Where will photography be in 2020?

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Chris Hollo

Photography as we know it is a little over two hundred years old, basically starting with a room sized, lensless pinhole camera.  35mm photography is about to turn 100 years old. Instant film (Polaroid) is about to turn 40 years old and interestingly enough has completed it’s lifespan and is all but gone.   Digital photography is turning twenty five, although it was not really put to use until just over ten years ago when the first DSLR, which was capable of only 1.3 megapixels was released (I jumped in with the 4 megapixel Canon 1D in 2001). HDSLR cameras, digital still cameras capable of  shooting HD video are now almost three years old.

This is a pretty amazing timeline.  Think about where photography started and how fast the technical advancements are moving now.  Where will the next jump in technology be?  What will your camera bag look like in 10 years?

I remember being in a seminar in Chicago in the late 90’s and hearing the presenter respond to a question regarding the future of photography.  Someone asked if she thought that film was going to go away and if digital photography was going to take over.  Her response was no and her reason was that digital photography (as we knew it then) was entirely technology driven and not demand driven.  In other words, rather than photographers saying to the camera manufacturers, “We really need a digital (filmless) solution to our photographic needs”, the manufacturers were leading by saying “Look what we can do now, don’t you want it?”

While her point was well taken, it seems as though we photographers are willing to embrace what is given to us and are apt to work it into our camera bags sooner than later.  What if the camera manufacturers had offered us cameras that all had affordable night vision capabilities or could shoot at 1000 fps?  Would we all be shooting surveillance images and shooting objects blowing up in extreme slo-mo?

Now that we can all shoot video with our HDSLR’s (I prefer motion to video) are we all videographers?  If my camera could make soup, would I be a chef?  Probably not but it would be tempting right?  Why not?  I now have the capability so I should use it.  Problem is, now I need to learn how to capture audio, move the camera smoothly through space, direct talent, work with (and pay) a larger crew, learn how to light a space where people are moving, learn now to edit footage and above all, figure out how to charge for all this…

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Seasoning your images

Posted on February 4, 2011 by Chris Hollo

I just learned something new!  Maybe the way I like my images to look is not necessarily the way the client wants them to look.  Weird right?

I shot with a model last week and the shoot went great.  She went on and on about how the images looked and how no one has ever captured images this good of her before.  I was feeling pretty stoked.  I shoot tethered to my laptop when I can, so we are looking at adjusted images as they come in from the camera.  Much better than looking at the back of the camera.

The shoot ended, she left and I began to edit the images and to post a web gallery of the keepers for her to choose from.  Even though I am an old film shooter, and even though I am used to shooting images exactly the way I want them to look, I still like to add some minor adjustments to the images in post.  Not much, just a little tweaking.  She emailed right back with her choices and I began to process the RAW files.

This is a view of a recent shoot using Lightroom

Well when she got the images, she was a little disappointed because she really liked them as they were on the computer on the day of the shoot and not so much with my tweaking.  It makes perfect sense really.  She fell in love with what I had done as a photographer but not as a retoucher.  It’s hard to be upset about that and I invited her over (after explaining that her monitor may not be looking at the same image that I had sent) to direct me in the post processing.  When I showed her the images with the tweaking and then reset the images to their straight capture, she was happy again.

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Add some time to travel shoots

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Chris Hollo

“Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” – Confucious

I love to go on the road for a shoot.  Whenever I have a job out of town, whether I drive or fly, I will try to book the travel myself so that I can schedule a day either before or after the shoot to just check out the city.  Flying in, going straight to a shoot and then heading right back to the airport to fly home (often in the same day) is not ideal for me.  It wipes me out for the next day and makes the shoot feel like work.  If the schedule is such that I really don’t have the time to explore and I have to be back, so be it, but that is not my preference.  Often, I will take that opportunity to shoot some personal work.

I keep a map of the US on the wall in the office with pins marking cities I have traveled to for shoots and also marked a few of the more epic road trips taken by car.  I love to add new pins to the map when I get to shoot in a new city.  I know you can do the same on Google maps and other sites, but I like to have it on the wall.  It’s kind of a conversation piece and let’s clients know that I travel.

