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ASMP members’ strategies for diversification

Several months ago we queried the general membership of ASMP about strategies they have used to successfully diversify their businesses. The responses ranged from success stories about the expansion of members’ client bases to the diversification of income streams and other methods used to add unique, value-added services.

From Edith Sieg — Libertyville, IL
Lykit@esFoto.com, www.esFoto.com

“I have used a variety of ways to expand my business: Exhibitions, membership in client organizations, membership in networking organizations, ‘free samples,’ public speaking, horizontal alliances and even donations of time and product.”

From Gail Mooney-Kelly, Kelly/Mooney Photography — Brookside, NJ
gail@kellymooney.com, www.kellymooney.com

“We have added video and multi-media capabilities to our craft and have changed our business make-up and client base in the last six years.”

Gail got the inspiration while photographing a still photo assignment on swing-dancing for Smithsonian Magazine. She and her partner Tom Kelly have photographed travel, corporate, people and other varied subjects. But like many successful ventures, this was not just an arbitrary business decision. Gail loves motion pictures and it shows. Many of their still clients have used their video capabilities as well.

From Scott Brown — Richmond, VA
scott@skbphoto.com, www.pxfactory.com, www.skbphoto.com

“I was doing a fair amount of magazine work and saw that it was decreasing because of market changes. So we diversified drastically about three years ago. We added rental equipment and a rental studio business to our current photography business. We are the only rental business in a 75-mile radius. The rental operation still is not stand-alone business, but it has been a very stable revenue stream that has been growing every year. We are changing the name this year and starting to push information about it to try to expand it further.

“Additionally, about five years ago we started to manage our clients’ images in a online database. We needed the ability for our current clients to retrieve images from the projects we shot for them. This has grown into our management of three internal ad & PR image libraries for a Fortune 500 company, as well as for several universities and a few other smaller clients. Over the past few years the library has grown quite sizably. The size of the current library for all our clients is around 1.4 terabytes. This has also turned into a good revenue stream that has been growing quite well.

“The good news is that our photography assignment work only took a slight downturn through the very bad years of the industry. A lot of the magazine work disappeared, so I had to go out and find new clients in the corporate world to replace the missing editorial work. In doing so, we have had three record years of business and see very good growth for 2006. I can’t say that I did all the right things, because we have had our share of missteps, but the learning has been very beneficial.”

From Donna Callighan — Stamford, CT
donna@dcphotodesigns.com, www.dcPHOTOdesigns.com, www.donnacallighan.com

“I have diversified my corporate advertising commercial photography work with a series of fine art images called Foggy Florals and also with 3D Lenticular imaging (true 3D, not traditional 3D) after being introduced to the state-of-the-art software at an APA/NY demo event. 3D lenticular has always been a passion for me. I just shot my first 3D lenticular job for a direct mail piece for Unimac Graphics, a printing firm in New Jersey that also has the expensive version of the software for offset printing. Big Apple Graphics in New York City also has the software and has tried to sell the service too. It’s cutting edge…because it is truly continuous 3D, not layered files….”

From Harry Wilks — New York, NY
harryowilks@earthlink.net, www.harrywilks.com

“The main source of my income has always been from shooting fees for corporate work such as portraits, group portraits and people in work situations.

“I also sell my personal work, mostly to corporate art collections, but sometimes to private collectors, and museums. This is done through corporate art consultants, galleries and my own efforts. Selling my own work is the sweetest way to earn money and can contribute 10-20 percent of income.

“Providing digital services such as digital capture, contact sheets, file preparation, etc. is more profitable than the mark-ups in the days of film photography. However, it is a lot more work.”

From Arthur Morris — Lake Indian Estates, FL
birdsasart@verizon.net, www.birdsasart.com

“As photo sales have dropped over the past few years, BIRDS AS ART has expanded its mail-order business and teaching schedules.

“With two employees we grossed more than $500,000 in 2004 and we will surpass $600,000 this year.

“A quick visit to my Web site should give a basic idea of how I make a great living doing what I love to do best: photographing free and wild birds.”

From Chris Hollo — Nashville, TN
chris@hollophotographics.com, www.hollophotographics.com

“I’ve been a full time professional photographer since 1990 and have always had slow periods that would at times seem never to end. Generally, we had a slow period around the holidays and another around mid summer. Five years ago, we expanded our business to include graphic design and Web design services, which really helped our photography business. If we landed a client that needed a print ad designed, for example, we were able to cross-market and many times land the photographic job as well. Frequently, Web design clients need photography as well as some graphic design. Photographic clients we have had for years began to use us for print and Web design, which in turn created more photographic jobs.

