Ultimate guide starting your photography business by Elie Angles

TABLE of CONTENTS PART I 4

Intro

The 4 Most Important Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Business

Tips to Manage Your Finances & Come Out on Top

Video: 11 Essential Tips for Freelance Photographers

PART II 13

What I learned in Year One as a Photographer: Kyle Johnson

How to Turn a Passion Project Into a Business: Jade Beall

Using Social Media to Grow Your Audience: Nicholas Goodden

Secrets to Selling Your Photography: Gary Crabbe

Conclusion & Resources

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PART I

Intro

ongratulations! You’ve decided you want to start a photography business. Now what? Whether you’re dreaming of shooting photography part time for local publications, opening your own a brick-and-mortar studio, or traveling for a living, running a photography business is, at the of the day, well, a business. From marketing to accounting to negotiating, there may be some days that you never touch a camera. It may seem like unfamiliar territory, but spending time honing your business skills will pay off in the long run. To compile this guide, we’ve talked to a range of professional photographers, from the established to the emerging, to get their take on what it takes to make a photography business work. First, here are some essential steps they recommend taking to get started.

FIRST, DEFINE YOURSELF Most of the photographers we talked to pointed out the importance of finding a niche for yourself. Identifying a focus will help you target your marketing efforts and set you apart from other photographers. Do you want to work for organizations, like publications and corporate clients? Or would you rather shoot things like weddings and portraits for individuals? Is there a subject matter you’re drawn to—sports, nature, fashion, food—or a type of photography, like black and white, aerial or macro, that really excites you? Specializing will help focus your marketing efforts and ultimately draw in more quality clients.

BE A GOAL GETTER If you’ve got your niche nailed down, it’s time to do some old-fashioned goal setting. What do you want your photography business to look like in five or 10 years? What kinds of clients do you want to be working for? Where do you want your work to end up? Once you get some broad, long-term goals, break that down into steps that will help you get there. It’s a good idea to write your goals down and check in with yourself every six months or so to see the both the progress you’ve made and where you may have veered off your path.

BUILD A PORTFOLIO You have to show work to get work, so building a strong portfolio and website is one of your most important business investments (hey PhotoShelter!). Think about the niche you want to work in and do everything you can to make sure the work you show potential clients reflects that vision you have for yourself. If you don’t have any published work, give yourself an “assignment,” shoot for friends or look for an internship. Our guide, Creating a Successful Photography Portfolio, is packed with more tips to check out on putting together a great portfolio.

NETWORK LIKE CRAZY Even though you may still be building a body of work, don’t put off building a network. Whether you connect with potential clients and fellow photographers via social media or in person, a strong network is the lifeblood of any thriving photography business. “Keep in mind we've gone past the days of sales techniques where you cold call people and you twist people's

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arm to come and see what you're doing,” says Londonbased photographer Nicholas Goodden. “You've got to dig a little bit further and make people first like you and trust you and think of you as someone who actually knows what he's talking about. That's what I try and do.” When Seattle-based photographer Kyle Johnson was starting out, he researched photographers on Tumblr in other cities who were doing similar work, then reached out to them. Those steps eventually led one of his contacts to send work his way in Seattle and help him set up meetings with photo editors in New York.

DON’T FORGET THE BASICS

one walked by and said, ‘I'll buy that from you.’” A week later, Crabbe showed the client his slides, and he picked one for a 16 x 24" print. “Even though it was my first sale, I didn't sell it cheaply, and made almost $350,” he said. “That was a huge validation that other people could appreciate and were willing to purchase my photography.” Both of these stories show the importance of acting like a professional from the beginning, even before you land a paying client. “Being a professional isn't just the fact that you're doing something for money,” says Crabbe. “It's also a state of mind, as well as a way of presenting yourself and communicating with others.”

We can’t reiterate it enough: Just because you’re a photographer doesn’t mean you can neglect the business side. Writing a business plan, learning about the insurance you might need, and getting straight about taxes (see page 9), are three of the most important things to focus on. At the same time, don’t forget your technical photography skills either. Attend workshops, work on a passion project, discuss your work with other photographers, challenge yourself.

LANDING YOUR FIRST CLIENT Even the most successful photographers were in your shoes at one time—wondering where they would get their first client. Goodden, credits “pure luck” for scoring his first jobs, but he actually used a clever technique to inspire trust: testimonials on his website. “I think testimonials are the easiest way to provide assurance,” he says. “Before I got my first clients, my testimonials were from people who had dealt with and were happy with me.” Veteran landscape photographer Gary Crabbe’s first print sale happened before he even took the photo. “I was setting up to shoot a shot at a local reservoir when some-

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PART I

The 4 Most Important Questions to Ask Before Launching Your Business

e want to help you think through key areas to help launch your photo business and reach more potential clients. Starting your photography business is a process, which means there is no one-stop-shop formula for success to “hit the jackpot.” But the good news is that if you plug away in a few major areas, you’ll start to solidify your brand, attract more eyeballs to your website, and be top-of-mind for potential buyers and clients. Here are four major questions you should address to help build a strong photo business:

in income. What then? Well, you’ll still want to clearly define each audience for each specialty you have—and you’ll want to have a marketing strategy suited for each as well. A one-size- fits-all approach may cause confusion or a feeling among prospective clients that you’re really not the “expert” at any one thing—or at least at the thing they care most about. In short, they won’t find you relevant for their needs. Truly understanding your target market also gives you several advantages. Most importantly, you know what appeals to them. DO THIS To define your target audience, write out answers to the following questions:

1. WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Defining and understanding your audience is crucial to shaping your business, your products, your brand, and your marketing efforts as whole. Without clearly defining who you’re targeting, you can’t clearly define why you’re reaching out to certain folks over others. As a result, your business will lack focus (at best) and look sloppy and out of sync (at worst). For example, if you’re a landscape photographer, your audience isn’t women’s lifestyle and fashion editors. This may seem obvious, but being able to clearly articulate who you’re targeting (and not targeting) will help you strategically focus your services and marketing efforts to appeal to the right group. What may not be as obvious is the case of the photographer who has multiple specialties, as many (if not most) do these days. You may do editorial work during the week but shoot weddings on the weekends for that extra bump

»» What are their likes and dislikes? »» What are their buying habits and seasons? »» What kind of photography do they consume and why? »» How old are they? »» What is their income level? »» Where do they live? »» What are their hobbies? »» Where do they hang out? (online and off) »» What are their major needs and pain points? The last one is especially key. If you’re unaware of your target market’s key pain points and needs, it’s OK to ask directly. Find a handful of folks in this community—

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essentially an informal focus group—and ask about their buying habits, issues they encounter, and more. Next, think through the services and products you provide. Then brainstorm a list of ways in which those services and products are relevant to your target audience. How can your business satisfy a need of theirs? How do your competitors fail to meet them?

