PixelatedImage Blog

NYC, 2010. The outside wall of a Brooklyn Clothing store.

I’m in Iceland right now, so this one was auto-posted. See y’all when I get home. I hope to get time to send a postcard, but don’t hold your breath. The tent doesn’t have wifi.

I had to laugh today when I got yet another couple of comments and emails asking how I get so much done. Caffeine? Red Bull IV Drip? No sleep? Secrets gleaned while in Bhutan? I’ve never been to Bhutan, so that can’t be it.

It’s true, I do seem to get a lot done. But then I’m single. I have no children. My play and my work are the same thing. And this is what I do for a living. So before you get down on yourself for being less productive, remember that I’ve also got fewer things pulling me in other directions. I can’t imagine doing what I do if my context were different. I’d slow down considerably if there were other factors. And one day there will be and I’ll just get less of these things done in favour of other things. And that’s OK. But I believe life is short and we get meaning from our work (among other things), so I work hard at the things I love. I think I also work smart and in 20 years of making a living as a self-employed creative, I’ve learned a thing or two about making ideas happen and getting things done.

This isn’t a photographic post but it relates to getting things done, and that’s relevant for everyone who’s ever had an idea begging to be made real, begging to be created. So here’s a few thoughts about productivity.

1. Prioritize. Know what matters and what does not. We get so distracted by things that do not matter, we spend hours chasing our tails. Don’t be afraid to say No. In fact, learn to make No your first reaction, then change it to Yes if the thing you’re debating fits into your priorities. If you don’t know your priorities then this is much harder, so that’s where you need to start. Write it down. “This week/today my top 3 priorities are _____________________” The rest has to wait. Put an hour aside at the end of the day for doing non-priority stuff so it doesn’t pile up, but do first things first.

2. Know How You Work. Don’t try to put a square peg in a round hole. If you need to go to a coffee shop to work, do it. If you need to listen to music, do it. Whatever makes it easier for you to be productive – get comfortable with it. Some of us work better in 2-hour chunks in the early morning every day, others need a couple late nights a week. Not everyone is productive in an 8-hour stretch at a desk. If it ain’t working for you, don’t do it. And when you find what does work for you, make it happen. I work best at a coffee shop with Van Morrison, so each morning I get on my Vespa and go to the “office.” Most days I get more done there in 2 hours than I’d get done sitting in my home office in 6 hours.

3. Find Balance. I know, I stink at this. But when people I assume I get no sleep they couldn’t be more wrong. I almost always get 8 hours of sleep. Heck, I often take naps in the middle of the day. Exhausted people are not productive, lucid, healthy, or creative people most of the time. I know some of you think you’re functioning really well on 5 hours, but I’d be willing to bet you’d do better on 8. I know, some of you can’t, in which case you need to work even smarter. But I’m sticking by this – I think rested people get more done. So do people who eat well, take time for themselves, and spend time with the ones they love.

4. Kill the distractions. If you don’t have enough time in the day, stop watching TV. Reduce the number of blogs you read. Stop reading the papers and the magazines. Go on the low-information diet that Timothy Ferris recommends in The 4-Hour WorkWeek. Try it for a week and see if it doesn’t free up your time and attention.

5. Batch your Tasks. If you check Twitter for 5 minutes every half hour that’s not only a tonne of Twitter time, it’s also a loss of the time it takes to wind down and ramp back up on the tasks you should be doing instead. Multi-tasking is not the best use of most people’s time. We just aren’t wired to do a million things well. And if, like the sleep thing, you think you are functioning really well as a chronic multi-tasker I still suspect you’d do even better if you increased the period of time over which you focused on singular tasks. Look at the things you do often in the day and see if you can do them less frequently. Do it for 30 minutes at the end of the day instead of 5 minutes each hour for 6 hours. Same amount of time, but more concentrated attention on that activity, as well as on the other tasks from which that activity distracted you.

6. Do The Thing You Fear. If the worse thing you have to do today is kiss a frog then do it first. Get it over with. Often the thing we most fear is the thing that has some of the highest benefits for us, and fearing it distracts us from other things. Suck it up. Take a deep breath. Do it. Move on.

7. Make A CheckList. Write it down. Put a checkbox next to it. When it’s done, check it off. Look back over that list at the end of the day, as well as the end of the week, even the end of the month. Much harder to let tasks slide by when they are written down and the empty checkbox is taunting you.

8. Break It Down. If the thing you have to do is so large and intimidating that you just can’t seem to start in on it, break it down. Don’t eat the whole salami, just eat it slice by slice. Instead of putting Write Book on your checklist, break it down into pieces and begin with Brainstorm topics for book. Outline Book. Spend 2 hours writing Introduction. Small bite-sized pieces allow you to get moving, steer a moving ship, and begin to make some progress – momentum is hugely motivating and before you know it you’ll be half-way through a list of small tasks instead of still staring down one large one.

