Monthly Archives: October 2008

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The Future of Photojournalism – Readers Respond

October 24, 2008 – 11:06 pm

Reader J.K. -

“This is a piece of shit. You are posting this knowing full and well that a large number of your readers are 2-3 even on their 4th year in school… and you are absolutely smashing their dreams. Sure- tell them it’s hard… tell them what they won’t hear in school…Complaining to your colleagues about how hard your field is won’t get you anywhere. You make it sound like you are failing- when we all know that you are one of the few who is managing to make it work. Did you view it as a failure when you said you were finished with journalism? Did any of us view YOU as a failure when you made that announcement? No. You made a career choice… one that you couldn’t have without your background in photojournalism… regardless of where you learned it. So instead of telling your valued readers that their degree is worth nothing- and that they are headed into a black hole…why not inform them on how to make it work?”

……….

Great discussion going here and well said. I like your energy. I do embrace my background in photojournalism. It gave me great training and I’m able to shoot a variety of situations commercially because of it and I still do shoot editorially because I enjoy it. On the other hand I feel the educational system that produces photographers could do a better job at educating them on the difficulties they will face in addition to developing a keen business sense. It feels as if students are pushed through without having a real sense of what they face. My goal with this blog is to inform photographers old and young of things I’ve learned along the way…what I wish I had learned before jumping in. There’s some good insight on previous posts on my marketing strategies and things I’ve found helpful thus far. Stay tuned.

- Monk

_________________

Reader R.R. -

“Hey. I was just reading your posts about newspapers. It’s why I was desperate to get out–I saw the train wreck that has been this year coming. When I took my staff gig I thought we’d be safe bc we were already down to a skeletal staff, but not so!”

_________________

Reader J.L. -

“I guess your recent blog activity is just trying to draw some attention and hits to your blog or business??  Because its certainly not a real examination or anything resembling such difficult questions… all coming from a somewhat recent Mizzou graduate, if I’m not mistaken (despite whatever business context your previous vocation involved)??

I’m all for rants and the like — but they should be rooted in the context and realities of this industry, and yours have not been.  Of course Mizzou, Ohio, WKU aren’t geared for the massive changes and depression of the photography industry… they are set up to get their students real jobs, and “freelance” isn’t a job.  What are they supposed to tell parents after their son/daughter has spent 4 years and 80k on their “education”?  Mr. Rees, what can you tell our kid now that they graduated?… “Good luck in Brooklyn?!”

Of course newspapers are DOA… Duh.  But photojournalism is independent of that, and its a lot more complicated to read its pulse.  You would think that nearly 20 years after it was called dead the last time, people would learn better.  And “our generation” whatever that means… does read the paper, they just don’t read it in printed form.

Lastly, trying to draw out comparisons between celebrity popular culture and other artistic endeavors is an empty gesture.  Get real… movies vs. Pulitzer.  Pop songs vs. NY Philharmonic.  Peanuts vs. poet laureates. What a joke.

Anyway — having a bag of bullet points doesn’t mean much if you don’t have anything new to say, or any solutions to offer — especially if you audience seems to largely be a bunch of kids in school during an extremely difficult time for photography.”

……….

Great response. There is certainly a distinction between photojournalism and newspapers jobs. My main focus in this post is on newspaper jobs, which naturally encompasses photojournalism. I think we can agree newspapers are done. Not for everyone, but many. Of course this is not new information to current practitioners but it is to some of those starting out.

I’ll go back to my fundamental argument. If we know the industry is suffering and the odds of making it are difficult, why not arm students with more than how to take photographs and tell stories? Why not teach them pertinent business skills in addition to capturing moments? Why not have the discussion (involving parents) with them that even though they might be the best, they still might not make it? This doesn’t happen enough, if at all.

