Archive for the 'Photography Business' Category
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
Preston, an aspiring photographer and photography student at U of O recently had some questions for me to help him in preparation for a class presentation. Below is the first part of our Q & A. Part two is to follow.
Q: Is your photography your main source of income? If not what is?
A: Photography is my main source of income, but let me qualify that a bit. First off, I didn’t leave teaching and go full time photographer until I had the financial resources to support myself while I built my business. I gave myself 5 years to replace my teacher’s salary. I’m coming up on year 4 as a full time photog. I’m optimistic that I’m going to get there. Also, I have a very understanding and supportive wife who has been the major source of family income over the last 3 1/2 years. I couldn’t do this without her. On the other hand, I started this career after I was already married, had house payments and two kids. Without those responsibilities I would be more free to invest time and money in my business without the pressure to turn a substantial profit right away.I don’t think that the kind of photography that I do and the way that I do it is a get rich quick kind of a career move, but I’m confident that it will continue to grow. Most outdoor photographers I know who are well established have been in the business for 20-30 years and even then, most of them aren’t wealthy…but job satisfaction is high.
Q: Where in your travels, is your favorite place to photograph?
A: I have a real connection to the mountainous regions of the world. The Himalayas certainly tops my list, but getting there and spending enough time to do the region justice is difficult and cost/time prohibitive for me at this stage. I also love the American West, especially the southwest. However, this is an area that is largely over-photographed in my mind. I want to take photos that are fresh and different. As I evolve as a photographer, I’m finding that my favorite work comes from the Pacific Northwest where I live and have a lifetime of knowledge and experience. I think my familiarity and proximity to the northwest allows me to make much more personal, nuanced and original images than anywhere else.
Q: How did you first start shooting professionally?
A: In the late 1980’s and into the 1990’s I started doing a bit of adventure travel and participating in climbing expeditions. I was the guy willing to get up for the sunrise, hike ahead to get a photo, carry the extra equipment and deal with taking pictures when no one else wanted to, so I was usually elected to be the team photographer. Since I was the guy with the photos, by default I was also the guy who would present slide shows of the climbs and provide photos for newspaper articles and the like. Every once in a while I would get lucky and take a photo that was more than just a record of what we were doing…something nice to look at. I began trying to take photos that had some sort of artistic or dramatic element to them. Around that same time I became aware of Galen Rowell, first as a climber and then as a photographer. I was greatly inspired that he was able to create such powerful artistic images of the places, people and landscapes he visited and also realized that photography was actually a real career. By that time I had already started my career as a science teacher, but I began to read up on photography techniques and teach myself how to be a better photographer. My trips slowly shifted from being all about climbing to being all about photography. About 8 years ago I built my first web site, printed some business cards that said “Photographer” on them and began selling a few of my best shots in my spare time for about $20 each. Looking back, they probably weren’t worth that much. It was a fun hobby and I always wanted to have more time to devote to it. After my second son was born about 4 1/2 years ago I found it difficult to be as good a teacher as I had been and as good a father as I wanted to be. That’s when I made the decision to “take the plunge”, as they say, and try to make my part time hobby a full time career.
Q: Who inspires you professionally?
A: As I said above, and like so many others, Galen Rowell was the first big influence on me. Artistically I am very excited by the work of William Niel, Michael Kenna, David Lorenz Winston, Art Wolf, Frans Lanting and John Wimberly to name a few. Professionally I see people like Art Wolf, Tom Till, George Lepp, Frans Lanting and Tom Mangleson as being masters of marketing and getting their work known by the public. There are also some young, high energy photographers from Oregon who are really breaking boundaries and setting new standards in outdoor photography right now. Marc Adamus and Zack Schnepf are two of my favorites.
Q: What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far?
A: Wow, that’s a hard one to answer. Every time I sell or publish a photo, or get acknowledged in a competition I feel validation as a photographer. For me, however, when I feel I have created something new, better and different, or reached a new level of knowledge and skill as an artist, that feels like my greatest accomplishment. It’s really a personal thing, but if it leads to generating income or public interest in my work, then that’s a bonus.
Q: What has been your biggest struggle in your career?
A: The biggest struggle in my career has probably been my lack of training and skill as an entrepreneur and business owner. That, combined with the fact that I live in an area that is off the beaten path of the photography industry have made it a real challenge for me to make the right contacts and know how to sell myself and my work. Those pieces have been more time consuming and challenging than the photography.
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Saturday, March 1st, 2008
One of the things I enjoy most about being a photographer is sharing my images, vision and experiences with others, and I’m always looking for ways to make my photography accessible. Fine art prints are a great way to experience the full impact of my work, but books, posters, cards, slide shows and even my website are other ways that I have been able to share my photos publicly. For quite a while I have wanted to offer sceensavers featuring collections of my images because it is an inexpensive way for people to acquire a collection of my work, but I didn’t have a good way to create screensavers files.
