PixelatedImage Blog

Shooting sunset in the Maasai Mara, while a ranger keeps an eye out.
Photo credit: Regis Vincent.

When Nicole S. Young’s ebook on MicroStock came out last year on the Craft&Vision site, we caught some flack for “supporting the microstock model.” We were told how unfair the model is, how it’s going to put photographers out of business, and how irresponsible it was to put out a book that helps people navigate these waters, unfair as they are. Then I read some bits and pieces of woe about the state of journalism and the decline of print media. Then this morning I spent time reading the blog of Joe Konrath, also not a photographer, but a well-known self-publisher in the fiction world. The pieces came together.

In VisionMongers I said that our businesses should be an act of creativity as much as our photography is. I believe that more now than I did before. So, if you’ll indulge a rant/sermon, hear me out on something. This rant’ll get worse before it gets better, so read through to the end. I promise to try to end without completely shipwrecking this.

One of the currents I detect in the arguments against microstock, though this rant is not specifically about microstock, is the same one I think I’d get from a whiny teenager whose father won’t let him use the car, except in the business world there is no father and if you want a car, you have to buy it. No one is going to hand it to you, no one owes you anything, most especially not a business model that’s just like the so-called good old days. The good ol’ days never were. The world changes, it’s not easy, it’s not fair, but it’s the same playing field we’ve always played on. People whining about the unfairness of the microstock model, or __________________ (insert random unfairness here) have forgotten that if they are self-employed, they are the rainmakers. No one else. So bitch about the lack of rain or get out and pound the button on the cloud-seeder like a rented mule. The question is not: is it fair? The question is: how badly do you want it?

Yes, once upon a time you could wait for the phone to ring and someone would pay you $500 for a photograph of a plate of pasta. ChaChing! They would tell you how to shoot it, when to shoot it, and you’d do it with a stylist and art director hovering over you, making you wish you were photographing drooling kids against wooded backdrops in KMart instead. But now the phone doesn’t ring. So some photographers, wanting to spend their time creating instead of bitching, still shoot the pasta. And pizza. And, well, whatever the hell they want. No art directors. Few stylists. And no, no one writes them a cheque that takes 6-8 weeks to arrive after you’ve invoiced them twice. Instead, they post those photographs to a microstock site, and they make $1. But they make that dollar 500 times. Or 1000 times. Or they don’t make a penny because their photograph isn’t remotely as good as others available to the same market, and they have to go back and do it better, get a little more creative and make a photograph that hasn’t already been shot. Unfair? It’s the fairest it’s ever been – it’s fair because it relies on how good your work is and how hard you hustle. But let’s be honest, the business world isn’t about fair. It’s about responding to how the world functions, and the needs of the people in that world, and finding a market for what you offer within that world. The ones who meet this challenge in the most creative ways, and with the most amount of elbow grease are the ones who make it, not the ones whining over a latte in a Starbucks somewhere.

So why did I mention self-publishing? Because the world of publishing is changing the same way the world of photography is. Is there as much money to be made by authors? Absolutely! In fact, there’s more! But it’s different. The same is true of journalism. Things are changing. Is it easy? No. Is it fair? Does it matter? EVERYTHING is changing. It always has. It always will. If you are in business for yourself as a photographer, your job, as the CEO of You Inc., is to meet those changes head on, to navigate the rough waters and do it in a way you love, while not sinking the ship. No one promised you safe passage. No one owes you a waveless voyage. You will get “there” (wherever there is) not by how good your photographs are (there are a lot of amazing photographers out there, have you noticed?) but by how creatively you engage your market, and how hard you hustle. Read that again. If you are floundering, it’s not because you don’t have a better camera or the same 85/1.2L lens that that other, more successful, photographer on the other side of town, or the other side of the internet. It’s because you aren’t being as creative as you thought you were or you aren’t hustling. That’s a broad brush to paint with but I believe it with all my heart. Everything I’ve learned in business tells me that. Stop buying gear and start buying books about business and new media. (BTW, how good your art is matters tremendously, it’s just a different conversation about a different thing.)

Yes, things are changing. They always have. But you can either make the change or react to it. Either way you need to be creative. You can do two things with your time on this earth – play the cards you’re dealt with all the energy and conviction you can, or whine and moan about how lousy your cards are. But whining and moaning never once changed the cards in anyone’s hand. Yes, Detroit was decimated by the economy, and it was left in literal ruins. But it’s making a come back. Not because it sat there feeling sorry for itself (ok, some did, but they aren’t the ones making the comeback), but because they got creative. They stood up, dusted off the seat of their jeans and looked the situation square in the eye and said, “OK. Now what?” It’s hard work. It’ll take time. And if you don’t love that work, give up now.