Certainly there can be more resources directed towards enriching this part of the education. Freelance vs. having a job misses the point in my opinion. With over 50% (BLS) of photographers eventually working for themselves (a number higher than almost any other industry) it makes no sense why the economics are rarely discussed in the classroom. Thus, the extreme example of celebrities vs news photos. It’s extreme, of course as my preface noted, it does however illustrate where the economic value of images in our society lies…and it’s not in news in my opinion. Salaries and stock sales validate that.

What happens when they get laid off and that’s all they know? Wouldn’t it be good to have an understanding of business in photography? I can guarantee the solutions (no matter how scant they are) presented here on previous posts regarding marketing and business practices are more than students are given in their entire 4 years. And I think that’s a shame.

- Monk

_______________

Reader S.G. -

Have you noted that the two most successful photographers to come out of Mizzou recently were undergrads who majored in something else, like business?

_______________

Reader K.H. -

Since we’re being honest, let’s be real honest: journalism is a bullshit career to begin with. It’s where you end up if you don’t actually want to learn anything in school. It’s what you do if you need a job that you can be half drunk all day and nobody will notice a dip in your productivity.

What’s more bullshit as a career than writing about what people did yesterday? Taking pictures of what people did yesterday. You don’t even need to know how to spell.

Is it any wonder that so many people go into journalism? You don’t need to take calculus in college, or physics, or quantitative analysis or any other class that teaches you a skill. When you get on the job—if you get a job—you follow a few simple rules like: don’t coach the subject (the Brits I work with think this is the funniest thing that Americans ever came up with), get their names and don’t clone in images of soldiers. Other than that, nobody really knows the difference between a good shot and a bad shot. The reader certainly can’t tell.

Somebody needs to tell the next generation of kids not to expect jobs if they choose journalism as a career. Preach on Monk; preach on.

-Knox Harrington

If you want to change the world start a hedge fund.

…………

Wow. Well, it’s your point of view, but I’ll post it for the sake of discussion.

- Monk

_______________

Reader S.R.

…I did take calculus in college.  I even taught algebra. Glad your doing this “Monk”, it is good stuff.  Thanks for sharing your business insights with us.  Fully agree that it is shameful that they don’t teach a photography business course at MU.  Hope I can buy you all a drink sometime in the future.  I’ll be working double-shifts at Chilis though to finance my personal projects of course, but maybe we can fit it in somewhere.  Hope you all are well.

……….

By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Personal, Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (3)

The Future of Photojournalism – Game Over ?

October 24, 2008 – 4:28 pm

It’s no secret photography is a career where only the very best will make it. I know a fair number of young photojournalists read this blog regularly so I want to be straight with those of you who might not have heard it yet.

Are you ready?

There’s no future as a newspaper photographer in the United States.

Let’s look at a few trends.

  • Newspaper circulation has been declining for over 20 years.
  • Newspaper photographer salaries had more worth in the 1960s than they do now.
  • Newspaper journalists in general show a decline in job satisfaction.


Now, I know there are some of you who are unshakable. Photojournalism is the only thing you can imagine doing for the rest of your life. It’s in your blood. When you’re bored, you’re looking at stories to shoot and going to workshops and entering contests. There’s a very strong and understanding community for you out there. They understand why you’re in it and what you hope to accomplish. You feel that you are doing some good in the world. That your images will make a difference in someone’s life and that’s worth it for you. You might even be willing to give up family life and friends to make that difference.

I won’t argue that the training is practical and can be used in a variety of visual fields. But it has little economic value when you’re on your own trying to make it. Newspapers may be a stable income now, but the future looks very gloomy…and freelance does as well. There’s really no ‘thriving’ market for your pictures out there with the number of shooters on the scene these days. Not enough to make a stellar living at least. You know it’s a crazy industry when former Photographers of the Year, Magnum photographers, National Geographic Photographers and A-game shooters still have to shoot weddings to make it. The average person doesn’t want to look at people dying, kids in wheel chairs, the homeless, the latest disease that everybody wants to enter in the contests (autism).

Take for example the picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s kids that sold for millions. It has value to our society, whether it makes sense or not.

I’ll give you an extreme example. Supply and demand is what sets the price in our society. As you’ve read in previous posts, the market is saturated with photographers and pictures. There are billions of images floating around out there.

The barriers to entry have never been lower. Anyone can buy a camera, anyone can sell images. We can safely assume there will be even more images in the market in the future. Yes, pictures will be in more demand but supply is outstripping demand and will continue to do so. Because of this massive supply, the pressure on prices will  continue to drop and your services will be less in need at their current prices.

Compare this to the demand of Brad and Angelina’s twins. One pair of famous people. One set of famous kids. One photographer has the pictures. How much will the market pay for that? Apparently $14 million.

An extreme example, of course. But it illustrates the point. Much of the world we live in operates on market principles. If you understand your market, you understand the demand for your products.

If you’re already making it you know that to stay afloat, you have to supply your customers with what they WANT not what you THINK they should see or what you LIKE shooting.

So, I want to caution you for getting too involved in the “I want to change the world people have to have their stories told argument,” because I don’t want you to live at home with your parents.

Try a few of these tests out to see if people care as much about photojournalism as they used to:

1. Ask 10 people, who don’t know a thing about photography or journalism, to name one Pulitzer winner in the last 10 years.

2. Ask that same group if they can name a picture that won a Pulitzer in the last 10 years…20 years? What about one Oscar winner in the past 10 years? See my point?

3. Compare fictional movies about social issues to photo stories about social issues and, be honest, ask yourself which has more impact on generating a social dialogue.

(Remember that movie Blood Diamond? Photo stories have been done for years on that topic. Nobody cared. Then the movie came out and it’s all over CNN for a week and jewelry stores started putting up signs, “We Don’t Sell Conflict Diamonds.”

4. Compare the shelf life of a newspaper image (1 day) with an advertising picture (weeks and months) or an image in a book (forever). What has more value?

Make sense? Supply and Demand. Newspapers have dwindling demand. Images have increasing supply. Prices are going DOWN!

I’m not saying (photo)journalism is dead. I’m saying there’s no economic future in it for most people. It will always be around. It’s part of the fabric of this country.

What I am saying is don’t worry so much about complicated layering, impressing your peers and producing difficult images but focus rather on your business sense. Work on your lighting skills, portraiture, business acumen, marketing, video production. Understand what has demand in the marketplace and provide it.

If you still want to be a photojournalist, you should. If it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood. But really think hard about it. I think a viable option might be to move to a European country like Denmark or an Asian country like India. Their newspaper industry is still thriving…you’ll probably make a better living because of unionization and higher demand for print.

Your Friend,

The Monk

Update 10/24/2008: New Jersey Star-Ledger Cuts Staff in Half


By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Personal, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)

The Business Of Photography Unexplained – A Rant Against Photography Programs

October 21, 2008 – 10:47 pm

“If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies…”

- Albert Einstein
____________________________________________________

I received another call this month. Another cry for help. Making the average now about once per month since the beginning of the year. Calls from from recent graduates and emerging photographers trying to figure out how to make it as a photographer, how to market themselves, how to understand the business of photography.

Rather than regurgitate my conversations, I’d like to take the time to call out a few of the photography programs out there (including my Alma Mater) that don’t require their curriculum to include a business in photography course. I’d like to scold you for allowing students to graduate without an understanding of how the real world works, while instead instilling a glorified ideological viewpoint from the ivory tower.

A quick look at the curriculum in some of the best photojournalism programs (Ohio, Missouri, Western Kentucky) shows few if any courses related to business practices. None are required. Art and technology programs (RIT, RISD, Art Institute of Chicago), same story. If the courses are offered, graduates often say they are boring, impractical and not worth attending. Instructors urge students to assist and learn business practices from established photographers and place emphasis for learning after graduation. I recently spoke to a graduate of RIT who said it was one of the least helpful classes they attended at the school.