“As an example, we got an e-mail from a soldier in Japan who saw an image of a country music act I had taken for Country Weekly Magazine. He asked if I would photograph him when he came home for the holidays for his upcoming demo CD project. After talking with him for a while, we discovered he also needed a logo, media kit, CD package design, posters and a Web site. We are now handling all of these projects for him.”

From Larry Angier — Jackson, CA
langier@volcano.net, www.angier-fox.com, angier-fox.com/licensing.htm

“Living out in the ‘sticks,’ diversity of skills is one of the tools needed to survive.

“As a kid in high school, I was always tinkering… I took cameras apart and back together to see how they worked. I fixed a camera during a photo workshop. The woman was grateful and turned out to work occasionally for Ansel Adams, which led to an ‘audience.’ I’ve been tinkering ever since (just like my father) and that has paid many dividends and bills.

“Along the way, those skills have done me well, not only for my core business of photography, but to keep the income flowing when times were slow. Those core skills include Mac hardware and software including repairs and upgrades, in addition to learning networking, graphic programs, Web-design, print production, etc. But some of my diverse skills came about to better understand what I was photographing.

“Twenty years ago, I worked as a custom Cibachrome printer for a graphic artist printing his display work. When he needed assistance with this advertising design, I could help since I had worked for a newspaper in high school and had a rudimentary idea of what was needed.

“Years ago, I wanted to photograph wineries, create bottle shots, etc. What better way to learn the stuff than to actually do the job. I learned about grape growing and wine making this way, how to drive a tractor, and I got the picking crews to laugh at my rudimentary Spanish. Though I was only paid in wine (like some of my clients still do today!), I got hands-on experience driving tractors. This comes in handy now that I shoot antique tractors for calendars. I can actually talk to a collector without seeming naive about how they work. It’s the same story when photographing for wineries today. By understanding what goes on, I can better create a photograph.

“About 15 years ago I photographed wildland fires. The house burned down a block from where I lived and I photographed the incident. The fire investigator needed the photos for the investigation (accidental was the verdict) but it got me an in with the California Department of Forestry. When they found out I had graphic design skills, not only did I work shooting fires for them, but I also started creating training graphics for them. They eventually sent me through wildland firefighter training, which gave me hands-on experience to illustrate their manuals.

“As I worked with CDF, I really got good using design and page creation programs and learned rudimentary Photoshop 2.0. This was a win-win for us both.

“When budget cuts cut me out, I reinvented myself with some of the contacts that I had made in my previous endeavors. Not only could I photograph, I could also design for print, therefore I was able do the whole project. Payment was not only for photography, but for graphic design with an additional cut for the printing, too!

“When Web sites came into vogue in the mid to late 1990s, I needed to learn the ropes to showcase my work. When people found out I had these skills as well, I started to receive a second check for the Web site that accompanied the photos — two checks are better than one! I still get talked into site development today. It’s something more to do in my off-hours, and it certainly keeps things interesting!

“Today, I have many overlapping and even unrelated skills. If one area is a bit slow, it’s just a matter of calling up my other skills to fill in the void and keep me moving through life.”

From Jack Bingham — Integrated Color Corporation, Barrington, NH
jackb@integrated-color.com, integrated-color.com, www.jackbingham.com

“Fifteen years ago I started the ball rolling on a radio triggering system that would solve a huge problem for location photographers like me. It became the PocketWizard and has become the industry standard for remote triggering. Five years ago I helped start a company to develop and market color management software for photographers. Now Coloreyes Display is well known in an industry dominated by two gorillas, and Coloreyes Camera has a reputation for being the only camera profiling tool that really works. I am constantly looking for solutions like this that solve my problems and end up turning into products.”

From Steven Begleiter — Philadelphia, PA
begleiter@mac.com, www.begleiter.com

“I have diversified my business by teaching photography at workshop and college levels and writing articles on photography for trade magazines and photography how-to books. In turn the notoriety has gotten me work.

From Julie Farias — Austin, TX
mail@juliefarias.com, www.juliefarias.com

“My background as a CPA has taught me quite a lot about who is successful and why, as well as who gets the most enjoyment out of their careers. I give a talk about this to photography students at our local community college and am including an outline of this below.”

