It's Time for Camp David Readers to Help Right a Wrong.

Sometimes a contest can be just the right thing to boost interest in your business. It gets you noticed by others and often will bring new "Likes" to your Facebook page which, hopefully, you can convert into actual clients.

Of course, all of this can blow up in your face when you handle things in awkward fashion.

Take the recent case of 1-800-Flowers who ran a contest back in March on their website, promising a year's supply of free dog food for the winner of the “There’s a New Bunny in Town Photo Contest.”

The winner had entered with the intent of dedicating her entry to the Lucky Dog Rescue, a 501 (c)3 non-profit operating in Mississippi. When her photo was actually chosen as the grand prize winner, she was elated . . . only to finally cut through miles of red tape to learn that not only would 1-800-Flowers not give her the award (based on a technicality), but they were denying the contest ever existed!

I won't bore you with all of the details, but you can read the whole story here on PetsAdviser.com

Where I'm going with this is two-fold.

First, think about the damage this is going to do to the reputation of this company. While 1-800-Flowers probably won't go out of business because of this, the Facebook community, the Twitterverse and more will ultimately hear this tale and think twice about using their services.

So . . . in YOUR business, what things do you do with good intention that end up backfiring? More importantly, what do you do to make them right once they've happened? (Think about it, because we'll discuss this in a later blog post.)

Now, let's get everyone who reads the Camp David Blog to do a couple of things to help make this right:

1 - Let's NOT bash 1-800-Flowers. That's beneath us. (You know how you would respond to that kind of thing, right? It just won't get us anywhere positive.)

2 - Click the link at the top of this post to share it with your friends. If they own a pet, ever owned a pet . . . heck, even if they're not much of a pet fan (like me) but have everr petted an animal of any kind, send it along.

3 - Get out an envelope and a $1 bill. Put a note on the dollar bil that says "In memory of Angus and Rio, from a Camp David Photographer", then put it all inside the envelope and address it to:

Lucky Dog Rescue
PO Box 3224
Meridian, MS 39303

If you ever learned anything from one of these posts to help make your workflow simpler, save you some time or make more money in your photography business, then pay it forward.

It's only a buck . . . but enough of them will help with that dog food bill.

You guys all rock . . thanks for helping!

- David & Kirsten

(I know, you're wondering who Angus and Rio are . . . Angus, a boxer, belonged to Kirsten. She had to say goodbye to him last July after 14 faithful years. Two weeks ago, she and I celebrated our wedding on the one year anniversary of that date. Rio was a happy-go-lucky pound pooch who belonged to David Jones of Camp David. Rio died Saturday night after a battle with cancer.)

Love Pinterest? If you're a #photog check out this new dedicated pinning site!

One of the latest sites to explode onto the scene has been Pinterest, where users can "pin" anything from wedding ideas, recipes, photographs, etc onto their "board" to share with others. There's no denying it's been huge, but because of the wide variety of content it can also be more than time-consuming when searching for a particular item.

Enter TheShootIt.com, a site dedicated completely to photographers. Here, you can "pin" photographs into areas such as seniors, weddings and modeling. Users can also look for tips on gear, editing and education, or simply unwind with some "photography humor".

Use the site as an inspirational tool before a session, a place to show off your latest images, or simply an easy route to view and share what others across the world are doing in and out of their studios.

Signup is free and fast (you can even use your Facebook or Twitter account to login).

Photographer Jen Hillenga says "Love a new toy. Time for me to share. A place where I can share and get inspired is just starting and they asked a couple pros to play. Going to be huge."

Check it out!

- David

In-Person Sales On Your iPad? Check this out . . .

When you ran out and purchased your iPad, you probably told yourself that you would use it for business. You convinced your business partner (or significant other) that you needed it because it would make selling your work so much simpler.

Well, now you're no longer telling a little white lie.

Check out Preveal, the application that turns your iPad into a bona fide sales tool. With it, you can photograph the room in which the prints will be displayed, set the room size and bring it up onto your screen.

 

Once you've done that, then select the templates for the size(s) of the images you'd like to show the client.

Insert the client's images and share!

Now you can do your in-person sales wherever you go, simply and quickly. (Imagine what this will do to your wall portrait sales; suddenly that "big 8x10" is going to look like a postage stamp!)

Preveal is scheduled to be released in the coming days, but you can check it out at the link below and sign up to be notified the minute it's available.

Get Preveal - http://launch.getpreveal.com?lrRef=Kkf9L

Have fun!

- David

A Website Targeted at Faux-tographers Who Steal Images of Photographers.

One of the things to love about Facebook is the variety of material you can find there. Photographers old and new can always pick up a tidbit here and there about ways to enhance their work, website and products.

Of course, Facebook doesn't come without a bit of drama from time to time. In the past few weeks there was a controversy over an Arkansas photographer who was enhancing her own website; not by using techniques found online, but by using the work of other photographers that yes, she found online. The friends of the victimized photog came to her defense, blowing up the FB page and phone of the "stealer" with comments and links exposing her deeds.

Born from this fiasco is a Tumblr site dedicated to exposing these thieves, appropriately named "Photo Stealers". It depends on readers to submit the names and websites of people who are using other photographers' work (and website text) as their own. Viewers can send a tip using the Submission Form. Hopefully, this will help put a stop to (okay, help somewhat curb) this illegal activity.

