November 7, 2009 at 10:16 AM (Education, Personal, Professional, Training)
Tags: health, life, love, mentor, photography, stress
Amazing What Can Be Done With A Desktop Scanner
Years ago when my business was new and I was full of beans, it dawned on me that the potential for high stress levels was going to be constantly present. I saw what it did to my dad and others of his generation and I was not going down that road. One particular client I had early on was a great mentor for how to manage stress. She took me aside on several occasions and pointed out how certain situations were breeding grounds for stress and poor long-term health issues. She was an independent multimedia producer back in the day when we used 35mm slides, 4×5 transparencies (converted to slides) and tape to tape reels for recording the audio. 100% analog and fun. I listened to her quite a bit and over the course of our photography projects, I really gained an appreciation for how she helped me. I hope to pass along some of these tidbits to you. I trust you’ll find them helpful.
They are in no particular order:
1) Be conscious of what you’re doing.
2) Be who you are and not somebody else.
3) Be the source of what you say.
4) Don’t get value from a bad situation.
5) Don’t get angry, get clear.
6) Be a thermostat, not a thermometer.
7) Focus of group purpose.
8) Get agreements up front and in writing.
9) Create and environment of support.
10) Acknowledge people, especially the bad ones.
11) Don’t complain to anyone who can’t do anything about it.
12) Be easy and let life work.
13) Tell the truth and you’ll have less to remember because your story never changes.
14) Make your life and act of love.
Be well.
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November 1, 2009 at 10:45 PM (Education, Professional, Training)
Tags: art, color, LAB, management, photography, photoshop, printing, Professional, WYSIWYG
A Wing And A Hair
It is importance to learn how to edit color using Photoshop. The following information is meant to motivate you to explore on your own how color management produces predictable, high-quality results. In the simplest of terms it is known as “WYSIWYG” (what you see is what you get).
As files move through a color managed workflow, adjustments are necessary to maintain accurate and predictable color throughout. Color management uses the LAB color model and a profile connection space (PCS ), to determine how specific colors (made up of red, green and blue numbers) used by a particular camera, monitor, scanner, or printer are adjusted from input to output.
The CIE, short for Comission Internationale de l’Eclairage (International Commission on Illumination), was founded in 1913 to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information and to set standards for how the human eye perceives color. From this commission came the three-dimensional L-a-b model for describing how humans perceive color; it is the foundation for color management systems. The professional artist today can control and predict input and output color results. (L stands for lightness, a for red-green, and b for blue-yellow.)
Input (cameras and scanners) and output (printers) devices use unique sets of numerical data to control how they produce or represent color. A color management system converts (manages) these numbers as the file is moved from one unique device to another unique device or, for example, from a Photoshop file to any type of print-making device. Color management understands the way each device receives color data and represents color data, enabling us to perceive the same color as a file moves through any computer system, camera, scanner, or printer. The color management system uses color profiles and working color spaces to identify and manage these unique color characteristics. A PCS (profile connection space) is the other component integral to the task of converting between input choices and output choices. The PCS is where the color data is examined, edited, converted and sent on its way.
Go to www.color.org to learn about the International Color Consortium (ICC) and its work beginning in 1993 to promote an open color management system that is vendor-neutral and cross-platform capable. Prior to the ICC, there was no way to translate color numbers from one unique device to another. The work of the ICC allows artists to choose printers and computers to suit their needs without having to worry about obtaining accurate and predictable results between devices in their workflow. Prior to the ICC, if you wanted an inkjet print matching what appeared on your monitor, you had to use a printer made by the same manufacturer that produced your computer because the language of color production was unique to specific manufacturers and worked only within a manufacturer’s closed-loop system. In years past, there wasn’t a way for a printer made by one manufacturer to understand how color was handled in a computer made by another. This was limiting and locked you into to a specific manufacturer. Artists did a lot of complaining. Adobe felt our pain and beginning with Photoshop v5 rocked our world with a color management system built into the application. It began with the introduction of working color spaces. Professionals and manufacturers are grateful for their contributions and support of our art. Visit www.colorsync.com for more information about this topic.