Your Career Compass

Congruence — To my mind, the most important part of being both successful and happy in this life is about being congruent. That is, aligning thoughts and actions so that the words and beliefs that you are espousing match up with your deeds. Otherwise, we just keep ending up in the same place, with the same undesired results without really understanding why.

Talents — These are your innate, God-given gifts, if you will. You didn’t do anything to “learn or earn” them, they are just as much a part of you as your DNA. If you’re having difficulty assessing your talents, ask your friends how they see you. Often, you will learn that things about yourself that you had taken for granted are gifts that are uniquely your own. Sometimes, we see ourselves best through the eyes of others. It is called perspective.

Skills — These you have worked to learn, and the older you get the more likely you’ll have a bigger set of skills in your “toolbox.” Believe me, if you choose the field of photography — especially photographing people — every skill that you have developed will converge into the direction that you take in your work. What I found is that the skill sets that I had developed previously gave me an instant rapport with a certain type of client. I can easily walk into Michael Dell’s office or that of the Governor and have something to talk about beyond the mundane. Lawyers — jeez, when I sat for the CPA exam, my highest grade was in Law. I don’t believe it is any accident that a high preponderance of my clients are in the legal profession.

Desires — I always say that dreams are the things that we are made out of. What else is left if you take those away? What are the things that you cannot live without? What do you want out of your career? Write everything down and then once you have, look back. Ask yourself, does this career desire fit with my nature (my talents and innate abilities.) If it doesn’t align, be aware that this may cause you problems down the road and be willing to adjust. Look at your skills. Do you have all the skills necessary to support your ability to achieve your desires? If not, what plan do you want to implement to get those skills. Write it down and set goals.

Specialties — Based on the foundation of your talents, skills and desires, what areas of specialty do you see yourself entering? Don’t limit yourself too much here. Choose things that you have the skills to support but don’t worry that these will all be achieved. This is the direction you think most likely your work will head in.

Career Path — This is where your passion and the financial rewards converge. I envisioned things quite differently when I started out. Thoughts of writing and photographing travel stories primarily were to be my chosen path. What I discovered is that I didn’t want to compromise my writing style. The jobs that came in the door and that I could do so well were photographing people and helping corporate clients plan and implant Web and advertising campaigns.

From David Riecks — Champaign, IL
david@riecks.com, www.riecks.com

“Being located out of the mainstream metro areas, I’ve always had to diversify. I first did this by offering ‘value-added’ services such as working with other client images for ‘post-production’ work (color correction, scanning, retouching) and prepping jobs for pre-press in addition to the images I would shoot for them.

“This got me into the computer end of things early on, and from that I became a partner in a Web hosting firm, mostly handling the ‘customer service’ end of things, getting other photographers set up and learning about how to deliver files, set up Web galleries. I also do some Web site design, coding and search engine optimization.

“From the early work I did with image databases, I learned more than the average photographer about hierarchically based controlled vocabularies and image metadata and made that info available via the Controlled Vocabulary Web site. About three years ago I launched a discussion forum (currently about 400 members) and a set of my own controlled vocabulary terms that are used with several computer apps (Image Info Toolkit, StockView and BreezeBrowser) to prepare lists of keywords to embed into images. Now version 2 of the Controlled Vocabulary Keyword Catalog is out.

“Based on that work I’ve gotten heavily involved in digital standards, chairing the ASMP digital photography standards and practices committee for two years, serving on the IPTC4XMP working group to revamp the IPTC standard, helping the PLUS coalition with technical issues (including a stint as managing editor for the PLUS glossary) and getting UPDIG started.

“Of course, much of that has led to more public speaking, seminars and presentations. I was previously doing several of those a year anyway, but it’s been much more hectic of late.

From Stanley Rowin — Lincoln, MA
slr@stanstudio.com, www.stanstudio.com, www.photos4Web.com, www.photosofboston.com

Stanley Rowin brought his prior marketing experience into his photography business. He has several Web sites directed towards different markets. One is directed to his editorial and corporate portrait work. When he saw the growth of digital product photography just for Web catalogs, he made a second Web site aimed to that market. As those two URLs started to move up Google’s search engine ranks, he started to get calls for stock shots of scenes of Boston. He biked around Boston and built a portfolio and created another Web site just for the sale of stock shots of Boston. Each Web site more than pays for itself just from sales generated by people searching on Google.

