by successfulbob | artist copyright, photography
One Senator put a hold on the CASE Act bill S.1273. Better known as the Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement Act. With bi-partisan support the bill would allow photographers along with other artistic creators the benefit of small claims settlement of copyright infringement. Currently, the only recourse for theft of images is to go to federal court. Federal court is impossibly expensive for a small business.
Thousands of photographers recently raised their index finger in unison to protest Senator Wyden’s hold on a bi-partisan bill that would help all small artists.
CASE Act
Right now a photographer or other artistic creator who has work stolen from them have no recourse. If someone is using your photography image without your permission it has to be adjudicated in Federal Court. This can run well over $300,000.
Professional Photographers of America CEO David Trust said, “ It’s not fair! If I were to go in a store and steal a $1.25 candy bar (not that I would do that, by the way) the owner could call the police. If someone steals a thousand, or five thousand dollars, worth of imagery from a photographic artist there is no recourse within the current copyright system. Passing the CASE Act would give photographers and other creators a small claims option.”
What can you do to help?
You can help put pressure on Senator Wyden to lift his hold and let the bill come to the floor for a vote. Take a picture of yourself holding up one finger (index finger please) with a serious look on your face. Not a scolding look or angry look, just serious. Post this image to all your social media accounts with the hashtags #justone and #caseact.
Also ask your voting age friends, fellow artists and art groups, and other parties who are interested in seeing artists have a fair system in place weigh in.
Contact Senator Wyden
You can contact Senator Wyden’s office asking that he lift the hold as well. E-mail your comments on legislation here https://www.wyden.senate.gov/contact/email-ron Oregon offices: Portland: 911 NE 11th Ave., Ste 630, Portland OR 97232; 503-326-7525. Salem: 707 13th St, SE, Ste 285, Salem, OR 97301, 503-589-4555.
Add your voice to the thousands letting Senator Wyman of Oregon know that he needs to release his hold on the bill. Learn what you can do to help and see more of the story in my previous post.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, inspiration, marketing, photographer of musicians, photography marketing
This is my seventh year working with an entertainment restaurant. The original relationship was due to a personal project I created and shared with them. A quick recap for those pressed for time will find I photographed a restaurant to learn and practice new photography techniques. I gave the restaurant a framed print. For the full story check out part one on photofocus
The story continued and involves another personal project involving a musician, which was also shared with the owners. When the owners saw my artwork they decided to feature the bands and other entertainers in more of an artistic style. While making the artistic images I also supply the restaurant with additional photos for publicity, posters, marketing and social media.
The trade deal
It would be very difficult for a restaurant to pay cash for this service as the amounts can add up very quickly, especially in the beginning, when many new performers were being documented. I’m a big fan of win-win situations so we worked out a trade agreement.
Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame has grown to 130 or so images. I create an artistic rendition of the musicians from their live performance. It would be very difficult to track down people after the fact for autographs. I have them provide their signature and ‘message to the house’ with a black sharpie pen on white paper. I invert the printing from black on white to white on black. Change the Blend mode in Adobe Photoshop to Screen and text will appear white. Viola, I have their ‘autograph’ for the art.
Bobcat Jack: Blues-man with signature and logo art
As part of the deal, art images are printed and framed to 8×10 and hung in the Hall. Additional images are uploaded for the publicity, poster and marketing purposes.
One corner of the SBG Hall of Fame
Additional benefit
In addition to the trade, each of the images is branded with the Bob Coates Photography logo. A metal print in a niche promotes my story and the Hall of Fame information (look in the back of the Hall photo above). I make this deal out to be not only a win-win opportunity but a win-win-win all the way around!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | commercial photography, marketing, Marketing Monday, photography, photography marketing
Monetizing personal projects is important to me. I’ve found it to be a profitable way to build my business. You can too!
First connection
I made a twilight photo of my favorite local restaurant while experimenting with showing the lighted interior at sunset. I learned the easiest way to make an interesting architectural photo of real estate was to set the camera on a tripod. Then capture images over a time period of 20-45 minutes and blend them together in post.
