http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); ]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081022-175604
ARE YOU IN A SLUMP?

When reaching for the camera seems like too much bother and capturing great shots no longer interests you, you know that "photo fatigue" has set in. Maybe it is related to the weather or season. But whatever the cause, here are five tips to help you snap out of the slump and get back to enjoying photography again.

#1 REVIEW YOUR WORK
You've probably accumulated quite a collection of photos. If you're not up-to-date on filing your photos and getting your collection organized, now is a good time to do it. While you're at it, review your photos with a critical eye. See what you like and dislike about them and what you would do differently if you could. Don't be modest - give yourself some praise for some of your great photos. Print, mat and frame some of your favorites.

#2 SELF-ASSIGNMENT
This will take some willpower, but assign some photo projects to yourself. There is no limit to what the assignments might be. Perhaps take one (and only one) picture a day for a month. Or shoot a series using just one lens, ideally one you seldom use. How about shooting some black & white-only if you ordinarily use strictly color? Assignments might be subject-specific, such as pictures of water in all its forms, a particular color, close-ups, abstracts or available light shots at night.

#3 VIEW THE WORKS OF OTHERS
Spend some time in an art museum, library or book store viewing the works of artists and photographers whose works interest you. Study how they handle lighting, composition, subjects, expression and other creative elements. You may want to acquire some books on favorite artists to give you ideas and stimulate your creativity in the future.

#4 TRAVEL
There is nothing like visiting a new location to give you a fresh selection of photo subjects. Whether it is a city or park just an hour away from home or a destination on the other side of the world, new sites and experiences are a great way to break out of the doldrums.

#5 TRY OTHER CREATIVE ARTS AND CRAFTS
Exercise your creativity in other ways by writing, sketching, painting, sculpting or working in a craft that you enjoy. Exercising your creativity in a new or different medium will help you the next time you pick up your camera.
]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081015-084315
Taking pictures is the whole reason to own a camera, sharing pictures is the reason to take pictures in the first place.

Digital photography has given us many new ways to share images. We can look at them on the LCD screen on the back of our cameras. We can send an email with images to friends far and wide. We can use digital frames to show our images off in our living rooms. Or we can use something like Promaster’s Media Tube to turn our HDTV’s into huge digital frames.

Do you know what all of these methods have in common? LCD screens, computer monitors, digital frames and even huge HDTV’s have less than 1.75 megapixels of resolution. Doesn’t your camera have 7 megapixels or more resolution?

The lowly 4X6 print has more resolution than any electronic screen. A 4X6 print from a digital lab can last up to 120 years. 4X6 prints are fast, easy and inexpensive to produce.

With digital cameras we tend to take hundreds more pictures than we ever did with film cameras. There is no way to affordably print every image we capture. But we should get in the habit of printing our good or important images. It’s much easier to see and enjoy all of the details of our lives in a print!

In our business we like selling cameras because they are a lot of fun to use and talk about. Cameras, lenses, flashes, memory cards – all are simply the tools we use as photographers to achieve our goal of capturing a moment, a memory or a vision.

It’s all about the pictures.

Our goal as photographers should be to develop the habit of printing digital images. Making electronic files into pictures that can be shared. Pictures are something you can hold in your hand; they are both more personal and more portable.

Which of these options is more appealing?


Or maybe


Or...


Not every image we capture deserves to be printed. However some of our images require it.
]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081008-094151
There are many opinions put forth throughout the book, the two most prominent opinions tend to run from cover to cover.

First, Keen is a fan of T. H. Huxley who was the author of the “infinite monkey theorem”. We’ve all heard this theorem or a derivative of it: if you provide infinite monkeys with infinite typewriters some monkey somewhere will eventually create a masterpiece.

Keen uses this example often to describe the works that are appearing on YouTube, Wikipedia and other user generated content sites. His point is that while we now have our infinite monkeys and infinite typewriters (read: infinite contributors to infinite YouTube posts), real talent is far from infinite and must be cultivated and talent is actually in very short supply.

The second point of Keen’s is that the brave new world of self published blogs and wikis has created a new concept: multiple truths. With every person now capable of posting their own thoughts and opinions in a world forum, reliable and credible reporting of events has become a thing of the past.

