Month: March 2008

Why is it that some artists (all creatives are artists in my book) act like they have a royal bug up their ass? You know the kind–the Artiste with a cap. A and an -e who wouldn’t laugh on a shoot even if Charlie Chaplin appeared doing the dancing bread bit or John Cleese silly-walked onto the set.

What is the friggin’ point? Will laughter somehow reduce the artistry of your art? If that’s so, then your confidence in your art must be of the same strength as a 90 year old man has about his non-medically-enhanced erection.

Art should be able to withstand laughter, and derision, and ridicule. It should also be immune to praise and fawning and worship. It should exist outside of all these interpretations, in spite of them, and/or with a humility that rivals that of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.

It, in other words, simply is, regardless of what anyone else thinks of it.

So why not express joy and happiness about it rather than acting like your poop doesn’t smell? Women giving birth put themselves through incredible physical and emotional stresses in the process, and most of them laugh and cry with joy when they first hold the results of their creation–the baby.

Why not be the same about your creation–your art? You are, after all, giving birth to your own creation in making art, so why not stop acting as if you’ve been diagnosed with a tumor?

Okay…that’s about the extent of my Italian. Yes, even with an Italian-American husband, I can’t speak the language (neither can he) but I can read it some and that includes this “exclusive interview” on the Jumper site (for Italian creatives).

Of course, I already knew what it said because it’s an interview with me.
🙂

Several items of note….

Images of the prostitute from the Spitzer situation were used without permission and probably in violation of copyright. Åsk points us to the stories.

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Heather Morton is an Art Buyer in Canada. She now has a blog photographers should most definitely be reading. You want to know what ABs think? Read her blog. Don’t let her being Canadian dissuade you–they’re like us, only less tan and more polite. 😉

Seriously, our industries are more global than ever and so the differences between how Canada and US creative buyers think and work are relatively minor. You’ll learn a lot from Heather no matter where you are.

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Rob Haggart of APhotoEditor.com has another great post. This one about magazines paying late should serve to remind photographers of the importance of marking up expenses beofre billing them (as Production Charges) to clients. You are not your clients’ bank!

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The New York Times had an article in the Sunday edition about prostitutes. In it there are several quotes photographers would do well to remember–like the one about how even if one gets the same (ahem) service, paying $150 or $1500 for that service changes how the provider is treated (more money = better treatment).

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Oh, and I’m back in my own office now for the next few weeks. I’m headed to Chicago in April for the FINAL ASMP SB2 event, of course, but until then things should be (relatively) back to normal.

It’s nice to be home, but the pile of mail on my desk is intimidating. 🙂

I’m writing this from the Chicago train station, where I have a mostly-in-sometimes-not internet connection. I had a layover here and should be boarding the Southwest Chief shortly for the long ride back west. I’m looking forward to it.

This trip has been so fantastic, part of me is reluctant to have it end. This, even though I have been working like a crazy person throughout it! But it’s been a good work and a good crazy.

There is something about working collaboratively that can’t be topped. These ASMP SB2 events give me the rare chance to work collaboratively in a very different way than my usual one-on-one work. The other presenters and the volunteers and other “crew” for the events have become like family to me–sitting down to dinner I will always learn something, and usually end up getting teased like a sister. It’s great.

I encourage every one of you to find a way to give back to a community like this. Volunteering for ASMP, of course, is an option, but also consider reaching out to the groups where you can interact with your potential clients, like the local ad club, AIGA, or even the Rotary. The bonds you might make as you somehow put together, for example, a design show in your city (with no budget, of course!) will last for the rest of your life.

Oh, and it will help your business too. Do you really need me to mention that? 🙂

Don’t tell me that there’s not money in online usage. Look at what Disney is projecting: $1 Billion online revenue in (fiscal) 2008. Billion, with a B. From online advertising.

In the words of Max Bialystock: hi-chi-wah-wah-wah!

The days of clients claiming there’s no real value to online use–that they aren’t making any money off it–have got to end. News like this, and Viacom suing for a billion in lost revenue from YouTube copyright violations, are clear evidence of how important online use now is.

If you aren’t charging, and charging appropriately, for online use, you are leaving significant money on the table.

In my SB2 talks I bring up the idea of perceived value quite often. I talk about wearing nice clothes and how well designed sites work to make you look more professional than crappy sites do, etc.

Perceived value can also be linked to price. People expect a BMW to be a better car than a Hyundai because it costs more.

Well, it seems that humans really do associate price with effectiveness, more so than we could have imagined. Scientists did an experiment about price and placebo effectiveness. The results are telling.

Time to raise your prices, maybe?

After another amazing SB2 event, I’ve got a day of one-on-one consultations here in Philadelphia, then tomorrow it’s on the trains to return home. It’s been a long trip, but a wonderful one. The reactions have been so positive and moving that I know I’ll never forget being a part of an incredible series of events.

This means, however, that my postings will still be a bit wonky as I traverse the continent. I appreciate your patience.

Anyway, about the Philly event–it was attended by over 200 photographers! Joyce Tenneson gave the keynote here, as she will in Chicago, sharing with us images from her new book (if the publisher it right, it will be available in time for the Chicago event which would be wonderful). She was so kind after her talk, taking the time to talk to each person for whom she signed a book–she clearly exuded a warmth that filled out the day’s activities very well.

Speaking of Chicago, that is the LAST SB2 event, and my Friday mini-consultations are already booked up. In order to help those who want to meet with me I will be taking “overflow” mini-consultations on the Monday following the event, trying to squeeze in as many as needed. I may be able to sneak one or two in over the weekend, maybe, as well. So, if you try to sign up for a mini-consultation with me and get locked out, please contact me directly and we’ll try to find a time to get together.

Must run…my meetings today are starting…

Consultants Suzanne Sease and Amanda Sosa Stone are speaking, together, and you should go see their event. They’re headed for the West Coast to present the Photographer’s Survival Guide at ASMP chapters. Here is the link with a schedule, like on 3/17 they’ll be in my adopted city of San Diego. I’ll be going, you should too.

No, I haven’t seen the presentation yet, but I’m sure that it’ll be full of very helpful info and well worth the teeny-tiny cost. While these ladies are in the various locations, they’ll be available for one-on-one consultations too.

And yes, they are my “competition.” Oh my.
The thing is,  the right consultant for you is the right consultant for you–that may be me, or it may be one of them, or it may be someone else.  Just like good photographers, the right person for the project is the right person–there is no real competition then.

I got an email today from someone who, almost in passing, mentioned that he’d go to SB2 when it came to his city later. Thing is, it’s not ever going to be in his city. It’s probably not going to be in yours either, because unless you are in Philadelphia or Chicago you’re going to have to travel to attend.

Two cities left–that’s it, that’s all. Los Angeles and Atlanta are in the past (with great reviews!) and only Philadelphia (THIS weekend) and Chicago (in April) remain.

ASMP is not going to add cities and make this a touring event beyond the original 4 cities. It’s a ton of work and expense to put these events together and the planning was, and is, for it to be in these four cities only.

Some of you are probably saying that it’s too much hassle or expense to travel to attend. I say that is just not true. Look at me–I have been gone from my home and office since February 17th. I won’t get back until the 14th of March. I won’t see my husband (or cats) for a month almost. Yes, the length of my trip is connected to my (irrational) aversion to flying, of course, but the premise still holds: if it is worth my time (and effort and expense) to be gone for a month to present these events, isn’t it worth your time (and effort and expense) to take about 3 days to change your business for the better?

And I am only one of the people involved!

John Harrington, Blake Discher, Judy Herrmann, Susan Carr, Richard Kelly, Gene Mopsik, Elena Goertz and volunteers from the ASMP Board leave their homes and families and (most of them) their businesses to give you their best stuff. This is work, and we are happy to do it, but we can’t bring it to all of you in every place. You have to do your part too–come to one of the last two events. Do it for yourself, your business.

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In the last two cities, I am holding space for overflow meetings on Monday. There has been such demand for the $75 30-minute mini-consultations that they have been booking up well in advance. So, if you can’t book a mini-consultation with me on Friday (through ASMP), contact me directly and I’ll do my best to fit you in on Monday in-between my longer-format meetings.

Talk about timing…here I am, about to send a new Manual (to those of you on my list) about the (impending?) recession, when I find this article from the Harvard Business School. It, like the new Manual, deals with marketing and the economic downturn. The HBS article isn’t geared for our business exactly, but you can still glean a lot of good info from the piece.