2. WHAT IS YOUR ADVANTAGE? As you get a hold on your audience’s needs, this will help you identify your unique selling point—or what your business offers that helps you stand out from the pack and to keep you top of mind. Differentiating your brand and your services from your competitors can be the ultimate key to getting new business through the door. So, first you need to make a determination: What is it that you offer your target customers? Can you clearly state this? Is your unique offering based on a specialty (e.g. underwater photography) or certain access (e.g. US military) or skill (e.g. lighting)? Or, is your unique offering based on the service delivered or tangible product the customer will be purchasing (e.g. boudoir portrait sessions or photo-wrapped Mini Coopers)? A good first step to determine your unique selling point is to survey your competition and determine whether they have service offerings that you could replicate and then improve upon. Next, if you sell products, analyze what has sold for you in the past year. Can you pinpoint why they sold well? What about those products was attractive to buyers? Also, think about the clients or projects that have been particularly successful. What about these projects made them so? Focus in on these factors or traits and make them known to your clients and prospects. DO THIS

»» After you’ve thought through the identity of your target market and how your business can address their needs, write out a statement that clearly defines your services, products, and audience. Fill in the blanks here: “For (your target market) who wants / needs (reason to buy your product/service), (your name, business, product or service) is a (specialty) photographer that provides (your key benefit). Unlike other photographers in this space, my key differentiator is (how you uniquely address the client’s needs).”

»» Note: This is your positioning statement—it can also be considered your “elevator pitch”—or what you can say when you get just a few moments to convince a prospect they should hire you for their next project.

3. WHAT’S YOUR MARKETING PLAN? Your potential clients are just as busy as you are, which means you need a strategy to make it easier for them to find and work with you. Creating a full-scale marketing plan may sound daunting, but sitting down to flesh out a strategy to reach your target market is key to making marketing a business-as-usual activity instead of an intimidating task you’d prefer to put off. We recommend you think about each marketing category (see below) and consider activities you can do within each and the return that each activity may produce. When you think about these activities, consider how people in different parts of the “sales cycle” would react. For example, you might send a postcard to photo buyers and editors you’ve causally connected with this past year, but put together a photo book to send your “top 10” contacts to make a longer lasting impression. DO THIS Make a list of major marketing categories that you think you can reasonably address and your budget will allow. Some categories we recommend considering are:

»» Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) »» Direct mail (postcards, books) »» Events (trade shows, portfolio reviews) »» Email marketing (email newsletters, promotions) »» Local advertising (ads in local newspapers, magazines, etc) With the categories you address, create a spreadsheet with some activities you’ll do in each, rough estimates of the time you think you may spend on them per week, and the associated costs. How can you begin to integrate these marketing efforts into your weekly and daily routines? Prioritize them according a balance between their cost and response they are likely to produce.

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4. IS YOUR WEBSITE AS GREAT AS YOU ARE? When it comes to your photography business, your website is everything. It’s your greatest marketing tool. It’s your virtual business card, a reflection of your professionalism, and (should be) a way to easily connect with you or transact with clients who want to license your work or buy your prints and products. So as a first step, if you don’t consider your website as the pinnacle tool of your business, then it’s time to start. Think about your own experience online. As soon as you come to a site that feels stale and out of date, you’re inclined to click out. To keep your own site fresh, you want to plan out a series of regular updates—refreshing a portfolio or gallery, a new blog post on your latest shoot, etc. Regularly updating your website can also help improve your ranking on major search engines, which rank sites with fresh content favorably. To have a competitive and highly functional website, here are a few items your site should have:

>>Clear contact information and “About” page >>Well organized portfolio sections or galleries >>E-commerce capabilities (if you sell prints or stock) >>File delivery (so you can send files to clients with your brand) >>Blog that is updated regularly (we recommend at least once a week)

DO THIS

»» To help inform what part of your site to tackle first, use a tool like Google Analytics to track which content is most compelling to new visitors and which content people rarely click on.

»» Approach your website from the point of view of a potential buyer. We surveyed over 5,000 photo buyers worldwide who told us features of websites they prefer to see. See details in our Survey: What Buyers Want from Photographers and determine if your site hits the mark. If you’re unsure, consider hiring a website consultant to determine how you can improve your site from a functional and aesthetic standpoint.

Determining the needs of your audience, articulating your unique selling point, fleshing out a marketing plan, and optimizing your website are the pillars of great photography business. The most important thing to remember, though, is that a thriving business doesn’t happen overnight. Smart planning and research can be just as important as smart execution.

Website by Lindsay Adler

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PART I

Tips to Manage Your Finances & Come Out on Top

f you’ve never started a business before, understanding taxes, how to file your company, and what you can write-off, can be both overwhelming and complicated. To help you out, we chatted with the Tax Ninja, aka Matthew T. Whatley, who has been helping photographers and other small business owners in the arts manage their finances since 2004. The Tax Ninja is very well versed in the issues photographers encounter when it comes to write-offs and income declaration. Matthew talked with us about common tax mistakes professional photographers make, how they can prep now to save money later, and when to invest in new gear.

1. FIRST, GET ORGANIZED. The first step in becoming a tax ninja yourself is getting organized. Save receipts and keep accurate records of your expenses (and above all, schedule time to do it). For those in the U.S., the easiest thing to do, says Matthew, is to open a separate business account. Use a credit card associated with that account for every expense. Now is the time to really assess your business. What are your expenses? What are your tools? What gear do you have, and what do you need? Where is your office (in the kitchen or local coffee shop), and how are you getting there?

Keep track of the details: Be aware of exactly how much you're making and how much you're spending.

DO THIS

»» Open a business account (separate bank account, separate credit card). Use the bank card or credit card for any and all business-related expenses. This way keeping track of your expenditures will be greatly simplified. “So that you can tell us,” says Matthew, “if you spent $3.95 at Walgreens and whether you purchased paper clips for your business or a couple of sodas. You won’t miss any of the minor details.”

»» Keep a mileage log in your car (looking back through your calendar or email at the very least can help figure out where you went and why). “Unless you use a vehicle 100 percent for business, you’re not going to be able to write off all the costs of the vehicle. You’re going to have a personal versus business amount of write-off,” says Matthew. So when you’re heading to a job, start counting.

»» Keep track of the details: It sounds simple, but be aware of exactly how much you’re making and how much you’re spending—even if it’s paper clips and envelopes. “The sum total of all the little things are usually what saves you,” says Matthew. “That’s where you get 10 to 20 percent tax savings out of your preparation.”