An example of multiple truths can be found in the Wikipedia entries of July 5th, 2006. The day Ken Lay of Enron fame died. Within 45 minutes of the first report of his death the Wikipedia entry on Ken Lay was changed over 2 dozen times as amateur contributors fought back and forth over the question of whether the death was from suicide, murder or heart attack.

None of the Wikipedia contributors were actually on the ground at the scene, none knew anything other than what they had heard from another blogger – CNN hadn’t even reported the facts yet. Today the Wikipedia entry states coronary heart disease caused a heart attack. But imagine you are researching a term paper or looking up something for your own betterment and you “caught” the Ken Lay page while it claimed the death was suicide. How would you know the truth? Afterward, when it all settled out would you still trust Wikipedia?

Keen weaves examples, argument and opinion into a book worth reading. The reader gets the sense Keen revels in his new status as the “Antichrist of Silicon Valley”; it’s even printed on his business card. However between the hyperbole and a little bit of grandstanding there is a large amount of material that does bear discussion and thought.

I have both a Wiki and a Blog so I guess I’m one of the infinite monkeys in Keens assessment. But I think the cultural and economic values that we hold true are being challenged by this new interactive world of amateurs. I am inclined to think there is a lowering of expectations in everything from truth to talent.

The judgment on whether this challenge of the amateurs is good or bad may take years before it can be sorted out. Read “The Cult of the Amateur” for yourself and see which side you are likely to come down on.
]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081001-154903
Everybody had to be there because there really was no choice. Turning captured memories into something that could be seen, touched and remembered wasn’t a DIY option for 99% of the camera users. The time and chemistry were beyond them; besides, why do on your own what somebody else can do faster and cheaper?

The photo industry both anticipated and dreaded the advent of digital cameras as a mainstream consumer product. They anticipated the enormous sales potential of customers wanting to switch from old outdated film cameras to new digital cameras. The dread hit them every time they walked past their film labs and took a moment to stare at the quarter of a million dollar investment of their own money that digital was about to make obsolete.

Or so they thought.

Looking back over the last 6 to 8 years of consumer digital imaging I can assure you that the days of “Name and phone number, please. Matte or Glossy, one or two of each?” are long gone. Our own store still processes a significant amount of film, but the cameras that shoot film are falling like flies. We can go three or four days and only take in one or two rolls each day. Then we get walloped with 50 or 60 rolls just in the first three hours of business of the fifth day.

Rolls of film were tangible, labor intensive to process and easily counted, weighed and measured. Digital prints on the other hand are stealth prints. Labor is reduced to a few button pushes to process the pictures (plus the constant and on going machine maintenance and color balancing). There is no trashcan full of spent film cartridges, no 20 minute delay in waiting for the negative to develop. There is only the relatively quiet sound of paper advancing through the printer and the cutter on the other end of the machine dicing up 4X6 prints.

On the whole, does a photo lab produce as many 4X6 prints today as it did in 2001? Unless they are the last game left in town, probably not. But a few things happened in the business as digital took root.

To begin with, a few photo labs went out of business and that left the survivors a larger share of a shrinking pie. This isn’t something to really get happy about if you are a survivor. This type of strategy means you’re playing musical chairs with everyone else in your market until there is only one chair left and hopefully you are the one sitting in it. And even then it’s just you in a shrinking market.

Another “happening” has been the backlash from the initial DIY attitude of printing images at home on an inkjet. After a while, most home printers found out what a drag it is to sit at their computer for an hour or two in order to print 100 pictures. Then they figured out it was 30% more expensive to print at home. The pendulum swung from DIY to DIFM – Do It For Me. Photo stores don’t have a lock on the process anymore, but they do have this marvelous economy of scale that produces good prints at cheap prices with little to no time investment from the consumer.

Lastly, one of the larger influences just taking hold of the industry can be characterized as consumer empowerment. Today making a 4X6 print from a digital file is swell, but it isn’t the limit of the file’s potential. In today’s market we have photo books, greeting cards, t-shirts and mugs. There are place mats, bibs, drinking glasses, thermos mugs, bowls and plates if you are house wares minded. How about a life sized acrylic mounted cutout of your next family picture? It can be done!

