PixelatedImage Blog

“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.

Yesterday I wrote about the benefits of blogging, and while I gave you three pretty compelling reasons, I’m pretty sure that what I gave you was a short list. But given all these benefits, is blogging a tool you should be spending time on?

I think so. But what shape that takes is different for everyone. I love to write. It’s not usually a chore for me to sit down and communicate. If anything I tend to over-communicate at times. But some of you don’t like writing. Perhaps with time you’ll get better at it and grow to love it. But some of you, well ya know I love you and so this might be hard for you to hear – heck, it’s hard for me to say-  well, you just might want to do a photo blog and speak through your images instead. Look, if you stink at writing in the same way I stink at math, why put yourself – and your readers – through it? Do what you love and do what you’re good at and if writing ain’t either, find something that is. Or don’t, that’s just my two cents worth. But if you’re an exceptional photographer and your writing is simply lousy, then you’re doing a disservice to you work and misrepresenting yourself. If you insist on writing, then find an editor to work with, someone who will respect your voice and polish your writing so it is aligned with the quality of your work. By the way, if this is the route you choose, I have more respect for you than you know, because this is not the path of least resistance and it shows real commitment. Good on ya.

Writing is not the only way to create content on a blog. You could do audio or video podcasts, or simply post an image daily. But closing your eyes to the fact that your work and your words are at odds with each other isn’t going to make that go away. Again, fine if you’re a hobbyist, I suppose, but if you’re a working pro, or aspire to be, then your words and your work need to compliment and support each other and, ultimately, support the goals you have for your blog.

What is missing in the discussion of photographers and blogging is often a rationale. Doing it because everyone else is doing it is a rationale but not one that’s very helpful. So many blogging photographers have no intended audience whatsoever. None. Their design, content, and writing style suggests strongly that they’re just puttin’ it out there in hopes the someone, anyone, will read it. If you’re a hobbyist, then more power to ya, an unfocused blog is groovy. But for aspiring professionals the very first questions you must ask and from which all your content decisions must be made are Why am I doing this? Who am I writing this for?

If you know the answer to that, then you can make sound choices about what should and should not be part of your blog. If your audience is potential clients then long Photoshop tutorials and discussions about your last assignment that blew up in your face and left you frustrated are probably poor content choices. They won’t read them. They shouldn’t read them. If your audience is other photographers because you’re a trainer, lecturer, author, workshop leader, etc, then these are exactly the things your intended audience might get strong value from.

I know I beat this horse so much there ain’t much left of him, but what you do – particularily in the professional arena – will be better served if it is informed first by why you do it. The Why will determine the What and the How. Oddly, so many people seem to be asking “Should I blog?” and fewer are asking “Why should I blog?” Both good questions, but the second one interests me much more.

Wow, what a week. Ok, first, be sure to keep reading today, there’s a post under this one welcoming a new sponsor. Other than that, a few things to go into the long weekend with. I’m taking Monday off, so this has got to last you.

Yesterday was the soft-launch of my book, pictured left. My publisher, Peachpit, has released a sample of my book and it’s available for download. Go HERE for that announcement and to see what Scott Kelby, who is one of the few to have read the book, has to say about it. I’d post it again here, but it makes me blush. If you missed that post, please do read it – it’s about the biggest thing to happen in these here parts since, well, ever. The reactions to the sample chapter have been overwhelming – the comments and the emails, the tweets, all so encouraging – thank you! Just want to go to Amazon and pre-order it, here’s the link: Within the Frame on Amazon.com And HERE’s the B&N link too.

Second, Drobo has just released the DROBO Pro. It’s all the Drobo goodness, but with 8 bays and a triple interface. Drobo just left the home and into the business world. I want one of these so bad it hurts. For more information, look HERE. Gear is Good, Vision is Better, Backup is Mandatory.

Third, one of the most popular posts I’ve ever done – no, THE most popular post – was last weeks bit about the things comedians can teach photographers. You can read that post HERE and the follow up post, which got overshadowed by the  book announcement yesterday, HERE.

Fourth, fellow Canadian and wildlife photographer Paul Burwell has a fantastic post on his blog about the top 10 mistakes that aspiring freelance photographers make, and that’s available HERE and worth a read.

Fifth, THIS makes me laugh. Math and I don’t get along. But photographers math? I wish I’d thought of this.