2. KNOW YOUR WRITE-OFFS. This is what stumps photographers the most. But figuring out what you can and can’t write off can be as simple as reviewing an itemized tax form. For those based in the United States, if you want a little help, check out the Tax Ninja’s form. “The general rule is, if it’s ordinary and necessary for your business and the generation of its income, it can become a write-off.”

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

»» Find an accountant. If this all sounds daunting, no need to fret. “If someone is afraid of doing

I DO THIS

»» Write off all meals on a business trip when you travel over 50 miles from home. »» Only write off meals that directly relate to business—schmoozing clients or taking a client to lunch.

»» Write off the correct percentage of your home for an at-home office. If you keep a room with no personal use items (your DVD collection or that NordicTrack you still need to offload) then you can write-off the proportion of your business use of your home. If it’s a quarter of your living space then you can deduct a quarter of the rent…and the utilities, and the cleaning bills, and your Internet, trash collection, etc.

»» Combine work and play. Are you going on vacation but intend to build your portfolio of stock images by taking pictures each day? That could make it a write-offable trip. “An example of that is a food blog,” says Matthew. You photograph and blog about everything you eat and drink. Or, maybe you’re learning cinematography by reading an industry magazine or watching an online tutorial you had to pay for. Yep, write that off. As Matthew says, as a general rule, “Think in advance how you’re going to make it an expense.”

something, they should have someone do it for them,” says Matthew. Start by asking friends or searching online at peer-reviewed sites (Angie’s List, Yelp.com). When you find someone who looks good, ask how long they’ve been in business, how much they know about the business of photography, and how much they charge. This can vary quite a bit.

»» Read and become familiar with a Schedule C, which lists deductible items. »» Invest in gear wisely. Matthew says that often photographers get “gear happy” and buy more than their business really needs. Sometimes, depending on the size and scope of your business, renting gear and writing it off at the end of the year is a far better strategy. “If you’re making $50k in year one but next year you plan on making $100k, you should probably wait to purchase your gear until next year simply because you’re going to be in a higher tax bracket,” he says. Then when your business grows and suddenly you need to write off large ticket items, you can buy that $10k lens knowing you’re satisfying your business and tax needs at once. And you can invoice for the rental of the gear, mark it up, and make some money. Says Matthew, “Knowing when to spend your money is one crucial factor.”

3. EDUCATE YOURSELF, AND THEN GET SOMEONE TO DO IT FOR YOU. Know how best to file—i.e. should you be an LLC or a sole proprietor? Most photographers, says Matthew, don’t need to incorporate (become an S Corp or LLC). There’s no requirement to incorporate to start writing things off. Matthew says that taking out business insurance for $300 will be a more reasonable investment for most photographers than creating an LLC. Know what sales tax you should be paying as well as what kind of license your city requires. If you’re delivering “tangible goods” (a print, say), then you probably have to charge sales tax. Make sure you have a local license to collect tax, otherwise you could get slapped with a fine. DO THIS

»» If you’re completely self-employed, file on a quarterly basis so that you can accurately pay your estimated taxes. “If you don’t pay quarterly, you have to pay a penalty for failing to pay quarterly, which is two percent of the tax due.”

Photo credit: Brett Wilhelm

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4. BUILD CONTRACTS. “The most important thing to deal with in a contract is getting paid: who’s suppose to pay, when they’re supposed to pay you, and how much. And, having some kind of penalty associated with not paying you,” says Matthew. So build “teeth” into your contracts. What does that mean? It can mean that when you deliver a contract to potential clients, somewhere in there it states the legal ramifications of nonpayment, including how legal fees will be reimbursed if you need to go down that road. It could also mean that you write into your contract how much the clients agree to pay in late fees if they don’t pay on time. Make sure to define what services you’re performing—and avoid “scope-creep,” which is a client asking for more and more without paying extra. If you’re doing the hiring and paying a subcontractor more than $600 a year, know that you have to file a W-9. Make sure your subcontractors know this before they start working for you.They may think that they are working “under the table” and won’t be taxed, but you could be left with a serious fine if you get audited by the IRS or state or local tax authority. DO THIS

»» Learn or have someone help you build a contract with “teeth.” Your best bet is to have a lawyer help create a “boilerplate” contract for you that you can then customize for each new client. If you’re interested in learning

»» Industry standards for pricing, copyright, and licensing, the American Society of Media Photographers has some great resources.

»» Ask for example contracts your photographer friends have used and highlight sections that are common among them. You can also find examples of contracts by searching online.

»» Find out from the start—i.e. before hiring—whether you’ll need to consider your assistants as subcontractors, independent contractors, or employees. If you have someone working for you every day, all day, and aren’t claiming them as an employee, you might be in for a nasty fine.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PART I

Video: 11 Essential Tips for Freelance Photographers

e spoke with Houston-based photographer Robert Seale about the 11 essential tips all photographers must know before going freelance. Robert, an established corporate, advertising and editorial photographer knows a thing or two about running a successful photography business. After 11 years as a staff shooter for Sporting News and additional years of experience shooting for various newspapers, Robert decided to take the plunge and go freelance. Today you’ll find him working with clients such as Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health, ESPN, Rolling Stone, along with Fortune 500 companies, and more.

In this hour-long webinar, Robert and PhotoShelter’s Allen Murabayashi go in depth about the potential challenges of being a freelancer and how to tackle them head on. They discuss:

>>The steps you must take before going freelance >>Money issues: how to balance your budget, and keep on track >>How to build out a marketing plan >>What gear to invest in and how to know when to rent vs. buy >>The number 1 thing you need to do for your business

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PROFILE

What I learned in Year One as a Photographer: Kyle Johnson

resh out of college, Kyle Johnson thought he’d wanted a career in what he’d majored in: video editing. But after a year in a corporate editing job, the Seattleite became bored and quit to work at a coffee shop. He started shooting pictures of friends’ bands on the side, and realized photography was a better fit for him. In 2010, he’d found enough local photography work to quit the coffee shop job and focus on a freelance career. Almost immediately, Johnson set his sights on securing national clients, and today his portfolio now includes a mixture of outdoor, lifestyle, travel and food shots for Bloomberg Businessweek, Filson, Martha Stewart Living, The New York Times Magazine, Wallpaper*, Conde Nast Traveler, Bon Appetit, LL Bean, Nordstrom and more. Once you decided to focus on a freelance photography career, how did you start getting bigger, national clients?

kjphotos.com kjphotos.tumblr.com twitter.com/KJPhotos instagram.com/kjphotos1022

Networking with peers on Tumblr was actually a big help. I met a few people online, but then I ended up meeting most of them at different times when I’ve been in their cities or they’ve been in my city. I would talk to them about how they send promos or do meetings in New York. After about a year of just staying in Seattle, I went to New York and did my first round of portfolio meetings. Even though that book was mostly all personal work, I think that was really helpful in showing that I could do it and that people actually wanted to sit down and talk about my work and give me a shot if something comes up in the Northwest.