The opportunities to make  a living doing something you love in the creative arts has never, ever, been like they are now. The same things causing the massive shift away from old models (insert whining) are the same forces allowing us these new opportunities (insert creativity and hard work). There are more opportunities to show and sell our work, whatever that is, to more people on this planet, than any photographer or artist has ever had in any previous generation on this planet. If you want to make a go of this, the time has never been better. Assuming one of the reasons you want to do this is to be creative, to sail your own ship, and to enjoy the journey. There is no path waiting for you. You have to make it. There are no charts for where we’re sailing to, these are unknown waters. No one promised us a safe passage, and anyone that thinks they’re owed one will never get there – not because the waters are rough but because time spent whining and feeling entitled is time wasted while others are creating new sails and patching holes in the boat so they can sail a few days longer, or a little faster. It’s not easy. If you want easy, you signed up for the wrong journey. But make no mistake about it, everyone is on a boat. You can sail your own, or you can work for another captain. The difference is merely in who makes the decisions, not how rough the water is. We all weather the same economic weather, and ride out the same waves of change in technology, history, etc.

I want to say “you can do it!” and be really encouraging. And some of you – no, many of you – can do it, and can do it brilliantly. But only you can decide how badly you want it, how hard you’re willing to work for it, how creative you’re willing to be to get it, and how wet you’re willing to become in order to get there. To get to the other shore you need to let go of the one you’re leaving, accept the unpredictability of winds and waves, and shout into the raging storm at times, “is that all you’ve got?!” and then pull the sails a little tighter. I wish I could tell you more. But all I’ve learned from my journey that universally applies, is that the journey is worth it, and that it’s often harder than we wish it were. You’ve got a handful of years to do your work, don’t you dare waste those moments whining instead of creating something amazing. Don’t leave a legacy of risk-aversion and “I wish I’d…” to your kids. Don’t settle for hours in front of a large screen TV when you can have a larger life. Don’t settle for watching great stories when you could spend your time living one. Whether you can or can’t, whether you do or don’t, is up to you.

Just a quick update on the newest book, Photographically Speaking. I was genuinely worried how far we’d have to push the deadlines out on this after my accident but if there’s one things everyone knows, including publishers and Kathy Bates, it’s that a writer with broken ankles gets way more done than his colleagues that waste all their time with walking. So we pushed the deadlines out to mid-August. Today is July 08 and I’m happy to tell you – especially those of you that pre-ordered on Amazon or Barnes and Noble (and I thank you) – that I finished the writing two nights ago and the rest of it, image placements, captions, missing EXIF data, this evening. There will of course be edits and layout and all the stuff the superhero elves at Peachpit / New Riders do over there in the Bat Cave in Berkely, but for my part it’s done.

And I am prouder of this one than all three of the others put together. I think it out-WTFs Within The Frame and I’m hoping will be more actual teaching on the craft of photography than you’ve seen from me to date. What y’all think of it remains to be seen, but I’m prouder than punch. In the coming weeks, I think as soon as July 14th, there will be a Twitterview (an interview on Twitter) about the book, and as teaser material comes out from Peachpit I’ll be sure to tell you about it. But now that it’s so close to done, I can’t see a reason not to throw caution to the wind and just go ahead and pre-order it. You can, should you want to, pre-order from Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble through the links below. Or you can wait. It’ll be the same book either way. As always, you’ve got all my gratitude – no author gets here without readers, and I’m grateful. Thank you.

Now I’m off to have a celebratory beer, and then dig into the first novel I’ve read in months. Or watch Misery, though I’m not sure we’re laughing about that just yet. But to re-cap: The fourth book in the trilogy is now out of my hands (cf Douglas Adams and do not question the math on 4/3)  and should be out, if Amazon is to be believed, middle of October. Start counting the days!

Yesterday I submitted the last of the words and images for the last book in the trilogy – Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Hard to describe how excited I am to be done not only this book but the whole series. Harder still to believe that it’s been less than a year since the first one, the poorly acronymned Within The Frame, rolled out. Have no idea what I’ll do with all the time, other than travelling, shooting for clients, and continuing to offer the eBook at Craft&Vision.com. Might be time to begin the fourth book. Hey, if it was good enough for Douglas Adams to do a trilogy in four parts, it’s good enough for me.