9. Find The Empty Spaces. I need 30 to 60 minutes to do solid work. 2 hours is best. But when those larger slots get eaten up with lots of little details, they stop being useful. So I do the smaller tasks when I can’t do the larger ones. I bring my laptop to the doctor’s office and clear off some emails in the 15 minutes I wait. I take my iPad on the bus or in a cab and I catch up on blogs or reading articles I haven’t had a chance to read. I find spaces in my day to get the smaller tasks done in order to keep larger slots open. It’s the “Put the big rocks in first” approach. Fill the little spaces with little tasks so there is always room for the big tasks in the big spaces. I know, seems simple, but it’s amazing how often we let those little moments get past us, and then we get a free afternoon and drown in a sea of little things we could have taken care of here and there. I use time on planes and in hotels and airport lounges to get things done instead of just sitting and staring at my watch. Sitting waiting for your son to come out of hockey practice? Don’t freak out because he’s late, do something with that unexpected 15 minutes. Read something. Reply to an email. Call a friend you’ve been meaning to call. One task accomplished and less stress when staring down the bigger things, just don’t “kill time.” Never, ever kill time.

These are just some of the tactics that work for me, but driving them all is one thought that I think is most important: Redeem your time. Time is not money. To even compare the two trivializes our most limited, non-renewable resource. Time is far, far, more valuable. Life is very short; once it’s over it’s over. That knowledge is what makes it easy to prioritize, makes it easy to say no to the unimportant, and to work hard in the time that I have. Because the better I can manage this stuff the more time I have to do the things that are most important to me – time with friends, time to travel, to write, to create, to make a difference. I only have, what? 50 years left in which to do it all (if I am really, really lucky) – and while that 50 years may seem like an eternity now, in hindsight it will feel like a vapour, a breath. That perspective makes it much easier, for me, to make the most of the time I have now. Because my bucket list is long, my loved ones are many, my best work is still waiting, and my days are only getting shorter.

San Frutuosso, Liguria, Italy, 2010. Had to strip down to my boxers to get this one.

Monday’s post seemed to strike a chord. Perhaps because y’all were so surprised to read a post that had nothing to do with books So, harnessing that momentum I want to make some suggestions for those who are suddenly captivated by the need to live a life with “a strong bias towards action.” (Scott Belsky’s words, I love how he puts this.) Todays suggestions are for those who make money – or hope to – with their photography.

If you can’t think of a single thing to do, then here are 5 things you can begin immediately. The key is action. If you can’t do it NOW, because, oh I don’t know, you have a life, then schedule it for the first free block of time you can and under pain of a dirty sensor keep that appointment.

1. Start your tax prep NOW. This year is the year your receipts will be in order for tax time. Schedule a time to go to Office Depot and get the file folders you need. Label them. Sort receipts from now back to the beginning of your financial year. Now do this daily or weekly. But do it. While you’re at it, open that account that will be ONLY for your taxes and begin putting the right percent on your gross income into it. Don’t know what that is? Ask your bookkeeper or accountant. Don’t have an accountant? That’s your first step. Get one. You can’t afford not to.

2. Bring your invoicing up to speed. How do you invoice? What? You just whip something up in Word or Pages or something? You did not just say that. Take it back. Now sign up for Freshbooks. Take 2 hours to add your best clients, add a logo, and get this set up and comfortable. Repeat after me: Word is for writing stuff, I will only invoice using Freshbooks. If you like the system you have, fine. You may move along. But I still think you should look twice at Freshbooks.

3. Check in with your clients. Who is your biggest client or potential client? When is the last time you touched base and asked how you could serve them? There’s a theory that says 20% of our efforts result in 80% of our results. Which clients or projects account for that 20%? Focus on them! Pick one client to connect with today.

4. How’s your brand? I don’t just mean your logo. I mean how long has it been since you looked at your whole identity as a company, your core values, and the Why and How of your company’s existence? Are you still true to it? Has it shifted? Does your current website and identity materials still reflect that? Has your market shifted? Are you still communicating with them in the best way? Sit down and spend a morning or afternoon checking your calibration. Make notes on what needs to be updated and get it done in 30 days, no more. Start now.

