Responses to rude behavior pop up everyday this summer: escaping flight attendant, rude boss outed for playing Farmville and an intern feeling mistreated by a photographer.

Recently a very frustrated photographer, let’s call her Susie, bcc’d me on an explosive email she sent to a prominent assignment client who she felt had caused her money and time needlessly.  Her reaction? She didn’t simply burn a bridge, she nuked it. A law in physics states that for every reaction there is an opposite and equal reaction. Does that rule apply to business? Not usually but sometimes.

© Dmitriy Shironosov | Dreamstime.com

During the first visit to an art buyer who didn’t see enough fashion work in the book (Susie is a lifestyle photographer with terrific ad work using models), the prospective client asked her to do a test shoot…on her dollar.

She was jazzed. Hired a stylist, make-up, scouted for the perfect location, spent a few days in prep and a day shooting. Susie sent the work to me and I picked my favorites. She sent the best of the lot to the client and then waited. And waited. And waited. After 2 weeks, she called. Left a message. Did that a few times. Tried email. Nothing. Maybe the art buyer was fired? Maybe she died?

Finally she left a message, “I understand if you are avoiding me for personal reasons or something else. But if you don’t want to work with me, please email or call so that I will stop wasting both of our time.”

Art buyer responded, “Sorry but there simply isn’t enough fashion work in your book.” Remember she asked Susie to do a fashion test, as there wasn’t enough fashion in the book. When I looked at what the client uses, Susie’s work was spot on. The match that burned the bridge was lit.

How to handle an impossible client for your photographic services?

Should you try to work it out with a client? Sometimes it works and the fact that you are willing to bend a little…(not completely over) can sometimes help even the coldest heart and rudest jerk. Suggestions:

©Yuri Arcurs/Dreamstime.com

• Eat crow. “So sorry the shoot didn’t work for you. I’ll redo it at cost. (Only if you truly did screw up in a major way or if the client is a regular)
• Talk over the situation with someone that can give the issue perspective. Maybe YOU are the jerk. (Exclude significant others: you have a right to exaggerate the a-hole’s behavior to them for maximum sympathy.)
• Offer to discuss the issue with the client…in a non-defensive manner. “Could you spare a few minutes to help me to understand what went wrong, so I can avoid this situation in the future?”
• Ask yourself what could I have done differently? Then DON’T do it again
• All else fails, dump the client. Don’t nuke them. You never know where they’ll show up again.
• Nuke the worst of them anyway as you don’t want to work for them ever again even from the poor house and no matter where they show up or what they say about you, people will soon come to consider the source of the negative remarks and discredit them.

Big names can get by with being prima donnas…but you better be better than damn good if you intend to act like one.

Over the next few months, I will give you a glimpse of a few of the chapters in my new book-Microstock Money Shots, including tips from that chapter.

Since photo credits tend to be in tiny type in all books, I’ll give credit where credit is due by listing the photographers whose work appears in that chapter.

(Of course, I’m trying to entice you to buy the book! As we were advised in class, “always end a book report with…to learn more, read the book!”)

In the book introduction, Andres Rodrigues writes about his evolution into a top microstock success story. Much to learn from Andres about the learning curve in microstock.

Chapter one is titled “A Snapshot of the Microstock Industry” but it includes the key points in the history of stock photography that might effect the future of stock–if you don’t pay attention to history, you may repeat it and not with the best results!

Other topics include understanding the types of stock licenses including a solid explanation of the various creative commons licenses and what they mean. A quote sums it up: “No matter what licensing model they use, all serious amateurs and professional photographers want to know what to shoot to maximize downloads of their photographs. This book shares my more than thirty years’ experience working with companies that specialize in stock and microstock business models to answer that very question. This book suggest(s) which types of images the marketplace demands year after year.”

A section in Chapter One called “Understanding Your Rights” lays out the different kinds of businesses in stock photography: rights managed, royalty free and microstock with details on how they differ so that you can better judge where some or all of your photos will perform best. Copyright is highlighted with an explanation of the creative commons copyright and what it means to you.

I suggest that the motivation for someone to seek a stock photo is often because they believe that it already exists. Thus, like it or not, stock photography is a business of cliches. Highly unusual or artistic images may get used for marketing purposes now and then but are rarely licensed repeatedly. Speaking generally, the best stock photo is a photo that already exists. It’s up to you to create something new; combining commerce with art to produce a marketable and desirable image.