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October 25, 2009 at 3:00 PM (Education, Personal, Professional, Training)
Tags: genesis, headshots, metrics, photography, profit, sales, success, volunteer
Pelicans Working Together Searching For Food
Thursday the 22nd of October, I professionally photographed any unemployed person (at the offices of Women At Work), who signed up for a ten minute session with me. By any measure it was a successful day for all involved: my subjects, the Women At Work organization and myself. Interestingly there were several people photographed during this free day who might not otherwise have ever had a professional headshot. I am especially glad for this particular metric; they had a positive experience being in front of a professionals camera for the first time. I always work to put my subjects at ease by being pleasant, polite, professional and responsive to their personality quirks. Part of my job is coaching and guiding them to an emotional spot where they become comfortable with themselves, which I then translate into their photograph. I’m successful with this approach to professional headshots and I needed all the tricks in my valise to perform this free service non-stop for six hours, with very little down time in between sessions, not even a lunch break, there just wasn’t time. And I loved every minute of it. When all is said and done, and all of my subjects has received their photograph, I may opt to do this again. I always want to help. I feel better when I am in the service of others. I like being a guide and teacher. But this wasn’t always the case…..
At some point in my life I began to view myself as not being a very generous person. The genesis of this attitude was running a commercial photography studio (for profit). I certainly wasn’t going to give away my talent, if you wanted it you were going to pay for it. And I was going to charge as much as I possibly could. This developed into a fairly aggressive pricing schedule, no job was too small, no profit was too large. My family and I enjoyed the rewards of this attitude but it always gnawed at me. My parents modeled volunteer behaviors to their children. But they both had steady paying jobs so volunteering was no big deal for them, it wasn’t taking away from a potential profit-making day of business. I made myself a slave to the profit motive. After all that’s what any solidly successful businessperson did. And so I went on for years this way even though that little birdie in the back of my mind kept tweeting something was amiss.
After my son Nat popped out, we had diapers to change, play dates to arrange and involvement (volunteerism) at his various schools was a requirement. This was something I resisted and pawned off onto my wife. I was busy making money, I couldn’t volunteer. I had a family responsibility to provide MONEY. What a great excuse. After many years of this (Nat is going on ten) I have now embraced volunteerism as a way to generate good karma for me and others in my circle. Money issues aside, why wouldn’t you take advantage of the opportunity to go camping with the kids at school, helping older folks with house chores, photographing school events for the school archives? Money ain’t the only thing and if you have managed your profitable years correctly, then you will have the time to put your self in the service of others and not concern your self with something as trivial as payment. You actually get paid as soon as you volunteer. As the saying goes, “Try it, you’ll like it!”
Be well.
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October 18, 2009 at 2:56 PM (Education, Professional, Training)
Tags: industry, marketing, metrics, positioning, Professional, salesmanship, success
Being In The Correct Position To Score
Positioning. This powerful marketing concept was first brought to my attention when I read the book by the same name; Positioning. In it I learned about this powerful concept of owning a valuable (and limited) piece of real estate in the minds of my clients. After so many successful years in the business I can tell you this concept works. Whether it be my teaching career, photography career, lab services broker, consultant, writer or on-air personality, I work at the image I create in the minds of the people who hire me. This is by no means anything new, we all do it, all the time, the authors of the book just put a name to it. It has been my experience that for the most part, people are unaware of the position they own in peoples minds and I would also argue that a lot self-employed professional artists are completely unaware of how this marketing concept can help them grow and sustain that growth. Remember, the goal is to thrive, not just survive.
For example, I was riding the elevator in an office tower in Burbank which was then occupied by The Walt Disney Company’s consumer products division. My clients in this division spent a lot of money on my lab services and photography and consequently I spent a lot of time there picking up and delivering work, schmoozing and networking. In the elevator with me was an employee whom I’d never met. It was a long ride down so seizing the moment (as opposed to seizing up) I took the initiative and introduced myself in the hope that she was going to be a new business connection. Wrong. I introduced myself and described what business I was in. I then asked her if she’d heard of me. Her answer: “Yes I know who you are, I’ve seen your invoices”. Ouch! Didn’t see that one coming. Nicked me in the wing but didn’t draw blood. It did however reinforce for me the position I owned at the time, that of the last-minute go to guy who delivered results for a price.