5. Empty Your inbox. I know, this one scares the hell out of you. But do it. Take one day if you have to, but do it. Sit down and look at it before you start deleting stuff. Where are the bottlenecks? Why do you have – OMG! – 3000 emails in there? First, go through the list and unsubscribe to everything that is not opened. Open it, unsubscribe, delete. If it was important you’d have opened it. Next look for the senders who flood your inbox. Pick one email, hit reply and send them an email that asks them to please for the love of Dorothea Lange limit their emails to you to only the most important stuff and tell them you will no longer accept forwards. Now Begin creating rules. For example Big Client emails go to a client folder and get flagged as a priority. Now answer anything that’s less than a month old. And then…

Delete the rest.

I know, this is scary, and it’s up to you whether you can do it or not. But honestly, folks, this is keeping you from being productive and you will never, ever, EVER be replying to those emails anyways and the folks that sent them 3 months ago have long given up the hope of getting a reply. So be ruthless, create a system, empty that inbox, and move on. Seriously. If I come over to your place and see 3000 emails in your inbox we can not be friends anymore. Do it now. I have 7 emails in my inbox right now. My manager had to force me to let go of some of this and we don’t all have people to ruthlessly delete our emails for us. Do whatever you have to to manage this. Outsource it if you have to. Do it now.

Whatever the next step, do it. And when the “I’ll do it, but first I just have to…” thoughts pop up, ignore them. The need to do something else before we do something important is just another form of Resistance. (Not familiar with that term? Then your first Do It item is reading Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art)

Got a Do It Now item you want to tell us about, leave it in the comments. Writing it down just might help. Unless you’re thinking, I’ll do X today, but first I have to write a comment about it….then you know what you need to do.

Camogli, Italy. It’s a stretch to make this image relevant to the sermon below, but these guys know that talking about fishing isn’t going to bring the fish in. Neither is looking at the boat and hoping something happens.

Goethe is frequently quoted as saying:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!

It’s likely he never said it quite this way, but the quote holds, and is relevant to this post. I’ve been reading a couple books lately. The first is ReWork, by Jason Fried. The second is Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky. Both intersect at the idea of work. In fact, a third book – The 4-Hour WorkWeek, Timothy Ferris – intersects here as well. Belsky especially is relevant to what we do, whether we do it as working photographers or not. I tell you all that so you know my sources as I get up on my soapbox.

As the so-called Creative Class you and I put a lot of stock in the value of ideas. Inspiration. Creativity. We often do not put a lot of stock into work. In fact work is often set up as the opposite of artistic endeavors. Where Belsky rocked my world is in pointing out that how great your idea is means almost nothing without the will to carry it out. And to do that you need motivation and organization and perseverance and the willingness to get up at 5am if that’s what it takes (don’t look at me, pretty sure my muse wouldn’t ask me to do that. That’s crazy talk. But for some people…).

You can generate idea after idea, fill your Moleskine notebooks so jam-packed with great ideas the world would fall down at your feet if only they knew how creative you were. But the trap lies in thinking that coming up with the ideas is where the value is. It isn’t. The value lies in your ability to execute. Forget all the hundreds of ideas. Pick one. And do it. Then pick another, and do it too.

We get paralyzed sometimes by too many options. A million ideas and we’re stuck because we can’t pick one. Stop it. Pick one. Move forward.

How does this apply? For working photographers or those who aspire to it – pick one project and do it. Finish it. Then do another. Which one? Who cares! Pick the one you most want to do, the one your dog wants you to do, or the one on the top of the list. But pick one, and do it. Because picking the “wrong one” and getting it done puts you in motion and is better than doing nothing at all. It’s the same with your day to day tasks. I know, you’ve got too much to do. Lord knows my calendars and to-do lists have never been so long, so I feel your pain. Don’t stare at it, don’t whine. Just pick the thing at the top of the list – or better – the one you most dread doing, and begin. Just begin.

And for the ones who just do this for fun – same thing. Begin. Pick a project. Begin. Work it through. Then finish it. Nothing helps us move forward like momentum; beginning is the hardest part. Get in motion, and watch things begin to fall into place.

You are not creative until you actually create something. The root word itself requires that. That old adage about creativity being 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration? It’s true. Don’t let your piles of notes and your great-sounding ideas lull you into thinking you’re making progress. You make progress when you begin. Ideas are great, but they’re no substitute for the thrill of creation, of seeing that idea become real. All you need to do is begin. And then finish. But beginning is the hard part. There are a million excuses – we’re too busy is the best one. But isn’t it interesting how the Too-Busy still have time for Lost and American Idol? How they’re always talking about their next great idea? How they – and by “they” I mean “we” because I’m the first one that needs to hear this sermon – are always talking about photography more than they are actually making photographs. Watch TV if you like, just don’t complain you don’t have enough time. And don’t try that “but I watch TV to get inspired!” line with me, most of us don’t need more inspiration. We need to begin acting on the inspiration we’ve already been given.