Owning a photo business isn’t easy, and it’s a pretty darn competitive market too. However it also isn’t dying alongside film. The photo business is evolving and changing. The cameras and media had to change first and become widely adapted before the infrastructure of the photo stores could catch up. The stores that embrace this change and seek out ways to make customers successful in digital will be around for a long time to come.

This kind of brings me to the end of my current thoughts on the photo industry. From the two earlier posts on amateurs, weekend warriors and business plans up to photo stores and changing industry thinking, I believe that from my point of view the photo business is thriving.

*August 20th 2003 - the release date for the Canon Digital Rebel. Considered the first affordable digital SLR.]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry081001-154743
Always practice safe photography!

And while you're at it... print the good shots. It's easier to share a 4X6 or 8X10 print than it is to get everyone gathered around your computer in the spare bedroom. Photographic prints cost less, have higher resolution and last longer than inkjet prints. If you choose the inkjet route store them in a high quality album that limits exposure to light.

A picture says a thousand words, but a memory card is mute!]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080923-105507
My target client was the substantial group of engaged couples who couldn’t afford the bigger studio guys for their smaller weddings. I had arranged for a few of the better known photographers to send business my way when the job was too small or their fee way too high.

My little venture wasn’t a thorn in the side of the studio guys. However I did make some small amount of competition for those “Hang out a shiny sign and they will come” photographers I mentioned in the last blog entry. But I had provable skills and I had a plan to keep it all small-time.

Because of the expenses involved with photography in the early 90’s, this is a small glimpse of the competitive landscape of the day. Large studio based operations, moderate sized niche market operations, skilled to semi-skilled weekend warriors and finally a small handful of absolute amateurs.

Now let’s look at 2008. There are still the large studio operators, but their number is slowly declining. The moderate sized niche photographers are in free fall, some barely able to pay their bills. The skilled to semi-skilled weekend warriors are becoming an endangered species.

What has happened to the photo business landscape? Digital imaging is what happened. Digital cameras have democratized photography, now anyone can pony up as little as $500 for a low-end DSLR. The equipment cost isn’t the issue though; it’s the fact that there is no film.

Before DSLR’s there was a degree of uncertainty involved with shooting a wedding or senior portrait. The photographer had to trust his or her skills and be comfortable with their equipment. DSLR’s have removed most of the doubt; now we take a picture and see the results instantly on the back of the camera.

Removing the uncertainty that surrounded film (and let’s be honest, the developing expense too) has boosted the confidence of many DSLR owners enough that they are shooting their own kid’s senior pictures or their friend’s wedding. Shoot, peek at the camera back, made a mistake so shoot again.

In the last three years an enormous and welcome shift has happened in the camera business. Today, over 55% of all DSLR cameras are sold to women. Over 65% of compact digitals are too. Men (who at one time accounted for over 75% of all film SLR sales) buy just as much as they used to, but now women have found the pleasure of shooting interchangeable lens type cameras and seem to be making up for lost time.

What we have is an explosive growth in the female camera purchasing segment coupled with a huge influx of absolute amateurs into the senior portrait and wedding market. Suddenly some marketing type needs to put a convenient label on this phenomenon and the term “Moms with Cameras” is born.

But I argue that the phenomenon isn’t gender related. I believe the issue comes down to volume and repetition against skills and experience. Either sex is susceptible to this kind of thinking: if I shoot more I’m bound to wind up with a few that look good. A mother who shoots over 300 images of her Senior aged child in order to get 20 Senior Portraits. The guy who shoots over 600 images at a four hour wedding - That’s one picture every 24 seconds! At that rate, why not just film the event?

I seem to be coming down hard on these new DSLR owners, and maybe I am. It’s not always right or honest to take a job that you lack the skills to do properly. But I’ll tell you something, skills can be acquired. Further, your determination and willingness to take on a challenge will help grow those very skills. As a group, this segment is about to turn the portrait industry on it’s ear.

