Defrosting, the Big Bunny and great photos

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

It’s spring! It may not feel like it in some parts of the U.S. but the birds are chirping and in Texas we are able to plant tomatoes (which I have come to learn is strange to most gardeners whom have to wait until late April). For many photographers it’s also the Easter Bunny rush which is the inspiration for the spotlight below.

Even if you are not shooting kiddies looking for eggs or sitting on a stuffed animal’s lap, I found some random Easter trivia interesting this morning, for example:

• Eggs to celebrate the season have obvious connotations such as symbols of fertility as the dwindling of frost makes the association, but did you know that the religious aspect comes from Catholics that observed Lent had to preserve eggs because of their obligations of fasting. When Easter rolled around there was an abundance of eggs that had to be eaten.
  
• Rabbits are associated more with the month of March as their prolific breeding not only represents fertility and spring, but male rabbits are known to dance to get the attention of females, which is where the saying “mad as a March hare” comes from.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This week’s spotlight is on:
Easter Bunnies and On-Spec Photography
"Have Santa Will Travel" revisited for a similiar time of year

Last November we published an article citing a number of corporate and social photographers negotiating rates to bring in Ole Saint Nick. The article was very successful to our newsletter readers as well as many looking for quick and simple ways to build up some experience, bulk up portfolios or use time fruitfully during seasons in which certain photography businesses are not at their peek of bookings.

We revisit this article (found here) by encapsulating points in the article found here, but replacing “Santa Claus” with the “Easter Bunny.” In summary, here are some quickie tips:

• If you have any corporate clients, one of our popular photographers takes the opportunity to give away pictures branded with a local company logo taken with the bunny or at a community event.
• The season has been a great way for corporate photographers to bring the Bunny to offices. Not only do execs get new headshots, but if their family is invited to some simple festivities goodwill and great pictures as also a big part of the day.
• You don't need an Easter Bunny to celebrate as many of your customers don't anyway. Consider working with your church or local park to shoot Easter Egg hunts or communal festivities. Take great shots of kids, bonnets and smiles and hand out cheap flyers detailing that the pictures taken are online (at your PhotoReflect site) and that X% of all proceeds from the pictures go to a local charity or the church. (This is a great way for your photo business to get great press as well when you tell local radio stations and newspapers what you are doing!)

Keep in mind that with holiday merriment, stylish clothes and beautiful bonnets comes great photo opportunities. Get creative and make money while you are at it!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

More fun fun photography stuffs (for your information):

1. Only 2 weeks left to take advantage of 10% cash-back rebates with new purchases of DARKROOM Core or Professional Editions. (Totally sweet!)

2. Did you know that the “Tonight Show” opening sequence was shot with a Canon DSLR (EOS 7D)? With little time and inspiration to have 'an imperfect, spontaneous and present feel to the footage' the snappy "little" camera did a great job.

3. The interactive “Water” issue of National Geographic is free for download until THIS FRIDAY. This is especially cool for photographers and photo buffs since the issue spotlights 6 photographer-assignments (which also happens to be on exhibit at the Annenberge Space for Photography in LA, CA).

4. And, in this might be fun news, Epson has launched an online scavenger hunt to interactively allow users to learn more about Epson quality and potentially win $50,000. I think if I find an extra five minutes today (not likely, but maybe) I will go and check it out (I kinda like these types of things).

Read more...

Business is nothing w/out inspiration

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Howdy from Texas, y’all. I have a special treat for our blog readers. Last month we put up a contest on our Facebook Fan page asking you how you show off your work and we are now able to announce a winner! Choosing from many entries was hard but Danielle McCann of Florence, Alabama won a DARKROOM Core edition for this lovely and very creative shot. Congrats Danielle!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This week’s spotlight is on: Search Engine Optimization
Some quick tips for getting your name out there…
the tips are even more useful to PhotoReflect.com users
(just sayin’)

As mentioned in previous posts, our monthly newsletter gets a lot of praise because, just like our blog, it’s not all about us, rather, it’s about you and how you can improve your business as easily and inexpensively as possible. You see, ExpressDigital’s mission is all about providing tools for photographers to grow their business and while we can shout off the rooftops all the things you can do with PhotoReflect, for example, it means nothing if you cannot use these tools to get more business, sell your work and ensure greater profits each and every year.