Timothy Ferris is a good read on this. The first thing he suggests is to adopt a low-information diet. Fried says decision are progress: stop thinking about projects, make a decision and move forward. Belsky suggests you adopt a life with a strong bias towards action. I suggest the same thing when you get stalled. Stop thinking about it. Stop complaining about it. Just begin. I’m not sure there’s magic in it, but power certainly. You will get more done than most creatives by taking that first step.

I know this post doesn’t seem photographically relevant but the fact is most of us have enough technical knowledge and at least one good idea. What we need is to get moving. Heck, even a mediocre idea – even a BAD idea – once in motion is better than a good one that never finds legs. At least the bad idea in motion has a chance of becoming a better idea and one day actually becoming something more than an idea. Begin!

“The practice of art isn’t to make a living. It’s to make your soul grow.” ~Kurt Vonnegut

Chase Jarvis recently posted about his Create-Share-Sustain paradigm. I’ve referenced it, linked to it, quoted it several times this past year. In that paradigm, the notion of sustaining the create-share cycle is generally seen as a financial one. It’s the grease on the wheels that allows you to keep going – whether that’s working at Starbucks or a day-job you love, or even making photographs as a career itself. But there are other means by which we sustain ourselves. Man, Jesus once said, does not live by bread alone. Of course, He was referring to prayer, a sustenance of the soul.

Art too sustains the soul. But how do you sustain art?

I’m ending, as you know, an incredibly busy year. It’s been exciting, and my work has certainly sustained and grown my soul, to use the words of writer Kurt Vonnegut. But you know that bit in physics: every action has an equal and opposite reaction? It’s like that in metaphysics too. As a result this year and the work I did, has also had something of a draining effect. I am tired. I am running out of images and words. I’m feeling it. So what do you do when the thing that sustains you begins to tire you? What do you do when the shelves are bare?

I think you go back and put stuff on the shelf. For the creative soul I think the way we do that is a little counter-intuitive: we shoot more, write more, we go back to the well and fill it with the same bucket we use for drawing water in the first place. We get intentional about the process and stop worrying about the products. We stir the paint. We take more risks. We work more, not less. If you’re a VisionMonger and your work feeds you literally as well as metaphorically, it means you take the time to do personal projects and create something for you and not only your clients. It is not just as important that you feed your own creative soul before you feed your market, it is more important.

I’ll tell you my plan in the coming days, but for now I’m curious about you. Forget resolutions and plans for the new year for now. For now, forget the steps you’ll take to improve your business. What do you do to stir the paint? Where do you go to fill your well?

I got this email yesterday, and I’m quoting it here in full with only a few edits to protect the identity of the one who sent it:

Dear David,

What do you know and think about stock photography, and which stock photography company would you recommend using? Really any information you have about stock photography will help.

I’m seriously thinking about taking out a loan and upgrading from my Canon 30D to a Canon 5D II, and adding a few L series lenses (the 30D isn’t meeting my expectations any more). But before I do, I want to ask you and a few others to reassure my wife that it will help support us.

Sincerely – Taking Stock, Podunk, WA

So. You know I’m about to launch into a sermon, don’t you? This week we’re talking about issues relevant to the VisionMongers out there. Today’s your pep talk about money, specifically debt. Here is a much-expanded version of my reply.

Dear Taking Stock,

First of all, it’s quite a coincidence but my buddy Gavin Gough is writing an eBook right now called Taking Stock, Vol I and it’s about this very thing. It’ll be released, along with Vol.02 under the Craft&Vision banner and I’ll announce it loud and clear when it’s out. And there’s a little bit about stock in VisionMongers itself. So, let me address the two very separate issues you’ve asked about.

One. Stock. I make a few thousand every now and then on stock. I don’t pursue it and I think those that do need to treat it very specifically as its own market. You need to study it, shoot specifically for it, and spend as much time maintaining your relationships with the clients as any other vocational photographer. If you want to make good money at it, you need think of it like a job and work at it; it is not a hobby.

Two. Loans. This is one I get really fired up about. Don’t do it. Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it.

Yes, there is a time and a place for loans and leasing. When you are buying a proven asset – something that will make you money – then a loan is sometimes a good idea. When you are buying a liability, it is not usually a good idea. In your case, the camera and new lenses might be either. Only you can answer that. But I doubt you can answer it from where you sit right now. You’re gambling. You have a camera. You aren’t currently making money in stock. If you’re looking for a confederate to gang up on your wife, I’m the wrong guy. Listen to your wife.

