Do you ever grow tired of explaining to people that you don’t DO a certain type of work within your trade?

For example… I’m a full time stock photographer.  Still, people are always asking me to shoot events or weddings.  Then I have to explain to them that I only shoot commercial stock photography.  Then they look at me funny, like they still don’t get it.  You know… the types of generic images that you see in newspapers, billboards, advertisements, and on websites. They soon after usually respond with, “but you could do it… right?”; then I have to make another excuse why I can’t, or why I don’t want to, or even have to.  “I don’t have the right equipment for that type of work”, or “No thanks, I don’t want to work nights or weekends.”  I’m being honest.  I don’t even own an on-camera speedlight flash.  What do I need that for?  I use studio strobes for the type of work I do.  They’re just a lot less portable, and definitely not suited for shooting events or weddings.  I did enough of that working nights and weekends baloney when I was working my way through school.  Back when I was exclusively a graphic designer, all I ever got asked was if I could do web development. Remember, that it’s your right to be able to pick and choose the type of work you want to take on.  If I so badly needed the income, then yeah – then I might consider taking on non-residual types of photographic income like events, weddings, etc.

I wonder if medical doctors get asked if they can operate on their friends’ pets, or if pizza restaurant owners get asked if they can make a batch of cupcakes up for their friends’ kids’ party.  In the end, you can’t expect everyone to know exactly what you do for work.  Some of our jobs are a lot more complicated to explain than others. Once in a while I’ll get a certain photography or portrait request, and if I’m able to make it work for stock imagery, I will be able to work with the person.  Usually with signed model releases, my normal shoot rates are deeply discounted, or even nonexistent. It just doesn’t always happen that someone is in need of the type of images that I can make work as commercial stock photography.  I’ve been able to turn engagement shoots, senior portrait sessions into stock image shoots.  Are they the best sellers?  Not usually.  The best selling stock images are those that tell a story, or are generic enough for many purposes.  If the shoot consists of general headshots and portraits of a smiling person, well there are 5 million other images on the stock agencies just like those that you’re going to have to compete with for sales.

Yes, I have shot weddings before.  I borrowed the gear I needed at the time.  Is it my cup of tea?  Definitely not.  Am I going to be a good wedding photographer?  Probably not a great one.  I don’t shoot them enough, and I’m already spoiled with the aspect of control and direction when I produce stock imagery.  Live events are nothing like that.  You have to be ready to capture the action as it happens; just as a bystander.  It’s really tough work, and I give wedding photographers a lot of credit.  When my sister got married about a year ago, I didn’t shoot her wedding.  I did help them out with their engagement portraits, though. Even when I attend a wedding or event and bring along my DSRL, I think to myself, “Goodness the lighting in here is awful. No wonder all the photographers have to rely on flash so much.”  In stock, we don’t run anywhere past the ISO 100-200 range, whereas with weddings you are sometimes rocking out in ISO800-1600 for a large portion of the evening.  So no, there really isn’t much use for me in shooting someone’s wedding with signed model releases, for the purpose of stock.  High ISO images are just not going to cut the quality standards required for stock photography.

So that’s my Monday rant… let me know what irks you guys in the comments section below.

Return on investment is a vital analysis formula to occasionally take a look at, no matter what business you’re in.  It can sometimes take a while to get accurate results in a residual or retail business. Depending on the type of product or service you offer, some returns come faster while others take a long time to truly reveal themselves. You have to be in it for the long haul, plant your “seeds” and wait for them to grow; maybe waiting for the to reach their full potential.  Here is the definition of Return On Investment (or ROI for short) from Investopedia.

A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio. 

The return on investment formula:

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It’s really fun to hear and share the many different stories how fellow creatives got where they are; how they might have stumbled into their career, or got there on purpose.   I recently had the pleasure of an interview with illustrator Cory Thoman, founder of myStockVectors.com. Cory has an amazing knack for creating some of the coolest cartoons and cliparts, which are being used all over the web and in many other commercial applications.  His artwork covers a wide range of subjects and topics, and all of them are available for royalty-free licensing in vector format.

Hi Cory, tell us a little about yourself.
Yay! My favorite topic, me. Well, I’m an illustrator and designer living in Austin, Texas. I have a Bachelor’s of Fine Art from the Ringling College of Art and Design. Don’t let the fine art part fool you though. I mostly spend my time drawing silly cartoons, but there was an emphasis on figure drawing and painting when I went to school. So, I guess I’m classically trained, but most of my work happens on the computer now.

As far as career, I’ve worked a few graphic design jobs. My favorite was a toy company called Jazwares. I was there for about five years and learned a lot. In 2005, I decided to leave the 9 to 5 world to pursue a freelance career. That’s where I am today. Read the rest of this entry »

“I’ve always thought flickr photos were free to use, especially if they’re uploading high res photos without a watermark or credit of any kind… oh well.”

- Anonymous Graphic Designer

This quote was taken from a seasoned graphic designer that I recently spoke with. And that, my friends, is the exact reason why I feel like it’s foolish to post high resolution images on flickr. There are a lot of professionals out there that aren’t completely sure about the proper way of using free images found on the internet.  Even if you aren’t a stock photographer (or don’t license or sell your photos online) you still might get really mad, surprised, or even amazed that other people will find them, and use them in all sorts of ways without paying you one red cent (or any type of credit, for that matter). Flickr has guidelines set, but not many people read them.

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Here are a few quick promotional spots we are running on youtube for ArenaCreative.com with samples of some of our featured stock photography and graphics Read the rest of this entry »