Anyways, Vision & Voice. At the beginning of Within The Frame I explained my thought that there are really 3 images that go into the creation of the final photograph – the first is the one you envision, the second is the one you shoot, and the third is the one you refine in the darkroom. The better you are at the second two, the closer you can come to the first. Within The Frame was about the image you capture, Vision & Voice is about refining that image in the digital darkroom, specifically Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.

Vision & Voice is not a recipe book full of ways to make your images look “cool” or “better.” In fact that was really one of the premises of the book; to create a book that provided a newer way of looking at post-production than what we’re often told. What we hear so often is. “How do I make my images look better?” What we should be doing is looking for something more for our photographs. We need to define “better.”  An image to me is only better when it gets closer to my intention (vision) for the image. If the photograph looks the way I envisioned it, if it makes me feel the way I want it to, then it has a chance at making others feel that too, and that, to me, is better. But how we get there will mean different things to different people. That’s what Vision & Voice is about.

The first half of the book is the part where I drone on and on about visual language and the myth surrounding the “did it really look like that” notion, and the tools in Lightroom and what they do. It’s a little like Within The Frame in that sense. Or my blog for that matter. I hope it comes off with the same sincerity as Within The Frame does. In fact I hope all three books work together along similar lines. The second half of the book is the rubber-meets-the-road part of the book. I walk through about 20 of my own photographs, identify my intent for the image, and then walk you through the process to get there. It’s a full-on how-to kind of book but always connected to the why-to. How come? Because why you do something in post is more important than How and there are always 10 ways to get to the Why. And because these images are congruent with my style and the point is not to teach you how to make images that look like mine. The point is for you to work through the images – with DNG files suppplied online for download so you can work on the same files – and learn the Why and the How, so you can then work on your own files with fresh eyes and a new paradigm – the vision-driven workflow.

So there you go. It’s done. More or less. A few edits here and there, and then some tweaks and the book should, fingers crossed be on the presses early June for July delivery. You can pre-order it now from the link above. If you’re in a hurry, pre-order it with the publisher – Peachpit Press – you’ll get it faster. But it’ll still be in July.

One last thing. I dedicated this book to most of you. It’s dedicated to the Amateurs, the ones who do this for love of the craft whether or not a pay check is involved. Your enthusiasm, persistence, and sheer quality of work constantly humbles and inspires me. To all of you who sent emails or tweets or Facebook comments with encouragement over the past 2 years, which is how long I’ve been writing this trilogy – from the bottom of my heart, thank you. I still believe we have one of the best growing communities of passionate photographers and all around great human beings here on this blog and that’s because of you. Thank you.

This is Corwin. Corwin meet everyone, everyone, Corwin. Corwin’s my manager, friend, and Fire Put-er Outer. In my absence he thought he’d grab the microphone and fill the dead air. Corwin is a sharp mind who gets professional creatives like no one else I know. He’s the author of Growing The VisionMonger, the most recent eBook on offer from Craft & Vision. Highly recommended. Anyways, that’s the intro. Corwin will post while I’m gone. Look for a post from me on the 15th.

Ever had the awkward feeling that you’re standing on stage, wearing nothing but black socks? Well over these past few days I’ve lived on a stage of sorts. Last week saw the launch of the first collaborative eBook on Craft & Vision and, sure enough, it was mine. Not only am I the first non-duChemin to put it out there, but I’m also the first non-photographer to do so (that’s where the naked part comes in—the socks are just a bonus). I wrote Growing the VisionMonger in hopes of providing a helping hand to weekend warriors and pros alike, but there was a lesson in that eBook for me too: move quickly on a good idea, regardless of the risk.

That’s what I’ve learned from being around David; when a good idea comes along, he jumps all over it. As his manager, I’m privy to David’s schedule (his tasks, his clients, his whims and stressors) and I see all that he has on his plate. What always stands out to me is how he’s always looking for a big idea and how prepared he is to make it a reality. When he gets inspired, he moves fast. Take, for example, this whole Craft & Vision thing. When hiking with him this past August, David says to me, “Hey, I’m thinking of writing an eBook, what do you think?” We chatted about it for a few minutes, as we scrambled through a gully, and that was that. Well, within a few days, wham-o! eBook out the door (and 4 more followed shortly thereafter).