Photocredits in Chapter one: Chapter Opener: Pete Saloutos.  Interior shots: James Steidl, Chippix, Teng Wie, Yuri Arcurs, Alexander Raths, Beata Becla, Andresis Pidjass

Read more… or

Is video going to save stock photographers’ income from collapse? (Not that I think collapse is eminent, keeping in mind that millions and millions of dollars are still being made in stock photography…it’s that so many more fingers are in the pie).

Last week I saw video presentations made using the Canon 5D MK II by Vicent LaForet and ASC Directory of Photography, Shane Hurlbut at the Blend Images creative meeting. LaForet, coming from still photography and Hurlbut from the most complex of cinematographic productions arrived at similar destinations in the use of the Canon. Both have easily and successfully translated their skills sets into making wonderful videos for advertising and even for a feature film.

Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, Vicent LaForet, is creating terrific videos with the Canon 5D MK II

The videos were stunning and exciting. Anyone who has ever been on the set of a motion picture will be amazed at the simplicity of the gear involved. Hurlbut has posted his camera configurations. He explained that a $160 million dollar budget for a feature film was reduced by 2/3s using the Canon instead of traditional equipment. LaForet is a natural film maker and produced his first short vid in two days of shooting the day after he first had a pre-production Canon MK II put into his hands at Canon Headquarters.

ASC Director of Photography Shane Hurlbut spoke at the Blend Images creative meeting 3/26/10

Many photographers in the Blend meeting, although deeply impressed by the presentations, later expressed doubt that they would go the route of these complex productions. One said to me, “I’m not about to go out and make a feature film just because my camera can!”  The question is then what do you want to do with your camera with video capabilities and why?

Some stock still libraries have offered motion for many years but the business was never more than 3 to 5 % of  total licensing fees. Today a stock photo buyer is able to purchase coordinated images from the same shoot to meet the needs for both print and web, still and motion. A good example of a company filling this need with an  innovative product is the Image Source Cross Media Pack .  Image Source Founder and CEO, Christina Vaughn, says, “Customers often aren’t satisfied with static images – they want flash, or video, or linear photography. We’ve done a lot of research into how our customers buy images, and we found increasingly that their campaigns needed to work across media – web, TV, and handheld devices as well as print.”

What vids to shoot? Generally the same subjects, concepts and themes  that work well in still stock photography with the exception of the very simple shot of a model isolated against white. All a single person in a video can do is talk…well ok they could jump up and down, dance, or other activities…and without sound talking heads don’t have anything to say. Keep it simple though…the video show above has short segments that would work as stock clips but a full blown story becomes too specific for stock motion.

My advice: unless you have a burning desire to make videos, don’t. But play around with the camera and you may discover that you like what you see.

Think about this too as you decide whether to jump into motion or not: Clay Shirky writes: “The most watched minute of video made in the last five years shows baby Charlie biting his brother’s finger. (Twice!) That minute has been watched by more people than the viewership of American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and the Superbowl combined. (174 million views and counting.)” Read the entire post about how complexity harms business. The last few paragraphs are especially pertinent to the business of photography.

Finally congratulations to the founding photographer members of Blend with Sarah Fix and Rick Becker-Leckrone for treating photographers with respect and offering them the opportunity to gather together in a community of friends, supporters and colleagues.

I’ve spent a lifetime making mistakes in the photography business…and, ok, had some wonderful successes. In the process I’ve learned a lot, probably more from the mistakes than from the winners.

Here’s your chance to pick my brain about anything and everything stock photowise for the cost of a nice dinner (with cheap wine and dessert). This one is all about YOU.

My newly announced ‘mini-consult’ for first time clients is $39.00

• I’ll spend time reviewing your responses to the questions on the Ask Ellen page
• We’ll talk via SKYPE or on the phone (US) for a full 30 minutes,
• I’ll review your portfolio, a submission, answer business questions. It’s your call

And to kick off this new introductory service:

The first FIVE new clients that sign up will get to Ask Ellen for nothing | zilch | nada. Contact me here requesting the free mini-consult and let’s get started.

Some advice bears repeating: The following was written as part of the ‘Inspiration” section of the Agency Access site and posted 3/16/2010. Slightly changed here.

