The Business of Photography by Natalie Fobes
How many of you are passionate about the business of photography?
I learned the hard way the importance of being a business person first and a photographer second. For the first five years of my freelance career avoiding the business end of photography. I was shooting stories for National Geographic almost full time. I never read the contracts thinking that the great people at the magazine had only my best interest at heart. I didn’t have time, or an inclination, to market myself. I was shy and from a culture that said it was wrong to promote.
And I naively thought that if you were a good photographer the clients would come knocking at your door.
Guess what. I was wrong. You can be a good photographer. You can be a great photographer. Anyone ever heard of Flint Born? But if you don’t have your business act together you will not be able to make a living doing what you love to do. You will be a damn good hobbyist who does photography on the weekends.
I learned the importance of business the year that Geographic turned down all my story ideas. I didn’t have any other clients. I didn’t have any other income from stock or exhibits or royalties. Or a job. Fortunately I had savings that I went through pretty quickly.
That was the year I realized that if I was going to survive as a photographer then I had to get good at the business of photography.
I joined ASMP. I volunteered to be the Events coordinator so I could learn the names of the other members and introduce myself to them. I networked with those other members by inviting them to lunch. I took workshops not on photography but rather on the business side of photography. I put together a portfolio. I set up interviews in New York at stock agencies and magazines. I started a marketing and promotion campaign to remind those editors that I existed. I started getting assignments. I started licensing stock through my office and through the stock agencies I had signed with.
I diversified my income sources. I had gallery exhibits. I applied for grants and received grants for my fine art work and my documentary stories. I continued shooting assignments for the magazines and some corporations but also started shooting targeted stock photography to submit to my agencies.
Seven years ago when my husband and I adopted our daughters I stopped traveling for the magazines. To replace that assignment income I started shooting weddings. Three years ago I was concerned that there were too many photographers getting into the wedding business, many of them newspaper, magazine and corporate photographers, so I started shooting fine art portraits. And I started teaching here.
My philosophy is that if you are diverse, when one sector of your business is down, another might be up.
Things are tough right now. You know they are.
The recession has hit our profession hard at a particularly bad time. We were still in transition from analog to digital and hadn’t perfected the new business models that would work in the digital age.
Every photographer I know is down. Two weeks ago a stock photographer told me his income is down 75%. He was selling his Seattle home and moving to a rural area to reduce his overhead. Another photographer told me just this week that she was barely putting food on the table so she was slashing her fees.
2008 was my best year ever. This year I am down about 25% from that high. I feel fortunate. It is a challenging time to be a photographer.
The photographers and studios that survive will have one thing in common, no matter if they are corporate or wedding, portrait, stock, advertising or editorial. They will have their business act together.
My goal is to give you the basic tools you will need when you graduate on June 19th. I’ve got to warn you though. I will not be able to teach you everything you need to know about business in only two quarters. No one could.
You will have to take what you have learned here and expand on it. You will need to research on your own, join a professional organization to network with other photographers, take additional workshops and classes and most of all, learn from your experiences. Learn from your mistakes and learn from your successes. Learning on the street I like to call it.
This quarter we are going to cover a lot quickly. If at any time you get lost or confused, make an appointment to see me. Or call me. Or email me.
The challenges we are facing in our profession are not going to disappear in the next one or two years. The gravy days are over in my opinion.
A few points I would like you to remember.
1. There is always a need for innovative, creative photographers who are not afraid to think outside the box when it comes to ways to make money. Anyone read about Chase Jarvis new book “The best camera is the one that’s with you” website and iPhone app to edit photos and interactive site. It launched last week and the book immediately went to 333 in Amazon’s bestseller list. The App costs $2.99 and some are calling it the ultimate photo app for the iPhone. 200,000 were reportedly downloaded in the first few days. The web site www.thebestcamera.com attracted more than 200K views in the first 24 hours.
2. There are no bad ways to make a buck in photography right now. If you are one who turns your nose up about wedding, portrait or pet photography, get over it. One week last year I shot preschool portraits for my daughter’s preschool on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I shot a Smithsonian Magazine assignment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I made as much money on the preschool portraits as I did on the magazine assignment. And you never know where an assignment might lead. One of the wedding photographers in town was hired by Microsoft to photograph employee kids day a couple years ago. This year she is being hired by Microsoft to photograph upper management.
3. Diversification is the only way to go even if it is more difficult to market yourself. I shoot stock, magazine assignments, corporate assignments, corporate portraits, fine art, family portraits, preganancy shots, I have had three books published of my work, I give presentations at conventions like PhotoPlus in New York and WPPI in Las Vegas. The only thing I won’t attempt to do is table-top product photography.
The commercial photography program is designed to produce photographers. But, there are not that many jobs in photography right now. I know very few of you will graduate and open up your own studio in the first year after school.
But there are jobs in photography that aren’t as photographers. Assistants, producers, stylists, digital techs you all know. How about marketing and promotion people? One well-known photographer told me that he was desperate to find someone who could market effectively using the social networking sites.
Workflow consultant, bid consultants, negotiators, editors, exhibit designers, album designers are all needed right now.
How about learning what it takes to get a website at the top on a google search? People who know search engine optimization are invaluable right now.
Multimedia is exploding. Photographers need people who know how to do it. Directors, sound techs, editors will all be in demand in the next few years.
And how about selling? If you are a salesman you can write your own ticket. As you may know, portrait photographers make most of their money on the print sales. This week I was talking with one of Seattle’s best. Last year he grossed $250K. His average sale for prints is $1500. He wants to up it to $2000. He’s thinking about hiring a person and paying a commission of 20% on anything over $1500.
When you consider what kind of job you might want to pursue, consider your needs and skills. If you are good with people maybe you could be a great salesperson. If you are good with technology, maybe you should steer toward being an IT person. If you have a child at home and need flexible hours, maybe you should concentrate on portraits.
You may not use the business skills you are learning in the next quarter to start your own studio. But no matter what area of photography you go into, you will use negotiation, promotion, selling, and the knowledge of licensing and terms and conditions.
Don’t get discouraged and don’t get anxious. Learn everything you can this year. I guarantee it will pay off on June 19th.