So what’s his secret? Well, seeing how he’s out of the country and less able to defend himself, let me tell you. David makes small, attainable goals and then works very hard to complete them. Those initial steps happen within a day, if not within an hour. And, when inspired, he tells people about it. He doesn’t sit on a good idea; he shares it. This gives him enough feedback to make the tweaks and changes he needs to feel confident about moving forward. He also gains the support of those his trusts and enjoys working with.

So what about your ideas? Which ones have been percolating for far too long? Which ones do you want to make a move on and see become a reality? Why not take a risk, jump up on stage, and put some action to your inspiration? I would, however, recommend keeping your clothes on.

Growing The VisionMonger is available, with all the Craft & Vision titles, for only $5 from CraftAndVision.com

I’m really excited to be announcing the release of the first collaborative book to come out of Craft & Vision. Hot on the heels of VisionMongers, my manager Corwin Hiebert has written Growing The VisionMonger, 10 Things a Manager Can Teach You About Running & Growing Your Business.

If you want to learn about f-stops and focal lengths, ask a photographer. If you want to learn about managing your business, ask a manager, and Corwin is a great manager. He’s not only the guy holding my own little world together but he performs management tasks for my friends Kevin Clark and Dave Delnea. He’s freaking great at what he does and he’s  neurotic about doing thing excellently and with efficiency. In short, he’s my secret weapon, and while not everyone needs or wants a manager in their back-pocket, using a the expertise of a manager is a sure way to grow your business.

Whether you’re a Weekend Warrior or a Working Stiff, there’s solid meat in here for you. And there’s action points with each of the 10 topics for both. If you made a New Year’s resolution to get serious about your photography business, this is a solid place to start. And for $5, it’ll leave you plenty of budget for that new logo and a retainer for your new accountant.

Still only $5, Growing The VisionMonger is available on the Craft & Vision website HERE or for immediate download with the fancy buttons below.

A Happy New Year from all of us at Pixelated Image Communications and Craft & Vision. May this year be the year you chase down your dreams.

“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?

2008. Sleeping on the train to Tunis, Tunisia. Or Sfax. I can’t recall now. Photo credit: The Legendary H.

On Friday I posted a letter from a photographer asking a very pointed question about his future in the craft. I put the note out there and invited replies from you, and boy did you ever step up to the plate! If you’ve not read the email, or the replies contributed by this community in the comments, you should do that. Thanks to all of you for the diversity of perspectives.

One of the reasons I gave, tongue-in-cheek, for not replying immediately was that y’all would just read what I wrote and say, “Yeah, what he said.” The irony, of course, after reading all your replies, is that I’m forced to do the same. There’s not much more I can add. The other reason, unstated, was that I was short on time, and throwing it out to you seemed like a good distraction. Again, the irony is that it forced me to read through over 70 comments. Next time I’ll just answer the darn question

The question, as far as I could see it, was from a photographer really wanting to know whether being a generalist, as opposed to specializing, would prevent him from becoming a successful working photographer. Those were the broad strokes I took from the question. Some of you followed this tack, other picked up on other subtexts. Here’s my reply to the question as I understood it.

Dear Doomed(?) in Duluth,

While your question begs for you to define your terms, I think that your situation comes with both potentially strong advantage and disadvantage if what you’re after is to make a living in photography, in addition to just doing it for the sheer pleasure of it. You alluded to being easily distracted. Sounds like you photograph people for a while, then move on to animals, then to landscapes, then someone shows you HDR and you’re off running in another direction. If that’s what is going on, keep at it. Follow your inclinations in every direction they lead. This is part of you and you need to be true to that. One of two things will happen; you will remain easily distracted for the rest of your life and your life’s work as a photographer will reveal a person who was insatiably curious in a limitless amount of things, or you will one day find one thing that you love to photograph so much that you slow down, and begin to focus a little more specifically in one direction. Nothing wrong with that.

That’s the advantage. You will learn so much from so many different areas, and each new thing you learn will bleed over into other things you photograph, and that’s a strength.

The disadvantage is that it’s very hard to market that if it remains so all over the map. However, what some people neglect to consider is that choosing a niche market, like being a wedding photographer shooting destination weddings in the arctic, doesn’t for a minute mean you need to limit your creative efforts or photographic exploration of other subjects or other disciplines. Shoot the weddings, get paid well for them, then come home and shoot long-exposure abstracts of hummingbirds with a pinhole 4×5 camera to your heart’s content. Elsewhere I encouraged photographers not to the let their marketing niche become their creative rut. The inverse is also true; there’s no reason your love for photographic exploration of a million different subjects should exclude you from marketing to a niche and being seen as a specialist in that market. One need not define the other and that’s one of the great things about a healthy disregard for “it’s always been done this way.”

