nickonkenShoptalk

Are you a photographer looking for a rep?

Yeah gotcha with this title, well not really. Just read through this really great interview by A Photo Editor with photographer rep Debroah Schwartz (dsreps.com). They touched on some really great points. This was my favorite questions/answers:

APE: So, the question you still need to answer now and every photographer wants to know is “what does it take to get a rep?”

Deborah Schwartz: I think that you need to be at that point in your career when you need help to keep up with the work that you are getting, and when you have met the person who feels like the right match for you.

Being a photographer is a huge investment of time and money. You need to be able to show an art director that you not only have a good eye, but also that you can put it together in a unique way. Then, you need to get out there and hustle like a mad dog.

Some people think that a rep is just there to get you the work, but I am one half of a team. Photographers need to be proactive in getting out there themselves shooting personal work, meeting with people and getting editorial work. In order to make it, you have to be really likable, professional, responsible and a really fantastic photographer. If you are all of these things, you will be getting work and you will need a rep on your team.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is they have a portfolio and then they just wait for the work to come in. If you aren’t constantly pushing yourself and growing as a photographer–you see this all the time where the work doesn’t change and the book is the same from year to year–then you’re dead in the water and not getting work and will continue to not get work. You need to be testing and shooting for yourself all of the time.

I have to say, this reinforces a lot about what I talk about all the time on MY blog. Honing your vision is what this business is all about. People hire you for your vision. Along with being personable and having a good understanding of the photography business makes you even more marketable. If you haven't read my post on the story of how I found my rep, read it here.

It's very true that even if you HAVE a rep, you have to be a hustler in this business to make it. A rep is a part of your team. You also won't get anywhere in this business without a good team of people to work with. You're only as good as your team.

The tighter you hone your visual style and get it out there in the world and show the capability of handling a big production in a thorough manner, the more marketable you become. ABS theory!

Read the full interview here. It's great!

Your Portfolio AND your Brand

I was reading through Chase Jarvis' latest post "Escaping Your Portfolio" and it got me to thinking. I've always been a believer of "Showing what you want to be or what you shoot", meaning that your portfolio should only consist of the things that you want to be shooting creatively. That doesn't mean we won't take paying jobs that don't relate to our portfolios, but the idea is VISION, mean your vision and how you see. This I believe is a definite MUST in our world, and as Chase puts it, a necessary evil. Your vision starts to come together after you've been shooting for a few years, and you start to hone in on your style. It takes quite a while to get just a grasp of what that is as an artist, and a process that we must all embrace. Patience is the key. (not that I've had much of it over the last few years, but it's what my mentors keep telling me.) Hiring the right people (consultants, graphic designers, reps, etc) to curate/edit and package your work is the other key. So strive for the perfect portfolio? Not necessarily. Strive to create your style/vision and continue to update your portfolio. If you are shooting all the time, your work and vision will evolve, as will your portfolio.

The point of my post is that his post did push me to think about pushing my brand beyond just "taking pictures" and into the other interests and facets that I aspire to. That's one reason I've never attached "Photography" to my name. My goal is to push my brand into as many creative ventures as I can, and that in and of itself is a process. Is directing commercials in my future goals? Yeah. In what capacity, I have no idea. I've already begun a little (see my videos/stop motions). Maybe fine art? Maybe a clothing line, a restaurant, a bar? I have many other dreams and goals that take time and process. Remember being successful at something takes a lot of hard work. (10,000 hours perhaps?) In the end, I want my brand/name to be a creative entity, not limited to just photography.

With photography, the body of work you develop over a few years will evolve and will progress, and eventually be in your Default Bag so that you can explore other opportunities. Eventually you will have the staff to free your time to work on the projects you want to.

The Photographer's Survival Guide

If you're looking to learn more about the commercial world/business of photography, you should pick up Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease's new book about the industry and how to market yourself. It's great insight into the biz. I've worked with Amanda for the last few years. Also, there are a some case study sections featuring me. Check it out.

on Amazon

Email as a brand extension

I think in the world business, especially artist based businesses where your name is your brand, it extends to the little touches that people and your clients receive. In this electronic world, websites and email are typically the first impression someone will have on you and your business. Your website should be the first thing in line, but that's another subject. My point in this post is creating an email address with your domain streamlines your brand. It makes you look all that more professional to have an email address that is at your domain.com. Creating an email with yourname@yourdomain.com(ie: nick@nickonken dot com) makes even more of a personal touch, which I think is important in this business. I don't know about you, but I always feel a little less connected when someone emails me back from an email address other than their name. I do have an info@nickonken dot com email address on my website, but my email responses always come from my nick@nickonken dot com address.

That said, I just stumbled upon Google Apps, which lets you host your domain email through gmail. It's awesome. The interface is just like gmail and you have all the perks that gmail does. It's only $50 per year. I was with Lanlogic.net using their exchange server and paying $20-30/month plus another $10/month on my mobile carrier side to use the enterprise server. The emails did get pushed through(to my Blackberry and iPhone) in the exact moment they arrived, but in the end, to me it wasn't worth it to keep it paying so much more. With gmail notifier, the emails come through typically instantly to 30 seconds. You can also sync all your contacts programs like spanning sync. Not to mention you get 25gb of storage for your emails. It also works great with all your mail apps. This is way better than setting up forwards and reply-to addresses if you're using another email account.

I've never used the extent of gmail before, but I'm finding out how awesome even the web interface is. Here's a little screen clip of what the interface looks like. It also allows you to have your own logo integrated.

Check it out here: Google Mail Apps for Business

Here's a little screen clip of the web interface.

There's No Such Thing as Fairy Dust

At this point in my life, I don't really believe in fairies, let alone fairy dust. As funny as this may sound, there is a lot of talk about people who succeed on a fairly fast track. There may be a small amount of luck, but I think that can be more seen as opportunity. Some maybe be more fortunate than others, but in the end, we all have the power to make the decisions to get us to where we want to be. The question is, how badly do we want it? If we really want something, we will make the decisions and sacrifices to get us there. I touched on this in my Transitions, Passions, and Sacrifices post a while back, but the point I really want to make is that in my opinion everything comes through hard work. There is no such thing as getting rich quick and in that respect how do you define rich? Money isn't everything. It should though, a bi-product of being successful at what you do. Every successful person I've talked has spent years of hard work to get where they are. (typically about 10,000 hours).

In the end, creating the right career/lifestyle is a lot like creating a beautiful picture in proper exposure. The way the final image looks is all your vision, as to the lifestyle you desire to live. You have to adjust all the variables to get the desired outcome. Each variable(ISO, shutter speed, Aperture, etc.) all have cause and effects, sacrifices and features. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in certain areas to be able to do what you want in others.

In photography, part of the hard work is developing your eye to see, hence crafting your artistic vision, and that only happens through practice. As you grow, you begin to see things that you neglected to see before. That is only learned by going through the artistic journey.

That said, if you want it then make the decisions to work hard and succeed. I don't think the fairy will come sprinkling her dust. Success is the result of putting in the time and hard work.

Tell the World You Don't Suck

Leslie Burns has a great book that will give you a good idea of the photography business. You can buy the PDF version here. or the printed version here. Check it out!

http://www.lulu.com/content/4065985

Twitter- A brand extension

If you haven't checked out Twitter, it's a little web status update app that has evolved and blown up over the last year. Now businesses are catching on, and using it as a brand extension to reach customers and clients with new and interesting things that they're doing and even some insider information. A great little communication tool. Obama and Hilary have twitter accounts, so it was great to follow them through the race.

On the personal side, I've used twitter to communicate with my friends in an ongoing conversation which has been quite fun.

I've managed and decided to combine the two, so if you're following me, I usually drop links to new work, blog posts, when I need help with an occasional shoot, or interesting photography related topics, funny videos etc. I also drop some personal comments, sans TMI violations.

That said, what you put out is your thing. Some people complain about not wanting other people to know their business, but if that's the case, then don't put the business you don't want people knowing out there. Simple as that. It's also good to think what you want to project in your tweets if indeed you are using it as a brand extension.

Follow me if you like here: http://twitter.com/nickonken or if you don't want to, then don't.

Hired for creative vision.