From Mark Gibson — Shasta, CA
gibson@snowcrest.net, www.markgibsonphoto.com

“At Gibson Stock Photography we have successfully maintained our market share in a very crowded stock photo industry, in part by paying careful attention to our customer relations. I mean very careful and specific attention to our communications with our existing and new clients.

“In an effort to set ourselves apart from the fully automated and very impersonal e-commerce stock photo Web catalogs, Audrey and I zero in on clients who express to us their dissatisfaction with the impersonal treatments as well as those who hint that they really do like to talk to real people. Some ideas we always apply: Use the client’s first name periodically throughout the phone conversation. How much time does it seem like they have for the conversation? If it seems like they’re in hurry, be polite, concise and responsive. Cut out the fluff. This way you increase the chance of hearing back from them because they know you’ll follow the lead and transact the job efficiently.

“If the client seems to be in a chatty mood, by all means indulge them. This is your opportunity to cultivate the client who wants to be ‘interpersonal.’ We ask a lot of questions that pertain to their photo request, and we look for any ways possible to make tie-ins to the subject or their experiences or to add cute stories we have. I’m always amazed at the number of clients I talk to who seem to have more time to chat than I do! Of course I indulge them — we laugh, we share anecdotes, we offer ideas and suggestions to each other. I even (somewhat jokingly) tell them to stop by the next time they’re passing through our area and tell them they can stay in the ‘(client’s name) Honorary Guestroom’ at our house. They always chuckle with that one. We talk about vacations, great memories from places, where next of kin live, and so on. We take time with them when they ask about what camera they should buy. We use ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’ whenever it is appropriate, and we always offer personal service. I make it a point of saying, ‘I’ll do that for you right now,’ and we respond with same-day service. We always encourage them to contact us anytime they need our help or have questions.

“Overall, we are not passive about building strong customer relations. We believe it is very important that, after the client hangs up the phone, they do so with a smile and the feeling of having enjoyed the conversation as well as knowing they will get a top-quality photo from us immediately. They get the photo they need within an emotionally enjoyable experience. Now they are predisposed to buy from us again — I want them to choose to buy from us first. My intent is to get the client to start their photo search with us, not with anyone else, especially the larger impersonal image databases. For the people who want to deal with people, we work to be first on their list!

From Chris Crumley, Chris Crumley Productions, Inc. — Virginia Beach, VA
chris@chriscrumley.com, www.chriscrumley.com (People, Fashion, Underwater, Places, Under/Over)
Stock Photography: chriscrumley.com/stocksearch.html, also represented by Alamy (London) and Wet Work Selects, altpick.com/chriscrumley

“Five years ago 50 percent of my business was editorial, with the bulk of it in outdoor sports and travel journals. The other 50 percent was stock, mostly also outdoor sports and travel. I also did a smattering of advertising/commercial work.

“At the time I was founder and co-chair of the ASMP Underwater Specialty Group and was very active in attempts at getting underwater photographers to take a stand against publishers and their ever-more onerous contracts and minuscule page rates.

“I decided a change was in order and began migrating my business toward advertising work. Today, the business is 50 percent advertising, 40 percent stock focused on advertising clients and 10 percent everything else, including some editorial.

“To accomplish the migration, I needed a complete revamp of my Web site, new portfolios, new stock agents and a new marketing program. All of these are works in progress, some further along than others.

“A Web site is never complete, but mine is in place at chriscrumley.com. It was designed for busy art buyers. There is no flash, no music and an art buyer can fly along making mental decisions. Seeing portfolio images requires no clicks, just very fast mouseovers for the first 12 images in each portfolio. There are a supplemental 36 images that require single clicks to see large versions. Most any art buyer can determine if I have the skill and style they require in viewing 12 to 48 frames. I focus on five specialties: underwater, under/over (part underwater; part air), people, fashion and places.

“Art buyers are clearly not enamored with music on sites and, if a photographer feels they must have music, they should start with the music OFF.

“Art buyers and art directors also aren’t fans of CDs and DVDs. According to Kat Dalager and Susan Sease, photography marketing consultants, art buyers and art directors say, ‘If we want CDs and DVDs, we’ll get them from NetFlix.’

“More and more art buyers are making decisions based on Web site content, but I also developed new tangible print portfolios for those who must have books. I’m using short run color printing in two sizes. 8½x11 inch landscape and a tiny size popular with iPod generation art buyers.

