Tag Archives: Business of Photography

Newspaper Death Spiral – The Monk’s Final Plea

December 5, 2008 – 3:44 pm

The main focus of this blog is to cover the business side of photography from a commercial and advertising perspective. I do, however, have a soft spot for a number of friends and colleagues who decided to go work for newspapers as well as the vast number of emerging photographers that were fed a good line from the educational and news institutions encouraging them that everything would be OK. It’s not that it was on purpose but, I feel, a product of the lack of understanding of economic forces combined with a zeal to tell important stories under the same conditions as the golden era of photojournalism.

I took a lot of flak and received as much praise for my previous posts for my rant on the community for engendering a false sense of hope in newcomers while not engaging in a practical discussion of business methods and other tools to help photographers transition into other fields in photography.

This doesn’t mean you can’t make it. Some of you will defy the odds, the odds of which are strongly against you. In any case, I wanted to revisit the discussion one last time and make my final plea for those of you who want to photograph for newspapers. Please, don’t do it. 

From the Baltimore Business Journal:

U.S. newspapers’ advertising revenue came in $2 billion lower for the third quarter than for the same period in 2007.

Ad dollars for print and online newspaper editions were $8.9 billion for the third quarter, down 18 percent from $10.9 billion for the third quarter of 2007, according to new numbers from the Newspaper Association of America, Print ads were down 19 percent and classified ads were off 31 percent quarter over quarter. Down car and home sales have cut into ad buys, and newer media forms continue to take a bite out of traditional ad buys. Still, online advertising was down 3 percent, according NAA.

 

I want to make an important distinction:

This is not a cyclical problem. It’s an industry problem that has been exacerbated by the current economic recession.

 

The decline of newspapers has been going on for decades and it’s been accelerating the past few years, including the more lucrative years before the financial crisis started. 

Do your research, look around for articles, it’s all there. But I strongly urge you to reconsider.

Although I’m certain journalism will be around long after this and future generations, one can’t deny the magnitude of the problem facing the industry. I really do feel for the entire generation of American journalists, but it’s time for a reality check. I don’t claim to know all the inner workings of newspapers and the business end of things. But I do have a solid grasp of business and economic principles…and it’s very risky to bet against the consistent and accelerated decline in revenue across the whole industry, especially in photography.

For what it’s worth,

 

The Monk

By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Editorial Photographer | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (1)

Working for Free? Nope. Just Good Business.

December 5, 2008 – 11:45 am

There’s an interesting post over at strobist.com about taking money out of the equation when building a portfolio. There’s a range of feedback in the comments from “inspirational” to “damaging.” Strobist isn’t the first to mention this style of thinking as others have stressed the idea of “giving more than you receive” to be downright smart business. 

Have a read.

My thoughts… 

I don’t think David is emphasizing the right thing. It’s how you frame the debate and I think he did it wrong…starting with the headline.

If you read the responses, most of them seem to come from the standpoint of photographers who agree with the idea…not business peope who understand the economics of doing “Free” work. What sense does that make?

“I agree with you, it’s an investment. By the way, I’m staying home with the kids while my wife works and I love shooting for free.”

That’s how a photographer thinks.

A businessman says, what is the cost/benefit of doing this?

One of the local guys who owns the fashion market here struggled for years to make it. Every year he shoots a fashion spread for a local monthly magazine. They pay about $200 a day. This guy makes a good amount of money each year, why would he take the money for local monthly? He loses or breaks even on the shoot.

He does it because the benefit outweighs the cost. He knows that all the ad execs read the magazine so they get to see his work. Earlier in the year he was called to shoot Tiger Woods in the same style he shoots the fashion spread. They saw his work in the local magazine. That’s good marketing and good business sense. So did he really loose money on it?

I think you do it if the benefit is more than the cost.
Here’s another idea. Let’s say you want to get into architechture photography but you have no portolio. You call up some hotels and tell them you’ll shoot them for free and they can use the images for promotions. You build a portfolio and build word of mouth, especially if they like them. Eventually you’ll have a book to show around and get more work and you’re already promoting yourself because if you’re smart you left cards and negotiated to have your name somewhere on the spread. Is that working for free?   

So that’s a distinction he needs to make more clear. Now we have people talking about free. It’s not free, it’s good marketing. The benefit outweighs the cost. If it doesn’t…like shooting a pie contest for the New York Times for $50, then don’t do it.

David needs to emphasize thinking like a business person…calling yourself one is different than calling yourself a photographer.

You get a return on that investment if you do it right. That said, I would never shoot a corporate/commercial job for “Free”

By Benjamin Reed | Posted in Advertising Photographer, Commercial Photographer, Editorial Photographer | Also 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 | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments (5)

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