How did I make positioning work for my lab services and my photography business? By owning this “last-minute, no notice, we need it yesterday and it has to be great” position. For years I specialized in this end of the market. I owned it outright. And I kept ownership by delivering results, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the project. On many occasions, dinner plans were defeated, vacations interrupted, social engagements backed out of and sleep deprivation was the norm. This was the situation I welcomed by becoming a self-employed professional artist operating a commercial photography studio and custom lab services business serving the entertainment industry. I loved every minute of it, the long hours, the grueling shoots, the negotiations between vendors and clients and the personal and professional growth this craziness nurtured. Another important part of this equation was keeping stress manageable. The cash flow from this business model was sufficient to afford a comfort level that kept stress and debt to a minimum.
My position (belief) at the time was that my clientele got five things from me: great photography, great service, on-time delivery, excellent quality and no excuses, it was ready, it was right, or it was free. Period. All I asked in return was that my invoices be paid on time. It was a good time for my clientele, my vendors and my business. Everybody won.
As the title asks, “What Do You Own?”
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October 17, 2009 at 12:15 AM (Personal, Professional)
Tags: charity, headshots, help, photography, Professional, unemployed
Hello folks, how is everybody? Things are picking up; my first book will be in stores early next month (pre-sales have exceeded expectations), my rep Wendi and I are lining up speaking engagements and I’m actively searching out sponsorships. As part of my consulting business, I’m working with a green paper manufacturer to produce custom profiles of their papers. I landed a large print order this week with another even larger one coming in soon (I hope!). Next Friday I’m speaking at a small fine art school about how to photograph artwork, lighting objects and people. And I’ve been asked to come back to Brooks Institute to teach one of my favorite classes, VIS200, an introductory photography class for graphic design students. It’s all very exciting.
But the thing I’m really excited about is the volunteer project I’m doing next Thursday the 22nd at Women At Work. I’ll be donating (giving back) a day of my time to help others by shooting professional headshots of anyone who signs up and can prove they are job searching or have been laid off. No other strings attached. They come in have their headshots taken, I retouch here and there and send them the file. They can use it for whatever reason they wish. The idea came from a fellow in Philly (who did something similar) but I’m taking the idea a bit further while being the first one to do this on the west coast. We’ve sent out a news release and I have a video crew coming in to document the day. The exciting thing about the video crew is that it’s two current Brooks students who took an intermediate lighting class from me last year. In class they showed real potential and enthusiasm over the course of the semester, asking questions, reshooting assignments (to learn more) and participated in discussions, took critiques in the spirit they were intended and supported their fellow students. A couple of real gems. I am thrilled and honored they have volunteered to help on this great day.
So, I’m helping others less fortunate than myself, two students volunteer for a real world scenario, Women At Work gets a pr boost and I’m promoting my business in an innovative way.
Everybody wins on this day.
What are you doing?
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September 27, 2009 at 6:45 PM (Education, Professional, Training)
Tags: success, photography, sales, metrics, money, achievement, defeat, happiness, health, spinal cord, surgeon, hospital, tumor, nerve, bone, simplified employee pension
My Bad Back
Hello out there in the netherworld of self-employment, I have a new post for you to contemplate: achieving success and managing the achievement. Before I get into the meat of this post, a bit of personal history will hopefully clarify why I think the way I do. As a teenager my health was seriously compromised by nerve and bone tumors growing on and around my cervical spinal cord. Although the surgery to remove them was successful (as well as a repeat surgery 13 years later), according to the surgeon I almost died on the operating table. Being a young and turgid teenager, this was devastating, it angered me for years and screwed up my life plans. Up until then my life was good and then (as I adjusted to a less physical lifestyle), not so good for many years after. I was way too angry to function in emotionally healthy ways, I was mad at the world and absolutely believed there was no point in making life plans because they were subject to change without notice. I turned my attentions to photography and plowed ahead as if my life depended on it.