After this image was made I entered it in the Arizona Professional Photographers Association annual image competition. After receiving feedback from the judges I realized there was more to learn with this technique. While the image did not merit it earned an above-average red ribbon. If that was all I got from assigning and completing this personal project it would have been a winner. But I didn’t stop there.
Original personal project image from 2009 that eventually led to lots of work
I framed the print, adding the award winning ribbon and my business card and offered it as a gift to the restaurant. Even though the image had room for improvement the owners loved it. On display in the restaurant in a high traffic area was solid exposure in and of itself. Even more, it helped cement my relationship with them.
New project
Fast-forward about a year and the owners sold this restaurant. I was hired, because of working with the owners in the past, to help promote the renovations of a new space and create interest and excitement for the opening.
We came up with the concept of combining the photos with text. The voice of the owner was used, explaining the thought process of the demolition and decor choices. These were in the form of a set of ‘Polaroid’ photos released over time before the opening party. One example is below you can see more in the extended story on Photofocus.
Additional revenue
I added additional revenue to the project by offering to design customized music inspired metal prints to decorate the niches in the main dining room.
Music niche art images, created specifically for this restaurant
Then it was time to create all the marketing images, which included food, interiors and exteriors with the surrounding red rock views.
To be continued
There were many other images made as you can imagine. It started with making an image on spec and sharing it with a potential client. This story continues in part two where there is cross-pollination with a previous personal project involving the musician. More details on my Photofocus blog post.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – See part two of this post here
by successfulbob | landscape photography
Edge of light
Living in Sedona, I have been privy to lots of beautiful changing scenery due to changing light conditions. The most interesting images happen on the edges of light when sunrise or sunset occurs. Or, when you find the edges of light where light spills through a window or under an overhang. Storms arriving or clearing are often wonderful ways to capture a different look.
Red rocks with a square crop. A path leads into the scene from the corner.
Car camera
Light as this is often fleeting in a landscape. I always keep a “car-camera” available for moments such as these. It’s a Panasonic Lumix FZ2500 — an all-in-one camera that can go from 25mm wide to 480mm zoom. It has lots of features including the ability to capture up to seven stops of exposure on a single button push (and can bracket focus as well, but that’s another post).
Different landscape compositions
Photographing a scene can be composed in many different ways. And, each individual way tells a slightly different story of the scene. I’ve found over the years that whatever grabs my interest in a passing landscape is just a starting point and any car stop should include exploring the area just a bit more.
A vertical crop gives an entirely different feel to the scene.
Learn more
I wrote a bit more in-depth on this subject on the Photofocus blog. Learn more here.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | inspiration, photography marketing
My buddy, Kevin Ames an editor of Photofocus, mentioned that many photographers have trouble monetizing their photography, especially when working on personal projects and asked that I share a few success stories. I did some research and found that this was the way I have built my business over the years. Here’s one of the stories on how I accomplished this. My personal projects are centered around learning a skill I was am trying to acquire. I then leveraging the image I’d created by selling, promoting the new skill — entering in image competition or garnering press. I hope you find these ideas helpful.
Once upon a time in a town near Atlanta …
Was on a visit to Atlanta to visit with my friends Ashley and Liz. In their neighborhood was a favorite restaurant of theirs called Manchester Arms. It was an overcast drizzly, dreary day. As I was entering the restaurant I noticed it had a kind of European pub flavor and I thought it would make a good subject for a new art technique I wanted to master. Despite the drizzle, I ran outside to grab a few frames from a couple different angles. For this particular use, the soft, overcast lighting worked well.
Before After
Here are the before and after images to show the results of my post-processing.
Manchester Arms restaurant in the rain – Before image
Finished art processed in Adobe Photoshop with textures, Blend Modes and masks.
Rest of the Story
You can check out this story more in-depth on my Photofocus blog post.
Dinner was just dandy, by the way!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