So let me get this straight. Most photographers would agree that photography is a business. To make it, you need to understand how to run a business and market yourself. Yet, many of the best schools out there are not emphasizing the importance of this in their education and telling students to learn it from people who don’t know it very well?

We are working in a field where istockphoto is the most popular stock agency in terms of web traffic. We are negotiating with Art Buyers who are increasingly asking us to own the full copyrights to our images. Newspapers are laying photographers off…again. Ad revenues are in decline with the recent economic downturn. The line between amateur and pro is diminishing because of lower barriers to entry into the field…and schools are saturating the market full of photographers who don’t understand their own businesses?

You should be ashamed.

You should be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies.

You are hurting this field and endangering your students by ignoring this essential part of their education.

You are making my phone bills higher.

Come on! It’s not that hard. Why not require them to leave school with a business plan AND marketing plan in hand along with a portfolio?

Photography is sink or swim. You’re not even giving them floaties.

The Monk


By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)

Time To Revist?

October 19, 2008 – 7:59 pm

Nearly two years ago, PDN presented it’s salary survey of players in the  advertising photography world. I wonder how the numbers hold up today with changes in digital imaging and advances in online advertising. It would be interesting to say the least. In any case, here is the old survey.

By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Comments (2)

Marketing Your Photography – How To Get Noticed

October 19, 2008 – 7:21 pm

I sit on the board of Advertising Photographers of America for the NW region. We recently had a fantastic team of marketing gurus talk to established and aspiring photographers on how to reach art buyers and art directors. I thought I’d summarize some points that came up and add some of my own thoughts

Get A Website

Buyers are using online tools more than in the past. The old school method of sourcebooks aren’t as popular. Mostly because of time. Follow these guidelines for your site.

•    Have A Clear Point of View
•    Makt It Easy To Navigate
•    Be Creative
•    Post Clear Contact Information
•    Post A List of Clients and Projects

Keep Your Book Around

Having a website doesn’t mean you should go all digital. There’s still value to having a print book available. Clients want to see how your work shows up when it’s printed. Keep these tips in mind when shaping your portfolio. Strong Portfolios Should:

•    Be Creative
•    Be Organized
•    Show a Clear Point of View
•    Not Be In a Case That’s Better Than What’s Inside
•    Be A Display of a Variety of Work To Highlight Your Skillset (20-30 images)
•    Be Edited and Current

Make sure to pay for shipping costs both ways if you offered the book to your potential customer. If they ask for it however, they pay for the return.

Online Portfolio Sites

These can be expensive but with printed sourcebooks moving aside for the digital age. Art buyers and art directors can perform advanced searches for the right photographer to save time. Here are some of the more popular online sourcebooks.

Workbook
Photoserve
Altpick
Blackbook

Self Promotional Pieces – Email and Print

•    Make sure your pieces are relevant to the person who is receiving it.
•    Make it easily accessible and easy to view – A clear envelope is a good idea for example.
•    Send these regularly to list of buyers that you have also sent an email to.

Networking

Make personal visits with your target market without over doing it but don’t call incessantly.
Make sure you research each person before you go in. Know their work and recent success and how you can help them capitalize on your talents.

On a side note, right now is a very good time to meet in person with reps and buyers because of the slow economic conditions. With a slow economy comes slow ad spending. Your customers, buyers and directors, are going to have more time with a slow down in work. Get in there!

You also need to keep in touch with past clients. This is highly important. Most of the work in your career will come from word of mouth. “Hey, do you know a photographer who can XXX?” “Yeah, this girl is great, we used her for XXX and she keeps in touch to see what we’ve been up to.”

Personal work

NSS – Never Stop Shooting. I got a tip this week that adidas was looking for a particular type of shot but didn’t have any idea who to use or how to do it. I met with some friends to brainstorm a concept and shoot it over the weekend. We presented it to the company to see if they could use it. Not only did we enhance our creative problem solving but re-introduced our team to a client.