This is a map showing my travel

If you can, arrange for your own travel when producing a shoot.  That way, you can use the airline that gives you the most points or flight credits, choose the flights that will allow you to set your own schedule, choose the rental car agency that gives you the best upgrades and the hotel that is most convenient and also gives you rewards for frequent stays.  All that adds up and will make traveling much more affordable when you go out of town for a vacation.

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Oh crap, where is my phone?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by Chris Hollo

I went out the other day and left my phone at home by accident.  I don’t know how it happened, but it did and it made for an eye opening experience.  My phone (or smart device as some people call them) has become a part of me and being out without it made me feel naked in a way and certainly out of touch.

I kept reaching into my pocket for it when I wanted to know what time it was, or to check my email.  It was habitual and it made me realize part of what smokers go through when they try to quit.  I missed having it in my pocket, in my hand and against my ear like a smoker needs something between their fingers.  I just knew that while I was out running errands, eating lunch and generally being productive, I was getting really great shoot offers, important phone calls and texts from art directors in exotic lands.  What was I missing?  How pissed was I going to be to find out when I got back that someone else got my sweet jobs?  It was a problem and I had to get home to retrieve my phone and all those messages!

Photo of my cell phone

I also realized that I now only have about five phone numbers in my head when I used to have hundreds.  Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but I certainly used to know more than I do now.  If for some reason, I suddenly had to call my son with some important information, I would be out of luck.  Not because I don’t have a phone, which I didn’t, but because I have no idea what his phone number is.

Give it a try one day.  Just go out for a couple of hours without your phone and see what it means to you.  The reality is that being self-unemployed means that you have to be reachable at all times.  When a client decides to contact you for a job, you need to be able to respond or that sweet job might go to the person who responds first.

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Personal vs. business equipment

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Chris Hollo

What?  Now I have to buy a set of lenses for business and personal use?  No, but I do recommend having a point and shoot or a classic camera that you only use for personal work.  Carry it with you wherever you go incase you find something interesting to shoot.

After years of assignment photography, I don’t exactly relish the idea of carrying around the equipment that I shoot with professionally when I am shooting for fun.  It makes personal shoots feel like work.  When I sling the 35 bag over my shoulder, it means I am going to work.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to work and in fact, am usually happiest when I am really busy.  When I am on the road and not shooting, I leave all the pro gear at home and usually only carry a nice point and shoot camera.  When I used to shoot film, I would carry a twin lens Rollei from the mid 50’s, a 4×5 field camera also from the 50’s or maybe a panoramic camera.  Anything to make shooting for fun, fun.

Turning what you love to do into a career can be wonderful as it has been for me.  Most of my shoots don’t feel like work because I am doing what I love to do.

Flash bulb on a 4x5 Crown Graphic

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Getting through slow periods

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Chris Hollo

I’m in one now.  Fortunately, I knew it was coming because historically, I am slow in January and I have gotten used to it.  It’s part of being self-unemployed.

There are a handful of ways to get on the fast track to a failed business and not managing your cash flow is one of them.  You have to know what your cost of doing business is (CODB), what is owed to you (accounts receivable) and what you owe (accounts payable) at all times or you may find yourself coming up short at the end of the month.  It sounds like standard budgeting  like you might do for your home, but it is more important because we work for ourselves and pay ourselves from this income.  We can’t pay ourselves if our businesses are not healthy.

There is a nice CODB calculator on the NPPA website that you can use to see what you have to make given your expenses and overhead.  It is eye opening when you write down all your expenses (and don’t forget to include what you want as a salary) and figure out what you have to make every business day.

Once you come up with a plan for managing your cash flow, be sure to pay yourself regularly even if it is a small amount.  Force yourself to pay your talent (you) with regularity like an actual employee would expect to be paid.  Then if you can, bonus yourself more money as needed!

Pile of cash to illustrate cash flow

No cash was harmed in the making of this image...