I’ve been there. I know the allure of the gear and the siren-call of newer, shinier, and better. I know the way that little gear gremlin whispers in your ear, saying things like, “if you had that new camera you’d make more money.” Bologna. If you aren’t making money with the 30D or D90, then you aren’t going to magically make money when the new camera arrives. What you need to do is go out and make a pile of money with the images you have now, or go shoot new images and sell them, but the new camera is very unlikely to help. If you can’t afford to pay for the new camera and lenses with cash, you simply can’t afford them.

The single best way to begin and operate a photography business is in the black. I’ve gone bankrupt. I have friends that have gone bankrupt. It’s a product of this heady cocktail of impatience (I need it now!), delusion (it’ll help me make more money!), and greed (Shiny! My preciousssssss!)- don’t, for the love of Diane Arbus, do it! Yes, a loan can be a good idea. But when it is, you won’t need to convince your wife, the numbers will do that for you. Very, very rarely is gear the asset we believe it to be. It breaks, go obsolete, and is seldom the thing that sells a client on hiring you or buying your images. And when it is, you can rent.

If you want to get serious about this, and be able to live and create without the added pressure of the overhead that servicing debt creates, then kick that gear gremlin to the curb, tighten your belt financially, and buy that new gear when the old stuff is making you enough money that it’s not a gamble or a hope but a necessity. And for the love of all things good, don’t use a credit card. I have a credit card with a ludicrously high limit, and the only time I use it is when I can use it like cash – I make the purchase and IMMEDIATELY go online and pay it down. I get airmiles and purchase protection, but I pay no interest. If you must take a loan, take a low, low interest loan. Take it from one who’s been there.

Can I get an Amen? There’s a lot of us out there, many of you even more savy about finances than I am – if you want to echo this please add your voices. Sometimes people need to hear the same thing over and over again before it sinks in. Your life, your family, your marriage, your business – none of these need the stress of debt.

This is a picture of my cat, Brie, on my – excuse me, on HER – office chair. Because nothing sets up a discussion of professionalism like a cat on a chair.

Ok, so you know I’ve got my reservations about the word “professional” when it’s set up against the word amateur. But the word “professionalism” where it applies to a high standard of excellence, that I can get on board with. In fact I’m constantly amazed at the lack of professionalism in creative industries. And I know I’m not the only one. I had an editor at a major photography magazine recently bemoan the fact that the photographers she works with can’t get things in on time. I’ve had other editors express total shock when I’ve replied to emails within an hour or two. Still others yet are amazed that I’ve replied to an image request on time and with well-delivered, clearly marked files that were to spec.

Seriously?

Frederick Van Johnson recently asked me why I feel like vocational photography is hard. One of the reasons I gave is that the point where craft and commerce meet is not an easy one to balance. I don’t even recall if I put it this way in VisionMongers or not, but if I didn’t, I should have. So in case I missed it, a recap: being a successful working photographer means far more than making photographs. I’ve barely shot a frame since the end of September – almost two months ago. We have times when it’s more important to stock the shelves, and this is one of those times for me. And then January will come and I’ll be shooting almost everyday for a couple months. But in the in-between times it’s not photography, it’s business. Consider these, among a great many other things, as a place to begin with a self-audit. Do you:

You reply to clients on time every time? If you’re too busy to do that, you’re too busy. If you wait 24 hours to reply to an email you’ve waited too long. If you only answer the “important” ones within 24 hours then you’ve made progress but are making assumptions about which ones are important. I’ve had many a client come from “unimportant” emails. They are all important. This is top of my list because I’m struggling with this now that the books are out. I lose track of the odd bit of fan mail, but even those are important. Don’t neglect your audience, whomever they are.

You meet client needs to the letter, then give them more? Files on time, well delivered, to spec.

You never, ever depart from the core of your brand? Know who you are, what you stand for, and never deviate.

Your outgoing emails, invoices, and every piece of collateral, is well-designed, consistent with each other and with the visual conventions of your brand, not just a logo?

You begin every day assuming your service or product can always be better and you take every opportunity to make it so?

You approach your market with the aim to serve them not exploit them?

That’s a short list. Be the best photographer you can be, and getting better. But you also need to be the best business-person you can be. Don’t like it? That’s one of the benefits of not bringing your craft to the world of commerce.

I’m not even sure who I’m talking to out there. If it’s you, it’s not too late. I do know why I’m telling you this – because it doesn’t take much for me to wow clients. And while that’s good for me, it bodes very badly for those among us who are setting the standard of mediocrity so low. I mean, c’mon, it’s hard enough to do this and keep your head above water, I know it is. I get emails all the time about these challenges. Don’t mulitply it with customer service that makes you look ragged around the edges and drives customers to someone else – who might be “less talented” but is more inclined to serve the customers you don’t have time to serve well.