This is why, after working with SPAA and PSPA last month, I learned a bit of a lesson on how important it is for our photographers to get ranked higher in search engine searches. My sessions at PMA were jam-packed and filled with a lot of questions on this topic, most of which I tried to answer in our newsletter feature-article found here (and via presentation downloads available on that page in the right margin).

For our blog, I summarize the article briefly, keeping in mind that search engine optimization (SEO) is a topic that is controversial, challenging and a bit of a moving target and this is why, while I cannot claim to guarantee better search engine results by implementing this tips, I can say that doing something is much better than doing nothing. These tips, in particular, are rather painless and effective if you put them into practice every time you publish your photography online. So without further ado, here are the four tips described in the article and presentations in summary (remember they are in significantly more depth in the original article):

• The more photos you publish and the more clicks you get is really the most inherent thing you can do to improve your SEO.
  
  
• The title you publish your photo catalogs as is pretty important. Do not forget to title the event the same way your clients promote the event and use your keywords as often as possible when publishing… for example, “Montgomery H.S. Swing Fling baseball tournament, Santa Rosa, CA” as a catalog title will help your SEO; “Mont. Highschool baseball photos” will not.
  
  
• Negotiate pictures for links with your clients and other vendors. This “silent endorsement” will not only do wonders for your credibility, search engines love it, perhaps more than any other type of promotion you can do.
  
  
• Think about other ways you can link to your photo catalogs. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and emails will improve the clicks, is generally good marketing, and will ultimately help you be better ranked because more people are checking out those photos. Regardless if these people buy the photos, the clicks are a good thing.

These four tips are free and easy to do if you put them into practice regularly. Everything you put online is a way to improve business simply by making it easier to find you and establishing credible references from everyone you do business with. Just remember, before you click “publish” you have a say in how you are found online tomorrow. Good luck!

As a quick PS to this article… new, free PhotoReflect webinars have just been scheduled. Click here and read the side-bar on the right for more info.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

More fun fun photography stuffs:
This week, with one exception (#1 below), I found the best stuff on the wires to be about inspiration rather than just news (and I really can't complain).

1. I was tempted to save this article for a spotlight. I still might in the coming weeks as April 15 looms. It is written by the “Tax Ninja” for Photoshelter and it is simply great writing and good advice for photo businesses. HEED THIS ADVICE on avoiding common tax mistakes because the IRS is on the hunt.

2. DJDesignerLab via PhotoFizz has compiled the 25 most “wonderful photography techniques and tutorials.” Fair warning, it is a list of tutorials which means it will be impossible to get through in just pass-through reading. BUT, if you bookmark this page (as I have) and go to it every time you need a quick inspiration fix, you will never go wanting.

3. Smashing Magazine has published some lovely black and white photography simply because they want to inspire you (and me). Enjoy.

4. DARKROOM software is currently on sale. There is a mail-in cash-back rebate good for 10% detailed here as well. The new Core edition, put out late last year, has been called the most innovative and relevant software for burgeoning professionals and, well, who am I to disagree?

Read more...

Let's do SXSW (even if we can't go)

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome to this week’s industry insight blog. If you are new to reading the ExpressDigital dialog, here’s how it goes: We start off with a educational spotlight of a topic we have been requested to dig up (often by the comments section). After that, we post four or five hot industry topics that have come from wire sources. What’s left is weekly reading you can subscribe to (via RSS or simply watching for post announcements via Twitter) that gives you a little ammunition for fun projects or ice breaking topics for you to illustrate how in the know you are. Please enjoy -- if you are here, this is for you!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This week’s spotlight is on: Concert Photography
Let’s pretend that we can all attend and shoot SXSW this week with this fun project

Have you defrosted yet? The weather is Austin these past couple of days has been amazing which makes us sad to hear about all the cold still in the north east U.S. of A. I suppose it all comes with a trade-off, in a strange sense in that, with the great weather (finally!) comes 2 million or so tourists to our fare city to celebrate the South By Southwest film, interactive and music festivals.

Now, don’t get me wrong, working and living in Austin has its perks. A lot of perks. But if you believe in schadenfreude, I think it would please you to read that those of us with desk jobs and little vacation time in Austin, Texas, this time of year, can only be a part of SXSW by avoiding the extra traffic, watching the local news and feeling the vibrations in our desks this upcoming Thursday during the first round of sound-checks and live performances just yards away.