How did you set up those meetings? I would literally just take photos with my cell phone of mastheads at the convenience store and then slowly try to Google the company to figure out what their email structure was. Then one of my colleagues I’d met on Tumblr was willing to send an e-mail introduction to a couple of his more trusted contacts. I would attach a small PDF of work and just hope to hear back. Some people I didn’t hear back from, and some I did. When you get more established, more people will give you a chance, but at first it was literally just like hunting down all those e-mails and trying.

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What came from those meetings? Did you get any assignments? Yeah. That was actually one of the biggest encouraging things that kept me going that first year. A week after meeting with Bloomberg Businessweek, a photo editor there gave me an assignment. It was actually all the way in Idaho. It was a nine-hour drive, but that’s one thing that’s kind of an advantage for me in the Northwest. People think it’s all one big area. I’m not opposed to traveling and I enjoy it, so if I got chosen for a job outside of Seattle, of course I was going to do it, especially when I was really fresh and hungry for work. That was the first big assignment that I got from a photo editor meeting, and then a few more trickled in after a few months. Sometimes you don’t hear from someone for a year, but then you randomly hear from them. How did you get your first few local clients? Did you work for free at all? Not for free, but not for great money. It’s surprising how little some of the local magazines would get away with paying. One of my first assignments was from just literally e-mailing the art director. Then one of them was from a friend that ended up suggesting me because he worked there as a graphic designer. He showed them a couple of my things, and they gave me a shot for one assignment.

Photo credit: Kyle Johnson

How did you stay financially stable while starting your freelance business? Did you keep a job on the side?

sure I set enough aside for rent and bills and then from there, the harder you work, the more you get. I focused on hitting that goal of rent every month, and then once I hit that, planned on getting more work instead of dwelling on the money.

When I made the commitment to quit the coffee shop job, I started working full time on photography. Once you make the leap to do it, it’s a sink or swim kind of thing. I would just be careful with my money and make

I would do a random pet shoot or a couple of weddings or whatever it was that I had to do in those first years to make sure I got by, but I never worked on another job once I made the commitment to not do that.

What are your tips for pitching a new client? Before you send anything, you’ve got to keep in mind that they are busy people. You’ve really got to hone your request and structure your introduction and pick a few choice pictures that fit the style of the publication or client. Visualize what you’re sending. Does it make sense for that client? Make sure it’s concise and clever and then

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

What other kinds of self-promotion do you do?

Who do you send those to?

I keep about four things constantly updated: Tumblr, my printed portfolio, Instagram, and physical promos.

I feel somewhat conflicted about it, but I feel like Instagram and Tumblr and all these things have definite advantages for certain reasons. Flooding your Instagram with professional photos that you’ve taken is not a good way to go about it, but every now and then you can put one in that you’re really proud of. But I think just having a general, clever eye on the world is helpful. If you can show that you can do a good job documenting your day-to-day life, that’s also a way to get people to look at your other work. The newer, younger photo editors I’ve been meeting seem like they’re just really into photography and they follow what’s happening on Tumblr and Instagram—it’s a community.

Photo credit: Kyle Johnson

get their eyes on your website and make sure it shows them that you can do the work. I also like to make my emails a little bit humorous or a little bit more memorable than just a dry e-mail. I also do physical promos. You might not hear back for a year or two, but I think people keep them and people look at them. I think that’s a good option, too, to show how your work actually prints.

I think blogging, whether it’s Tumblr or whatever else, is very important because most photo editors I know look at your site, but they also want to see what you’ve actually been up to. I think having a consistently updated blog is important to show them that you’re excited about what you do and that you’re not just sitting on the same portfolio for a year. What do you do for physical promotions? I always will do a postcard at a bare minimum, but I try to make it a little more elaborate when I have the funds or have a project that warrants it. I recently tried a new format that opens up a bit larger and has more content. I think something a little more elaborate shows that you’re putting a little more effort into it.

I try to send to people that I have met in person with a personalized note. Otherwise, I send them to photo editors who I haven’t met, art buyers, designers, creative directors and art directors—people who could potentially use me in a project. I look at the Communication Arts Photography Annual and things like to see what work is being celebrated and jot down the names of people who are producing interesting editorial and commercial work, whether it’s the photographers themselves or the designer or art director who hired them. I put those people on my list to send promos to. You’ve been with an agent for a few years now. Why did you decide to sign with an agent? It happened pretty organically. A friend of mine was friends with a photo rep who had just moved to Seattle. I think having a smaller rep has been an advantage because we’ve all been working harder and pursuing the jobs that we want actually. I’ve heard from other photographers who get hired on with a big rep company; they’re hot for a minute and get a bunch of work and then they don’t hear from them for years. In my experience, it seems like most of the advertising agencies want to deal with the reps, so that can be challenging for a starting photographer. But most of the magazine people don’t want to deal with a rep. They want to meet me directly. Since you’ve started this business, have you made any mistakes along the way that you think people could learn from? I think the biggest thing is don’t forget any tax stuff. It’s definitely a hard thing if you’re not used to doing it. Most people I know that are freelance had a year of struggling

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to figure that out. You’re used to working your nine to five and getting all this money back at the end of the year, but with freelance you get the money in chunks and waves. So you’re not saving as much sometimes, especially when you’re starting out. Then at the end of the year you’re realizing that, “Oh yeah, I owe taxes on all that money.” When you start getting into commercial work and jobs that are a lot bigger, paying quarterly taxes and estimated payments is super helpful so you’re not scrambling at the end of the year. The other mistake I made at first was not editing down my work enough. When I went to New York, I thought I had to show them that I can do studio shots and this and that. I think that actually is a disadvantage because you’re not showing that you can do things really well; you’re just showing you can do a lot of things. They don’t really see your work living in a certain place because it just seems all over the place. It seemed the second I toned it down and had a very concise, tight edit, I got more work. I think it’s helpful to show them a vision and where you actually want your work to be living. They can ask you, “Oh, can you shoot on a beam lifter? Can you do strobes?” But if that’s not the work that you want to show, then don’t show it. Otherwise you might get a bunch of assignments that you’re not even that excited about. Do you have any other specific do’s or don’ts for new photographers? A lot of people think they have to go to a big city to make it as a photographer, but I think it’s helped me to stay here in Seattle. I think if you’re in a smaller city that still has a cool thing going on, you should not be afraid to own that and be the person out there who is