You should never stop shooting. Evolve and grow.

Consider Working With A Rep

When Looking For a Rep:
•    Market to a rep within your specialty. A rep wants to brand you to see where a good fit is.
•    Make sure they don’t already have someone who does what you do. Give them work in which they can expand the pie.
•    Don’t make fancy books…it’s what’s inside that counts.
•    Don’t undersell yourself. If you lower your price, you can get stuck there.

Win Contests - Everybody Loves A Winner

Contests lend credibility to your work and provide name recognition for you business.

Practice Good Business Acumen

Before you take on your marketing plan. Take some time to understand who is your target audience, what brands you want to work with, how can you make your promotions and assignment work different.  Answering these questions is how you get noticed.

In Summary

Word of Mouth is huge. Network. Never Stop Shooting. Never Stop Marketing. Never Stop Talking to (Existing) Customers.


By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

Meeting Your Maker – Part 2

October 15, 2008 – 9:46 am

Reader Kristina Snyder of Snyder and Company notes,

“Interesting info on your blog, my open return on Adbase has always hovered in the 15 – 25% range with an open return of at least 8-10%. This supports my theory that if you are established and have a brand that people like, they will look.”

 I agree. Make your brand identity work for you in your marketing plan. Be sure to make a stop over at Snyder and Company, they’re doing some great work there.

 

Reader TY says,

“Well a list of emails that aren’t your own that you have no relationship with is a complete waste of time. But if you build your own list there’s a lot of value in marketing to it. Never mail to a list of emails that you have no idea where they came from. It’s mostly junk or fake names.

Besides that just get a nice marketing system and you won’t have to do the “hard” work of cold calling or the old school methods that aren’t really effective anymore. “

 

More thoughts?


By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

Meeting Your Maker – A Review of Promotional Email Strategies

October 12, 2008 – 9:41 pm

Contact management firm, ADBASE, recently announced its Art Buyer Lounge Series, a series of podcasts and interviews on how photographers can market themselves to the people who give them work. It’s a great marketing strategy for the company as it repeatedly invites you to join the service but the information is also worth the while to listen to.

For those of you just starting out or short on time, here’s a quick synopsis of how to effectively market yourself using email campaigns.

  • Your subject line should be short and specific – state your name and what you are promoting in less than 35 characters. Example: New Nike Ad from Benjamin Reed. Why? So they can archive it and come back a few months later.
  • Choose strong images in your emails. No Brainer. The work is what sells you.
  • Attachments are lame, clog inboxes and turn buyers off. If they see anything over-sized…later. Keep your size below 500kb as a general rule of thumb.
  • Include pertinent info: name, contact info and of course a link to your site.
  • spel Chek. Spell Check.
  • Buyers really do want to see new work…but only if it relates to the product they need promoted. Do your research on what accounts they have and why you would be a good fit. Don’t give yourself a bad name sending the wrong images to the wrong people. You’re no different than a porn spammer with that strategy.
  • Test your email with people who are honest and critical. They must be absolutely ruthless. Make sure links work, words are concise, etc.
  • Send your email to a targeted group of buyers for the highest response rates.
  • Instead of sharing that you know a buyer has seen your site, send a direct mail piece or another email. In other words, don’t be a stalker.

These points are must haves. If you think about it, buyers have over 100 emails from artists each day. Most come in and delete the lot of crap before they get to their actual company mail. They don’t have time so don’t give them a reason to delete your promos. You worked hard and spent money to put your campaign together. Do yourself a favor and be professional.

Is It Worth Your Time?

I’ve never been a fan of unsolicited promotional materials to potential clients due to the expense and maintenance of lists. ADBASE’s own online survey shows email promos don’t work very well.

  • 39% of people surveyed had a 1-2% open rate.
  • 25% had a 3-4% rate.
  • 21% had 5-9% rate.
  • 8% had a 10-15%
  • 6% had a 15% rate.

