BlogTalkRadio Interview: Cris Mitchell

Please join me tomorrow January 9th @ 12 noon PST, 3 PM EST, 2 PM CST for my first BlogTalkRadio with Photographer, Writer and Creator of ProPhotoResource.com Cris Mitchell, Cris and I will be discussing Website Essentials For Professional Photographers. You can listen to the call live at page on BlogTalkRadio.com/RodneyWashington

Hope you can make the call!

Want to keep up to date on new interviews? Why not sign up for my new business ezine for professional photographers at Photo-Marketing-Mentor.com

Creating Your Customer Profile: 10 Effective Ways to Connect w/Photo Buyers

Are you looking for a low cost way to get the word out about your photography? Why don't you join me today (Sunday June 22nd) for FREE tele-seminar @ 5 p.m. Pacific./8 p.m. Eastern.

Creating Your Customer Profile: 10 Effective Ways to Connect w/ Photo Buyers.

I am co-teaching the class with successful Hawaii based photographer, collage artist and gallery owner Carolyn Quan of the Quan Gallery.

Visit the following link to Ask Carolyn a question about your greatest marketing challenge and you will be directed immediately for call in details and additional information.

AskCarolynQuan: AskCarolynQuan.com

And remember the call is FREE, (except for regular long-distance) Have a great Sunday, hope to you hear you on the call.

7 Steps to Building A Successful Photography Business: How to Finance Your Habit – Part 2

In the last lesson 7 Steps to Building A Successful Photography Business, we discussed building your business by going to people who you already know when looking for new customers.

Once you start getting some business it's natural for you to consider expanding your marketing efforts. Often this will become necessary once you exhaust your list of personal contacts. So what's the next step? Well besides printing business cards many photographers will be thinking about putting together their first website.

Today having a website is necessity for marketing any kind of business, websites are especially important for a photographer. Now while having a website is great I've seen far too many photographers make a critical mistake in setting up their first site and that's what I'm going to address here in lesson 2.

Don't worry it's painless and if done properly the process will be far easier than actually setting up the site. So read the next line very carefully and commit it to memory...Ready? Here it comes.

Step 2: Don’t even bother setting up a website if you don’t set up a way to collect the email addresses of the people who visit. Period.

If you want to see an example of this in action go to my website at www.rodneywashington.com I have a sign up box on the bottom of the home page of my website.

Collecting email addresses is one of the smartest and easiest ways to do business on line and off. As a matter of fact, if you don't commit your marketing efforts to collecting the email addresses of your site visitors you are throwing away potentially thousands of dollars of business.

You will want to use email management software to collect and manage your database.

DON’T and I repeat DO NOT use a regular email service like Outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or any other consumer level program to handle your professional mailing list.

The risk you run is that you could be shut down by your internet service provider as well have the headaches of managing your growing list will be a logistical nightmare. For starters you will have to manually remove and add new contacts to your list. In addition your emails may not be delivered to your subscribers because the spam filters could block what it suspects as mass emails.

To make matter worse it's illegal to send mass email this way, so to avoid all of the drama is pay a small amount to hire a list management service to maintain your list for you. The benefits for using a list service are many. I'll give you three.

- First, it's very affordable, most services are under $20 dollars a month.
- Second, subscribers can confirm, remove and update their information without your direct involvement.
- Third, can set-up templates easily from within your service that can be timed for delivery. The benefit is that you won't have to remember to write an email each week. You can write up a batch and pre-schedule them weeks and months in advance and your emails will go out automatically.

Suggested list services:
Aweber: Aweber
Constant Contact: Constant Contact
1ShoppingCart: 1 Shopping Cart

There are other services available that do practically the same as the services listed. To locate them do a Google search, but I highly recommend either of the three above. I personally use Aweber and Constant Contact to manage my lists and doing so is a breeze.

All are very affordable and easy to use. Once you register for an account the service will walk you through the set-up process and will generate a simple HTML code that you cut and paste into your webpage. If you don't know how to do this you refer this your web designer.  

Once your webpage is updated with the code you upload it to your website hosting service or have you tech do it and voila your done! Once your page is active on your website this leads to step three.

Step 3: Lead Generation, the rule of thumb here is give site visitors a reason to sign up and stay on your list.

You can offer to send subscribers a photo of the day or the week. For example: Let's say you love to photograph babies or pets, anyone’s who’s visiting your website would probably love to receive a photo e-postcard of either of these subjects.