Photo credit: Kyle Johnson

working hard and pounding the pavement. I’ve seen a great amount of success from a lot of my peers who are in similar, smaller, big cities like Colorado or Chicago or Portland. Now I’m actually getting quite a bit more traveling work. If you hold your ground and show these companies that you can perform in your own city, sometimes they’re not afraid to give you a shot somewhere else. You just have to pay your dues.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PROFILE

How to Turn a Passion Project Into a Business: Jade Beall

ade Beall was a massage therapist for 15 years before turning her focus to photography. Now she’s known for a different type of therapy. The Tuscanbased artist photographs mothers in the nude as a way for them to build self-esteem and confidence in their changed bodies. In 2013, Beall launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a book about her project, A Beautiful Body Project, and attracted international attention, which helped her build a niche business that she loves. Beall is mainly a self-taught photographer, but what she lacks in formal training she makes up for in passion for using photography as a tool to celebrate and help mothers embrace their bodies and feel good about themselves. Before she started her current project, she’d been photographing yogis, dancers and families in her area—and she continues to do that— but her main focus is continuing to expand on the niche she’s established. Here’s how Beall turned a passion project into a niche business that draws clients from around the world. How did you start photographing mothers?

www.jadebeall.com twitter.com/JadeBeall

I got pregnant, and did self-portraits of myself after I gave birth trying to make sense of my very changed body. I basically was saying, I'm beautiful too. I am not a bounce-back mother. I'm a very changed mother and this too is precious and beautiful. I posted them online and people loved them. Women really related to it, and I found myself photographing hundreds of women who wanted to

redefine beautiful and to show their stretch marks and wrinkles and all these things that we've been taught to erase away with Photoshop. That's how I found my niche. It was completely unexpected, but I've always loved photographing women just as they are, mostly nude. I found my community partly because I wanted to make something out of my own experience as a new mother with a very changed body. And also I was willing to put myself out there. I call it therapeutic photography because it's not easy to see. We're not trained to want to see those things. It brings up a plethora of feelings. How is your business structured? Beautiful Body Project is my company, and my main income is individual portraits. Women come from all over the U.S. and Europe who want to do these photos, which just blew my mind at first. If they're feeling comfortable, I like to share their work on my website

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with their story. I also get pretty good revenues from the book I self-published through crowdfunding. Why did you decide to publish a book? Once tons of women became interested and I started photographing them, I thought sharing their stories would be such a rad book. But it takes a lot of money to make a book. I couldn't devote all my time to something that I was doing for free—all the initial photos of these mothers, were completely free shoots. For me, the book is the ultimate source of promotion. Now, I have women who are paying clients who want to do this type of photo shoot because they want the photos for themselves and they hope to inspire others. They also want to share their story in hopes that I'll share it on my website. It's exciting for them. What was the key to your success on Kickstarter? My community was really excited. I had pretty good clientele of yogis and dancers and studios in town, and I had a decent following on Facebook. They all shared it, and it started growing from their shares. By the time the Huffington Post found my video on Kickstarter, I'd already reached my goal of $20,000. They wrote about it, and it went from $20,000 to almost $60,000. Then The Today Show called me, and they came and featured me. It brought lots of interviews and awesome opportunities. What’s your social media strategy? Instagram is very new to me, but I'm enjoying it. Facebook I've been on 8 or 9 years, and I just continue to share something motivational or inspiring every day. I try to post

Photo credit: Jade Beall

something that moves me and will hopefully move someone else. Whether it's a photo I took of a client or a photo that I revisited from a year ago, always with a story of the paths these women take to feel beautiful in their skin. Sometimes I'll post a link to my book. I don't like to over-talk about my book, even though that helps get me paid. I’ll write about how every book I sell will help me do more photo shoots and help more women. I'll sometimes offer a discount. I try to be conscious of how I would want people to share their work and what they're also trying to profit on.

What advice do you have for someone who has a passion project or niche they want to turn into a business? Any kind of series that you're passionate about is awesome, but you have to build a body of work. Take the time to really think about what moves your core and give it a shot. It took me six months to get a semibody of work to put out there for the Kickstarter campaign. If you're truly passionate about it, you'll find the strength to you need to put everything you have into it. I could barely even understand how someone would want to give me money for a Kickstarter campaign, but

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it didn't matter because I was passionate about it so I wanted to do it anyway. Also, don't be afraid to pimp yourself out too much on Facebook. That's what it's for. It's an amazing tool to say, Here's what I've been working on and I'm really passionate about it. Would you like to join me? People love being included. I think that's one of the reasons I was so successful. It's about connecting. Why did you decide to do a crowdfunding campaign? Other people that I trusted, other people who had done successful projects, they suggested that I should do it. I liked that it didn't get funded unless you met your goal. I was so scared to just fill out all the information. I didn't even know how to make a video in iMovie. I sat here for three days trying to figure it out. But I did it anyway because I thought if it doesn't go, it doesn't go, but at least I tried. If I hadn’t have done it, my life would be very different right now. I'd still be doing photography, but to do photography the way I'm doing it now has brought me tremendous amounts of joy. Are there any mistakes you made that you’ve learned from? I wish I would've had a little more self-confidence that I had something to offer. When The Today Show called, I didn't want to call them back, and I didn’t right away. I missed the opportunity to be flown to New York City and be on the show there. They did come here and I got a beautiful segment on the show, but wish I would've called them back right away. Also, after receiving a lot of online hate emails about how terrible people think my work is I've learned to not take it personally.

I also wish I'd asked for more help to help me organize for the book. A little more assistance would've been really helpful for my well-being as a mother and as a partner. Has this project led to any speaking engagements or workshops? Yes, public speaking was not something that I wanted to actively do, I have been invited to several different speaking engagements. I got invited to a local TED talk and then a few bigger TED talks. I’m flying to Australia to be interviewed for a documentary about body positivity. I never would've dreamed people would want to hear me talk about these things. Things keep unfolding in ways that I didn't even imagine. What are you plans for continuing the project? What I've learned through this process is that women all over the world have battles of feeling unworthy of feeling beautiful. It's a shared story no matter our race or where we live geographically. So right now I want to focus on my media platform, which is a collective of these stories. I have 17 photographers from all over the world, and they are contributing some photos. I want to build up to hundreds of photographers and the stories of the women they are photographing. Pretty much all of the photographers I featured on the site have gotten work from being listed there. Right now one of the ways I keep the website up is by people donating. I'm eventually going to revamp my entire website and have sponsors and advertisements. I really want to build this website as something women all over the world can access for free.

