knowledge. And while a great deal of wedding images can be classified as candids, a selection of candids doesn’t mean you are a photojournalist. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Wedding Photography Tagged With: , , , ,

The Newest Beauty Secret … Fotoshop by Adobe

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Do you love parodies? Do you love finding the Photoshop mistakes they make in some of the biggest magazines in the world? Then you’ll love this – Fotoshop by Adobe

Released 5 days ago and already approaching 1 million views, this video will make you laugh at how unrealistic our expectations really are when it comes to beauty.

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Your Photography As We Know It Is Dying

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10 years ago the term “social media” had a completely different meaning then it does today.

Facebook? Twitter? What?

10 years ago things were changing – and they were changing rapidly. That much we knew.

But we had no idea how fast things would continue to change as we moved into a new era.

AOL had a huge market share. No more.

So did Microsoft. And General Motors. And Kodak.

But in every case we look at, something changed. Or in many cases, it didn’t change.

If we look at Google today, the reason it has become a huge player in the industry is because it never stops changing. It stays with its most successful product – a search engine – and continues to morph in all directions.

Facebook of six months ago is completely different than it is today. I know. I teach a Facebook class here at a local community college three to four times per year. Every time I begin the class I have to update it, and in some cases I have to completely rework my recommendations. It’s a never-ending evolution of growth and change – just like it should be.

The people at Google and at Facebook know the world is changing rapidly. And if they sit still too long, someone else will jump in and take their places. They are constantly moving, changing and morphing into the next phase of business.

And while its easy to see with companies in the technical sector, people tend to ignore the same changes in other industries and expect things to remain the same. Like photography for instance.

When digital first jumped into the scene, many photographers swore they would never make the change – they would retire long before they were ever required to pick up a digital camera or use a computer to manipulate an image.

And they were right. If you didn’t make the change and jump into it, life passed you by. They were forced to “retire” because they simply couldn’t keep up with what was happening – and expected – within the industry.

So the question for all of us now is

Who do you want to be? Do you want to be the AOL? Or do you want to be Facebook?

Are you ready to jump in and give things a try? Are you willing to test to find out what works and what doesn’t?

Not everything you do will win. Facebook tries many things, tests them for a while, and redesigns based on their findings. You may buy equipment, software, or online programs, only to find out they were a complete waste of time.

That’s okay. Because you learned something along the way. It made you focus in on your photography in a different way, learn something new, and apply it to the future of your business. Whether you continue using it or not, it will always be there guiding your future decisions.

Every step you take may not bring in a profit. But it will guide you towards success. The “wrong” moves teach you just as much as the right ones. But only if you apply it in the right way and use it to move you forward.

Filed Under: Facebook Tagged With: , , , , ,

Hey Photographer – Are You A Storyteller?

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One of the things that set us apart from other photographers early on was our storytelling. We didn’t believe photography was all we had to offer. Instead, we chose to take it to a different level and offer storytelling through our albums. We regularly sold three to five albums to our clients, so I guess they loved it as well.

Storytelling involves many things. It involves thinking ahead of time about what you want to capture. It involves understanding what will happen and being there ready and in position before it does. It also involves being ready for the unexpected as well.

Dig Deeper: 7 Tips For Visual Storytelling

I ran across a great series of videos today by Ira Glass who hosts This American Life on Public Radio. He has a series of four videos in which he goes over his ideas on what it takes to be a storyteller – all are good and worth listening to.

But it’s a compilation video that really caught my eye. The way its written can be an inspiration to any creative artist. It may be just what you need as you begin planning for a New Year.

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Is Photography A Possibility?

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We’re coming into the final stretch of 2011, and no matter where you sit today, one thing is for sure. 2011 has been filled with change.

This is the year we hit 7 billion people on earth. And while the number of people on earth is growing phenomenally every day, there is one thing that most are not doing: fulfilling their potential. People have the potential of changing the world, releasing their own uniqueness, and catapulting themselves into any direction they choose. Yet most aren’t. Why?

This past weekend was a “movie weekend” where many top notch films were released. Did you see any of them?

One of our favorites was the movie Hugo. If you haven’t seen it (or read the book), its about a boy who loses his family and ends up living in a train station. He ends up meeting a toy shop owner, his daughter, and their lives are entwined through a series of events set around the production of movies.

While I won’t give away the plot of the movie, one scene tied everything together, and stuck with me all weekend.

In it Hugo has a revelation. He sees the world as a machine. Every person on earth, everything we see and have around us, is here as a part of the machine. If one piece is missing, or broken, the machine can’t function the way its supposed to. So it’s up to every person to fulfill his or her passion, to fulfill their destiny in order to keep the machine working at 100 percent.

For just a moment, it makes you look at the world a little differently.

Not everyone here on earth is meant to be a Tony Robbins, the president of a large corporation, or even the President of a major country. Most people are here in supporting roles, and are meant to do one thing that will inspire the people around them, even if its only a handful of people.

So what if your destiny is photography? What are you doing to make it come true? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Start A Photo Business Tagged With: , , ,

The Biggest Assumption About Marketing – Are You Guilty?

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What is the first rule of thumb when it comes to marketing your photography?

Never, ever assume anything about anything. Ever.

Because the moment you assume someone knows something, chances are you’ll get your marketing all wrong. Because its almost never true.

Here’s why.

You’ve been dreaming about being a photographer for years. You might even have a strong business, and have been photographing clients for years. But as you live and breathe photography, it becomes a part of who you are. You think in shutter speeds and aperture settings. You look at the world through an imaginary lens – all the time. And you constantly look at how you can gain new clients by the marketing materials you produce.

But your prospects and customers haven’t. They don’t work in your office. They don’t read photography magazines. And chances are they haven’t thought much about the art of photography. She has other priorities. She’s living in her own world 24 hours a day, and that world probably doesn’t involve a lot of research in photography.

Until she’s ready for your services. Then she starts her investigation. But even at that level, every prospect will have a different way of doing things. Some will spend hours researching online. Some will be happy with a flyer they’ve received in the mail.

Which means some will be better educated than others. But the problem is you don’t know which is which. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Customer Service Tagged With: , , , , ,

4 Home Based Business Myths – Did You Fall For One Of Them?

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Ahhhh, living the life of a small business owner working from home. Nothing could be better, right?

There is an underlying expectation that comes with being a home based business owner.

  • You can work when you want, play when you want, sleep when you want.
  • You can work as much (or as little) as you choose.
  • You can do many things at once, including loads of laundry, taking care of home repairs, and watching over the kids.

And of course many more.

The problem with these assumptions is they simply aren’t fact; they are the “dream” people associate with running their own businesses out of their home. There are many misconceptions about what it takes to run a business out of your home; see if you’ve fallen for any of these myths, and learn what you can do change the outcome.

Anyone can start up a successful home based business

While anyone can start up a home based business at any time, not everyone will succeed. Success isn’t something your build over night; which means the majority of people that start small businesses out of their homes are in for months, even years of hard work in order to begin seeing success. Are you up for the challenge?

Dig Deeper: 8 Ways To Know If Your Are Meant To Be a Business Owner

When you start up a new business, there is a ton to take in. Some of it will be great advice, others not so much. The key is learning to filter out what works – and what doesn’t. Over time you’ll begin learning from everything you do, and applying it in a way that helps you grow just a little bit all the time. Once you start making money on a regular basis, and can see the effects what you do has on your bottom line – that’s when success finally happens. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Start A Photo Business Tagged With: , , , ,

How Google Analytics Can Help You Grow Your Business

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Want to know how your site is doing? Don’t guess at it. Instead, use one of the best free tools available today.

Google Analytics is a simple plug and play program that you can attach to your site or your blog, and will instantly give you information about how well your site is doing. It is simple enough that even the most novice of business owners can gain important information about their sites, and complex enough to give you sophisticated insight into how you can improve and grow your business even more.

You can find out where people are coming from, what they are doing once they get onto your site, and what was the outcome of people being on your site. You can build customized reports to gain the exact information you are looking for. You can track campaigns and keywords, and find out exactly what is motivating people to take action on your site. And so much more. There really are ways of tracking just about everything using this free tool.

Can you operate a website without Google Analytics? Of course. But with just a little insight into how efficiently your website is running, you can make changes and additions that will make it that much more effective.

Everyone knows that in order to succeed online, you have to gain traffic to your site. Analytics can help you track the type of traffic coming into your site and how effective it is. Let me give you some examples.

Quality versus Quantity

Are you getting thousands of hits per day on your site? Is that good?

If you sell 100 percent natural beef steaks and you have 100,000 hits per day, that sounds like great traffic. Unless all 100,000 of those visitors are vegan. With Analytics, you can see what your referring sites are, and track the number of people coming from each site. You can see how many people come in on a page, and how many leave without visiting any other place on your site. You can find out how many pages people click to after they enter your site, and the general direction they take – which pages have the highest view rates and which have the highest leaving rates. While this doesn’t provide exact information on a persons thought patterns, it can be insightful as to what material means the most. When patterns develop, you can quickly see what is missing and where you can fill in the blanks. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Website Marketing Tagged With: , , , , , ,

5 Ways To Stay Married To A Photographer

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There’s something about a photographer and his/her camera.

When they think of a new idea, take on a new assignment, or simply hear of “breaking news” across town, they are off and running with camera in hand.

That comes with the territory – its part of the job.

Unless you had a dinner planned, and you now have to cancel.

While every job has its ups and downs, a photographer tends to live and breathe photography 24 hours a day.

Yet that’s not good for you – or for your family.

As with every career, learning a few life balance tips early on can be the difference between having a family – or living life on the road alone.

Separate family time and work time

Even though you love what you do, and it’s enticing to head into the studio to Photoshop your last shoot, set up a schedule first and stick to it. While there will always be the little emergencies that come along, don’t make it a habit. Create a work and personal schedule and stick to it. We turn off our computers Friday night, and turn them back on Monday morning. While that took many months to train ourselves to stick to that schedule, we wouldn’t change it now for anything. We highly value our personal free time on the weekends. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Life Balance Tagged With: , , , , ,
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