Marketing to a niche is not the only way to do things. I wouldn’t choose to do it any other way, as marketing is really just communication and it’s a much, much harder task to talk to an undefined audience about an undefined subject. Niche marketing allows you to pick your topic and your audience and to speak with authority.  Explore to your heart’s content, follow that next shiny thing, whether it’s a subject, a technique, a new piece of gear, if you must. But if you want to make a living, you’ll have a much easier time if you pick one area to which you can direct your marketing. Do it well, charge well, and you’ll have plenty of time to pursue your hummingbird project or photographing fire hydrants with your iPhone in your spare time.

Most importantly, as others pointed out, shoot what you love. Enjoy it. Strive for excellence. If you want to make a living at it, find a niche and make it yours. Don’t sweat the rest.

Got a question that needs some group-therapy applied to it? Drop me a line via the contact link at the top of the page. I can’t promise to reply to all of them, but from time to time it might be good to sit around and bounce the ideas back and forth like this.

I got this question in my inbox this week:

In the past two decades I’ve learned at least one thing about myself:  I don’t do expert well. I do bouncing around, try everything once well.  Chalk it up to my being Gemini, too much coffee or ADD. I can get good, and focus for short periods of time but when the next shiny thing comes along – zoom, off I go.  Does this doom me to a life of mediocrity as a photographer? Does this mean I’ll never develop a “style” or “vision” that will be consistent enough to market?

Sincerely, Doomed In Duluth.

I’ve got a response. But I’m interested to first hear yours before I write mine. Otherwise you’ll totally copy me or just write, “yeah, what he said.” and we’ll miss a chance to hear other voices, encourage each other, and hold hands around the campfire while we sing Kumbaya. Or something. Seriously, how would you reply to this? It’s a good question and I know it gets asked more often than we admit, but usually it gets asked with our inside voices, the ones we try to ignore or medicate. Give it a shot in the comments.

A short post this morning as I’m swimming (drowning?) in the business and task-management end of things. Consider the brevity a chance to catch up on other reading

My learning curve feels endless and steep these days. New software, new business models, new cameras, shooting film and remembering what it’s like to get a bunch of crap back from the lab. I spent yesterday morning at my lawyers signing final incorporation documents and spent this evening with my accountant trying to not be a knucklehead about all the changes that incorporation means. It just doesn’t end and I feel like I’m drowning in it. But oddly it’s energized me. I’m busy but I’m reading, playing, and learning in the small gaps my schedule allows me.

I am also up to my neck in Vision & Voice, and writing the draft of Volume II of The Inspired Eye. But in all the stuff I’ve been thinking and writing about re. the creative process, I should add this: learn something new. When the rut starts feeling too deep, or the inspiration seems more like boredom, learn something new – anything, just make it new. If all you have is 20 minutes, sit down with Lightroom and try duplicating an effect you saw earlier today, or learn one of the plug-ins you haven’t had time to sit down and figure out. Don’t have time to learn? Then play. Just mess around with it. You’ll be surprised how well we learn when we’re actively trying to avoid learning and are just playing. Find 10 minute blocks to play.

Whatever you do, one thing is sure either as a creative, a business person, or a creative business person – to sit still is to stagnate, to not move forward is to move backwards, and the antidote to both is simply to learn something new daily. Make it intentional, carve out the time somehow, but learn.

This one might win for lamest illustration I’ve ever posted. Remember the buttons I (over)did for a while? Any more of these and you’ll be begging to go back to them.

The other day Peachpit hosted a webcast chat with me and about 70 other folks. It was a fun conversation, though these things always feel a little one-sided to me. I talk and talk and never get to just sit back and listen. And even with all that talk there were many questions left over. I can’t get to all of them, but here are my responses to a few more. Some of them are actual responses, others are links to more thorough responses I may have addressed elsewhere. Q stands for Question. R stands for response, a word I’m more comfortable than ‘answer’, which is so definitive-sounding.