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Hi, my name is…

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Chris Hollo

Do you have an elevator speech prepared?  An elevator speech is not really a speech at all but rather a couple of sentences describing what you do and who you do it for.  Pretty simple right?  You should be able to say these couple of sentences between the the time the elevator doors close on the ground floor and the time they open again on say the fifth floor.  If you ask someone what they do for a living, and they kind of look around, throw out some words that don’t really belong together in the same sentence and generally freeze up, you are not likely to have faith enough to hire them right?  Chances are you would not recommend them to a friend either.  Let’s face it, part of being successful is being able to talk the talk and being able to communicate in a clear and concise way will go a long way.

On a side note, I once hired a painter at Home Depot based entirely on the conversation we had about house painting while we waited in the check out line.

It’s not that you are hoping that that person will hire you necessarily (although that would be pretty sweet!) but they may know someone who is in need of whatever it is you do.  Hand out a business card while you are at it.  You would be surprised how many people can help you find work via a referral just by being able to clearly state what it is you do.

Get out there, with business cards in your pocket and just be social, available and observant.  Clients can appear in the most unusual places!

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Shooting personal work

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Chris Hollo

When you are surfing late at night and you come across the site of a commercial photographer who looks interesting, where do you click first?  In the galleries section, they may have entire galleries on mountains, ferrets, ice cream or homeless photographers.  While they all sound compelling, I always look for the section titled ‘Personal Work’ because that is the work that will best describe who the photographer really is, much more so than their assignment work.

If I were an art director looking to hire a photographer, I would obviously check the assignment work to see who they have worked for and how they accomplished the task at hand, but I would be as interested if not more to see what they shoot when left to their own imagination.  Your personal work says much more about who you are as a photographer than the assignment work does.

Having said that, get out there and shoot for yourself.  Make yourself the client and shoot whatever interests you, in your own way and show it off.  Better yet, spend a year or more and shoot a series of images that when shown together make a cohesive body of work.  Project photography is a powerful way to show that you have what it takes to take on a larger project that is spread out over time.

I would guess that we all got into photography because we loved making images right?  So keep making images in between the totally awesome assignments and start a project today…

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Saving for tax time

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Chris Hollo

If there is one thing that you don’t want to do in business, it’s under prepare for tax time.  There is nothing like figuring out in early February (once all your 1099’s and W-2’s have come in) that you have not prepared well for April 15th and having to spend all your efforts until that date to scrounge up enough money to pay your tax liability.  I’ve done it and so will you.  It is just a matter of how badly.

Let’s say that you are a sole proprietor (all your taxable income flows to your 1040 via the Schedule C) and you realize February 15th or so that you owe 8K in taxes and that you now only have 60 days to come up with the money.  Been there.  Now lets say that you have an excellent spring and actually do come up with the money to pay Uncle Sam and still have enough money to buy those Ramen Noodles you love so much.  It won’t take the IRS long to send you a nice letter asking you to kindly pay 2K per quarter from now on (or else) in the form of an estimated tax payment.

You see, the IRS would much rather have your 2K per quarter than your 8K once a year.  You could look at it as the IRS doing you a solid and not letting you get so screwed next year or you could look at it as the IRS understanding the time value of money and wanting your money faster.  The latter is true, but if it helps you get through the tax year, feel free to believe the former.  If you make enough money, they will start asking for a monthly estimated tax payment but I doubt any of us have to worry about that much.

Just be sure to put away enough from each shoot to be prepared for tax time.  It takes discipline and perhaps a second account to put that money in, but you can do it.

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Photographer portraits

Posted on January 11, 2011 by Chris Hollo

Self portraits or portraits of you as a photographer, when used correctly are great.  They give the person hiring you the chance to see what you look like and to put a face to a name when talking on the phone about the huge job they are about to award you.  They also make it easier for your fans (think Facebook ‘fan’ pages which is another beef) to recognize you when you are out in public.  However, I have to ask why photographers pose with their cameras.  Your peers know you are a photographer, clients don’t care what camera you use, and that you have a really sweet f1.4 lens and all it does is make you look goofy.  Of course, that is just my opinion…

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