LookBetween for Emerging Photographers (by Look3 Festival of the Photograph)

We just wanted to announce that the LookBetween is taking place this coming weekend. This is a spin-off of Look3: Festival of the Photograph that takes place in Charlottesville VA each year in June. This is an “off” year, so the sponsors are doing a smaller event for emerging photographers. It’s an invitation-only even for 90 emerging photographers and others in the industry. Both Look3 and LookBetween were initiated by National Geographic photographer Nick Nichols. We’ll be attending and it sounds like it should be an amazing time filled with some of the best imagery in the world from up-and-coming photographers.

Here’s some information from the inviation:

PURPOSE: To assemble developing artists, editors, publishers, teachers, and professional photographers in order to celebrate and explore the future direction of photography.

WHAT TO EXPECT: LOOK3 is hosting an experimental two night event to present the work of 90 innovative photographers on a farm 30 minutes west of Charlottesville.  The 90 artists showing work were asked to participate by experts in this field such as PDN, Burn Magazine, Humble Arts, Getty Images, VII, and others.  This initiative, which we are calling LOOKbetween, is designed to showcase early-career talent and engage the presenting artists with media professionals on practices and trends influencing the direction of photography today.  We want to turn the traditional mentorship model on its head and let the established professionals hear what the next generation of photographers has to say.  Thank you to BD and National Geographic for supporting LOOKbetween. Each night will feature outdoor projections of work by the invited emerging photographers in attendance. Showcasing the work of these talented photographers is a main focus of the weekend. However, LOOKbetween is also designed to create networking opportunities and be a forum for the exchange of ideas between professionals and those early in their career. Saturday daytime will be devoted to discussion about important issues in photography.

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In addition to all the great imagery, Burn Magazine, Photocrati, and Luceo Images will all be announcing the winners of their grant competitions for emerging photographers. We’ll write a post about the event and the grant winners next week.

Posted in News and Commentary

Photocrati Announces $5000 Grants for Photographers

Earlier this week Photocrati announced a new program giving $5000 grants to photographers working on social, environmental, and humanitarian projects. From the grant page:

The Photocrati Fund offers $5000 grants to non-professional photographers to undertake important humanitarian and environmental photography projects. Our goal is to identify outstanding, up-and-coming photographers and give them the resources necessary to pursue projects that will have a tangible and positive effect on the world.

We will offer one grant in 2010. The application deadline is March 15, 2010, and the award will be announced in June 2010. Awardees become Photocrati Fellows for the calendar year from the announcement of their award until the announcement of the following year’s award.

Award decisions will be made by the Photocrati Fund Board, a prestigious panel that includes some of the world’s best-known environmental and cultural photographers.

Check It Out:
Announcing $5000 Photocrati Fund Grants

Posted in News and Commentary

Sharing a favorite photo – just for the heck of it

I was looking at this photo as a possible magazine submission the other day and thought – I should just share it. I love the contrast between traditional and modern.

danzer_021262

Contrasts: A dani man wears traditional body paint and decorations along with his sunglasses at the Baliem Festival.  Held every August in the Papuan highlands, the festival is a celebration of dani culture involving dances, competitions, and mock battles.

Posted in News and Commentary

9 Steps to Start (or Jumpstart) Your Photography Business

If you’re an advanced enthusiast serious about making it as a pro, here are nine practical steps you can take to start the transition. These steps will help you break inertia, make your first sales, and establish a solid foundation on which to build.

1. Find your niche and start shooting in it.

Most enthusiasts shoot what they want, where there at, without any overarching logic. They produce a haphazard collection of different images. Then they try to sell the resulting images. Shoot first and then find a market. Pros do just the opposite: they know their market, and then shoot for it. They specialize, get to know buyers in their niches, and shoot deliberately and strategically to deepen their portfolio in their chosen areas. Starting tomorrow, spend some time figuring out where you want to specialize, and from now on spend your precious shooting time in those areas. Unless you live in Kansas and are determined to have your niche be Central American travel photography, it’s not that hard to build a solid portfolio. Just give yourself a highly targeted list of assignments. Do some at-home product shoots, or portrait or engagement sessions with family or friends. Assign yourself to cover at least 10 mammal species at the local zoo, or spend some time at some local wild areas. Take it seriously – learn about the animals or natural areas you’re covering. As long as your niche is something close to home, you can build a portfolio relatively quickly.

2. Develop your website.

In the digital age, you must have a website and it must be a good one. A website is your online portfolio and your most effective marketing tool. A well-designed site gives you credibility and provide a point of interaction with clients and buyers. Like a storefront, it is a place to which you can direct people, and a way for others to stumble into you while searching the web. Indeed, many people today find photographers today by doing Google searches. If you don’t have a website, you won’t even be found or considered. Beyond that, web sites provide a platform for selling prints and stock photos directly, and for offering blogs, reviews, and other important content that adds value for your potential clients. Over the next week, either develop your site yourself, or find someone to develop it for you. Read my best photography website template series for reviews of photography website templates you can use to create great sites fast. Continue reading »

Posted in Photography Business, Photography Business Basics, Selling Photos Tagged , |

The Top 10 Best Photography Business Blogs

Since readers of this blog are obviously interested in what makes a successful photography business, I thought I’d share what I consider to be some of the best photography business blogs on the web. Of course, the DSLRBlog Photography Business Blog would make the list, as would the business section of Photocrati’s photography blog. But since I run both of those, I can’t very well include them here, can I :) .