Thanks to FStoppers and PetaPixel for links and info contained here!

Get One Year of Photovision for Just $49

One of the most popular methods of learning what's new in photography is to see and hear what other professionals are doing in their own studios. Unfortunately, it's simply not possible to travel the country and drop in on someone. Facebook groups can be helpful, but you really never know if the individual giving the information is accurate or just blowing smoke.

 

This is where Photovision's DVDs come into play. Every 2 months you receive a new DVD in your mailbox. Pop it into the TV or your computer and watch well-known industry professionals share their methods and techniques. Pause it, play it back, watch your favorite segment over and over. If you prefer to stream it online, you can do that as well!

 

Photovision has been given the "Hot One" award by the Professional Photographers of America for the quality programming they produce.

 

I’ve been receiving PhotoVision for years and always looked forward to the arrival of the DVDs in the mail. Even though I consider myself to be “seasoned” I feel like I learn something from every issue! 

 

Now, you can save $150 by using the promo code PVFAN. Just click on the link below and get all 6 DVDs or streaming video for just $49.

 

http://www.photovisionvideo.com/?afid=1646

 

Have fun!

Some Inspiration from the Sandy Puc' Tour . . .

While I was working the NILMDTS table at Sandy Puc's seminar last night, she said something that made me smile and start thinking . . .

Sam was talking about photographers and comparing them to television characters . . . and she said:

"Did you ever notice that Wile E. Coyote has enough money to buy every known gadget from ACME, but apparently doesn't have enough sense to just buy dinner?"

Since the beginning of time, photographers have been gadget hounds. It's always amazing for me to hear the conversation at conventions about "how much I need x product" or "I would just love to have whatshisname's thingamajig" . . . and, I'm guilty of it as well. Almost every photographer has a shelf of things that they had great intentions of using often when they purchased it, but for whatever reason, never really put it into their routine.

Years ago I had a photographer who shot for me who constantly complained about not having enough money to buy a new lens he felt would truly improve his photography. I asked him how much he spent on cigarettes and we figured out that if he quit smoking for 6 weeks, he could have that lens. After that, puff away. (He never did do it . . . )

Then there's The Professor from Gilligan's Island; he's smart enough to be able to make a bicycle-powered washing machine, power the radio from a couple of coconuts and make enough stuff to help them survive, but he can't figure out how to fix a hole in the boat and get them off the island.

I once had a colleague who would invest hours into making studio accessories. Not props and backgrounds, but actual studio equipment. He once decided that instead of just buying a couple of studio lights, he would make a more powerful one himself . . . using parts from a local surplus store. Did it happen? Let's just say that hundreds of dollars (and many years) later, he was still trying to reinvent the wheel when we could have simply purchased one for a few dollars more. There is such a thing as being penny-wise and pound foolish.

Yup . . . I know a few photographers like that. Do you?

We all like shiny stuff. New stuff. Cool stuff. Expensive stuff. Stuff that may or may not make us money. We just need to make those important decisions as we run our businesses.

Will this investment help me make more money, or just add to my cool factor? Is it something I can utilize often enough to make it pay for itself in a short period of time, or is it going to end up having a "shelf-life", living in the back room and rarely seeing the light of day after the initial lustre has worn off? Am I wasting money in other areas that are preventing me from buying the things that I do need to help me grow my business?

Some people are truly daring. Think about the person who first looked at a chicken and said "I'm going to eat the next thing that comes out of that bird's behind!" We are risk-takers by nature . . . after all we decided to go into business for ourselves and walk away from the security of a job where someone else made the decisions and all we had to do was put in our time and collect a paycheck.

Now, we ARE the person who makes those decisions. And the paycheck we collect depends on how well we make them and how quickly we can adapt to change.

Perhaps Sam's best line of the evening was as she closed this segment. "After all, the road is full of flat squirrels who couldn't make a decision."

Don't become a flat squirrel!

(Thanks to Sandy Puc' for some great material!)

Where will YOU be in 5 years?

I was reading a Facebook post today in which the writer stated that people looking for low price should expect low quality product.

While we'd all like to believe that is true, less money charged does not necessarily translate to low quality. Sadly, there are some really decent shooters out there who:

- Have no confidence in their work and ability to charge appropriately
- Have no business knowledge and therefore no clue as how to charge appropriately
- Think that they're going to save the world from expensive photographers by practically giving their work away

All of them are thinking that they are running a successful photography business - either full-time or "on the side" - and with the exception of the one who's trying to save the world, truly believe that they're charging as much as they can for their work.

There are a few basic statements that can be made which apply to many people who are new in the business. No, I'm not talking about the ones who went to WalMart or Best Buy and came home with a Rebel kit and a copy of PS Elements. The photographers I am referring to are the ones who have been active for a couple of years, gotten some additional education via traveling seminars and have actually kept themselves somewhat busy. However, they refuse to set their pricing at "market value" because:

Many new photographers are way better than they think they are. 
Most new photographers are severely underpriced.
As a result, most new photographers are making far less than they probably could be making.


Is this you? If so, here are a few more startling facts:

15% of you won't be a professional photographer next year at this time.
38% of you won't be here in 3 years.
50% of you will be out of business within 5 years.

You pick. Which one do YOU want to be?

Here's a graphic from business blogger Barry Ritholtz which outlines the profile of a US Small Business. How closely do you fit?