Think about how you can communicate with your list and make sure that you do so in a way that serves them and you will create a list of raving fans that will be glad to hire you and buy your images.

All of the list management services listed in step 2# provide templates that you can easily customize with your photos. All you do is import your images into the template and write your copy, save and schedule the email to send out to your list.

You can even offer a coupon on the bottom of the e-postcard (although I caution against doing this with every email you send) but occasionally offer a discount of say 10 percent off of a portrait session, prints or products you offer for sale.

If you decide to send emails once a week, limit your promotional offers to once a month especially when you first get started. Increase as you build your rapport with your list.

You can increase the frequency of your promotions over time but you don’t want hit your subscribers over the head with blatant sales pitches. Don’t burn out your list.

Remember: People don’t like to be sold too, but they love to buy from people they know like and trust.

This concludes Part 2 of this lesson on 7 Steps to Building a Successful Photography Business, Part 3 will be coming soon. Be sure sign up to receive part 3.

Learn how to use and get great photos from your digital camera every time. Receive FREE tips by subscribing to my ezine Digital Photo Secrets Revealed.

Which Lens Should I Use

Arguably the most important weapon in a photographers' arsenal, lenses are also one of the most variable. From the widest 10mm fish-eye to the longest 800mm telephoto, optics are available in every conceivable size, weight and focal length. Due to the smaller sensors used in many of today's digital SLRs, however, focal lengths vary depending on the model in question.

But whether you're a landscaper looking to capture dramatic sunsets or an architectural fanatic looking to isolate fine details, there's a multitude of options that fall into four categories. Here's the low-down.

Standard
On full-frame digital SLRs standard lenses fall between 40mm and 55mm, though 50mm is the accepted norm. You'll need a 35mm lens to get the same field-of-view on digital SLRs with the smaller APS-sized sensor. Closest to the field-of-view of the human eye, standard lenses offer an undistorted perspective and are often used for flattering portraits. Just for the record, the true field-of-view of the human eye is 43mm!

Wide-angle
With shorter focal lengths and wider angles-of-view than standard lenses, wide-angle lenses are employed by landscape and reportage specialists. Remember you'll need a shorter focal length on many digital SLRs than a 35mm or full-frame digital model. This need for shorter focal lengths on many digital SLRs has produced a raft of new models. A 17-35mm model, such as the one shown below, gives a field-of-view equivalent to 25-52mm on a full-frame SLR.

Macro
If you've ever wondered how photographers fill the frame with small subjects such as petals and insects, the answer is the humble macro lens. Allowing for 1:1 (life-size) reproduction and focusing from as close as 2in, true macro lenses are specifically constructed for close-up photography. They are commonly available in focal lengths between 50mm and 180mm.

Telephoto
Any lens that weighs in with a focal length above 50mm is said to be a telephoto lens. Short telephotos (between 70mm and 120mm) are ideal for portraiture, while longer focal lengths (between 135mm and 300mm and above) are perfect for sports and wildlife. Remember, the magnification of a lens on most digital SLRs is increased by around 1.5x, so a 200mm lens is equivalent to a 300mm on a full-frame camera.

Learn how to use and get great photos from your digital camera every time. Receive FREE tips by subscribing to my ezine Digital Photo Secrets Revealed.

Photography School: How to Pick The One is Right For You

There are many people who want to make photography as their career. Many people find it fulfilling to engage in a life of taking pictures. This venture entails a good photography education.

Just like any other kind of school, the appropriate selection of a photography school which will meet the needs of the students is essential for a good education. This article tries to lay down some tips on how you can choose a good photography school. Listed below are the tips:

- Look at the bigger picture:
In choosing a photography school, you must be able to look from afar to able to see the bigger picture. The selection of a photography school must be made under consideration of your general career goals. There are several tracks which can be taken in the field of photography.

If you intend to be involved in the more artistic side of photography, you can get more subjects which will aid you in this goal. If you are more inclined towards the commercial side of photography, you can choose a school which offers good business courses on side of the photography classes.

- Photography is more than point-and-shoot:
Some people may want to take up photography just to escape from the “hard” subjects, especially those which involves math. Guess what? These are things that a photographer needs to take to be able to survive in the real world.