I’m excited to say that I have found a solution to that problem. A software application I recently discovered, called Pictures to EXE, allows me to create stand alone screensaver files that can be delivered via email and easily installed in the Windows screensaver menu. Each screensaver can also be run as a slide show, independent of the screensaver mode.
At this time I have completed two screensaver collections, which are available HERE. The Landscape and Nature screensaver features 30 of my most dramatic and well known outdoor images. The Rogue Valley screensaver is a collection of 30 iconic images from around the Rogue Valley which is my home.
In the future I will be adding additional screensaver collections with themes like Winter, Mountains, Adventure and Water. The images in my screensavers have been optimized for viewing on a computer monitor and have amazing color, sharpness and contrast.
The screensavers are safe and easy to use on any Windows based PC computer. They arrive as an email attachment which you save on your hard drive. Once saved, right click on the file and select “Install” and it will be added to your screensaver menu. By double clicking on the screensaver file it can also be viewed as a slide show independent of the screensaver mode.
Unfortunately, the screensaver file format created by Pictures to EXE is not supported by the Mac operating system, so my screen savers are only available to PC users at this time.
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Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
Even though I consider myself a newcomer in professional photography, a career in which it can take decades to become established, I often receive inquiries about the business from photography students and amatures who are interested in going pro. I recently answered a series of questions from a photography student that I thought represented the type information that people are usually interested in. I have posted those questions and my responses here in the hopes that others might find them useful.
1. Please tell me about yourself and your business.
My name is Sean Bagshaw and I live in southern Oregon with my family. I was a science teacher for 12 years and did a fair amount of traveling, adventuring and shooting photos as a hobby. The more I got into photography the more I started looking at it as a potential career. About four years ago I found myself in a position to leave teaching and start a full time photography business. I’m still a beginner in the pro photography world, but I work hard and I’m encouraged by the growth of my business. Right now my income comes from range of sources: print sales through my website, stock image licensing, gallery sales and assignment work. Most of my work is landscape, nature and travel based, but I also do some commercial architecture photography. I tried doing some portrait work for a while, but it isn’t my bag.
2. What was your greatest challenge in starting your business?
Pretty much everything. I’m a self-taught photographer and I have no prior experience in running a business. I am learning everything, step by step as I go. Living in a rural area I don’t have easy access to the resources and markets that I might living in a bigger city. I also don’t have large amount of money to invest in my business (marketing, equipment, inventory, etc.) so I do it in small steps and pay as I go. Perhaps the biggest obstacle was getting to a place financially where I could quit my teaching job and spend a few years building the photography business while still supporting the family.
3. Is there any particular method you recommend for obtaining and keeping clients?
To obtain clients I get the word out in every way I can…public art shows, galleries, giving presentations and talks, direct mail, blogging, photography forums, creating a high profile web site and so on. Word of mouth takes a while to get going, but with the right effort it eventually starts to build. To keep clients I try to be a true professional, provide top service, follow through on my word and back up my work with an unconditional guarantee.
4. What marketing/promotional strategies work best for you?
My web site, direct mail and word of mouth have done best for me, as well as making direct inquiries to establishments who might publish my work.
5. What is the competition like in your geographic area you operate your business in?
For the type of photography that I do, I live in a pretty good spot. There are not a lot of other photographers taking the types of photos I do in the southern Oregon area, although there are loads of portrait photographers. When I go to Colorado or Utah I find myself side by side with many other photographers. Around here, I rarely run across someone else. As a result, I have photos that not everyone has.
6. What advice do you have for a student photographer desiring to enter the business?
Learn everything you can about the business end of being a photographer, make as many contacts in the industry as you can and be prepared to spend several years to become established. For most of us this is a long term project, not a get rich quick affair. If you are single and not tied to a location or needing to provide income for a house and a family, take advantage of the opportunity to experiment, explore, work for established photographers, take far flung assignments, hone your skills, develop your style and immerse yourself in your work. Doing it the way I did, starting at 36 years old with a wife, kids and a house, had some advantages in the areas of wisdom, life experience and work ethic, but many opportunities were not available to me. I didn’t have the luxury to be able to move around, take big risks, live on a minimal income or devote myself to the work and nothing else.
7. Name the top three threats to your business that exist today.
I’m not sure that I could identify threats other than general competition and the basic challenges of getting a business off the ground. I know that some more established photographers who are used to doing business a certain way are struggling to keep up with changes, such as stock licensing practices, internet marketing, digital technology and the proliferation of people trying to break into the business. Since I’m one of the ones breaking in, it all seems par for the course.
8. Do you ever use assistants or interns?
I haven’t, but that time is coming as my business grows. However, with the type of photography that I do, I’m more likely to need an office manager or marketing agent than an assistant.
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