Photo credit: Jade Beall

Any other advice for new photographers? Ask questions. I'm a self-taught photographer, and I had to ask a lot of questions. I didn't understand gear, I didn't understand what camera I needed. I found a mentor right here in town—a photographer I loved and became friends with. I tried to offer them some business in return for helping me understand equipment and how to light better. Look for people who inspire you and ask them questions. Be constantly inspired by other people's work.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PROFILE

Using Social Media to Grow Your Audience: Nicholas Goodden

orn in the United Kingdom but raised in France, London photographer Nicholas Goodden has been shooting since 2008. A trained chef who worked in hospitality for several years, Goodden has a passion for urban landscape photography, but also shoots interiors, events and food. Named to a the Top 100 Most Socially Influential Photographers by Eye-Fi, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find him most often on Twitter, where he has over 70,000 followers. We caught up with Nicholas to pick his brain on how photographers starting out can use social media to build their brand and even connect with potential clients. What is your main focus for marketing your work? The main way people find me is through Twitter. It works the best by far. I also work hard to make sure people find me on Google. We've gone past the days of sales techniques where you cold call people and you twist people's arm to come and see what you're doing. You've got to dig a little bit further and make people first like you and trust you, and people think of you as someone who actually knows what he's talking about. That's what I try and do.

nicholasgooddenphotography.co.uk twitter.com/NicholasGoodden www.facebook.com/ nicholasgooddenphotography

How did you build such a large Twitter following? I try to be intelligent in the way I build my following by targeting the people that I follow who will then follow

me back. I've followed a lot of people who are photographers themselves. A lot of people who are from London. Twenty percent of my following is from London, which is important because if I want to get some work it will probably be London-based. I follow companies that would likely use my services, like PR companies and creative agencies. I follow them, and I follow the people who follow them. I do a lot of research into who are the best people to follow. Have you paid for any of your followership? It's all grown organically. I haven't paid for any of it. There's no point in it because when you pay for followers you get people that aren't really interested in what you do. Having the numbers without having people who are interested in what you do is useless. What kinds of things do you post on Twitter? It's a lot of work. I spend probably two hours a day on

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Photo credit: Nicholas Goodden

Twitter. I believe in social media karma. I do a lot of promoting of other people. I don't think being on social media you should just talk about yourself. Especially online, people don't have a very high attention span, and if they see someone who just talks about themselves, there's absolutely no point. So I talk a lot about photography, post links, and promote other people. Once in a while I'll post a link to my website and talk about what I'm doing, but I try and be very conscious and careful of not doing it too much. What kinds of opportunities have come your way through Twitter? My involvement with Olympus UK was entirely through Twitter. I bought my first Olympus camera

Photo credit: Nicholas Goodden

about four years ago and decided to engage with them on Twitter. I posted photos I took with their camera, and they started retweeting them, and I retweeted their content too. I was lucky enough that they liked what I was doing. About a year later I had a solo show in London where I was doing two exhibits, my urban landscapes of London and a bit of street photography, all shot with their camera. I approached them and told them about my show; one thing led to another, and they decided to sponsor my show and pay for all the printing and framing. So it was a good gesture and good publicity for them as well. Since then they've been involving me in a few of their events. I've got a new show coming up which they are again sponsoring. Because of the sponsorship, 100 percent of the sales are going to charity. It works both ways and it works very well. It's a good collaboration.

How do you leverage your following? Having a big following doesn't mean that you're the most famous photographer in the world, but a lot of people see your number of followers and assume you must be good at what youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re doing. The first time I realized I could leverage my following was the day I wanted to take photos from the top of a rooftop, but it was very difficult to access. I emailed that company and explained that I was a photographer with a substantial social media following and that it would be good exposure for them as well. The doors straightaway opened and I could take the photos I needed. So I realized that people were very approachable as soon as they knew that I was not just asking for something but I could offer something back.

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Photo credit: Nicholas Goodden

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

What are some other ways you're marketing your work?

I use some other social media channels. They don't work as much, but I try to explore other venues. I use Pinterest; I use Instagram lightly, but I recognize I should use it more. I use Facebook. I also make sure people find my website when they look for what I'm doing. So I ask myself what would people look for if they were on Google and they were to search for something similar to what I do. Initially, I thought I needed an SEO agency to do work for me, but I had a terrible experience with SEO agencies. They wrote text for my website which wasn't making any sense. It was just stuffed with keywords. It was not nice at all to read, so it put me off very quickly and I'm working on it myself. Did you build your website and start your social media following before you got your first few clients? Yes, it took me about three years of hard work to build my web and social following, and I was also still shooting. You can't forget as a photographer that what matters most is to take photographs. I think many photographers get caught up in the marketing and social media, etc., and suddenly realize they're not taking photos anymore. What tips do you have for finding and approaching new clients? I think people need to sit down and make a list of who their work could appeal to, whatever the industry that they're in or genre of photography they take. Think about who would be interested in your work and what would people search for on Google to find the work. Don't be afraid to contact people, but don't do hard sales. Contact people and give them a little bit of praise for what they do. Try to find people you relate to. For me,

Photo credit: Nicholas Goodden

it was restaurants, for example. I love food. I wouldn't mind emailing a general manager and saying I love their food, and, oh, by the way, I'm a photographer, but I'm not trying to sell you anything. I don't think you should be ashamed to make yourself look a little bit bigger than what you are. Confidence is really important. You need to be humble, but present yourself in the best possible way. Be sure and make your potential clients sure that you will deliver. When you get that first client, from there try to land subsequent clients that are slightly bigger. It will take time, but people will take notice if you keep going up a little bit in terms of quality of clients you work for.