Since most photographers would eventually own their own studios, courses in business management, accounting, marketing and other such courses are important and should be taken by photography students.

- Inquire about the size of the class:
Too many people in photography classes can really be a hindrance towards proper learning. It will also prohibit the instructor in giving hands-on supervision on the students.

- Computer skills:
A good photography school needs to have courses regarding the use of computers. The field of photography is a very competitive one and you could really use some knowledge of computers. With the advent of digital photography, the need for computer literacy is more evident than ever.

- Scholarships:
It would be best if the photography school is offering some kind of financial assistance for their students. Some of the equipments in photography are not that cheap.

These are just some tips on how to choose a photography school. Choosing the right school is as important as having a good view of where you want to go. The right school is the best way to get there.

Learn how to use and get great photos from your digital camera every time. Receive FREE tips by subscribing to my ezine Digital Photo Secrets Revealed.

How Do You Market Your Photography?

There are many ways to get the word out to the world about your art. What methods do you use to get the word out? I’d like to ask you to take my poll located to the right of this post to uncover what methods are most popular.

I’ll be using your responses to create a discussion to further understanding on how to get the most out of your marketing and promotional tools.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your participation. The poll will be closing on March 31st 2008 so make your selections today!

Art Fairs

Business Cards

Blogs

Cold Calling

Editorial Commissions

Gallery Exhibitions

Post Cards

Press Releases

Websites

Word of Mouth

Want to Learn How to Make Money from Your Photography?
If you're interested in learning how to make an extra $300-500 dollars or more a month from your passion for photography be sure to sign up for my FREE e-zine.

I will be announcing a special free e-course outlining 6 Steps to Building A Successful Photography Business shortly but it's only available for subscribers.

Learn how to use and get great photos from your digital camera every time. Receive FREE tips by subscribing to my ezine Digital Photo Secrets Revealed.

Do You Have a Future in Photography?

Photography Is Part of Our Lives

There is a wide world of photography. It touches each of us in our lives on a daily basis in some form or another. Photography is so much a part of our culture now that we hardly even notice all the places that it exists.

When you watch television, look at a magazine or even view a billboard on the highway, this is all because of photography.

There are so many ways that photography crosses our lives each day. There are a lot of opportunities for someone looking for photography jobs.

What Photography Jobs are Available?

If you enjoy photography and are thinking of it as a career, there are actually many different directions you can choose from. Obviously, there is professional photography but even in that choice there are many other smaller options that you have as well.

Choose Your Speciality
You can become a photographer in a special field such as wedding or family photographer. You can choose to make money taking pictures of things you love such as animals, nature or ships. If you enjoy scuba diving, you can become an underwater photographer. Pretty much anything you can think of, there is room to take and sell pictures of it.

If you love taking pictures and the idea of a career in photography sounds good to you, just how do you begin finding photography jobs?

How Do You Find Photography Jobs?

There are different ways of finding photography jobs, depending on the type of job you are looking for and your experience. You can begin by creating a resume and portfolio of your work. Then you can search on the internet at freelance photography job boards or photography websites and message boards.

Get specific into types of photographing you have done and look on the internet for those.

1. You can go locally and look for internships or local firms or companies that may need photographers.

2. You can get the word out by doing small events such as birthday parties and such. Get your name out as someone who will work these functions.

3. Show friends and family samples of your work and ask them to spread the word.

You may even want to participate in a charitable or non-profit event to boost your portfolio.

You can also begin submitting your work to contests and magazines to get yourself known and build your portfolio. Placing or winning in contests and getting published in magazines can help you build clips that you can use for getting bigger and better jobs.

Lastly, you can actually apply to jobs directly. It is best to do this only if you have the proper qualifications for the job. You don’t want to set your goals so high that you get let down but there is nothing wrong with going for what you want. Most importantly, get as involved with what you love as possible.

Learn as much as you can about photography and what makes good photography. Subscribe to magazines, read books, look at winners of photography contests.

Want to Learn How to Make Money from Your Photography?
If you're interested in learning how to make an extra $300-500 dollars or more a month from your passion for photography be sure to sign up for my FREE e-zine.

I will be announcing a special free e-course outlining 6 Steps to Building A Successful Photography Business shortly but it's only available for subscribers.

Learn how to use and get great photos from your digital camera every time. Receive FREE tips by subscribing to my ezine Digital Photo Secrets Revealed.