“I was a hold-out on migrating to new full-size expensive books, but I finally gave in and am producing them now using Lost Luggage books and double-side Moab 300-gram art paper prints done in-house on an Epson wide-body printer.

“22 months ago I changed stock agencies to Alamy in London. Alamy sold a single image in January for one-year usage at a fee of $28,000 plus they have made smaller monthly sales, so I’m pleased with them. I’m also looking for a new agency in the U.S.

“There are some listing services that can be valuable; one is Alternative Pick. After one art director saw my work on altpick.com (wet and underwater), I sold two stock images last month at $37,000 for two years.

“Another area where I need to improve is promotion to drive art buyers and art directors to my Web site. I’m heavily focused there now.

“Dalager and Sease say buyers don’t require a photographer to have a Rep, but I’m exploring that area as well.”

From Mauricio Handler — Durham, ME
mauricio@handlerphoto.com, www.handlerphoto.com

“I have been reinventing myself as a photographer for many years now, but it was two years ago that I realized that photography alone was not going to be only direction in my business. Everything I do leads me to create images, but as an underwater photographer it entails more than just jumping in the water. I lead International Underwater Photography Expeditions both for amateurs as well as with other pros. The destinations are all with a specific subject in mind to maximize the opportunity for stock and future commercial use of images (i.e. Great White Sharks, Humpback Whales, etc). In addition I teach one underwater Photo workshop per year; 2006 will be in Borneo.

“Diversification entails editorial, commercial, trip leading, book publishing, consultation (I am the Technical Field Advisor to Aquatica, the principal underwater aluminum housing manufacturer in North America). In addition there are Gallery exhibits, print sales, etc.”

From Lou Manna — New York, NY
lou@loumanna.com, www.loumanna.com

Known best in some circles for his editorial and advertising food photography, Lou Manna has nevertheless been a strict believer in spreading his work among a diverse group of clients. To that end, his stable over the years has included many corporate clients in legal, accounting and similarly buttoned-down fields to supplement the food magazines and internationally known chefs whose projects he shoots.

Manna has recognized, however, that homing in on his specialty as a top-rated digital capture food photographer can generate a wealth of opportunities as well. Using the text he created for his 2005 primer on digital food photographer as a starting point, he created a series of lectures aimed at specific audiences within the food industry. In addition to courses for food and photography professionals seeking to perfect their technique, such as those he teaches at New York’s French Culinary Institute and master classes through his studio, he now also conducts workshops for magazine editors or food business owners to enable them to create basic but presentable shots.

“I’ve been able to use Digital Food Photography as a textbook for my workshops. I’ve also been consulting food companies on how to set up a small studio at their office for photographing simple photos for their Web site.”

His particular expertise has opened doors beyond the realm of photography. Restaurateurs now bring Manna in to consult on restaurant design and lighting.

“All of this stems from me loving what I do,” Manna says. “That’s the bottom line. I just love it, I might not be making the most money, but I love it.”

From Jon Naar — Trenton, NJ
jonnaar@comcast.net

“In 1973, during the slow holiday season I worked with the British designer Mervyn Kurlansky to produce a full-color dummy of a book of my photographs on New York graffiti we called Watching My Name Go By. The dummy was presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair and led to its publication in the U.S. in 1974 as The Faith of Graffiti with an introduction by Norman Mailer.

“Although we didn’t make any money on the book, it gave me entrée into just about every publishing house in the U.S. Since then I have authored or co-authored seven other books, including the best-selling Design for a Limited Planet, This Land Is Your Land and most recently Getting the Picture: Re-Discovering My Photography — a book of my photography 1955-2005, co-published by Terra Lannoo and the Jan Cunen Museum in Oss, the Netherlands, in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, which attracted a record-breaking 10,000 visitors and got considerable attention for my photography in Europe as well as in this country.”

From Paul Horsted — Custer, SD
horsted@dakotaphoto.com, www.custertrail.com

“We have diversified our income stream through publishing our own books. Maybe this won’t work for everyone, since I’m far from the urban centers where it seems a lot of photographers operate in other ways, but this has worked for us here.

