I'm heading to my old stomping grounds (I am a bay area native) to give a presentation to the ASMP NorCal chapter.
Here's their information they've sent out to their membership, so, if you can make it, please do!
(Full Post after the Jump)
Profit is not a Four Letter Word Made possible through the generous sponsorship of ASMP NorCal's event by liveBooks and Nayaco.
John Harrington, photographer, ASMP Strictly Business 2 presenter and author of the book, “Best Business Practices for Photographers,” will present tips and tricks for photographic profitability. Simply put, the business of photography is just plain time-consuming and often times daunting. Not only do photographers need to make great photographs, but they need to stay in business, too. John’s program will be packed with information on how do you operate a successful freelance photography business as well as negotiating techniques. Rate determination, no-change contracts, late paying clients, negotiation strategy and rate increase debates will also be discussed. For nearly two decades, Washington DC-based John Harrington has covered the world of politics, traveled internationally and negotiated contracts along the way. The Alameda native’s commercial clients include Coca-Cola, XM Satellite Radio and Lockheed Martin and his work has appeared in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. Harrington has produced three commissioned books for the Smithsonian and lectured to numerous trade groups on the importance of solid business practices as a cornerstone of long-term success as a photographer. His best-selling book, Best Business Practices for Photographers, published in October of 2006, is currently in it’s third printing. and he author’s the blog Photo Business Forum.
So, come on out! Below is one of the photos I made during my early days... Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
In mining parlance, "Naked Light" means "Open flame, such as a match or a burning cigarette, that is a fire risk in mines." For photographers, it appears to be an alternative to Photoshop - if you're a Mac *and* a Leopard user.
So, what does it have to offer? Why go up against what is seemingly a perfect program like Photoshop? For me, I know that I couldn't run my business for a single day without using Photoshop, and certainly the innovations in CS3 are monumental in how it (specifically Camera Raw) handles raw files, so, why this new idea?
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One sentence - "instruction-based editing."
Photoshop only implemented layers after it's first few versions, and all the early hard-core users already came to terms with "destructive" editing - that is, actually changing the pixels of the image itself, rather than using layers and masks, and adjustment layers, and so forth. I for one have to really work hard to do layered editing, for example. I am much more content committing my changes to the actual image data, and that's a habit I have to break.
What layers are - whether curves or levels, masked or not, are instruction-based editing. Further, when you work on a file in Camera Raw, or Lightroom, or Aperture, and instruct the application to remove dust spots, or alter the color balance, sharpness, clarity, luminance, and so forth, you are not actually affecting the underlying data that is in the raw file, you are preparing a set of instructions for whatever application does open the files, to perform. This is how/why you can go back and make changes to those instructions whenever you want. Andrew Rodney touches on this vis-a-vis Lightroom here when he says "You could assign a different set of processing instructions and output the images many different ways without ever having to worry about degrading the original (RAW) data... One advantage of instruction based editing is speed. You are not working on a full resolution pixel based file but rather a preview of the RAW data. Only when you ask the converter to render the file does the big processing task take place. Suppose you have a dozen similar images that all need the same tone and color correction. You can work with a single low-resolution thumbnail and apply corrections to your liking."
Instruction-based editing is at the core of applications like Final Cut Pro, where you create Edit-Decision-Lists (EDL's) and then instruct the application to collect the raw material. Further, when you apply cross-dissolves, or other transitions or titles, you're not actually affecting the original video file - even when splicing pieces together - only the instructions with how to handle the file.
In Naked Light's tour, a few of the really interesting highlights include:
Pixel later. Naked light is pixel-free. Layout images and define tools and filters in real-life units like inches, millimeters, and picas.
Mix and match images with different resolutions, color spaces, and pixel aspect ratios—all in the same composition. Naked light handles everything with aplomb, without requiring you to perform tedious—and lossy—conversions first.
You can dodge and burn using stops, paint in millimeters, and blur by inches.
Naked light introduces all-new, avant-garde tools like the Noise Brush, which dusts subtle details where ever you want, and Gradient Selection, which makes quick work of vignetting and other effects.
Rather than replacing an image with the results of the filter like traditional graphics apps, Naked light just stores a recipe to recreate your composition.
In Photoshop, you can only apply Adjustments as Adjustment Layers, and Filters as Smart Filters. In Naked light, there's no difference between adjustments, filters, and layer effects—and you can apply all filters in both manners.
In Photoshop, you can only have one mask per layer. To create more, you need to stick a layer inside of a folder. In Naked light, you can create an infinite number of Mask nodes, and quickly drag or duplicate them between rows of nodes as needed.
This application will challenge you to think differently - in a really big way. More so, I think, than the mental shift necessary to go from mouse to tablet.