To make me feel better, behind my little desk, I went on the hunt for great tips and tutorials on how to take great concert shots. I have (not so) secret hopes that with some extra skills to put on my resume, my boss would let me sneak out early this week to take some pictures and call it “work.”

So, without further ado, here are some pretty useful tips I found online on taking great concert shots. (Note: The very best and most elaborate article has been written by Steve Mirarchi and published on Photo.net. Haje Jan Kamps also writes on the topic successfully on Photocritic.org.)

• Getting credentials is tough but not impossible. Building a solid portfolio of 20 perfect concert shots is often enough for you to contact a national or local media outlet and let them know of your availability and time. Your beginners portfolio does not need to be of the super famous, by the way, especially if you are asking for a credential in exchange for free work (which is one tactic described here on how to get started developing your portfolio).
  
  
• Remember the rules! No flash photography! You will only be able to shoot the first three songs! Show security will ultimately dictate your success (so try to get in good)! Also remember that you are heavily outnumbered by paying fans that want to watch the show, not see the back of your head.
  
  
• Your equipment is key. Using a compact point and shoot will make you look foolish and the quality of the photos will be bad. Because you have only ten minutes to pull this off be sure to know how to quickly swap lenses so that you can take key, stage and close ups. When you can perfect the pace, you should practice doing this all in very low light as well.
  
  
• Think about technique, especially when considering your equipment. There’s nothing wrong with practicing with your meter reading and ISO ratings. Mirarchi discusses the implications of your settings to what types of shots you can take in his article, and if you are ready to take your concert photography to the “next level” you will have to do your homework.
  
  
• Never forget concert images are not only the hardest to get they most often go un-rewarded. But that’s not to discourage you, it’s to remind you that despite how horrible it can be, its still a fantasy and favorite line of work for many commercial photographers (… because it's awesome and fun).

Of course, there is inspiration out there. A quick Google search would point you in the right direction. I found Andrew Kendall’s site to be well designed with brilliant photography.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

More photography goodies (numbered for my sanity, but ranked in no particular order):

1. The FBI's most wanted list is 60 years old yesterday. Talk about the power of pictures! 94% of the 494 people who have appeared on the list have been caught or located.

2. Congrats go out to many as Canon USA gives us a very nice shout-out in their press release of their new studio software solution. As they put it, the "simple-to-learn software solution is made possible by combining ExpressDigital's technology and workflow along with Canon's prove image processing expertise."

3. WPPI has come and gone. To the left is a picture of the Print Comp winner's exhibition. Although we did not exhibit during the tradeshow our team still had a great time meeting many PhotoReflect.com users with nothing but nice things to say. And while there is nothing particularly special to report, other than Canon's release, mentioned above, it was, as always a great show to hobnob and enjoy Vegas with other photogs.

4. Photo District News has a lovely article on the treasure of mentorship. They called on their readership to nominate their mentors and the advice given during their time with these generous and kind people. Seven stories were selected from this piece and while it's a bit of a long read, there are tricks and tips contained within for anyone that has ever thought about sucking it up and asking someone to share their expertise.

5. And here's a quick head's up, our monthly newsletter is back in action this week (Wednesday) with a feature on improving your SEO and quick tips on how the internet can help your photography business. Newsletter subscribers get exclusive access to download PDFs of the sessions I conducted at PMA in Anaheim (during the school and sports photography class sessions). All are welcome to subscribe to the newsletter by clicking the link and following the instructions (you will need to click a link in an email verifying your address).

Read more...

Iconic images remind us to tell the story twice

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

I cannot believe it has been three weeks since my last post! Between IUSA, PPA and WPPI – the marketing manager’s national trifecta of industry tradeshows – the schedule has been a bit packed and my rants, raves, jeers, and cheers have been on hold.

With that said, there will not be a “photography goodie and news wrap up” this week, with one exception: News just in about Annie Leibovitz and Colony Capital has hit the wires. They reached an unspecified deal and the good news are reports indicating she is able to retain the rights to her archive, which was in jeopardy as collateral in substantial, defaulted loans. We blogged about her plight a couple of times (here is an example) and we’re glad that some faceless company doesn’t own some of the most notable celebrity images ever.