“I’ve been a photographer for the past 25 years, working as an independent freelancer for the past 15 years. I went through the editorial photography phase, which didn’t pay real well as most of us know, and the stock photo phase, which was better (especially stock for advertising) but seems to have diminished in the face of the internet (though I still make some sales). I continued doing commercial work for local/regional clients, and I then found book publishing. Earlier, I’d had several books published (with my name on the cover) by folks such as Random House and Falcon Press (Montana), and while they may have paid reasonably well initially, I never really made a lot of money that way. My earnings were bigger than a usual stock sale, and there was pride associated with your name on the cover. Maybe I’m not a shrewd enough negotiator, but even with royalties I never quite felt like it was worth it.

“Back in 2000 I was presented with a great idea for a book (by some local people not connected with publishing), and I started working on it in my spare time. It concerned an expedition General Custer led to this area a few years before he was defeated at the Little Big Horn, 250 miles from here. He had a photographer with him during his expedition, so I went out in the woods and mountains here, and found (with lots of help) the original photo locations. I ‘re-photographed’ them very precisely to show changes and similarities. It was truly fascinating to me. Some of the photo sites are within a mile of my house. It was quite a surprise to learn Custer had gone right by here at one time.

“I figured I’d get it partly done and then see if I could find a publisher, such as the state historical society or a regional press. I got to that stage and connected with a writer who put together diaries, journals and other information from the Custer Expedition. We started shopping a package the historical society was interested in, but they said it would be at least two years before they could publish. They set up other ‘hoops’ — committee meetings, peer reviews, etc. — which seemed bureaucratic and unnecessary to us. I heard similar stories from other authors about the well-known university presses in our region.

“Meanwhile, I learned about a photographer friend across the state who published his own book with good success. He’d learned about this from another photographer. A key element was having the book printed overseas, in this case Korea, to save a great deal of money (like 50%) on printing. I’d never have thought of doing this myself, without a model of someone else to follow. Printing your own book overseas!! Very long story short, we believed in our project, raised the funds (mostly from my savings), designed a quality book, and sent it to press in Korea. Garnering 90% of the cover price (for direct sales to the public) or even 50% (for sales through distributors), rather than 10% (typical royalty) is a very strong motivator for getting those books sold! I did free presentations about this subject wherever I could, plus arranged all of the PR for ads, TV, etc. I won’t say it was easy or that we didn’t work very hard, but it has paid well, and has solidified my reputation here as a photographer, historian and publisher, in that order. Now other people are coming to me to inquire about how to publish their books, which is truly amazing.

“We had some luck along the way (the New York Times had a freelance reporter here on vacation who did a story about us, for example), but I think you make your own luck, mostly. I am fortunate to be married to a gal (Camille Riner) who knows graphic design, so that has been a clear advantage. My co-author Ernie Grafe was fantastic and has become a great friend. We had also found a subject people were interested in regionally, and to some extent nationally. We sold out our first press run of 4,000 copies in about three months. I had thought it was a five-year supply. Now we’re in the third edition in three years, having sold about 15,000 copies. (I would strongly suggest not trying to do the next nation-wide best seller, but rather a local or regional subject you know well).

“This may be more about publishing and less about photography than some in ASMP would want to do. But it has been very profitable, and rewarding, for me; it has raised my status in the community and led to other work due to the PR coming off of the book being out there. I’ve also sold many prints from the book photos, which I make myself using current digital technologies. I’m in several local art galleries, where the book helps sell prints, and the prints on the wall help sell the book.

“In 2004 I also published a smaller book of nature and wildlife photography, on the subject of a 71,000-acre state park in our area. This book has sold less quickly, which we knew would probably be the case, but it was something I wanted to do personally. It has still been profitable however and has helped sell prints and stock photos, etc.

“To summarize, we took available technology (computerized page layout, e-mail and FTPs with the plant in Korea, etc.), some talent (my photography, my wife’s design skills, my co-author’s writing ability) and all the risk (financially), but we are reaping the rewards of that gamble and, I think, will do so for some years to come. I don’t think this model would have worked before computers and the Internet got to the present stage, but it’s not all that difficult now. Probably the only downside is that about 1 out of 1,000 buyers ask why we printed in Korea (in a slightly negative tone). I reply, ‘same reason your shirt was made in Thailand, your TV in China, your apples in New Zealand…it was less expensive for you, the buyer.’

“It is extremely satisfying to do a book like this, as nice as any on the shelf, and to know that the results lie in the hands of just two or three people who know and respect each other, and not with some publishing committee or corporation in a distant city, where it’s just another book.