However, I think that once you get your head around it, you'll find interesting new ways to interact with your images. Check out their blog The Emperor Has New Clothes for a bunch of back and forth between the developers and the Beta Zero hearty adventurers trying out the product. As the developers note in the blog - "As a head's up, you're not going to be able to get any real work done in this release—this one's for the bleeding-edger's that want a taste of the future. If you wait another two weeks until the next, more stable beta edition (Beta One), you won't miss too much. Hopefully this isn't too much of a disappointment—again, I had no idea people would be this eager!" Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
US News & World Report wrote this article - What the Boss can teach CEO's - about Springsteen's ability to remain relevant, and popular, unlike so many other acts of his era. This piece is a good jumping off point to be translated into how it applies to photographers.
The first point was to always keep your clients at the height of expectation - continue to produce exceptional images and push yourself to deliver. The example that is used is of Apple, and their continued production of new products and product updates.
Other points included the value of innovating, which could be applied to photographers as the importance of reinventing yourself and your images and style, as you evolve, and, most importantly, love what you do. We as photographers are as blessed with this priviledge as we can be - don't under-estimate how much better this makes your images, and serves your clients.
(Coments, if any, after the Jump)
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
My friend and colleague Chris Usher won an important victory against Corbis, when, on November 7th, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Corbis was liable for the lost of 12,640 of Usher's best images from the 2000 Presidential Campaign, during which time Usher covered both George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Usher, who had built a successful business representing himself was wooed by Corbis, who valued his access and consistent play in the major newsweekly magazines. Usher, hoping to focus more on the making of images than on the business aspect, thought Corbis a viable alternative to running the store himself. After less than two years with lackluster results and lingering questions about how Corbis' operations were being run, Usher ended his relationship with Corbis in November 2001, and sought the return of his images, starting up his own Apix agency, to fill the void. However, the time commitment to properly attend to the Corbis case took it' toll, and Usher and his co-founder Adrienne DeArmas opted out of that effort, which was dedicated to working with young photographers. Now, she and Usher operate Chris Usher Photography & Associates.
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During the course of the case, Corbis was found significantly deficient in it's tracking and archving of images, and failed to excercise reasonable care with the valuable images. In December, the court will determine valuation. The judge is expected to refer to the previous case of Arthur Grace v. Corbis, which in many ways is identical to Usher's situation. Grace recieved $472,000 for the 40,000 images that Corbis lost. In that case, the final valuation was a paltry $11.80 per image, which, for Arther Grace's images, is a joke - his work was worth much more. Applying this math, Usher might reasonably expect $149,152 from this case.
What the courts should do, is refer to Corbis' own paperwork - delivery memos, and their own bills to clients for lost images, where the valution was closer to $1,500 to $2,000 per image, which was, for many years where analog images were the norm, a standard that the agencies placed upon the lifetime loss from the image no longer being available. Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Harlan Ellison's on fire in this 3:24 piece excerpted from the upcoming feature documentary on him "DREAMS WITH SHARP TEETH" "about his experiences dealing with the packaging company for MGM on Babalon 5, includng their possible inclusion of one of his on -camera interviews about the series in their DVD for the series, which they don't want to pay him a dime for, they want it donated.
In the beginning, he says:
(Video, Full Post & Comments, after the Jump)
" a young woman calls me" about the a video interview he's done about his role on Babylon 5, and he recounts "she says 'we'd like to use it on the DVD, can that be arranged', I said, absolutely, all you've got to do is pay me, and she says 'what?', I said you gotta pay me, she said 'well, everyone else is just doing it for nothing', and I said 'everybody else may be an a*shole, but I'm not, I said, 'by what right would you call me and ask me to work for nothing, do you get a paycheck?" 'well yes' (she responded)....'how dare you call me and want me to work for nothing', 'well it would be good publicity' (she responded), 'lady, tell that to someone a little older than you who has just fallen off the turnip truck, there is no publicity value in my being on the DVD...the only value for me is to put money in my hand..."
This video is worth your time, to be sure. If you see yourself hearing the same thing from photo editors or art buyers looking for things for free (or for pennies on the dollar) and then actually considering doing so, that's not a good sign.
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
This is why there is traffic on the freeways. Some idiot isn't paying attention and gets into an accident, or Officer Barney Fife decides to pull over someone for a tail-light out during rush hour, and now we're all rubber-necking at the sideshow.
Next up is the laugh that is VH1, with their own version of a train wreck, trying to make itself relevant again, this time, borrowing stealing liberally from America's Next Top Model. They now have "The Shot", hosted by Russell James. which includes - "Balbinka", playing the part of the euro-looking skinny girl, who somehow says with a straight face "when I think of passion I think of anger", and "I modeled for a while, but now I need a new outlet"; Bree playing the dumb-blonde look; Maria, the dark-haired enjenue who looks too much like one of the Sex and the City girls and who said "I got into photography after taking 5,000 pictures on my cell phone"; Ivan, playing the part of Erkel with a Camera; Dean - the balding biker-look guy; John - Balbinka's euro-boy counter part who said "I shoot a lot of weddings - I'm not exactly your typical wedding photographer, I come in a tux, and I look like I'm straight out of the pages of GQ magazine...I get to hang out with the bridesmaids, and if I'm lucky, take one home"; Airic - the "my mother can't spell Eric" semi-dreadlock guy who said "I'm a single man, and I love the ladies, and sometimes the ladies love me"; Jason - the cross between oh, I don't know, pick someone, he's too wannabe stylish; Piper - the girl who's mother's physcian must have too many aviation magazines in his waiting room; and Robin, the girl with a whole-lota self-expressive body art and jewelery.