I think you need to really be open to new opportunities; you've got to sniff out opportunities, keep your eyes open all the time. I think awareness is very important. Make sure you don't let any opportunities pass. Don't be afraid, just go for it. Any mistakes you've made along the way? Yes. At first when I was learning social media I was doing the opposite of what I'm doing now. I was talking only about myself. I was posting links to my website 10 times a day. And I got some pretty forceful messages and some people just got really bored of seeing me pushing

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my website. I learned. It's fine to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. Tell me about StreetPhotographyLondon.co.uk and why you started it. StreetPhotographyLondon.co.uk is a collective of the best street photographers in London. It's my drive to promote other people. I'm sure they can do fine without me, but I enjoy doing it. I have a gallery for each photographer plus a question and answer “about” page for each photographer and links to their websites. All of them contribute to our blog. I also interview other international street photographers for the site. I try to dig and find people that have never had an interview before and have interesting things to say. It’s a nonprofit website. I'm not making any money from it, but I enjoy it. I do it because I love street photography and I love interacting with people, but it's also a great driver to my personal website, and I hope it's also a great driver to the other members of the collective. Anyone looking for street photography in London will find our website first in Google. I recently noticed enormous one-off spikes a couple times a week in visits on my site. After digging a little I realized it came from Flipboard referrals. Flipboard has over 250 million users and is fast growing. I immediately realized its potential and started the Street Photography London Flipboard magazine, which now has 145,000 readers. I post any street photographyrelated article into it and when I have a new blog post, post it there too. It drives a large amount of traffic, so I recommend it highly.

There's no point in being on social media and not managing your accounts and then becoming a ghost town. Any last tips for new photographers trying to start a business? Try to be everywhere on social media and interact with people but in a productive way. But also don't be everywhere on social media just for the sake of it. There's no point in being on social media and not managing your accounts and then becoming a ghost town. It will just say to the public, well here's a guy who starts something and can't follow it up. I would also say be patient. Nothing happens overnight. A lot of people will promise that they'll make you a great photographer overnight through workshops, etc., but it doesn't happen overnight. Work hard. Become a great photographer first, because if you don't do great photos whatever you do on the side to promote that photography is going to be useless.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

PROFILE

Secrets to Selling Your Photography: Gary Crabbe

ward-winning landscape and travel photographer Gary Crabbe got his start behind the scenes, not the camera, managing the stock department for Mountain Light and photographer Galen Rowell. “I spent nearly a decade managing his library of nearly 400,000 images, and was the primary person responsible for editing and submitting his work to magazines, publishers, ad agencies, and a network of other stock agents throughout the world,” he said. That foundational experience meant he was well prepared to launch his own photography business after the birth of his first child in 1999. Since then, Crabbe’s clients have included national magazines, corporate clients, museums and more. He has seven published books and sells his work through stock, assignment, and photographic prints. The San Francisco Bay-area photographer also offers a variety of other services, including consulting, photo editing and research, public presentations and workshops. Here, he shares some great advice gleaned from his years on both sides of the business.

enlightphoto.com twitter.com/enlightphoto facebook.com/EnlightenedImages

How did you get started selling your work? My very first print sale happened before I even took the photo. I was setting up to shoot a shot at a local reservoir when someone walked by and said, "I'll buy that from you." A week later, the person came over to my apartment to look at the slides and picked out one for a 16 x 24" print. Even though it was my first sale, I didn't sell it cheaply, and made almost $350. That was a

huge validation that other people could appreciate and were willing to purchase my photography. From that point on, I started hanging print shows at local galleries and coffee shops, worked with a few local nonprofits, and started contacting local magazines and businesses who I thought might have a use for the type of photography I was producing. You sell your work through a variety of avenues. What are the most lucrative areas for you and why? For the bulk of my freelance career, I sold my work through a network of stock agents, direct to print clients, or by submitting directly to magazines and publishers. Like many photographers who were heavily invested in shooting and earning income from the stock photography arena, what once was a quite lucrative income generating area has dropped off significantly starting with the proliferation of royalty-free photography and the birth of Microstock pricing models.

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Photo credit: Gary Crabbe

The most lucrative areas in terms of sales have been through direct stock sales to existing and new clients using rights-managed licensing models, the sale of commercial artwork, book projects, and self-generated or custom assignment photography. One of the things I'm always very careful to do is to retain the rights to anything I shoot so that once an assignment or book project has wrapped, I'm free to then submit those images to my stock agents, or offer them for sale as either stock or photographic prints via my own website.

What tips do you have for new photographers who want to start selling their work? The very first tip I give to any photographer who wants to start selling their work is this simple little earworm: “Value your work.” Because if you don’t value your own work, I guarantee you that no one else will. That's not the same as saying don't ever give your work away for free, because there may be some opportunities where that might be the right choice for photographers starting out. But make sure that there is some tangible value for you in what you're doing. That being said, one of the biggest mistakes most photographers make, and many buyers are happily willing to exploit, is the idea of giving away a valuable commercial or editorial use in exchange for a credit line. In nearly 25 years of working in the industry,

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

Finally, the next biggest piece of advice outside of valuing your own work is to simply be and present yourself as professionally as possible, all the time. Being a professional isn't just the fact that you're doing something for money; it's also a state of mind, as well as a way of presenting yourself and communicating with others.

How did you get into book publishing? Any tips for new photographers who are interested in this area? I got my start in book publishing after having made a stock photo submission to a publisher who was looking for a picture of a road to put on the cover of a book. I didn't make that particular sale, but my images made an impression with the publisher. When they had a project where they thought my work might fit, they actually reached out to me and offered me a contract for my first book, which was on the California coast. I went on to produce five out of my seven books with that publisher.

Photo credit: Gary Crabbe

Value your work. Because if you don't value your own work, I guarantee you that one else will. I've yet to have anyone ever call me up offering me an assignment or publishing opportunity because they saw my name next to a photo. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never happened, and I doubt it ever will happen. If you want to give your photos away for free, that's fine if it's for a school, a nonprofit organization which you care deeply about, a local church or hospice group, etc. But to maximize the value for giving away my work in those rare types of instances, I've always made sure to ask for a credit line that includes my website URL, and if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s used online, that the URL is posted as an active link back to my website.

If you're thinking about approaching a publisher with an idea for a book project, get to know something about the people or company you will be approaching. Do your research. Look at their website. See what books they've produced already. Make sure your work and ideas are suitable and relavant to the company that you are contacting. Most publishers will have a link on their website for submission guidelines. Find it. Read it. Do what it says. Do not think that your work or idea is so original and unique that they will just love to get a phone call from you and be willing to look at your work after clearly stating a dozen times in their submission guidelines, "Do not call!" Finally, I will say that most people are under the mistaken impression that having a book published equals a big money windfall. The biggest benefit a photographer tends to receive from a book project is the credibility or prestige factor and the ability to use the book to generate new coverage that the photographer will be able to sell or monetize through other avenues outside of the book project itself. For instance, when doing my first book on the California coast, I was able to license some of the images I shot from the location to be used on a tourist website slideshow. The license fee for that one sale was equal to almost half of my advance on the book project itself.