The vote is in. Based on the many comments on Shannon Fagan’s guest post made by stock  industry leaders and photographers, the majority do not believe that the stock business is dead, perhaps sleeping but far from a vegetative state.  Millions of dollars are still being generated by the photography licensing business in all models even though to the individuals whose income has decreased by up to 50% it doesn’t seem so. The best time to review the tried and true is when you are searching for the new. Here’s a quick recap of some best practices in stock photography.

©billyphoto/Dreamstime.com

• Become known for a specialized style or subject.  Gain access to a unique location or group that is unattainable for others.  Work and work until your images are at the top of the list for your niche in technical quality, originality and marketability.

• Photography may seem to some to be a passive activity; photographers survive by being observers from behind the lens.  To succeed in today’s marketplace you must get out from behind the camera to build a following:

• Explore all the social networking opportunities available. Follow people outside of photography. Professional photography is about filling a need. Follow the Facebook and Tweets of those who might need you in addition to those photographers who are generous with their knowledge such as Chase Jarvis or Yuri Arcurs. (See more about the social web below)

• Get physically in front of your clients and potential clients. Step up your go-sees. As more and more people depend on electronic connections, those who take the time to visit their clients have a better chance of getting in to see the decision makers. This applies to those with specialty stock collections not only assignment photographers.
  

  Going it alone deprives you of connections, information and the opportunity to teach. ©Billyfoto@dreamstime.com

• Don’t depend exclusively upon a stock agency to distribute your work especially if you have a strong niche. Consider licensing your niche stock photography direct to buyers.

Fortunately now there are tools to enable photographers to build a unique stock photo collection and to license it directly.

• Explore services like PhotoShelter and License Stream to ease the responsibilities of building an independent stock site.

• Expand your marketing to cover every possible user of the photos within your niche.  Agency Access slices and dices stock buyers into lists of those with every imaginable subject/business need. Join the trade associations of your major client base not just photographer industry groups.

• Some say that direct mail for photographers is dead. Not according to art buyers that I’ve heard from.  Remember you are there to provide an answer to a visual question. Those who need your specialization want to hear from you if you can help them look better in their job.  Use the most creative designer you can afford to ensure that your DM pieces stand out.

Classic OPTE Project Map of the Internet 2005/©©(some rights reserved)attribution:www.opte.org/maps/

• Connect electronically.  Make your email blasts informative…. provide data, antidotes, statistics that will help your users in their work. Don’t simply sell yourself. That’s spam.

• Accept that twitter isn’t simply silly, that Facebook doesn’t just work for grandparents and that a blog is gossip or a place to vent. All these are communication tools. You are a communicator. Use them. And if you still haven’t. START NOW. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn and who you will connect with…(and how much time you’ll waste unless you set limits.)

• Know your audience. Who are the people most likely to license your work? What are their job challenges? You can’t provide answers unless you know the questions. Follow the activities online of the companies that are likely to use your type of photos. Pick up on what they are using and where.

Be wary of following the urge to SHOOT only what sells.  Part of what has harmed the stock photo business over the last few years is in an overabundance of photos all of the same subjects/styles. Originality has diminished and frustration has grown.  As one photographer recently asked me, “How many pictures does the world need of happy people jumping on a trampoline?”

Most photographers began their career with a love both of photography and a certain subject. As their careers develop, many chase the market and lose sight of what gave them creative kicks in the first place. This is especially true for those that put their hat into the stock photography ring and followed the demands of stock companies requests to the exclusion of the vision that brought them to photography. Regain it.

Be a Story

Conversations with Taylor Davidson resulted in the earlier post ‘be a hub‘. I promised that the conversation would continue. Now close to the eve of Taylor’s two appearances at SXSW-Photoshelter’s Austin Photo Seminar about “Creating Context for your Content”  and the  SXSW Core Conversation “Everyone is a professional photographer”, another powerful message from Davidson about the stories we tell and the ones that we live-as writers, photographers and communicators.

How can photographers move their story-telling skills into a broader context?  And why is this important?  Taylor responds, “Telling good stories is a necessity for photographers. But creating a story creates much richer interactions.  It’s these broader interactions that are the biggest artistic and business opportunities today because the economics of creating context have changed (i.e. cheaper to connect, create communities, empower niches), making rich experiences and interactions more available, possible, and powerful than ever before.”  As Taylor’s friend, Michael Bonifer, co-Founder of GameChangers posted, “Story is more powerful as a verb than as a noun”.