Here’s one more that my manager made me change for this very reason: my invoicing. He literally forced me to sign up for Freshbooks and it’s changed the way I do invoicing. It’s amazing, and it’s very professional in the way it looks, and makes your business look. It’s also easier for your clients. Take one small step today, and everyday. Today, consider cleaning up your invoicing. Next week clean out your inbox – by replying to them or deleting them and starting fresh, but an inbox with 1000 emails, that’s only going to intimidate you and you’ll never, EVER, empty it. Clear it, create some rules to keep it ordered and end every day with it clear. Then standardize your letterheads and all outgoing email signatures – do one thing every day that begins with the assumption that your service needs work. A complete overhaul is intimidating, few of us have time for it, but one action-item a day gets the job done. Set the time aside. Raise the bar.

Last call on the BIG FAT BUSINESS CARD GIVEAWAY THING. I draw a name this evening sometime, so now’s your last time to get in on it.

Sometime in the middle of this month my new book, VisionMongers, will hit shelves and the mailboxes of those that pre-ordered them on Amazon.com. So to make a splash, and to tell the world, I decided to up the ante on the whole “give away some free books” thing. So here’s more details on the BIG FAT Business Card Giveaway Thing.

What’s In It For Me?

Well, all I want is to tell the world about the book. The more people that know about the book, the more potential buyers, the greater the chance I can take my wife to dinner on Friday nights. That’s it.

What’s In It For You?

The winner of this Giveaway Thing, and there will be only one, will get a prize package of goodies that anyone wanting to make a life and a living in photography will make good use of. That package includes:

A Copy of Within The Frame, signed by me, Joe McNally, and Vincent Versace

A Copy of VisionMongers, signed.

PDF copies of all my current eBooks - Ten, Ten More, Drawing The Eye, and by the time we draw for this, Chasing The Look will also be out.

A signed copy of Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, mandatory and inspiring reading for VisionMongers.

A copy of Selina Maitreya’s Mp3 series, The View From Here - a fantastic resource on entering, and staying in, the world of commercial photography.

A $200 credit with Peachit Press, to stock your shelf with learning resources.

A 1-year subscription to Kelby Training online resources. Some of the best teachers on the planet, all available 24/7 on your browser.

An Evrium Software FLUID GALLERIES PROFESSIONAL package. Show your work to the world.This is the software that drives my portfolio and I love it.

A full OnOne Software PlugIn Suite 4.5 package, courtesy of the fine folks at OnOne Software.

So, How Do You Enter to Win All This Prizey Goodness?

I’ve created a Flickr group HERE. You go there and post one image of your business card. It could be a scan or a photograph, it could be a drawing on a napkin that you photographed then scanned. Don’t have a business card? Carve one into a gourd or draw one in the sand. The top ten most creative images will get bonus points and entered twice, doubling your chances.

Don’t enter here.

Don’t email me your cards.

Just go to the Flickr group and post your image.

Your business card will have your phone number or email on it, and it’ll be clear, right? That’s how I’ll notify the winner. If the name, number, or email are illegible I’ll draw someone else’s name. The draw will take place at the end of November. Also, you should know that karmically you have a better chance of winning if you also buy my book which is available here on Amazon.com. Hey, I’m just saying… Good luck!

Last week my new book got rolled out on Amazon.com, which means two things. Thing One: I can now talk about it. Thing Two: I guess I need to start writing this sucker now. Just kidding. Almost done, promise.

VisionMongers: Making A Life and a Living in Photography is due out in November/December. Amazon lists it at December 25 just to be safe but it’ll be out before then.

If you were asking me about it, and I know you want to, I’d tell you it’s a sketchbook of ideas about the pursuit of professional photography. But it’s more than that. See, I think the lines between so-called professional and so-called amateur are getting so blurred as to be almost meaningless. Same with the actual definitions of those words, so I approach this from a different angle; that of vocation and the notion that some of us do this not to make a million but because we simply can’t not do it. We feel called to it; by God, or our talent, our need to express ourselves, or just that persistent voice inside our heads that we can no longer ignore. So this is a book about following that call – it begins with passion and vision, taking inventory of ourselves, picking a niche, familiarizing ourselves with our market, and then taking our vision to market with the best marketing savvy and business acumen that we can. Within The Frame talked a lot about the balance between the artist and the geek, VisionMongers discusses the balance between craft and commerce.

Throughout the book are stories about other photographers from other niche markets, people like Chase Jarvis, Zack Arias, Gavin Gough, and Ami Vitale. These case studies look at the unique journeys each of us have taken to pursue our calling as photographers, and the commonalities among them.

