Petite séance de photo aérienne plus tôt cette semaine pour faire du stock photo du haut des airs.
En terminant la séance, alors que le Soleil finissait de briller, j’ai rapidement mitraillé Charles Paquin, mon pilote pour la journée, qui retournait à ses quartiers.
Quelques photos prises d’en haut seront évidemment postées ici plus tard.
I tell everyone that your cellphone is your most precious tool as a freelancer, so you must have it with you all the time. But this morning, it was me that was caught my pants down. Literally.
I was at the bathroom and I forgot to bring my cellphone. While there, I got two phone calls for a plane crash in the area. By the time I called them back, they already hired someone else.
John Arrington’s answer to David Hobby’s Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free, is an must read for any photographer; pro, hobbyist or a pro wannabe.
Arrington his not on a mission against the very popular Mr. Strobist. As he put it himself:
“I commented to him “yeah, you cite valid examples where it might work (more on that later), but almost all your readers will think that you’ve painted with a broad brush and won’t comprehend the discretion and the distinctions you’ve drawn. They’ll just hear ‘we can’t pay you to shoot that concert, but we can get you a credential and will give you a photo credit…’ and they will think you encouraged that ‘for portfolio purposes’, when that’s not what you meant.”
The third part where is answers comments is particularly enlightening. If you ever worked or considered working for free, your argument for doing so is sure to be answered.
A photo editor I worked with in the past had a good way to describe what working at a daily newspaper is.
He was saying that a newspaper is like a big monster. You feed him all day long with photos and stories. And no matter how many pages you produced, how many photos you put in, how many texts you wrote, at 12h01 in the morning, you go back with a hundred blank pages to fill.
Being a freelancer is more or less the same. You can have a great month with many assignments and money is coming in. But it does not matter how much money you made on the 31 of the month, because on the first day of the next one you go back to zero, and you have to reach your overhead to stay out of the water.
And when you reach it before the 10th of the month like I just did this month, it’s pretty reassuring.
Two weeks ago, a photographer that I chat with on a photographer web forum announced that he accepted a job as photo director at an important Quebec magazine. Got a call today. Guess who doing a shooting for that magazine this Friday?
I also got a cold call for a another job thru my website. Again, it paid off to have a beautiful and Google-friendly website. The editor wanted me for an editorial job, but he also wanted to know if I could recommend a local studio photographer, for a side part of the same assignment.
Since I am an editorial photographer, I don’t really hang out with studio and commercial photographer. However, a couple of times I worked side by side with a guy that I never had a chance to chat with. One day, I stumbled into him while taking a walk, so we took the time to introduce ourselves and chat a bit. I learned that he has a studio in his apartment, and he gave me his business card.
So of course, that’s the guy I recommended to my client. However, that photographer do not have a website. Did he end up having the job anyway, without the ability to show his work to this potential client? I don’t know yet. But a small investment in time and money would have helped a lot. As a freelance photographer, you ARE a business. Do you know any store that did not invest money for a front sign, some decoration, and maybe some advertising? Invest in good gear, but also invest in self-promotion too!
I’ve often told younger photographers that the most important day in their fresh careers just might be the one where they turn down a job. Turn down a job? Sacre Bleu! You might feel a lump in your throat as you enunciate your thoughts, no question. But it’s a sign that you’re in control of your own destiny.
Matt Mendelsohn on Getting paid
Note: Since I will here explain in details a recent negotiation I had with a client, I will keep in the dark the client name, the photo we where negotiating, and even the type of photo that was discussed. All that is important for you to know is that the image has some kind of uniqueness factor. If you are not familiar with those concepts, you might first want to read Wikipedia’s entries for Royalty free, right-managed (that’s how I sell my stock) and microstock.
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I got the call recently. The photo buyer wanted to buy a particular photo from my stock library he saw online.
He tells me that his company wants to use the photo in [big daily newspaper] and asks how much it will cost. I tell him it would be X$. The price sounds good to him. However, while the conversation continue, I understand that the usage will not be editorial, as I first thought, but as part of a publicity.
That is where it become interesting
I tell him that the price will then not be the same. I quote him a significant higher price.
He answers me that the first price was within his allowed budget, but not the new one. He would have to talk to some people. All of that, of course, on a tone that could mean “I don’t think it’s going to work”.
At this point, I could have said, “well, I guess it’s OK for [the first amount agreed]”.
It was even more tempting to say that when the buyer added that he would also have to call this particular photographer who might have something. And I KNEW this other photographer had tons of similar photos. He was actually probably the only other photographer who could have those.
But I stood my ground. “No problem. Call me back if you are still interested.”
It did not take long to have a call back. The buyer asked me if the price would be the same if they would also use the ad in two other newspapers. “Unfortunately not. It would be [even higher amount]”.
After some second of hesitation, he says that he would call me back.
And so he calls me back soon, inquiring about the price for just one paper, but not as big as the first one. So I quote him a fourth price.
“And we might want to use the picture again in May. Will we be able to do that?”
Again, I decided to do it “by the book”, at the risk of losing an important sale.
“Unfortunately not. The price is for a one-time use. Another license would have to be bough if you want to re-use the photo. Or we can agree on a new price for a broader license right now if you want.”
Since he was not sure they would need the picture later, he decided to accept my last quote, telling me that he might call me back in a few months for a second license.
So at several point during the negotiation, I could have surrendered to secure a sale, fearing that the client would walk away. But by sticking to the value of my image, I ended up with my biggest license yet (actually probably more money than most micro-stock photographer make in a year) with the opportunity to re-sale the same image to the very same client later.
What is the most important gear a photographer must have? What is THE gear you must buy, not matter what?
A cell phone.
And what it the most important part of your marketing tool? What is THE thing you must put money into?
A website.
I just got a phone call from a photo editor in Switzerland. She had two contacts in the area, but she could not reach one of them, and the email of the other one bounced back.
She used Google, and she stumbled into my website. She liked what she saw, and called me. My cell phone is with me all the time, so her problem (finding a photographer) was quickly resolved. And me? I got a neat 2 days assignment, which will pay my cell phone bill and web hosting for many months.
** edit ** 30 minutes after I posted this, I got a second call from a publication in Ontario, thanks to my website.
Last week, Cindy and I went to Montreal. Beside spending 500$ in 15 minutes at L.L. Lauzeau and visiting the WorldPress exposition, I spent some time with Martin Benois, teacher at the CEGEP du Vieux Montreal in the photography department.
Martin wanted to meet me do to a podcast for the blog he his doing for his class.
You can hear me talk about freelancing, new trends, the future of the profession, etc. Sorry, French only!
As you have hopefully noticed, I cover a lot of Quebec Remparts game this year. Actually, I’m planning to cover them all. On top of getting experience and maybe adding a picture or two in my portfolio, I’m slowly building a nice collection of young hockey prospect stock photos.
Here is so far my collection for: