by successfulbob | Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography, photography competition, photography education, photography marketing, success education
Yesterday I shared the images I entered at the Arizona Professional Photographers Association annual convention. Today I’ll show the awards I received as part of the competition and talk about the marketing value for business.
Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award for high scoring print case (341 out of 400)
First Place in Masters Portrait, Commercial and Illustrative categories.
American Society of Photographers Award for High scoring image by an ASP member.
AZPPA Top Ten Award for the 15th time in 16 years
OK Bob, big deal, how can this be used in marketing?
I am excited to have earned these designations and will proudly display them in my studio. This is for marketing purposes and what I call a ‘stick’ for when clients walk through the door to be photographed. When people make decisions to spend money they ALWAYS want to be reassured that they have made a good choice on where they’ve decided to spend their hard earned dollars. Seeing the awards gives people more confidence in my skills. Almost everyone comments on my award case… in a good way. Thus they will ‘stick’ with me because of the positive reinforcement of seeing the awards.
Tomorrow I’ll follow up on the next step in making the winning of awards really pay when we chat about press releases.
By the way, as an aside for people who are still on the fence about the quality of Lumix cameras and the micro 4/3rds format… Four of the six images were captured with my Panasonic gear and they scored the highest of my entries.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | marketing, photography, photography education, photography marketing, success education
Well I must say this gave me a surprise! I didn’t even know I was in the running…
The Readers of Kudos Entertainment Magazine in Sedona, Arizona voted me as the Best Photographer for the year Two Thousand and Fourteen.
Readers Choice Award 2014 from Kudos Certificate
I say thank you to all who voted! I appreciate the confidence. If you are in need of photography from the ‘Best’ : )> photographer according to the readers of Kudos give me a call. As always the work I do for you is guaranteed. If you are not not thrilled you get get you money back. Get in touch today to see if we are a good match. All contact info is in the header of this web page or click here.
Above was the post I used on my business page. As a photographer in business you need to leverage all recognition you receive to get the most benefit out of it. So the award is tweeted, Posted on my FB page and posted on LinkedIn. When good things happen you need to help spread the word and ask others to help you do that too…
So with that thought in mind… if you read this post would you be so kind as to send out a tweet and share on your FB page with a link back here? You’ll be doing me a good deed but you’ll also be exposing other photographers to the information I share here on Successful-Photographer. A win-win don’t you think?
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | graphic design, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography
My wife has bee driving a Prius for the last three years and while I really like the gas mileage she’s been getting (about 54 MPG) That model didn’t have enough room for hauling photo gear. Also wasn’t real pleased about the visibility with some of the blind spots created in the design of the body.
Enter the Prius V (for Versatile) and I am a happy camper. It has a much bigger body, roomier design and visibility is just about perfect with large windshield and a clear view through a large back window. The gas mileage isn’t quite as good as my honey’s car but 40-44 MPG is nothing to sneeze at either.
The new BCP photo car.
This time I opted for the magnetic signage instead of the more permanent decals. (boy was that a pain to remove!) I am often asked if I worry about marking my car as a photographer’s vehicle. I always answered no but being able to remove the signage at any time can be an answer to those who might be nervous having their car in a certain area and not wish to be advertising the fact that it may have photo gear inside. I believe the signage to be of great help in marketing my business especially as I’m in a small town. If you live in a large metropolitan area it might be less effective… Or maybe more as the possibility for more impressions is there.
Note that the graphic design of the signage is very clean and simple making it easy to read. Logo, web site and phone number. Easy ways for people to contact me… Also kept the Lumix G Changing Photography sign. A word to the wise, As you are planning your signage make sure that where you intend to hang your sign is metal. Car bumpers, and some bodies are no longer metal and other places you might have thought were metal are now molded plastic.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | marketing, photography education, success education
You need to stay in front of the people in your community. One of the ways to keep out there is by sending out press releases. You know I’m a fan of this piece of the marketing puzzle and I want to make you one also. Here’s another article that appeared in Sedona’s local entertainment newspaper/magazine to show you that it works…
Kudos article on Bob Coates Photography & AZPPA Convention Competition Results
This particular article is about some success in imaging competition. I am a huge fan of entering competition at the local, state, region and National levels especially when you have access to viewing the competitions and getting critiques of your work. It pushes you to take your work to the next level. And that’s a huge benefit for you and your clients. Learn more about image competition at PPA.
When we pursue this press release avenue it is a win/win/win situation. It’s a win for the newspaper or magazine because they get well written content that doesn’t cost them a lot of time or money to use. It’s a win for your community because they get to learn about you and your skills. And, it’s a win for you because you are kept front of mind in your community in a positive way that you really can’t pay for… Learn more about writing and sending press releases by checking in here.
If you need some help with your marketing give me a call. Coaching rates are very reasonable. The first hour is no charge if you don’t think I’ve been a help to you… then you don’t pay – No hard feelings.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | black & white, fine art photography, landscape photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, marketing, people photography, photography, photography education, photography gear
SUCK it UP!!