I’m writing it, and nearly done, because I love what I do and can’t imagine doing anything else with my life. Every day I get emails from people who want to do this, make a living with their vision and their cameras, and wanting some advice. The thing is we all have a different journey, different passion and vision, and a different path to get here. So this is no road map, no book of secrets – because there are none -  just a book of solid ideas about how to make a life and a living in photography, though specifically for the freelancer/entrepreneur, which these days is the bulk of us. I wrote this book to help others find the same joy and purpose in vocational photography as I’ve found, whether that’s full-time, part-time, or as a moonlighter.

The book is available for pre-order now, out in November. You can find it HERE on Amazon.com. Most importantly, the book will be the same size as Within The Frame, so they’ll be symmetrical on your shelf, which is in itself a great reason for buying the books. 

Earlier today I reacted to a quote someone posted on Twitter, and though perhaps I should have known better was shocked at the responses. So, because 140 characters is a perilously constraining means by which to either have a conversation or preach a sermon, I eventually turned off my Tweetdeck and will make my case more clearly here. I’ll leave comments open but for the record I will delete harsh or beligerent comments without hesitation. No one comes here to see a fight.

The exact quote isn’t even relevant, though it went something like this: ” To be a real photographer you also need to be a business.” Like all quotes there’s the fact that this quote is completely without context, so forget for a minute what the original author meant, because that’s not really what I’m reacting to. What I’m reacting to is the notion that to be a “real” photographer you need to be a so-called professional. The comments that came back to me, most of them in some form of accord with my plea for a more inclusive definition, also contained some pretty strongly worded objections to this.

So let me be clear, because this is going to be a sermon from which I do not back off or repent. The idea that the only people who should be called “photographers” are those making money at it, is total horse shit. Yes, to be a professional photographer you need to be a business person and you need to do it well. How many articles have I written about this very thing? I am a full-time vocational photographer, I make my living from this craft. I love and admire and encourage photographers who do this for a living. But so as not to be ambiguous, it needs to be understood that your art is not legitimized by how much money you make at it, if any. There are plenty of photographers of mediocre ability who make a living at this. There are many photographers who pay to do it, and subsidize their art by working as dentists, doctors, janitors, teachers, who are exceptional. To deny that they too are photographers merely because they choose not to sell their work, is not only ridiculous it’s offensive.

I suspect the reason people defend this particular rampart is that they do, in fact, legitimize their work by what it earns and when a talented so-called amateur (one who does something for the love of it) creates something beautiful without price or fee, it calls into question their whole evaluation mechanism.

To reduce our art or craft to legitimacy only when it’s kissed on the brow by the mighty dollar is perverse, bordering on creative prostitution. By all means, make a living at it. I do. I love it so much I finally – after years and years as an amateur – took the leap and began doing this full time. But that in no way made me a “photographer.” It made me a professional, vocational, photographer, but not a better one. I am on no higher plane and neither are those who presume to be.

No working photographer I know and respect would have the audacity to suggest that only the professionals can be “photographers”, but it’s not them I’m concerned about. It’s the amateurs I am concerned about. I worry that any of them would buy into this garbage and be discouraged from creating, expressing, pursuing this craft with passion and creating art for the love of it. A photographic world in which the first question people ask is “what does the market want?” is not a world I want to be a part of. Do we eventually ask the question? Maybe. Maybe not. But it sure as hell isn’t the primal question. Furthermore, art created from passion and not from greed is art that will more powerfully resonate with people, and is therefore more commercially viable, so even on a pragmatic level passion pays. I don’t want to look at the work created by a photographer who creates only what I want to see or pay for. I want to look at the work of an artist who cares enough to create something that comes from deep within.

Can you create great work and charge for it? Of course. But it’s not the right question. My next book is about the fusion of craft and commerce. I believe you can make a living – even a good living – at doing this. It’s not easy, but you can do it. I believe a working photographer is worth his wage and is probably charging too little. But not every photographer wants to complicate their art with the demands and liabilities of professionalism and there’s no reason they should. There are photographers who by profession are accountants and teachers and taxi drivers and they may enjoy their work and find inspiration there. What matters is that you create, you express, you share, and you find a way to sustain that. How you sustain it is up to you.

This has nothing to do with romanticizing the starving artist thing, nor a denial that this is an expensive craft. It’s merely this; a denial of the elitist, exclusionist assertion that you can not be a photographer, let alone a brilliant one, unless money changes hands. I’m not looking to define the word “photographer”, I’m looking to allow people to define, or not define, themselves as they like. At the end of the day I am not just a photographer. I am a photographer, a writer, a husband, a son, a humanitarian, and a dozen other things. None of them negate the other, they contribute, make me who I am. But money or no money I am a photographer because I am passionate about it, it’s the medium I love and through which I express myself.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re an amateur, keep at it. Live your creative life on your terms. Doing this professionally is a thrill, and I love it. But there are as many liabilities as there are benefits and the same applies to remaining a hobbyist – there are advantages and disadvantages. What matters is that you love and practice your craft without ever feeling the condescension of a so-called professional who doesn’t want you in the club. That kind of exclusivism is a harm to the craft and a denial of the prime mover in art: passion.