Outside of these, here is a list of great blogs that I regularly read and find to have the excellent information for aspiring professionals thinking about building their businesses. Continue reading »

Posted in Photography Business Tagged , |

How to Price Assignments: Price High and Give Your Clients an Experience

Unlike my usual posts, this is an off-the-cuff post spurred by a recent experience with some clients. We did a shoot with a young lady, an equestrian, along with her horse. We worked hard to make it not just a photo shoot, but an experience. They loved it, and loved the photos, and never blinked about the price. In interacting with the clients afterward, I realized what a unique and special experience it was for them.

Pricing is often one of the hardest areas of the business for photographers. New photographers are sensitive about their lack of experience, afraid they don’t merit a large fee and can’t compete with more established professionals. But even for established professionals, a certain sense of guilt is common when it comes to talking price. Many professionals are almost apologetic when quoting a price, and are much to willing to come down. Continue reading »

Posted in Getting Assignments, Pricing Tagged , , , |

Review of Photobiz Website Templates

Second article in a series on finding the best photography website templates for photographers. This series reviews the major template providers and gives photographers a more systematic basis for comparing and choosing. See also:

The Best Photography Website Templates: Introducing a New Series


***UPDATE: Below I say that I ultimately chose Photobiz as my solution. I did for my wedding site. But I’ve recently converted my personal site (as well as this site) to the new Photocrati WordPress themes. You can check out the themes here: Photocrati’s Photography WordPress Themes.


Of all the template shops I considered in my recent search for a new web template for danzerphotography.com, I ultimately chose Photobiz. Here is a screen shot of a gallery page on my site as it currently appears with thumbnails on the right:

portraits-weddings-by-photojournalist-erick-danzer-boulder-denver-colorado-2

Since I chose Photobiz, that should mean I think it’s the best choice out there, right? Perhaps, but not necessarily. Photobiz, like all template-style solutions has it’s own limitations. For some users, lack of flexibility, high cost, or search engine optimization challenges might mean trying another solution.

OVERVIEW

Photobiz is an all in one web solution for photographers. For a mixture of one time fees (to buy a template, set up shoppting carts etc) and monthly fees (for hosting), they handle everything: flash templates, hosting (in fact, you HAVE to host there, which is a limitation), online proofing and sales functionality so you can sell prints directly to clients, and a range of other functions and services. Continue reading »

Posted in Photography Websites and Online Promotion Tagged , , , , |

Do you need a portfolio?

Short answer: Yes, but not in the way you think.

For most photographers, the word “portfolio” evokes images of a physical “portfolio” of images, often in a big black portfolio case, that represents who you are as a photographer. There are still a few situations when such classic portfolios are relevant—for example, if you are applying for a prestigious art gallery, going to visit a high-dollar commercial photography client, or meeting in person with prospective wedding clients.

But for most photographers most of the time, the traditional “portfolio” has always been of limited value. That’s not to say most photographers don’t use portfolios. Indeed, every time a photographer sends a submission to a magazine, stock agency, or other prospective buyer—whether slides, prints, or an email with digital images—that photographer is sending a portfolio. In this case, each portfolio is different, depending on the client.

Today, however, the portfolio concept is taking on yet another connotation. In the digital era, your website is your portfolio. Continue reading »

Posted in Building Your Website, Getting Assignments, Photography Business, Photography Business Basics, Photography Websites and Online Promotion, Selling Photos Tagged , , , |

Introducing Best of Wedding Photography

I noted in my last post that work on Photocrati’s photography blog and photography WordPress themes have been keeping me from posting regularly on DSLRBlog.

In addition to Photocrati, I’ve been working on another great project with a great group of wedding photographers. Some of the best and best-known wedding photographers in the world are working together to launch a new, invitation-only membership group for wedding photographers called Best of Wedding Photography. This will be the most selective group of wedding photographers in the world.

Membership invitations are based on peer-review. We’ve created an independent board including Crash Taylor, David Beckstead, David Ziser, Anna Kuperberg, Glen Johnson, Ben Chrisman, and Matt Adcock / Sol Tamargo from Del Sol Photography. If you pay attention to the world of wedding photography, you should recognize many of these names. Beckstead and Chrisman have both been named as the WPJA’s Photographer of the Year in various years. Five of these member have been named among the Top Ten Wedding Photographers in the World by American Photo in various years. Johnson has a best selling book on wedding photography and David Ziser, of course, runs a well-known workshop series in the US.

We believe this organization will change the landscape of the wedding photography industry and become one of the most sought after invitations among wedding photographers worldwide. Look for the launch some time in November.

Posted in News and Commentary

Sony A850 Review

I’ve been very busy on Photocrati over the last few months, which largely explains my infrequent posts here on good old DSLRBlog. Just seven months old, Photocrati is now doing about 150,000 page views per month, which is great to see.

I just wanted to let readers here know that Peter Burian (co-author of the National Geographic Photography Field Guide and author of many of the Magic Lantern DSLR guides) has just published a review of the Sony A850. That’s one newsworthy camera. It’s the most affordable full-frame digital SLR on the marketing now, yet offers the highest available resolution on the market at 24.6 megapixels. Compare that to the D3X, which offers the same resolution but costs about $5000 more.

In any case, Peter’s review is one of the first full field test of the A850 out there. There are a few others, and you can see some at TestFreak’s Sony A850 page. It’s clear that Sony has made some dramatic advancements in it’s offerings for digital SLR enthusiasts over the last year or two. It makes me wonder if and when it would ever be possible for manufacturers like Sony, Olympus, or Pentax to challenge the behemoths, Nikon and Canon, in the digital SLR market.

Posted in News and Commentary