Hidden away in this lengthy monolog is a warning – The portrait industry has been served notice. Moms with Cameras (and guys too) are here to stay and their skills will grow daily. If you want to stay in business and grow you need a plan, continued skills improvement and you need to add value to your services that no amateur can easily match. Remember value doesn’t mean a cash discount, base your value on your particular skills and you will have a good shot at success.
]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080917-094109
I’ve known a decent photographer or two in my day. Just a regular gal or a guy working hard out of a small studio or their own home; caught somewhere between their desire to express their creative vision and making a mortgage payment.

It is a truly Darwinian life. The good survive and the not so good eventually find another line of work. And in this particular business “good” often as not has little to do with camera skills.

Even as I type this there are a hundred full time photographers within a hundred miles all waiting for their phone to ring. Across that group we would find a wide range of talent and skills from those barely able to hold a camera correctly to the truly artistic and talented. However the one thing 90% of these photographers lack is any kind of a business plan. This is the distinction between good and not so good that I’m talking about.

Many times I see what I call the “lemonade stand business model”. This is the model where the photographer puts up a nice shiny sign with some sort of creative and endearing name (often including words like “Precious” or “Memories”) and waits for the crowds to gather at their door.

When time passes and it becomes apparent that the anticipated crowds are staying away in droves, our photographer starts to do two things: A) pester every friend and relative for an introduction to any soon-to-be-bride they know of and B) drop their prices as fast as a guy holding the business end of a hot poker.

This is being totally reactive and in no way constitutes a plan.

It’s the same kind of behavior we see when another little kid opens his lemonade stand down the block and sells his for 10 cents so you drop your price to 5 cents.

I know, words like “budget” and “plan” are scary or can make the maverick in us feel fenced in. But we have to consider the whole picture. If we are a wedding photographer we know that we will have less business in January and February but the mortgage company still wants to be paid.

Though nobody can promise success there are some steps we can take. Get your butt into a nearby community college or extension service and take some business classes. Contact the SBA and see if there is a local mentor that can help put a business plan together. Get rid of that book “How I Made A Million in Photography” because that guy got rich selling a book, not taking pictures.

You want to be a professional photographer? If you begin to be professional in all aspects of your business, Darwin is more likely to smile on you. You need to be well prepared, well planned and talented because you still face a huge and growing challenge – Moms With Cameras.
]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080907-081820
Here is a link to the Weather Channel's "Fall Foliage Map" that can help you be prepared: Weather Channel.

Over the years I've found that a split neutral density filter is helpful so that my skies are captured with detail too. A few color grads aren't a bad idea either just in case your shooting day turns out to be a little on the gray and cloudy side.

Scout out a few scenes now so you can be ready to capture them full of colorful leaves when the time comes - that country lane that winds down a hill through the trees, a meadow surrounded by woods, whatever catches your eye.

Begin to plan it out now and you'll be ready to go in three weeks or so!]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080903-165544
Always practice safe photography!

And while you're at it... print the good shots. It's easier to share a 4X6 or 8X10 print than it is to get everyone gathered around your computer in the spare bedroom. Photographic prints cost less, have higher resolution and last longer than inkjet prints. If you choose the inkjet route store them in a high quality album that limits exposure to light.

A picture says a thousand words, but a memory card is mute!]]> http://www.porters.com/blog/index.php?entry=entry080903-163126
You see, my daughter and her husband just bought a house. Though it is in great shape the previous owner had unique tastes in color schemes. And I'm being very generous.

I asked my daughter if she had a good set of before pictures of her project. She just kind of laughed and said that as bad as the house looked it just wasn't picture worthy.

A couple of days later as I was driving back I thought of her comment and it struck me - how many times do we opt out of taking pictures because something doesn't seem to be picture worthy? Then at a later date we wish we had at least a few shots to refer back to.

In the near term these two kids will have a very fresh memory of the fun house colors their first house wore when they moved in. But years from now I think they will wish that they had some photos that recorded just how awful the place really looked. Kind of as a reminder of how far the house has come under their care.

As for myself, I think I'll be a little less critical about what constitutes a picture worthy moment or subject. I believe I'll capture a little more than I do now and let time sort out the wheat from the chafe.]]>