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How do you determine your prices for stock photography? In some ways, pricing photography is probably a bit more difficult these days than it was 10 or 15 years ago, and yet in other areas, pricing has changed very little. In the stock photography world, I entered the industry when there was only rightsmanaged licensing, which simply translates to value based on the size, type, and duration of use. I've continued to this day submitting to agents only using the rights-managed model, though I'll easily admit to being discouraged at seeing rights-managed sales being reported at lower values than traditional royalty-free rates. I get asked an awful lot by other photographers about what they should charge for stock photo use. I tell them the same thing that I do for myself, which is to consider the scope of use balanced against the uniqueness and quality of your own image, and look at that in relation to both the high- and low-end price points of the market (micro stock, royalty-free, or rights-managed). Buyers certainly prefer the ease of the royaltyfree license model and fee structure. So in part, one of the ways I've adapted my pricing structure is that if an image use is fairly basic, or only being used in the local market, I may price my image relative to a royalty-free rate structure, but only licensing the photo for a single, one-time use versus giving them a perpetual use RF license.

Photo credit: Gary Crabbe

If a company comes to me looking for an image to use on a very significant scale, whether it's for national advertising, trade shows, billboards or point-of-purchase sales, those are the ones where I stick to the traditional rights-managed licensing model and fees because I know the client has the money to spend on those types of placements, so hopefully they have the budget equally as well for the photography. If a client wants to spend $40,000 for a single one-time ad in a major national consumer publication, but is only willing to spend microstock or traditional royalty-free rates for the photography, then I know it's not a client I'm anxious to spend my time working with. How do you price prints? For pricing of photographic prints or murals, the first pricing choice that needs to be made by any photographer is where they want to be seen to in the marketplace. Do you want to sell 1,000 prints cheaply so that nearly anyone could afford them? Do you want to sell to a mid-market level where people value the art, not as a monetary investment, but rather as a valued lifestyle piece of artwork which will hang prominently in a home or office building? Do you want to make only a limited run of 15 prints and sell each

Photo credit: Gary Crabbe

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for several thousand dollars or more? I personally chose to be in that mid-market arena, whereby I consider all of my cost of doing business factors, including the time and production of the prints, and then factor in the profit margin the same way any other business does with a product to set a price point. And what about commercial work? The most difficult aspects of pricing photography always has been in the realm of commercial or editorial assignment photography. For editorial assignments, most magazines have a fairly set day rate, and it's up to the photographer to negotiate for additional items like expense reimbursement, scouting, pre- or post-production days, etc. In the editorial arena, it's the latter items that are often the most challenging to get a client to agree to, and which could make the difference between an assignment being profitable, just breaking even, or actually losing money. In the commercial assignment arena those latter aspects are usually more of a given industry standard, but the budget for day rates or combined job fees that a client is willing to pay can vary greatly. Often, they won't offer any information regarding the higher end of the budget, but they will happily tell you when asking you to bid that they don't have a lot of money. In my experience, the best option is to simply price a job as fairly as possible and to negotiate reasonably, while maintaining your own sense of value and worth. If I ever get to that point where I know I might lose sleep if I say yes to a job that’s so low-priced, I know I've reached my walkaway point. How can new photographers learn more about how to sell their work? I advise my own consulting clients to identify a select group of successful photographers who are shooting the type of work that you want to do. Bookmark their websites and follow their social media activities. Sign up to receive their blog posts or newsletters by e-mail. Once you become really familiar with them and their work, reach out to them with a sincere e-mail and ask a couple brief informational interview-type questions like how they got started, any advice for starting out, and any mistakes they would try to avoid. Be appreciative that these folks are often very busy and have little opportunity to answer e-mails. Do not be a pest or continue asking for an answer if you haven't gotten a reply after your first follow up.

I consider all of my cost of doing business factors, including the time and production of the prints, and then factor in the profit margin. The next place I've sent photographers to get great helpful information is right here at PhotoShelter. The business guides and informational PDFs that you all have been handing out through social media and online are top-notch and packed with valuable information. In fact, I download and read these guides even if they are not at all relevant to the type of photography that I do myself. I also recommend people consider joining a professional organization like the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the American Photography Association (APA), the Professional Photographer of America (PPA), or the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP), or look online for a variety of businessrelated photography forums. For the latter, the best two I have come across are the PhotoShelter forums and the business forum at Canon’s Digital Photography Forums. Be sure to search and read through what's already available online before asking. Some folks get a little touchy if they see the same question asked repeatedly. What mistakes have you made when it comes to selling your work? Probably the biggest single mistake I've made throughout the years has been being not as diligent as I should be in returning initial query e-mails from people looking to possibly purchase one of my photos. In today's day and age, with a glut of photography and the ease of electronic communication, even waiting for five hours or until the next day can have a definite negative impact on your business. Unless a buyer is very specifically interested in your photo, chances are pretty good that you're just one of many photographers that he is reaching out to. Often, the “I’ll send them an e-mail tomorrow morning” is the next morning too late.

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PART II

Conclusion & Resources

career in photography can be extremely creative, exciting, and rewarding, but success also takes hard work and the discipline to be as savvy at business as you are behind the camera. That being said, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Every photographer we talked to for this guide told us they’d made a few mistakes along the way. Small setbacks can be great learning opportunities, and as Goodden told us, “Make sure you don’t let any opportunities pass. Don’t be afraid—just go for it.”

Resources:

GUIDE: Creating a Successful Photography Portfolio GUIDE: 11 Secrets to a Great Photography Website GUIDE: How to Sell Prints GUIDE: The 2014 Business Plan Workbook GUIDE: How to Market Your Photography GUIDE: What Photographers Should Know About Insurance GUIDE: The Photographer’s Guide to Copyright GUIDE: 10 Branding Secrets for Photographers GUIDE: The Photographer’s Guide to Facebook GUIDE: The Photographer’s Guide to Instagram GUIDE: The Photographer’s Guide to Twitter BLOG: 10 Great Photographer Promos BLOG: Tackling Google: 3 Ways Photographers Can

Improve Their SEO

BLOG: Building a Photo Brand From the Ground Up:

Tips From Art Wolfe

BLOG: 9 Foolproof Ideas For Your Next Blog Post BLOG: 16 Organizations That Want to Fund Your

Photography Project

VIDEO: Tips & Strategies To Grow Your Audience Online VIDEO: Interview with Zack Arias: If I Had to Start

My Business Today VIDEO: 11 Essential Tips for Freelance Photographers ASSOCIATION: American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) ASSOCIATION: Professional Photographers of America (PPA) ASSOCIATION: American Photography Association (APA) ASSOCIATION: American Society of Picture Professionals RESOURCE: The Tax Ninja TOOL: Google Analytics TOOL: Google Keyword Planner

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO STARTING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS

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