Moving forward eight years, I graduate from Art Center, open up a studio on Hollywood Blvd, smack dab in the middle of all its’ craziness. I plug away at my career in Hollywood for close to two years. I move to a studio in Burbank and continue to build my business. After a new health problem pops up, I close this studio, I rehab and recover (at home) and then find work at a photographic services company for three years. This gig ends after a messy divorce (my practice marriage) and the second spinal cord surgery (referred to earlier). Through all this trauma and turmoil I continue to be successful, I remarry, move into a new studio (where I stayed put for 16 years) and started a new family. So I’m working, making money, traveling, buying a house, starting a self-employed investment plan (SEP) and generally having a good time. At one point we had enough money to begin lending to fellow artists who weren’t as well off (lucky?) as us.
I’m sitting in my office one afternoon (reflecting on my life) and it suddenly occurred to me what I had achieved: a successful professional, self-employed photography business in Los Angeles. I was shocked at this notion because I never planned on being successful in any way, shape or form. What was the point? Just work baby and don’t look towards the future because there ain’t one. Becoming successful was just a passing fancy. They say successful people must have one, three, five and ten year plans. Where do you see yourself in three years? Five? Ten? In my mind I wasn’t making any plans beyond lunch, let alone five or ten years. Who are they kidding? Me? Successful? What a knucklehead!
Because I didn’t see myself as a successful professional (by whatever measurement I was using), I never thought about managing my success once it was achieved. I’d been in business for 13 years (at this point) and now the blood was quickly draining out of my face as I realized I now had to learn how to manage my successful photography business. I was on a windy precipice trying not to get blown into the pit of my own blindness. Truth be told, I fumbled and stumbled around, dazed and confused by this realization. I became scared that I was going to fail because I failed to plan. I became overly worried that somehow it was all going to end soon. No more work, no more money. No more fun. Stress became my closest friend, worry my new neighbor. I was going to screw this up! How could I have possibly gotten this far? How much money was in the bank? Who owed me money? Were there any jobs coming up? I need to get a real job. The proverbial chicken with its’ head cut off. Real professional.
Of course what I really needed to do was to get ahold of myself, breath deeply and think about what I had accomplished over the previous 13 years. I had to tell myself I was fine. That I was going to be fine. To lighten up and enjoy a bit of what I had accomplished and continued to accomplish, daily. I actually had a plan all along, I just didn’t realize it (sound familiar?). I was so busy working to build a sustainable photography business, I didn’t realize I was doing most of the right things, except thinking in a more positive way. Previous experiences can have a profound impact on future perspectives. I certainly got caught up in it and I let it abuse me for years.
So, be careful what you wish for, work hard to get there, practice daily the little things that define you as a working, dynamic, forward-thinking professional and you will eventually become successful. Unless you’re a total mess and unpleasant to deal with, it’ll be difficult to screw this up. Once you begin experiencing success, do the little things to manage your success: thank you notes, expressions of sincere appreciation for your vendors and clients and always, always serve them the best you can deliver. Every time. Setting goals and managing goals may not be the same thing but they are closely related. Heck, if I can do it, just about anybody can. Go for it!
Be well.
Michael
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September 12, 2009 at 7:02 AM (Education, Professional, Training)
Tags: artist, business, money, photography, resources, self-employed, success
Squaw Valley
One of the biggest issues for any employed person, (heck any living being) is having enough money/resources to live on. When you work for a company, you get paid a wage and hopefully benefits and some sort of profit-sharing or pension plan. From my various straw polls of people over the years, I’d say about 1/3 are satisfied with their take-home pay and benefits.
Now us mavericks out on the fringes must supply all of this ourselves and that unfortunately is where a lot of self-employed creatives fall terminally short, (if they even think about the self-funding issues of health benefits and retirement resources at all).
What am I talking about? I’m talking about developing the discipline of putting some of your income aside for the day when the storm hits (like now). For ten years my wife and I socked away 70% of every dollar (during that time) that came into our home. Shooting fees, licensing fees, consulting fees and teaching income generated enough cash flow to allow us to bank big bucks for a decade. Life was good. Of course back then our nut was smaller, we rented an apartment and Nat hadn’t showed up yet, but we still had food, insurance, taxes, lab fees and retirement goals, and they all had their hands out for our greenbacks. It was relentless pressure and stress. I know what you’re about to say…. “I don’t make enough money now to pay my bills and you want me to start saving for a rainy day? Get outta here dude!” (Am I close?)
Start with 5 bucks a week. Do this for a month. Add another 5 the next month and so on. Over time you’ll see real dollars in a real savings account. If you don’t do it, who will? Obviously the more you put away, the faster it accumulates. Cut back on the things you want to do, (gourmet coffees, movies, fancy food, etc.) and you will gain in both the short run and the long run. The money is there if you have the resolve and self-love to take care of your self. Take care of your self and you can (in turn) take care of the ones who matter to you most. You have to work at it weekly, monthly and yearly. Again, if you don’t, who will? It isn’t always easy but you must be positive and move forward.
I mentioned earlier that we made a lot of money and life was good. Today, (temporarily) we don’t make as much, but we are doing OK because we have self-made and self-saved resources that in this time of need are called upon (and relied upon) to help us through these funky times.
One has to be strong, positive and self-advocating to succeed as a professional artist. Sometimes, even aggressive. Those of us who are doing the self-employed thing, know what I’m saying. Those who draw a regular paycheck and benefits may also appreciate my comments. Here’s to a better future and a better process for all concerned.
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September 2, 2009 at 11:21 PM (Education, Professional)
Tags: creative, friend, metrics, Professional, sales, self-employed, work
Avocado Tree House
As the month of September begins and I’ve paid my end of August/beginning of September bills, I got a bit nervous about my dwindling bank account. In the past, the jobs and money came rolling in. Like clockwork. Not anymore. As many of us are in survival mode these days and may or may not be handling the stress well, I reminded myself this morning to be my own best friend. Be your own cheering section, pat yourself on the back at least once a week and say to yourself, “Hey you’re making a smart and strong effort to propel your career forward, don’t give up. It will be better next week.”
I remember back when I was starting out, I was in my apartment on a Friday evening, looking into the bathroom mirror and being incredibly bummed that my week just sucked. No lab sales, no photography jobs, no licensing opportunities. No money coming in but plenty going out the other way. At that moment I caught myself getting ready to sit on the pitty pot. All of a sudden my mood lifted as I said to myself; “Don’t worry this week wasn’t so hot, but Monday is the beginning of a brand new week and you will create new opportunities and reasons to get out bed and hit the streets.” Self-employed creative professionals must be able to rise from the ashes and begin anew with all the hope and clarity that renewal brings. If we do not train ourselves to continually refresh our outlook and maintain a positive perspective, then either we must get into the safety of a “real” job or perish.
I know it ain’t easy but we have to try, it’s what we signed up for. Hanging out a shingle is exciting but it comes with a lot of responsibility to your self. Deal with it or you will be consumed by the daily struggles of running a one-person business and all that goes with it. Add to this the responsibility of having a family and you are well on your way to Stress Valley. But it is manageable if you’re your own best friend. I give my self atta-boys constantly, I tell myself that tomorrow will be better. I give myself fun tasks to perform the day after a bad day so I don’t spoil on the whole self-employed thing. It must be working, I’ve been at it since 1980.
If you do the right things, perform with integrity and from the right place in your soul, unless you’re a complete jerk, you will survive, succeed and thrive.
Just to let you know it all works out, I booked one shoot today and touched base with a client who is looking to hire me for a consulting project in the next few weeks. I’m also preparing three promotional packages to send out to people I’ve been in contact with and who are looking to expand the group of creative talents they work with. Add into this mix the efforts of my agent Wendi Kaminski and I know things will work out. And tomorrow is Thursday, my best day of the week for phone work!
Which leads me to my next post: How to determine the best times of day and best days of the week for specific tasks.
Till next time…..
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August 31, 2009 at 5:15 PM (Education, Professional)
Tags: karma, mentor, parlay, sales, success
Camera Girl
So today’s entry is about leverage, more specifically how to parlay one job into the next. For this discussion I will review one of my latest projects, a group portrait for Disney Animation Studios. Read the Group Portraits and all that Schtick entry to get some background info on the actual shoot.
As some of you may be aware I had an ongoing business relationship with The Walt Disney Company from 1982 through 2001. During this time I maintained excellent interpersonal relationships with about eighty different buyers throughout the company’s many divisions. I produced quality work for them, on time and with the gratitude that comes with being self-employed. They had chosen me to work with them and I was grateful. I generated a lot of good karma during this time. For a variety of reasons (9/11 being one of them), it declined and eventually stopped in early 2002.
Let’s forward to 2008. My teaching career is starting to decline (low student enrollments and the recession) so to take up the slack, I head back into the photography business more or less full-time. I have an agent, Wendi Kaminski who has been working with me to develop new work. I’m also working it on my end and have been getting back in touch with some of my past Disney connections. Slow going for sure but I am finally getting some traction. A professional colleague was booked for the group portrait but became unavailable when the date changed. So who ya gonna call? Exactly.
I was mentored early in my career by three different men, a photographer, a software engineer and a sales professional. The photographer told me that you have to put it out there in an honest and positive way and that karma will bring good things back to you. You cannot dictate the time or place, but it will find you as that is how the world behaves. At the time, being young and impressionable (as opposed to being old and impressionable), I bought into his philosophy hook line and sinker. This belief system has served me well. I have seen it work for me many, many times and I have seen it work for others.
In this instance when this colleague called me I was surprised, touched (that he would think of me) and not really surprised at all. I had been thinking about how to get in touch with some of these past Disney clients and this golden opportunity opens up before me. I look at my photography assignments holistically and in this case, I saw that if I could split this assignment into two separate photographs, I could send this second photograph to another division and perhaps develop a new contact and sale. I was also compelled to look for an opportunity to sell to another division because out of professional courtesy I agreed to not solicit my colleagues’ client for additional work. But nothing was said about other buyers/clients within the company. This second photograph was of the building by itself. After running the files through an HDRI Photoshop plugin, I printed it and sent it to the correct person within the division of Disney that handles architectural photography.
He was impressed and as of this writing, asked me to call him on Monday so we could talk about the photograph I sent and the potential for getting an assignment or two from him. He is the decision maker and the one person I needed to meet in order to get new work.
There is always a way to parlay one good action into another, but you have to think first and act second. And persevere. Until the people I’m trying to sell to say no and tell me I’m wasting my time, I see every contact as a sales opportunity. These opportunities are always present, it is up to you have to bring them alive.
Sort of like Frankenstein only not as scary.
Do good work out there and don’t let others impede your forward motion.
Cheers!
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August 17, 2009 at 5:52 AM (Personal, Professional, Training)
Tags: emotion, engineer, KHJ, metrics, sales, trains
Back in the mid-1960’s, there was a show on television called Engineer Bill. Ran weeknights on KHJ. Some of you may recall fondly how innocent and fun kids TV was back then. If you young’uns put on rose colored glasses you’all see what I mean. And it was in B&W no less. And lo-def. And kind of cheesy. OK, maybe it wasn’t that great, but I was in single digits back then and I loved watching each Engineer Bill show.
Which brings me to the point of this post. Engineer Bill had an interactive portion of the show called RED-LIGHT, GREEN-LIGHT. It involved he and the kids at home holding a glass of milk. When he said “GREEN LIGHT”, we began to drink the milk. when he said “RED LIGHT”, we stopped drinking. The trick was to try and finish drinking before he said “RED LIGHT” for the final time. And you had to do it without spilling any on you. It was a fun game and it spilt a lot of milk.
Fast forward to 1988. I’m building up my photography business again (after a catastrophic series of events, yet another blog topic) and it involved making a lot of calls, often referred to as smile-and-dial. It was not uncommon for me to log ten to twelve calls before noon and up to two dozen by the end of the day, which often ran into the early evening. (A side note: self-employed people get to work part-time and also get to decide which twelve hours of the day they get to work.)
In order to stay laser-focused on achieving the goal of any particular call (sales, portfolio appointment, follow-up, pre-production, etc.), I affixed two small red and blue dots to the base of my phone. If a conversation took a turn for the worse I looked at the blue dot to remind me to stay cool and not become the red dot. I am a thermostat not a thermometer, I am in control of how I respond to people, they do not control me. This is a major component of salesmanship, overcoming negativity in a positive way. Easy to say but hard to implement on a consistent basis, especially when staring down the endless twin tunnels of cash flow issues and payment due dates.
Find your own method(s) to help overcome the highs and lows of phone calls for self-employed business professionals. I did and I have to thank Engineer Bill for that.
Good luck!
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