Comments are open, but again, this is not a fight. If you feel strongly enough about this that you want to write an impassioned response and/or start a bar fight over it, then I welcome you to do so. On your own blog. The photography community is one I love deeply, it’s filled with people – amateurs, professionals, and those that defy categorization – that I’d go to the mat for, but in the end this is not a topic over which we’ll achieve accord if you feel that your business card alone makes you a “photographer.” If this topic raises your blood pressure, that’s probably a good thing – it’s good that we are passionate about these things and ask the questions, even if we don’t agree. I’m not for a moment denying that the pros are photographers, just asking that as a professional community we open the doors, be more inclusive and maybe check under the hood to see where our art comes from. I suspect it’ll be better if it comes from passion.

So if I didn’t dissuade you from blogging yesterday, and the lame photo above doesn’t turn you off, here’s a few suggestions for plunging headlong into blogging. Taylor Davidson left a comment on Tuesday’s post citing anecdotal evidence that many blogs don’t make it past the 3 month mark. Don’t let this happen to you. This is a short list, and it applies to long-term bloggers looking to breathe new life into their blog with an overhaul as much as it does to new bloggers.

1. Don’t let the name fool you, blogging is just writing. You are self-publishing a daily or weekly column, nothing more. So unless you’ve got a photoblog with no words, bone up on your writing skills.

2. Content Is King. Seriously. In fact it’s more like Grand Emperor. Unless you are a celebrity to whom people are drawn like desperate flies, people will come for what you write. If you’re hysterically funny, many will overlook what you write and come for how you write it. But most of you will draw an audience based purely on content. You must have something to say. And unless you lead a profoundly interesting life, or a boring one about which you write incredibly well, people simply won’t show up to read it. Unless it’s your mother and I’m betting even she has limits.

3. Skip the freebie webhosts, like Blogger, and go straight to Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org. Just save yourself the grief and do it right the first time. I wish I had. I reserve a special place of loathing for Blogger. Typepad is fine, but you pay for it so might as well go straight to Wordpress. Wordpress.com is a paid and hosted kind of deal, Wordpress.org is free for the downloading, but you need to install it on your server and update yourself, so there’s a certain degree of geekdom required. If you’re looking for great hosting, I can’t recommend ETWebHosting strongly enough. Sure, you can get free hosting out there but you get what you pay for. I’ve been using ETWebHosting for years and their reliability and customer service is fantastic. If all you want to do is get a blog up and running, then spend the few dollars/month and get a Wordpress.com blog.

4. Find a name you can live with for a long time. Getting the word out and the momentum going is tough work and will take you time to build a readership. Blogs are spread virally, so once your URL is out there it’s best if you can let it do its thing without changing it up.

5. Find a niche. Not everyone needs one, but it helps. Strobist is a great example. Another way of looking at it: play to your strengths. If what you most want to do is post a combination of images and narratives and leave off with the gear talk, do it. If you want to focus solely on macro photography, do it. Follow your expertise or your passion.

6. Don’t take it too seriously. It’s just a blog for gosh sakes. Enjoy it. Know your audience but write what you want to write – it’s your blog, not theirs.

7. Be consistent. If you want consistent and growing readership, and not all people have that as a goal, then writing consistently is important. Doesn’t have to be everyday, but if you decide to post every Wednesday, make sure you show up or your readers won’t. But make sure you have something to say. Better to post actual content people care about and only post once a week, than to post junk every day.

8. Use social media to support your blog. If you’re already on Facebook or Twitter, be sure to let those people know when you post to your blog. This draws in people from that outer circle of your immediate circle of friends, people that otherwise wouldn’t know about your blog.

9. Interact. Part of the payoff of blogging is meeting new people, making connections, and expanding your world. Reply to comments, link to others, and in general keep the love flowing.

10. This one’s yours. Got a suggestion for successful blogging, specifically for photographers, then this is your spot. Actually the comments are your spot, so consider this symbolic.

For tomorrow’s post I’d love to assemble a list of photographers who are blogging and really doing it well. Could be a blog like mine with lots of words and opinion, could be strictly a photoblog like David Nightingale’s Chromasia, but if you’ve got a favourite, throw it into the comments and I’ll compile them.