“I’m now working on my third book, due out next fall. It follows a similar theme of ‘re-photography’ of historic photo sites in my area, dating from the 1870’s-1930’s.”

From Lee Foster — Berkeley, CA
lee@fostertravel.com, www.fostertravel.com

Lee Foster’s success as a photojournalist has been dependent on what he calls “diversifying the ways your personal Web site and your marketing on the Web can help you survive.”

One of Lee’s efforts in 2005 may be especially applicable to other ASMP members.

Lee’s mantra on this effort:

“Due to evolving Internet technology, your Web site and other Web marketing efforts can be effective to assist you in marketing your own independently published photo/writing in book form or as other photo products.”

Lee’s new book is Travels in an American Imagination: The Spiritual Geography of Our Time (ISBN 0976084309). The book is a photo/literary book about Lee’s personal vision that we live in both the most wondrous and the most horrific time ever to be alive. Full details about what Lee has done and how others can market their photo books and photo products can be seen at www.fostertravel.com/travels.html

Some tips Lee has for other potential independent photo book and photo product publishers:

Lee has many thoughts to share with ASMP members on the rationale for independent publishing. He feels there are three main issues: the possibility of profitability, the control over design and marketing, and the assured availability of the book. His thoughts here are focused inspirationally on “how the evolving Web technology can help you market your photo book/product in 2006.”

Catch Lee at another moment and he would have thoughts about “how Google ads on your Website can provide income to you for your photo/text content.” But that is a survivalist discussion for another time.

Lee’s new literary book is Travels in an American Imagination - The Spiritual Geography of Our Time.

From George P. Post — Richmond CA
gpp@lmi.net, www.craftphoto.com, www.gpostphoto.com

“Although I photograph an eclectic mix of subject matter in my own personal work, my commercial clients are primarily artists and craftspeople who sell their pieces on the juried craft fair circuit. Until very recently the better shows have required 35mm slides when a would-be exhibitor applies to next year’s event, and most jurying has been by a peer group in a darkened room with a bank of carousel slide projectors. So ‘jury slides’ have been the coin of the realm in the craft fair world, and they have been the bread-and-butter of my career.

“But with the increasing advent of digital technology, about five years ago some high-end East Coast craft shows began jurying digital images using a standardized format created by Juried Art Services. More recently, the Western Artists’ Federation initiated the ZAPPlication format. Both organizations offer free membership to anyone, and both allow members to upload a large number of digital images into online portfolios. When a craftsperson wishes to apply to a certain fair which is affiliated with either JAS or ZAPP, they simply log on, click “Apply to Shows,” decide which portfolio images they wish to use for that particular jury, and enter their credit card information to pay the application fee. The applications are then (for a fee) conveyed digitally to the show management; they in turn convene a jury that decides who gets into next year’s fair.

“I was a bit slow to catch on to this new wave, but a craftsman client who is also a Web designer suggested that producing digital jury images could be a whole new revenue stream for me. With the purchase of a high-quality slide scanner I positioned myself to convert my clients’ jury slides (past present or future) into digital files, and the acquisition of a digital SLR allowed me to bypass film altogether for clients who had no further need of actual color slides. But then it turned out that many of my clients were either computer-illiterate or simply preferred to spend their time creating pieces in their own studios rather than spending large blocks of time fussing at the computer with multiple digital picture files. They would rather pay me a nominal fee to do that specialty work, much in the same way that they would rather pay a garage to change the oil in their car. Sure, they could do it themselves, but why roll around under the car and get their hands dirty?

“To that end, I just launched a new Web site specifically aimed at digital photography for craft fair jurying: www.zappshooter.com.

“Today, besides shooting slides or digital images in the studio, a growing portion of my business involves scanning slides, processing digital files on my G4 Mac, formatting images for digital jurying, and in many cases even uploading the finished files to my clients’ JAS or ZAPP portfolios. I’ve had to learn the right and wrong ways to do these tasks, and I’ve also figured out ways to use the automation features of the newest versions of Photoshop to eliminate some of the tedium of repetitive operations. My film consumption is half of what it was just last year, but I’m making up the difference with the revenue I generate in the new digital reality.

“To see more of my work, visit these links (which may also be viewed as slideshows by clicking the “Start Slideshow” button). For my own personal photographic galleries, start at most recent (additional links at top of thumbnail page). Also the Burning Man galleries and some recent client work, with additional links at top of thumbnail page.