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
by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography, photography - art quote, photography education
ARRRGHHH!!
I hear you say when I tell you this mornings photo art quote is going to involve marketing and business. Please don’t be bummed – or afraid. If we don’t have the commerce, unless we are trust fund kids or have a sponsor, our art won’t get made…
“Art career goals make your career happen. To see far is one thing, to go there is another.” – Constantin Brancusi
Brancusi was a Romainian born sculpture artist and his words in the above quote should give us pause for thought. You can have all the vision in the world but if you don’t act on it you ain’t goin’ nowhere.
So this morning take a few moments to think about where you want to be with your art five years from now.
Go ahead think about it…
Spend a bit more time thinking about it.
Good! Now write it down these thoughts you had, Getting them down on paper starts to make them more have more weight. Become more real to you rather than some ephemeral dream.
Start the next step right away. If you want to be at a certain level with your art sales in five years where do you need to be in two and a half years? Where do you need to be in one year? How about six months? Next month? Ahhh, now we are getting to it. What do you need to be doing tomorrow and next week to get you started on the proper prosperous path?
Well what are you waiting for? Get to it! Set some goals.
Your in photography and art. Bob
by successfulbob | graphic design, graphic design, Lumix GH3, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
“Do you mind if I share an idea?” said my wife. “Oh, Oh.” thought I. This means she doesn’t like what I’m working on and wants to make a suggestion… I’m not always overly receptive. But, I know she often has great ideas.
You may remember a post I was so proud of a few days ago with my original idea of illustrating a polo player striking a ball.
I had been working on and image and got stuck in the proverbial rut. She being outside could see it and was willing to deal with my stupid ego to help get me out of a bad place.
So I replied, “OK what is it?” She tiptoed around a bit and shared, “You know if instead of the row of horses you should try just one alone and bigger.” I thought about it and agreed although I was still married to the original idea I had. Five minutes later, “Can I make one more suggestion…??” “Absolutely.” I replied. “You ought to take two riders fighting for the ball and make that the subject instead of just one horse.”
“OK” I replied. Then I perused the polo images and found this…
Original capture of polo players chasing down the ball.
Here is the resulting image after applying Holly’s input. (Ain’t she great??)
I’ll leave it for you to decide… Which image is more powerful? The one above? Or, the one I was stuck on before?? Another set of eyes can help point you in the right direction. I’m fond of saying some of my best ideas come from other people…. Which means you need to be willing to listen to critique and act on it to become a better image maker.
This image was captured with the Panasonic Lumix GH3 with the f4.0-5.6 100-300mm lens at 1/640th sec f5.6 ISO 200 at 300mm (600mm at 35mm equivalent)
by successfulbob | photography, photography - art quote, photography education
WHAT IS THAT?
“Common objects become strangely uncommon when removed from their
context and ordinary ways of being seen.” Wayne Thiebaud
I know there have been times when I wasn’t quite sure what the subject was of an image… But, I liked it!
Then finding out what was actually in the image I became even more impressed.
Think Body-Scapes, (*Please if you are offended by nudity please do not follow the Bodyscapes link)
Think Howard Schatz
Think Jerry Uelsmann
Think Edward Weston and the pepper among other iconic images
Think Abstract Photography.
When was the last time you pushed the limits of what you were trying to capture? Sometimes less is more when trying to tell your story. Spend some time poking around some of the links I shared here. Find more of your own and share them back here.
THEN THINK. JUST THINK….
by successfulbob | graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, photography, photography education
Thundering hooves passing by as the riders chase a small white ball with long sticks…
My first live polo match enhanced by the tailgating party before-hand. Holly and I were on our way to the airport and our friends *Skip & Sheila Cohen hooked us up with this experience at the Polo Club in Lakewood, Florida.
*Skip is founder of Skip Cohen University – definitely worth a look if you have interest in marketing your photography business!
But, I digress… I ended up shooting the match with the 100-300mm f3.5 to 5.6 lens on the Lumix GX7. There was plenty of light so there was enough shutter speed to handhold with an ISO of 800. I always enjoy photographing new subject matter whether I have a specific reason or not… Then I’ll sometimes do a self assignment to see if there is a way to sell the images.
The possibility here is for art images to sell to polo players or as decor. But, I wanted to be even more specific. I saw they had produced a really high end magazine supporting the matches with lots of graphic artwork. So how about a couple cover possibilities??
What can you do to push your skills? What’s your latest personal project that you did for the heck of it? And then turned into money? I working on that part now. I’ve already contacted the Sarasota Polo Magazine to see what I can work out with them…
by successfulbob | marketing, musician photography, photography, photography education, success education
SUCCESS!
This job started as a result of a personal project. I was trying some new art techniques on images made of musicians during live performances. Showed the results to Mark and he immediately asked if I would design his next CD release cover and marketing materials…
Six fold CD packaging design for Mark T Small started with a personal photo project
Apparently he made a good choice. Here’s an email from Mark.
“Bob – I think your art work is paying off big time. The media promo started Jan 1 and I am getting more looks than the last CD. Doing some radio interviews and getting some good action on the blogs. I really think that your work is making these people pick the CD up out of the pile to further investigate. Thank you so much Bob. The reporting radio stations start next week and I will keep you posted. I sent out 200 CDs for media on 1/1 and 200 CDs on 1/24 for reporting. Pretty crazy – I will keep you posted .
Thanks again Bob – best to Holly”
mark
Mark T. Small (a.k.a. – J. Wyman Burke)
Delta & Chicago Style Blues
www.marktsmall.com
I ask you… What personal project are you working on to stretch yourself? And, how are you working it into your business?
Yours in Photography, Bob
