It's human nature to find a way to do a job, have some success, and then doggedly try to do things the same way; over and over again. Some of us seem to be highly resistant to change -- no matter what that intransigence costs us. I remember, during my 40 year career, the transition from shooting everything on 4x5 film to shooting almost everything on medium format film, and then transitioning again to 35mm film. When we learned to get everything just right on our film cameras we barely had time to take a deep breath before we had to do the whole process again for digital. And we went through many iterations of digital before real innovation slowed down.
Lighting too has changed. At the outset of my career studio electronic flash systems (heads and packs) were frightfully expensive, heavy as boat anchors and fraught with danger. Over time lighting units got smaller, lighter, less dangerous and more controllable. Then, all of a sudden, we were offered lots of units that had features like 1/10th of a stop power control, reliable radio triggers built in, and....big change....the ability to do powerful flash exposures with battery powered units. No more extension cords. No plugging stuff into the wall sockets and praying the circuit breakers wouldn't trip. Then we started experimenting with LED light, etc, etc.
Now I am convinced that the majority of basic photography projects can be done and done well with a late model iPhone. But for some reason duffers want to make everything as complicated as it was back in the days of film, and lights that had few, if any options beyond on and off, full, half and quarter power. Most of the duffer-ism stems from a profound resistance to learning new stuff. On so many levels.
Portrait photographers no longer delivery paper proofs. Wanna see which portrait you like best? There's a private web gallery for that. Want to deliver thousands of high resolution (big) files to your clients? There are inexpensive and easy to use file transfer apps you can use. But you'll need to upgrade your internet access if you are still locked into a cheap, slow service.
Commercial photographers are transitioning to take advantage of newer file enhancement features that are made possible by A.I. which are being incorporated into existing programs as new features. And we use them more and more. I've hit a tipping point at which it's easier, better and more advantageous for my clients if I photograph their portraits against a neutral background and then composite them into an appropriate pre-shot background using some of the new selection tools in PhotoShop. Bitch all you want about A.I. but at this particular level what you are really doing is taking chance out of the equation for your business. No more endless location scouting for environmental portraits only to show up some place on a shoot day and find: The weather sucks. The building you were going to use as a background just got demolished. The shoot day "features" record breaking heat/record breaking cold/high winds/a protest march or something else that lays waste to your clever schedule.
The business of photography is, at its core, all about business. Offering products and services that clients need, want and value, and for which they will pay well. The new barriers to entry are no longer access to gear or access to start-up capital. Rather, the new barriers: are failing to understand how to incorporate new tech, new image styles and new points of view into work you want to sell to clients. How to shoot it all efficiently and how to bill for it.
There is a prevailing myth that no one is making money any more by creating and selling photography directly to clients --- or through an ad agency or P.R. agency to clients. While it's true that anything which can be competently done with the camera in a phone will be done by the clients in house there are still enormous opportunities out there for people who keep up with the progression of technology and business practices. Our fees for creation and our usage fees for licensing have never been higher or met with less resistance.
It's no longer enough to show up with an 11x14 inch printed portfolio of black and white images you did 20 years ago to try and secure a job. Nobody really cares about that. They want to see absolutely current work and they want to see it right now, and on their phones. Nobody is looking for your printed invoice to come in the snail mail. They want a digital invoice now and a way to instantly pay for your services with a corporate credit card.
I had lunch this last Wednesday with an art director who I have worked with on hundreds of assignments over the last 30+ years. We were sitting in a new restaurant here and he asked me to excuse him if he got a text. He was art directing a food shoot with a photographer in Houston, Texas who specializes in photographing seafood dishes in his well equipped studio. We ate our appetizers and he got a text with an attached test image on it. We looked at the image and bounced a few small suggestions back and forth before my art director friend sent the photographer some quick feedback. This happened several times more during lunch and by the time we left the art director felt like the food shoot a couple hundred miles away was going well. No need for travel. No need to wait around for approvals.
Everything moves faster now. Everything changes now. Faster and faster.
We don't buy the latest cameras just because they are pretty, we buy them because they have features we value which make the work faster, more efficient, easier to work with in post.
And we're not buying into the idea that no one wants to pay good money anymore for good photography. In fact, we raise our prices by 7-10% per year and I will say that I've had zero push back on prices this entire year. Everyone gets that there's inflation. The clients charge their clients more. They expect the same from us.
Sure. If you want to take your Nikon FM out and shoot some office buildings with a 28mm lens and some color film, and then delivery machine prints from a warehouse store you are probably going to have big problems being taken seriously or being paid much of anything. And if you are inordinately slow because you've refused to adopt technology or advanced training in necessary processes you'll probably never be invited back to work with clients who endured your painfully slow processes again.
I've said it a thousand times. Photography is like staying in shape for swimming. You can't go months or years without regular swim practices and expect to do much more than not drown. You can't go months or years without practicing the craft of photography and expect to do much more than waste everyone's time. The more you practice the better you get ---- if you practice the things that add value. For the client.
My list would be: Use the right camera. If you need lots of dynamic range, the best image stabilization and class leading low noise at higher ISO settings you'll need to spend accordingly -- or suffer from painfully involved file salvation in post processing. You'll need the right lenses for your work. If you are an architectural photography, for example, you'll need lenses that are wide enough to give you some room for perspective control in post. You'll need lenses that are sharp all the way into the corners because clients want the corner details to be just as sharp as the center of frame details. If you need lights you need lights that are fast to set up, highly reliable and easy to control. A couple of Vivitar 283 flashes just won't cut it. And you need to have researched your field to understand what the clients who practice in it want from your engagement. They are not paying to subsidize your guess work.
But you also have to stay culturally current. Constantly researching great work on the web. Embracing current movies, music, art and social structures. Being able to speak to people without showcasing anachronistic tells. Not playing too much Frank Sinatra at your contemporary fashion shoot...
My list of important stuff would include money spent on liability insurance. And a targeted web presence. And apps that make it easy to get paid. And a professional attitude. And lots and lots of ongoing training.
In the "old days" we'd redo botched shoots if we needed to and that might make the clients of that period happy again. Now with deadlines measured in hours instead of days it's more and more critical not to fail in the first place. Some clients have their backs against the wall and there's no margin for re-dos. No time.
I had coffee last Monday with a 62 year old event photographer. He's right up to speed. His latest client wanted images from on-stage speaker presentations as the speaker was still on stage speaking. He set up a connection between his camera and his phone that allowed for immediate transfers of the files he was shooting from camera to phone which he could them directly send to the client's marcom staff via the venue's high speed wi-fi. Result? Happy client who was posting to social media before the presenters even left the stage. No time spent diddling around with inconsequential edits or stumbling blocks. Happy clients pay quickly and then invite you back again for another round.
Most of my clients are half my age. Most of them are up to speed on what can be done with A.I. tech and the latest tools in the Adobe Suite. Most of them grew up with constant phone access. Telling them how we used to do it in the old days is a ticket to irrelevance. And lost opportunity.
If you aren't constantly learning you aren't running in place --- you are going backwards.
Move fast. Don't break things. Don't look backwards. Staying current is staying profitable.