Q: Is education as key as business savvy?
R: I think you get business savvy through education. That education might be the school of hard knocks, a book, a mentor, or some other way of learning, but as neither the photographic industry, the industries we serve, nor the business world in general, stay still for very long, I think you need to be learning constantly

Q: How do you figure out exactly who you are & what your brand is?
R: I think that’s very much a journey of self-discovery. But it begins with your likes and dislikes, the things you love and will do for a buck, or for free, and the things you wouldn’t do for all the money in the world. It includes the skillset you have, and the benefits you offer to a certain market. Brand You is simply the whole package of who you are, communicated in a clear, benefit-oriented way to your market.

Q: Why is it hard to make the leap to a fulltime gig of being a photographer in a lacking economy?
R: I think you might have answered your own question. It’s hard enough doing it in a strong economy, isn’t it? I’m not really sure what you’re asking, but I’m open to clarification. Leave a comment. If what you’re asking is how do we overcome that challenge, that’s a long answer. Economies have cycles, and if you’re playing the stock markets you buy when others are selling. That’s where you make the money, on the buy. So the question is, when the times are hard where are our opportunities? And though I hate to do this to you, the answer is one you’ll have to dig out relative to the market you serve. Running a business is a creative game as much as making images. But it begins with educating yourself, understanding your brand and your market, and knowing how to use your financial and marketing tools to you can make the best use of them in times when the economy looks more challenging than usual.

Q: How much time/week do you spend on your business?
R: All of it. My business is not a hobby, and I don’t seperate my photography activities from my business activities. I work at least an 50-hour week, usually more. But it’s work I love and much of the time it feels more like play. But I will say this, if you go full-time and you don’t hustle at least as much, or more than, you would a full-time job for someone else, you don’t stand a chance. You can start slow, you can climb the mountain one step at a time before you quit your day-job, but once you decide – or are forced into – giving this a shot, you need to work your tail off. These dreams are not going to chase themselves while I sleep in and only pretend to be self employed. One can just as easily be self-unemployed. The only difference is how hard you work and how much you earn.

Q: How much time do you spend on self development and in what areas?
R: Similar to my reply above, I spend a lot of time on development. I don’t seperate my activities out, to me they’re all one and the same – I am my brand, my product, and whether I am shooting, learning, blogging, or talking to clients, I am building value into my brand so I can shoot better and serve my clients better. At minimum I’d say you need to spend time developing your business skills and knowledge, your marketing and financial skills, your creativity, your ability to remain current and skilled with your gear, including cameras and computers and related hardware/software. Activities might include your own personal work, attending Photoshop World, reading one book a month on business and one a month on photography. Whatever it is, be proactive about it.

Q: Are we getting carried away with the desire to make money from our art?
R: Possibly. But there are so many people who just want to shoot, so I’d say they balance us out. The fact is, this is an expensive hobby and even for those to whom this is not vocational, it costs a good chunk of money, so any chance to recover some of that is pretty appealing i think. A more interesting question, I think, is are we allowing the desire to make money to cloud our vision and misalign our passion?

Q: Who would win in a duel. You or Joe McNally?
R: I think this depends on the weapons of choice. But Bob Krist went up against Joe and did OK, so I think what Joe has in experience (Yoda), I have in youth (whiny Luke Skywalker when he still had both hands and wasn’t wierded-out when thinking about Leah). I like to think it would be a draw. Unless there are cameras involved, then the odds are in Joe’s favour. Flashes? No contest, wouldn’t even try. You can look for me in the canteena getting drunk with Chewbacca.

Q: Where do I start if humanitarian photography is what I would like to do?
R: I wrote an article about that HERE, that would be a good place to begin.

Q: How do you approach potential sponsors?
R: Check out this article about sponsorships HERE.

Q:What do you do to stay grounded in your creativity?
R: The short answer is that I stay active in my creativity. I don’t let the paint sit for too long before I paint with it. The long answer is the reason I wrote The Inspired Eye, Notes on Creativity for Photographers. If you haven’t read that yet, I suggest you consider that a good place to begin. Our creativity is our biggest asset, it’s the ground on which all this is built, so it’s key to keep it fed.

Got more questions related to making a life and a living in photography? Leave them here in the comments and I’ll do what I can to reply to them over the coming weeks. The only thing I ask is that you read VisionMongers first. I know, lame thing to ask, but seriously, that’s like not reading your camera manual and then nagging Nikon customer service about how to turn the thing on. This is an invitation to a conversation, not to re-hash something that I’ve already written, and in greater detail than I’d go into on the blog anyways.