by successfulbob | photography education, photography marketing
Photography Marketing. There are lots of ways to be in your client’s face. (but gently)
Here’s one of the articles I wrote for the Villager in the Village of Oak Creek, Sedona. It’s a basic photography How-To for beginner photographers. This article featured information on how black and white conversions could change the look of an image depending on techniques and color filtration.
You can offer to do this for your local newspapers. There’s no pay but keeping you name in front of potential clients will hopefully cover the time to write and produce image examples.
Villager article on how color filters change the look of black and white image.
Don’t make the mistake that I did in this article of not including my bio/contact information. This isn’t a paid gig and is to help people understand photography and remind folks I’m still around and know what I’m talking about.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix FZ 1000, Lumix Lounge, marketing, photography education, photography marketing
Sedona has had a very wet (for us) spring and the result has been lots of flowers flourishing, in the wild and in the gardens. As you may remember I write a column for the local monthly paper, The Villager, to help keep my name out there. It’s called Photographer’s Corner and I offer tips on making better images. Usually the tips are pretty simple from a pro’s point of view but they are appreciated by the general public.
It was nice while on my Meals on Wheels route to have the Lumix FZ 1000 on hand to grab some flower photos as I saw them. Being able to zoom to 400mm made it possible to shoot from the car through an open window during the rain. (make sure you turn the car off to cut down the vibration) Here’s one of an Iris standing tall on an overcast day which gave good detail.
Straight capture for the article illustrating the concept of ‘Filling the Frame’. Camera settings 1/320 sec F4.0 ISO 160
Once I had the image in the computer I had to play just to see what I could see…
Here’s another version. Always try something new when I have time.
The images were created blending a photo of a wall of small leaves and a photo of some dead leaves raked into a pile. Textures can come from a myriad of places and subjects. Thought I’d keep these textures organic in keeping with the flower.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography, photography education, photography marketing, success education
I was extremely fortunate in PPA Imaging Competition this past year.
It resulted in earning a Silver Photographer of the Year Award in the Photographic Open and a Diamond Photographer of the Year Award in the Artist category. For those unfamiliar with the awards they are for having all four of your images submitted attaining Merit status which for simplicity sake is defined as an ‘above-average’ image made by an ‘above-average’ photographer. The Silver designation comes from additionally having one of those images selected for inclusion into the PPA Loan Collection. The Diamond comes from all four of the images being accepted in the the Loan Collection of which there were only 24 this year. For more in-depth information on the International Photographic Competition and awards check here.
Diamond four for four Merits with four Loan Collection images. Silver four for four Merits with one Loan Collection image. Imaging Excellence Award for thirteen Loan Collection images. Three medals are for the Degrees the most recent being the Master Artist Degree.
The American Society of Photographers has an additional judging of their member’s Loan Collection images and
Awards a Gold, Silver and Bronze Medallion to the top three ASP member images.
Received lots of congratulations from fellow photographers that remind me of what a wonderful way we have to make a living, learning, sharing while being creative. I am truly thankful that this is the way I choose to make my living and live my life among so many wonderful people.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – You think there are any possibilities for press releases from this good fortune? You betcha!
by successfulbob | photography education, photography marketing, success education
Keeping your name in front of your potential clients is job when when you are in business for yourself.
If you have writing skills you can reinforce your status as the go-to photography person and stay front of mind by writing for your local newspaper. Here’s an article I wrote for the Villager a local paper here just outside of Sedona. It will be delivered in the next few days by mail. In the meantime you can read the article using the link above online.
Article in local newspaper.
The article is written partly as a local area piece featuring a human interest angle combined with a photography how-to. With hummingbirds being a well loved subject in the area and being difficult to photograph and my wife’s experiences with the delicate birds it’s a perfect pair.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | photography education, photography marketing, success education
Lets review before we go further…
Enter Professional Photographers of America or PPA Affiliate type judging to get feedback on your imaging. Try to attend the judging live. Or watch online if that’s available. Order critiques if available.
Learn.
Put into practice what you’ve learned…
Pretend these instructions are on the side of a shampoo bottle. ie repeat. Enter again. Learn. Enter again.
Now that you’ve entered and learned enough to win awards it time to use them for marketing. Display awards in your studio.
This is a sheet I add to my clients contract packet to reinforce their making a good decision with past press.
Send out a press release to various outlets in your market. What should a press release look like? I’m going to post the one I’ve written for this event here and break down the items you need to be aware of. You’ll see comments in Italics.
Press Release – For Immediate Release
(This should top your release. If there’s and embargo date it should read for release after x date.)
Contact – Bob Coates Phone 928-284-0200 Cell 928-300-0535 [email protected]
(Make sure you have plenty of contact info. They may have questions, want to do a feature on you or need something before going to press)
Sedona Photographer Named Arizona Photographer of the Year
(Make your headline fit the story and hopefully garner extra attention – This headline is based on local does good)
For the fourth time Bob Coates of Bob Coates Photography has been named Photographer of the Year by the Arizona Professional Photographers Association. Coates competed in the state’s annual competition recently held in Phoenix and won numerous awards including the Emil Eger Photographer of the Year Award, first place in the Masters Commercial, Portrait and Illustrative categories. Coates also received the American Society of Photographers Award for the highest scoring image by an ASP member. In addition, this was Coates’ 15th time being named to the AZPPA Top Ten in 16 years. All jurors of this year’s competition were International Jurors approved by Professional Photographers of America. (PPA)
(the first paragraph sets the stage and gives details explaining the headline)
The imaging competition is an opportunity for photographers to have their images judged by a panel trained to score images against a standard. “The actual competition is against yourself,” said Coates. “You are trying to score against the standards set by PPA. The awards themselves are just a bonus. The real win comes from a chance to have experienced peers review your work and hopefully come out on top as you try new techniques and imaging ideas. I am extremely honored to have done well in the competition but my clients are the real winners as I expand my photography skills creating interesting imagery.”
(The second paragraph goes into more detail and set the stage. Note that I am writing this in the third person just as the newspaper would)
Master of Electronic Imaging and Master Craftsman Photographer Thom Rouse said, “It’s always a great pleasure to view Bob’s photography! Coates works in a number of genres, from portrait to landscape to conceptual fine art. His recent work ranges from depicting Sandhill Cranes, a collage of Day of the Dead symbols, to a traditional black and white image of a stand of Aspens. Throughout his work is a unifying style and an understanding of the visual culture and traditions important to each individual subject he represents.”
(Praise for your work should come from third parties. In this case I asked the judges to comment on my body of work)
Master Craftsman Photographers Bert & Cindy Behnke shared, “Bob’s work is so original and artistic, it is exciting to not only judge in the competitions but to view and enjoy as a photographer and fellow artist. What we really like about his work are the varying concepts, it is all very original and fun to see. His work really shows off both his artistic and technical expertise.” Cindy was especially taken with the image ‘Sandhill Cranes’. “This is a beautiful art piece. I see it as an exercise in Japanese art. The color harmony is wonderful. It’s almost as if this has been printed on rice paper with an interesting glow and color with warm tones.” She also awarded this image with her Judges Choice ribbon.
(more follow-up judges comments)
To learn more go to bcphotography.com to see more of Bob’s photography and art imagery.
# # #
(The three # signs are a signal that you have sent out press releases before and signify the end of the release)
(Hopefully the contact for follow-up info will get printed also. The article needs to be written with the most
important information at the top because the editors will cut from the bottom first.)
In addition to the actual press release don’t forget to send images with your release. Always add a head shot too. This will often lead to getting many more column inches and add to the versatility of your material increasing the possibility of your release getting printed.
I’ll also share the press r
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
# # #
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