That means despite spending hundreds or thousands on buyer lists and email campaigns the majority of photographers and illustrators don’t convince busy ad buyers and art directors to even open their emails, let alone, click on their sites. I’ve heard the argument that one job alone pays for the service. But when similar lists are available in publications like Photographer’s Market and online sources, it’s hard to justify spending the money for the access but it can save you time.

The benefit is having a digital database constantly updated with the latest contacts and the ability to create targeted lists. Agency Access offers a similar services which contain lists outside of the U.S. These services charge for access to a list which, as mentioned, is very expensive – around $1,000 for a full year of unlimited access. If you want to send emails through them or direct mail services…more $$$.

If you decide you really need the list, the most cost effective way to market yourself would be to make your own email promos with HTML or use a service like Constant Contact or Ennect although these services want you to agree that you won’t send unsolicted (spam) mail to lists or risk being black listed. You have to decide if it’s worth your time and money to use these services. I’ve personally found them unjustifiable given the expense.

Recommendation

Unsolicited marketing has one of the worst records in terms of generating new business, but I understand the appeal for a quick and easy way to find contacts. But remember, we’re talking low percentage (1-5 %) responses with high out of pocket costs. For someone starting out or trying to expand their client base go for a more cost effective and higher response strategy.

You’ve heard it before – it’s networking and non-media marketing that works best. Here are some ideas:

  • Join associations like APA and ASMP to network with other photographers and attend meetings where you get direct access to buyers and directors.
  • Send business to other photographers you meet there and they’ll respond with referrals as well.
  • Meet face to face with buyers and directors to show your portfolios. Your response rate is higher and you get to meet your maker. While many argue they hate cold calls, the odds are in your favor they will agree to hold a quick meeting to review your work. It happens every day in the major ad cities like New York and Los Angeles. Another benefit is you have your work critiqued right there. To increase your chances, and this is very important, give a time-line of your availability. In fact, Lisa Oropallo at Digitas says she is more likely to sit down with someone who calls and says, “I’m only in town for a week…or I’m in from Europe.”
  • Get listed in the sourcebooks online. Times have changed. The world is faster and needs everything now! Workbook, PDN’s Photoserve, Communication Arts’ Creative Hot List are all services that buyers check when they need talent. While expensive, there’s a reason. It usually keeps out the crap and buyers can search directly what they need. Why go through a box of promos if you can search online for exactly what you want?
  • Get a rep to partner with you and market yourself. If you’re new to the advertising world, this is a great way to add legitimacy to your work. In all honesty, the chances of you being picked up when nobody knows who you are, are small. Prodigies excluded. First, accept that email and direct promos aren’t going to get you there. They might, but again the cost benefit is extremely lop-sided towards cost. So what can a rep do? It gives your maker a warranty. When you buy a car and you don’t know much about the brand, what get’s you to buy it? 100,000 mile warranties, free tune-ups, etc. A rep is your warranty to a buyer. They need to know you can produce a shoot…that you’re a good person to work with and you are consistent. Photographers have a terrible reputation for being cocky and difficult to work with.
  • NSS. Never Stop Shooting. I’ve heard it so many times before. “How can I get more work? Why don’t they call me back? I can’t improve my portfolio if I don’t get work.” It might be because you’re sitting on your ass waiting around. Get out there and shoot! You don’t need money for that. You have friends and they have friends and those friends know people. Shoot them. People love to be photographed. You can practice producing your shoots and put the images on a stock site and in your portfolio. There’s no downside to NSS. You’re improving your style and there’s a financial upside. And guess what? The people you NSS will tell their friends you’re a photographer…one of them will know someone who will call you up to photograph something that pays you. It’s another form of marketing and it’s more powerful than your e-mail campaign would’ve been.

We work in a strange business where the typical rules to marketing don’t apply. Every shooter forges her own path to success. The one thing that’s hard to argue against, however, is the power of non-media marketing.

The Monk


By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Advertising Photographer, Commercial Photographer | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (3)

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