Taylor uses Jeremy Cowart’s Help-Portrait project  as an example of a photographer creating and being part of a story.  Cowart’s project, altruistic in concept, has nevertheless put him in contact with many, many people. Each connection creates the possibility of a secondary story by connecting with others who want to be part of the story. This creates a shared experience that spreads organically, touching many people. Connections create interest and trust…two essentials to success.

Photo used with permission of the photographer©Gregory Holm

Here is my favorite story about a story that a photographer and an architect created. Photographer Gregory Holm and architect Mathew Radune envisioned Ice House Detroit to illustrate the frozen Detroit housing market.  After securing funding from kickstarter.com, they  encased one of the thousands of Detroit’s abandoned houses in ice. The resulting story was told in outlets as diverse as Dwell , Village Voice, BBC, NPR, New York Times, German Public Televison, Time and the Huffington Post. People all over the world connected to the story. Taylor points out that this type of collaboration not only helps solve a problem, build trust and gain name recognition, but it helps create business opportunities.

Taylor helped me sum up his overall message: Being a story is alive and three dimensional… it brings a story teller into a story rather than the common voyeuristic position of recording and seeing it, one step removed from the story by the lens of a camera. The work connects interactions between people and ideas that in turn connect the work to the story (my words).

The Ice House Detroit project was funded via Kickstarter.

I received several emails from discouraged photographers after they read Shannon Fagan’s guest post about the re-positioning of the stock photography business. One asked, “So why is it exactly that you (Ellen) are still telling me to spend time and money to upload stock photos?”  My reply was a recommendation that this photographer remain in all of the possible revenue streams.  A photographer should seek diversity in pursuit of multiple areas of income as, after all, stock photography is still a big business in terms of global distribution.

Plus photography continues to offer many of us a lifestyle rich with experiences.  It’s about travel and the people we meet along the way. It has given myself and my colleagues, editors and photographers, one of the best rewards that money can’t often buy: an interesting life.

Portrait of Peggy's granddaughter. ©ShannonFagan/Getty Images

Shannon’s experience described in an email to me last week underlines how photography connects us.  It highlights the value of those connections to our lives and the lives of others.

Shannon wrote: “Here is a story that is a  reminder of why I love shooting stock photography.  It has given me experiences like these, though bittersweet, that I doubt I would have had the time to develop had I focused on a career of strictly assignment work”.

“In the spring of 2005, I traveled to New Mexico to shoot an advertisement for Nikon cameras.  A few months later, I returned to photograph in and around Santa Fe as a self initiated shoot follow-up to that trip.  The resulting personal project photographs were accepted into Getty Images’ Rights Managed collections and one of them appeared on the walls of Getty’s Beijing sales office this past November.  The photograph was of a child with a magic wand situated upon the wallpaper background of a kitchen breakfast nook.  This was the granddaughter of Peggy, a wonderfully lively New Mexico actress and travel agent who had found her way into my casting folder by way of the New Mexico Film Board website.”

“Peggy had been taking acting classes in the Santa Fe area and it was natural that she might respond to my posting for lifestyle stock photography models.  Peggy called herself “grand-meow” and certainly there was a purrrr of harmony between her and her family, and amongst herself and her neighbors.  She was the perfect real life model; inviting, and resourceful.  When I approached her to participate in a series of images about senior lifestyles, she aptly recommended her friends next door.”

Shannon Fagan's photo of Peggy's granddaughter hanging in the Getty Images Beijing office

“Peggy had told me in Santa Fe that she’d be headed to New York in two months with her girlfriends.  And thus she did.  In early October 2005, I got an email.  Riding atop a Manhattan sightseeing bus down Broadway near the Brooklyn Bridge, Peggy saw a photographer gathered with his crew on the sidewalk.  She knew him from his knee pads.  They were the same knee pads that he wore at her house just a couple months prior.  She told me that she shouted my name and waved until the tour bus operator told her to sit down.”

“I sent her an email this week telling her about her granddaughter’s  photo hanging in the office in Beijing.  I was a little surprised when her email bounced back just a couple minutes later.  I  Googled her name and Albuquerque (where she moved in 2006).  I was shocked at what appeared at the top of the search field. (link below).”