I touched on this in my recent post on your Support Team, but I think it's a subject that can be expanded upon. If you're doing things right, marketing your vision, you should be getting or starting to get hired for YOUR creative vision. What you shoot, how you shoot it, eye for composition and moment, etc. (not to mention the branding, packaging, marketing, and network that's you need to get those jobs) That's ideally where you want to be so you can be shooting the assignments you want to be shooting. Sometimes you run into situations where you really are hired for your vision, but the art direction might not be in your technical knowledge lighting wise or other ways, and that's why you need a great Support Team to rock the job. You won't always have the solution to solve the puzzle at hand, but hiring the right people to help you get there is the key.

I've heard many assistants on a job (as I've been there myself) thinking they could have shot that image, it was all them since they created all the lighting, or they should have been the shooter. That very well may be the case, but it's a cumulative of reasons why they aren't. But lets not focus on that, lets focus on why it's the photographer who IS. That is a cumulative of their work and vision first off, then relationships, marketing, and flat out hustling. Hopefully it's the quality of work aspect of it first and foremost. It takes a lot of "business" and getting your creative vision into the right hands to "get" the job. Your job as a photographer is to extend and blend your vision into the Art Director's concept at hand. Therefore you are adding your personal flavor direction the elements of the production. That makes lighting just an element to arrive at the final creative goal. Don't get me wrong, photography is all light, but still remains a tool for the end product.

So, if you're an assistant wishing or wanting to shoot a job that your photographer is shooting, ask yourself why? Why aren't you shooting it? Being a visionary and having a client hand you $100K, $200K, or $500K to make them an image is a whole different perspective. Can you handle being the commander and chief of an expensive ship? When you think "oh I should've or could've shot that", there's a lot more to it and the fact of the matter is, YOU DIDN'T. Sounds harsh, but that's the reality. The other reality is, YOU are the one that create better images and work to get those jobs.

That said, What are your creative goals for 09? How are you refining your creative vision to get hired for the work you want to be hired for?

10,000 Hour of Hard Work

I just wrapped Malcolm Gladwell's newest book called Outliers. Randomly found it in the airport a few weeks ago on my way to Mexico. I plowed through it pretty fast as it was pretty interesting. I haven't read a full book in quite some time because I've been so busy. Needless to say it was a great book about why successful people are successful. Chase Jarvis posted a on this subject after he heard Malcolm speak at an ASMP event, which is a great post. Malcolm's case and point is that success is due to hard work, opportunity, and timing.

The section in his book "The 10,000 Rule" is pretty interesting as it just makes so much sense. Malcolm's idea is that typically when you dedicate 10,000 hours to your craft, is when you start to become proficient at it. Being successful comes down to opportunity, 10,000 hours of practice time, hard work, and talent. A lot of the rich successful people today such as Bill Gates, got started on their 10,000 hours when they were very young and have had the time to grow.

As I thought about this, a lot of the successful photographers that I've talked to lately have hit their tipping point at around the 5-6 year mark. If you break this down, that's working full time (40 hours per week) and that comes out to roughly 10,000 hours. This is just the breaking point of becoming , like a "coming of age" so to speak, and really is the beginning of your career. The reality is, is that it's a lot more than 40 hours a week. Especially when there are so many more things involved to this business that just shooting that require practice.

When it comes down to it, it's hard work and is a majority of what got me to where I am today(just to the beginning of my tipping point). The biggest thing I've learned is that it's an artistic journey, something that is only developed over time which can't be rushed. As I look back, it's been long hours of hard work. It doesn't necessarily seem like hard work, or even work because I love what I do, but regardless, it's hard work. The more you click and practice your skills, the more you develop.

Chase and I just had a conversation about this over breakfast recently, and talked about the bottom line and how some people are willing to put in the time and some aren't. That's the difference between success and not.

Moral of the story: It takes 10,000 of hard work to START to become successful at what you do.

Model Releases

If you're looking for Model Releases for stock/all uses, Getty Images has made them available to all photographers in 10 languages. These are the standard releases that I use when shooting any type of stock shoot.

Click on the link below:
http://contributors.gettyimages.com/article.asp?article_id=991