Sixth, keep reading, there’s one more post under this one, which due to the vagaries of the way articles get published, will actually publish first. Hmmm, so the first WILL be last… have a great weekend, y’all.

Some of you know my story. Here’s the short form for those that don’t. Been a photographer since I was 14, wanted to be Steve McCurry. Who didn’t? Life zagged and I went to college, a theology school, after a summer on the Amazon River. Kept shooting as a hobby. 5 years later life zagged again and I became a comedian for 12 years. Still shooting as a hobby. Went to Haiti. Zag #3, retired from comedy and finally came back to my first passion. I learned a lot along the way, and many of those lessons have stood me in good stead.  I loved that gig, got where I wanted to go, but this one’s more…me.

I can juggle flaming torches on a 6ft unicycle; my mother bought me my first unicycle for Christmas. The next year she bought me a straitjacket. Christmas around our place was a little weird for a few years there. I think they’re all pretty relieved to be buying me camera gear again. And while I doubt I’ll ever be called on to juggle or do a 2-hour stage show again, my diversion into show-biz, specifically comedy, taught me much that’s transferable. Here’s a few things professional comedy taught me about being a vocational photographer.

1. Show Biz is 10% show, 90% biz. Now I’m not sure about the math on this but it’s the same for photographers who shoot professionally. You need to hone those photography skills all the time. But you also need to hone the professional skills. When’s the last time you bought a book about trends in viral marketing or learned how to keep better financial records?

2. That’s Hack, Man! There are few insults in the comedy world that’ll strip a man of his pride like telling him his routine is hack. Cliche. Already Been Done. It pushes the best comics to make their routines as unique to them as humanly possible. Just because it’s original doesn’t necessarily make it funny, but it’s part of guarding your artistic integrity, and for a group of people who seem to be all funny all the time, the best of them can be very neurotic about this. The best comics don’t try to be someone else. Neither do the best photographers. Annie Liebovitz isn’t where she is today because she tried to be Cartier-Bresson.

3. The best comedy is tight, intentionally edited stuff. There’s not much room in comedy for extraneous bits. If you want to keep you LPM (laughs per minute) up you need to trim the fat. Set it up, get to the punchline, and then call back. Seinfeld is the king of the call-back. I’ve counted his LPM as high as 11, a good comedian will get 5-7. Comedians know how to get to the good stuff faster. Photographers need to hone their editing skills, both within the image – there’s a reason Capa said “if your photographs aren’t good enough you aren’t close enough” – and in their portfolios. Tighten it up, it makes for stronger communication.

4. Comedians understand what makes people laugh and they craft their routines accordingly. Do you know how people read your images? If not, how do you expect to lead their eye to what you consider important? Photographers must be visually literate. I preach this all the time, but the WHY is important, it informs the HOW. As in HOW you make an image depends on WHY you’re making it, where you want them to look, and what you want to say. Only visual literacy gets you there.

5. Performers understand what it takes to create and leverage celebrity. Their careers survive on the strength of their fan base, which of course is only partly dependent on the strength of their talent. Photographers who understand marketing, branding, positioning, and how to honestly leverage these things within their intended market, have a better chance of making it, than a photographer with the same talent who does not. Uncomfortable with the word “celebrity”? Don’t think you need it. What if you use “word of mouth” instead? Seems pretty important now, doesn’t it.

6. Comedians – the very best ones – know from whence they came. They know the heritage of their art. They can tell you who did the first bit about airplane food, where Cosby paid his dues, and when Vaudeville died. They know that to understand the present and future of their craft they need to understand the historical trajectory of the craft, where’s it been, where’s it going. Not all of them do, but the best ones seem to.

7. They take their craft very seriously. Ever been to a convention of comedians? You’d think it would be all laughter all the time. And it is. Sort of. But sit in on a conversation with six comics discussing the craft and you’ll think you just dropped in on a planning session with the mafia. They get very serious, and very articulate in between the fart gags. They know that the more seriously they take their craft offstage, the better it will be on stage when the house lights dim.

My time in comedy taught me much more than this. I don’t do comedy anymore, but when I am shooting in Africa, surrounded by 300 villagers laughing at me wiggling my butt or butchering the swahili word for “smile” I’m right back where I started. Ain’t no business like show business, but the similarities, to me, are striking.

Have a great weekend , y’all.