Next week, keep your eyes peeled. The industry news wrap up will be back. In addition, I will be highlighting aspects of the March newsletter which features quick tips on photography website SEO and online marketing. If you don’t get our newsletter, please sign up by clicking this link.

Not absent this week, said with a smile on my face, is this week’s photography spotlight…

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This week’s spotlight is on: Nostalgia!
Iconic photography tells two stories

The simplicity and magic of photography is that the photo, itself, tells a remarkable story. (The stories I can tell you about the beautiful shots my wedding photographer pulled off are, for example, craaaaaazy!) The thing about these iconic photo-journalist shots is that they tell two stories: (1) the originally stirring representation and (2) the interview taken twenty or so years later. Please enjoy these great stories made a second time around and, perhaps, learn a lesson about your photography; a great shot gives you the chance to promote yourself and your work more than once ...


National Geographic magazine’s ‘Afgan Girl’ was found 17 years later after an extensive search for her by the original photographer, Steve McCurry. The story goes: McCurry had been trying to find out what happened to the steely-eyed subject for years. After learning that the refugee camp that was the subject of the article was being razed for development, he went back before, he felt, it would be too late. After being “frustrated and disheartened” during their efforts, a man came forward that led the photographer’s team to the girl’s brother. They knew, despite several false leads, they found her because of the brother’s incredible resemblance in the eyes. All the facial recognition technology that was conducted to prove the 30-year old woman they met was "the girl" wasn’t necessary for McCurry; he knew immediately it was her. She is now the mother of three girls, lives in a remote area of Afhanistan and, because of McCurry and National Geographic has been offered education-assistance for her and her daughters.

*** NPR has a nice, short-but-sweet feature that can be read / heard here. ***

Edith Shain was the nurse swept up and kissed by the sailor celebrating the end of World War II in Times Square. Alfred Eisentaedt snapped four pictures before the couple scurried off in all the hubbub and he didn’t get their names. Thirty-five years later, in 1980, Ms. Shain wrote Eisentaedt a letter and asked him for a copy of the photograph. Days after receiving the letter, he personally delivered a signed 8x10 to her and learned the story of her V.J. Day. The story was sweet and surprising: She never knew the sailor that gave her the embrace. Upon hearing the great news, he walked up to her and planted one of the most famous smooches in history and walked off in all the jubilation. To this day, no one knows who the sailor is.

*** Visalia Times-Delta has more including a picture of Edith today. Read it here. ***

Joan Bryant and a musician whom goes by Fantuzzi were the pair that represented, visually, the happenings at Woodstock in the 1969 issue of Life magazine, the 1994 issue of Newsweek, and CNN and AP dispatches in 2009. For more recent interviews, she digs up a photo of her and her old friend from a birthday party in 1994 (that can be found here). The story is short and simple. She went to Woodstock that year with friends but without a ticket. She was obviously able to get in and it was on the hill, amongst the hoards of people, that she ran into Fantuzzi, a friend at a time that she instantly recognized (since at that time “he only wore a loincloth”). Their dance was captured by Life photographer, James Marshall, and history was made. According to Ms. Bryant, she and Fantuzzi have recently reconnected on Facebook. 

*** Allison Ford writing for DivineCaroline.com was the source for this research. ***

A couple of months ago we posted a link to the story about the Elvis and Nixon picture, but it’s worthy of another quick mention. Not only is the picture pretty awesome but some quick facts to be gleaned from the LA Times feature include: (1) Copies of this photo are requested more from the national archives than the U.S. Constitution; (2) The white jumpsuit worn by Elvis during his famous televised concert (not shown in the picture) had a name. It was called “Snowflake;” (3) We don’t know if the purple, caped jumpsuit worn in the photo had a name, but I like to think it was something magical; (4) On the plane to D.C., Elvis walked into coach class and gave a young soldier that had returned from the Vietnam War every dollar in his pocket; and (5) Upon meeting Nixon, Elvis persuaded the president to pony more souvenirs than he had originally wanted to give the King and his cronies.

*** There is a lot more to this story at the LA Times. Enjoy it here. ***

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Until next time my photog friends! Thanks for reading. XO.

Read more...