“I have been lucky in this profession to touch people’s lives, and they in turn, have touched mine.  It is these connections that explain why I have enjoyed the profession of photography.  Had I not seen her granddaughter’s photo in China, I likely would not have thought to contact her, though Peggy certainly was a standout from my trip there to New Mexico.”

“These random things are not so random when you simply pay attention to all of the connectedness around us.  It is a reminder to live each day to the fullest and never give up.  Keep searching. Even when the truth hurts. I leave you with the news from Albuquerque, New Mexico on Aug 31, 2009. There is video coverage in the link.”

Peggy and her granddaughter©ShannonFagan/Getty Images

-Shannon Fagan

writing from New York City, February 22, 2010

Shannon Fagan is seemingly everywhere that  stock photography is discussed. (See John Lund’s interview). This isn’t because Shannon is a shameless self-promoter but because he works hard at his craft, gives back to the community of photographers and is an articulate and forward thinking guy. Like many in the business today Shannon is spending a lot of time thinking about the future of stock photography in general and, more specifically, his place in it.

Consequently Shannon is able to identify specific and positive steps that photographers can take to step up and refine their game  to survive the  rolling changes taking place in the photo business.   I met with Shannon  last week as he was returning to NYC from Tennessee with a quick side trip to Seattle where we chatted for a couple of hours.  A week later we concluded the conversation via phone as he was leaving the Atlanta airport. We spoke mostly about advice he has for emerging photographers that are considering stock photography.

His premise is that you’ll do better work (be more successful) if you craft your stock photo business around your lifestyle. To do that, you need to lead an examined life. Being what you think you should be/do, isn’t the same as finding yourself and your life’s work.  Nor is heading into the photographic business with unrealistic assumptions about instant success going to be a good starting point. Shannon’s insights are especially key for emerging photographers.

Shannon Fagan - President of The Stock Artists Alliance

“It’s obvious’, Shannon says, “people do better work, if they are happy doing it’. Below are Shannon’s thoughts on the internal research required:

Personality. Are you introverted or extroverted? If you’re shy, then don’t get yourself into a career where you have to deal with lots of people as happens for a  lifestyle shooter.  If  you want to do shoots with multiple models…hire an extroverted assistant to put them at ease. Perhaps architectural or food photography might better suit your style.

Time: Prefer 9-5 or night owl? If you have family obligations or plan on having them, consider that you might want to build your personal stock brand around subjects that are best shown in daylight and close to home.  If you intend to shoot stock images that require a business or retail location, you may find that you are able to use these locations only at night. Will that fit with your lifestyle?

Financial: Budget Tolerance/Return on investment. Consider that you will need money to invest in self-financed shoots…also consider how long you can wait for a return on your investment. Don’t count on a six month return anymore.  To hasten the time between when you pay shoot expenses and when the shoots go into the black think about cost of production. Can you use free sources or is your time worth more than it will take to find those free props, wardrobes, sets etc? Can you afford to use your savings on stock productions?

Communication: Can you turn a ‘no’ into a ‘yes’? Personality has a lot to do with being a successful stock photographer. Not only do you have to round up talent but you have to be a boss…part of your job is training freelance or occasional  staff. Do you have the stomach for it?

Equipment: Gear hound or point & shoot? Not likely you’ll get too far with a simple point and shoot, even in microstock today. But more importantly do you love Photoshop? If you would rather be set on by fire ants than sit in front of a computer,  can you afford to hire your post work out to others? Remember to calculate the cost of your time if you do the work yourself.

Style: Fashionista or Jeans & T-Shirt? A tongue in cheek comment as Shannon indicates that his wardrobe has either been the result of a photo shoot or will someday be in one.

Fagan's stock image used in a bank advert

Vision Portfolio? Bright and cheery or Dark and Moody? Bright and cheery is the name of the game currently in stock photography. If your style is otherwise, can you hold on to your darker vision while showing a sunny side in a majority of your stock images? Be wary that formulaic shooting could deprive you of the creative jolt you get from being a photographer.

I’ll add to Shannon’s words a quote by Steve Jobs from a commencement address at Stanford a few years back: “Your time is limited. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

Or Sting’s advice to young musicians, “…they say ‘how do I make it?’ And I say to them “it’s not important to make it, just keep playing music and its its own reward. And if you’re meant to be a big star or not-that’s just fate. But a love of music and a passion for music is always going to be a gift for you”.