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Note, I said repeatedly "...playing the part of..." because they are all chosen to fit certain stereotypes so the show has a nice "blend" in casting-agent speak. Further, nobody get uppity with me over my "snap judgements" of these aspiring photographer's appearances, when they've chosen fabio-esque Russell James to be the photographer they all want to be - after all, it's fashion! In fashion, that's just how they want their subjects to be judged - by how they look. Turnabout is fair play. Oh, and to appeal to their international audience -- they've got someone from Bosnia, Croatia, and Poland! natch on the Eastern-European audience, and Bree's from Australia.
Watching the preview, what I want to know is where the hell are the Pocket Wizards!?!?! Why are they hardwired!?!?!
From the site, a few excerpts:
10 amateur photographers the chance to live out their wildest fantasies in pursuit of their ultimate dream: to become the next great fashion photographer...while being guided by world-renowned fashion photographer Russell James....while traveling to exotic locations -- all to capture that one perfect shot.
Nice. I'm sure they'll travel by Lear Jet to get there too, because that is so reality.
...our cast will face daunting tasks and obstacles that will test their talent, desire and drive to be the next great fashion photographer.
Like, let's see, paying the bills? Carrying the production expenses when your fashion client welches on the bill and buys more fabric instead? Where are these tests? Absent.
"...a "teach challenge", where Russell presents the cast with a new technical or creative lesson...in a legitimate, fashion-oriented photo campaign."
I cannot believe I am seeing this in print? Is this April 1st? Let me check my calendar....
"...Each week Russell and his professional panel will review the cast's photos, eliminating the weakest shooter...After a month long journey the best photographer will emerge and be crowned the show's winner, thus launching his or her professional career."
Until such time as they haven't figured out how much to charge - how to pay the bills, procure a crew, and so on. Then they'll be back to waiting tables.
The only shot this has at succeeding is if we can blame the writer's strike for people being driven to this dreck because everything else is in reruns. Please let the strike end soon.
And, because you can't help but look over at the death and dismemberment that is on the side of the road and contribute to the traffic jams, here it is - the preview, which has our aspirants' resulting shooting pretty much porn-esque - heck, even Russell said that he didn't want to see anything more in the future that could be put up on a porn site!
Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
Branding & Marketing - If you ever wondered what the difference was between PR, marketing, branding, and advertising, in 30 seconds, the visuals on this blog posting will illustrate it for you.
The worst way to shake hands - Honestly, I meet so many people who just are so mamby-pamby with their handshakes, this article is great and should be read, even by those who think they are good hand-shakers!
If Athletes Can Have Coaches, Photographers Can Have Mentors - A few excerpts - "...excellent athletes have personal coaches...even when their professional credentials are well-established...Certainly athletes see the value. Business leaders often have mentors to whom they turn for career advice regularly. If high-powered people like these see some value in coaching relationships, maybe they are on to something photographers can steal for themselves."
Now go! Check 'em out, and come back soon!Please post your comments by clicking the link below. If you've got questions, please pose them in our Photo Business Forum Flickr Group Discussion Threads.
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I'm heading to my old stomping grounds (I am a bay area native) to give a presentation to the ASMP NorCal chapter. John Harrington, photographer, ASMP Strictly Business 2 presenter and author of the book, “Best Business Practices for Photographers,” will present tips and tricks for photographic profitability. Simply put, the business of photography is just plain time-consuming and often times daunting. Not only do photographers need to make great photographs, but they need to stay in business, too. John’s program will be packed with information on how do you operate a successful freelance photography business as well as negotiating techniques.
Rate determination, no-change contracts, late paying clients, negotiation strategy and rate increase debates will also be discussed. For nearly two decades, Washington DC-based John Harrington has covered the world of politics, traveled internationally and negotiated contracts along the way. The Alameda native’s commercial clients include Coca-Cola, XM Satellite Radio and Lockheed Martin and his work has appeared in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone. Harrington has produced three commissioned books for the Smithsonian and lectured to numerous trade groups on the importance of solid business practices as a cornerstone of long-term success as a photographer. His best-selling book, Best Business Practices for Photographers, published in October of 2006, is currently in it’s third printing. and he author’s the blog Photo Business Forum.
In mining parlance, "Naked Light" 
My friend and colleague Chris Usher won an important victory against Corbis, when, on November 7th, the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Corbis was liable for the lost of 12,640 of Usher's best images from the 2000 Presidential Campaign, during which time Usher covered both George W. Bush and Al Gore.
This is why there is traffic on the freeways. Some idiot isn't paying attention and gets into an accident, or Officer Barney Fife decides to pull over someone for a tail-light out during rush hour, and now we're all rubber-necking at the sideshow.
Today's Speedlinks.