If you aren’t participating in image competition I feel you are missing a huge piece of the education puzzle in becoming a better more successful photographer. Almost every photographer I’ve seen who gets in the game, submits images, attends the judging and listens to the critiques has shown amazing progress in the depth of their work.
It also doesn’t hurt that you can win awards, work toward your PPA degrees and talk photography with a bunch of like minded people. If you wait until you think you are ready for imaging competition you are missing the boat because this is how you get better, not by waiting until you think you are ‘good enough’. If you need some help in getting started, get in touch and I’ll point you in the right direction.
And, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the ‘Rest of the Story”.
In addition to the education I received by being immersed in imaging competition last weekend I managed to score a few awards.
‘Street Portrait – ‘Doc” First Place Masters Portrait
Camera info – Lumix GX7 35-100 2.8 @47mm exp 1/160, f2.8, ISO 200 square in-camera crop
Captured on the 2nd day I had the Lumix GX7 in my hands in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I saw Doc and asked if he’d mind if I made his image after chatting with him for a bit. It was nice to be introduced to him by my friend & fellow photographer Dennis Chamberlain. He told me Doc was quite the character and he was right. I asked Doc to move to put him in some good light.
‘Art of the Saxophone’ earned First Place Masters Illustrative Image – AZPPA Loan Collection and the American Society of Photographers Award (ASP) captured with the Lumix GX7.
Photographing some live music in nearby Cottonwood, Arizona and I spied this Sax on stage. Photographed it with the thought of creating an art piece. Even though I floated the sax in the scene it was the other instruments that help tell the story and add depth to the piece. The look was accomplished using multiple texture images, blend modes, masks, layers and color enhancements. It’s one of the programs I give. See if one is happening near you here. If you have a photo group and would like me to speak get in touch. Depending on the size of your group Panasonic will pick up most or all of the tab.
‘Committed’ – Awarded 2nd Place Masters IllustrativeCamera and gear info – Lumix GX7 7-14 f4 @12mm exp 1/6 sec, f4, ISO 3200 Seven shot bracket.
camera mounted on Culmann Germany carbon fiber tri-pod Magnasit 532C
Check out the tattoo of the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi from Santa Fe, New Mexico on this young man’s back. I was photographing the Cathedral around 10 PM and he walked by working on setting up for the Indian Market the next day and he said, “I have a tattoo of that on my back.” I asked if he had a minute to spare and could I make his photograph. I bracketed the image with 7 stops automatically with the Lumix GX7. Got off only two bursts because I had him for about 30 seconds before he was called back to his duties.
Guardsman’s Pass, Utah scored an 80 for a merit
Camera – Lumix GX7 35-100 f2.8 @42mm exp 1/640 sec, f7.1, ISO 640 (set by camera panorama mode)
This rounded out my image case. This was the first use of the in-camera panorama from the Lumix GX7. I love this feature! That doesn’t mean I don’t also make my panos the old fashioned way with multiple exposures and stitching them together when I want a larger file to work with but this is a great feature.
Managed to make it into the AZPPA Top Ten for the 14th time in 15 years. This information is being compiled into a press release. Check here for more information on how get the most from your marketing.
Til next time. Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | marketing, photography, photography education
“Bob that press release stuff doesn’t work!”
I hear this all the time when I try to share with fellow photographers one way to get your business name out there. Press releases can, and do, work. But, you have to work at it. You need to write the release in the correct form for the media in which you are trying to get placement. You need to know where to send the release, because the proper person who makes the decisions needs to see it. And, send it to more than one outlet. And, send them out on a regular basis because not every release is printed. Add artwork like your head-shot, illustrative images and captions.
How about getting to know your local editors? Inviting them to lunch? Asking how you might be of help to them? If someone knows you personally there’s a better chance your release will be printed
Here’s an example of how the press release worked so far… from this release
Image of Kudos newspaper printing of press release for Bob Coates’ receiving PPA’s Elite Plus Award 2014
Online printing of Press Release in PhotoClique
I will take the published versions of my work and share them in my studio, republish them on the Internet and make copies to use to help let clients know they have made a good choice in selecting me as their photographer. FYI, any images that appear in an article I recreate for distribution because scans from newsprint and magazines are a bit icky. Also after a scan I will add a curves layer and make the whites whiter and blacks blacker. This helps with the bleed through from the porous paper and makes look better and easier to read.
There’s no free lunch. You do have to work to build relationships. Get your writing skills up to par. Follow through. I feel the effort is more than worth it because when the articles appear in print, even if you penned the info, the result is name recognition you can’t get through a paid advertisement.
If you need some help finding reasons to generate press releases fro your photography business, writing them, finding how to distribute them or need some general business help contact me about some coaching opportunities at great rates.
Yours in photography… Bob
