Tag: Business

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Moving Forward

I got a memory today, on Facebook, letting me know that 3 years ago I posted this blog on Journeys of a Hybrid. I read it and started to look back on the last three years.  The website has been updated hundreds of times and the reel has been redone twice. Work has definitely been a mix between still photography and storytelling video and I launched a new project entitled, Like a Woman, about women working in predominately male professions. I also put more effort into my Instagram account bringing new life and eyeballs to my legacy images as well as my new ones.  Please follow me.I’ve been a terrible blogger, and in fact, have disappeared the last few months, but I’ve decided to blog more.  But I will take a different approach and that is to talk about the story behind the making of the photograph or video. I like to learn by example and I hope that others do too.

 

New Website, New Reel, New Look for Kelly/Mooney

It had been far too long since we did a redesign of our website – more than 5 years. Not only the industry (visual communications) has changed in the past 5 years, but so has our KM Logobusiness. More and more, clients are asking us to provide visual solutions in mixed mediums for a variety of uses – print, the web and social media. That’s been true especially with our editorial and corporate clients. It’s rare when a client comes to us for just one photograph for one usage.

With that said, we wanted a new website that would demonstrate the scope of our business. The first thing I did was to define the look and functionality of the website as well as what I wanted the website to communicate to potential buyers. We knew that a template site with just our still images no longer represented our business. We also knew that we wanted a website that would speak to our client’s needs and the services we provide that meet those needs.

My list of must haves for our website:

  • A site I could manage and update easily.
  • A site I could move to another server if I chose to do so.
  • A “scrolling” website. In researching numerous websites, the scrolling or parallax scrolling websites appealed to me and I began to see them everywhere – small and large film companies, graphic designers, non-profits, etc. We wanted a site that told the Kelly/Mooney story.
  • Messaging throughout the site communicating to potential buyers, what we do, the services we provide, how we work and who we are.
  • Intuitive navigation.
  • A site that would not only show our work but our experience as well.

I should point out that before I even got to this point, I had spent over a year culling through a vast archive of our work – literally terabytes of still images and footage – both digital and analog. I did the task over time, sifting through new work and old, trying to distill it down to the best representation of what we do, what we want to do and our self-initiated work, Ultimately sorting through this body of work, not only served the purpose for the website but resulted in a new reel as well.

Challenges:

  • One of the biggest challenges we’ve always had was showing one unique vision because there are two of us. This website shows our combined work throughout the galleries, but it’s the first time we show individual galleries for Kelly & Mooney.
  • New reel – I took 7 hours of footage down to a 90 sec. reel. And then I re-edited it! That doesn’t take into account the time I spent sifting through music selections to pick the right piece for the soundtrack of the reel.
  • Picking images – We have a huge body of work because of the longevity of our careers. Ultimately we selected mostly recent work, but we didn’t want to discount our classic images so we decided to create a legacy gallery.
  • Realizing that I sized the images too big. In addition to the images having long load times, they bogged down the site by adding to the size making it a double-digit Gig file. I had to go back to the images and resize them all. That was not fun as I’m not a big fan of going backward.
  • Finishing the site at the beginning of the summer and then cutting it back all summer long because it was just too overwhelming. No doubt, there’s still editing that should be done on the site but at a certain point, we had to launch. We finally did on Oct. 6, 2015. That in itself was traumatic. Right after we went live, somehow I deleted a critical file, which shut down the site. I was very fortunate that I had great support from our host server who had everything restored within the hour.
  • This is the first time I’ve ever built a website. It was frustrating, challenging and scary. I thought that my limited knowledge of WordPress from working on my blog would be enough to create a WordPress website. It wasn’t, and it has been a huge learning curve for me. But I wasn’t the only one who worked on this website and I’d like to acknowledge the people who helped me through my meltdowns: my partner Tom Kelly, my colleague Jan Klier, and all the lifesavers at DreamHost (our host server) and folks at Envato who designed the WordPress theme.

This will continue to be a work in progress and I welcome comments and suggestions. http://kellymooney.com/

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Photography Contracts, Social Media and Business

I read an interesting article today online about a bride and groom who slammed their wedding photographer on their social media outlets, which allegedly resulted in a loss of business for the photographer and they were ordered to pay $1.08M. House surrounded by construction site, Atlantic City, NJThe article stated that the photographer’s contract required that the client must submit an order form and select a cover photo before the album could be completed (cost of the album was included) and the hi res photos could be released. Even though the couple had signed and submitted an order form, they objected to paying $125 for the cover because they felt that should be part of the album as they explained on their local NBC affiliate. After weeks of going back and forth, the photographer learned that the couple had taken the story to the media saying that the photographer was “holding their pictures hostage”. The couple also made other disparaging statements on social media and blogs, which resulted in a loss of business for the photographer.

After being in business for well over three decades and having been a member of my trade organization ASMP for the same amount of time, I know all about the importance of contracts. In the litigious society we live in, it’s imperative to have a contract when doing business. It’s also important to spell out the details clearly about what is included and what isn’t. In addition, because photographers are always being asked to sign their clients’ contracts, it is critical, yet tedious to scrutinize those contracts before you sign them and be prepared to negotiate terms if they are not acceptable. However, even when contracts have been agreed on and signed, things can still go south as in the case mentioned.

There will always be issues because all humans are different. Ultimately, I think some are honorable and some are not. We live at a time when rumors can go around the globe in a matter of seconds and the lines between truth and lies have been blurred with “alternative facts”. I think it all comes down to common sense and trust. I don’t shy away from social media but I don’t believe everything I read. I don’t think I have ever done business solely online with someone. At the very least I will have a phone conversation with them. There is a lot to be said about having a human connection with someone and what is gained by doing so.

The bottom line is that while it is incredibly important to have a contract when doing business that doesn’t mean it will always end well. It all depends on the human variables as far as how the story will end.

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10 Things Freelancers (Photographers & Filmmakers) Should Do in 2017

Marathon swimming, East River, New York City

Be optimistic – I’m going to start with the hardest one of all, because it’s really difficult to be optimistic these days. But I find that if I can maintain a positive attitude and turn my thoughts to what is possible, I actually open myself up to more opportunities in my life, instead of creating more roadblocks.

Be open to possibilities. – Be more flexible in how you perceive things and who you are. Change is always happening, but it’s usually gradual. Most people don’t take notice until “change” forces their hand to act. It’s always better to be proactive than reactive so embrace “change” as an ever-present fact of life that creates opportunities for those who are open to seeing them.

Collaborate – Photographers are very independent creatures and collaboration is not part of their norm. As the “photography” business continues to change, photographers will find that collaborating with other artists will make their own businesses stronger. There is so much more to running a business than there used to be. While social media marketing has opened up numerous possibilities, it can also be overwhelming to a solo photographer. You can’t do it all. Work with people who can bring out each other’s strong suits.

Diversify – I’m not quite so sure why so many photographers are so rigid in how they define who they are and what they do. Having a “style” is great, but the trick is to not to be so narrowly defined by that style, so that when styles change, you don’t find yourself obsolete by your own design. It’s kind of like being type cast, where your audience or your clients can only see you in one way. Diversifying might be creating a whole new niche of your business. I recently created a business niche that is more geared toward the retail market. We create high end “Ken Burns” style family biography videos to preserve a family’s legacy with personal interviews with ones loved ones combined with old photos and home movies.

Concentrate on “the story”– I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of still photographers and filmmakers this past year and I began to notice a difference in the conversations I was having with each. Most times, filmmakers would be telling me a story, whereas still photographers would be telling me how they executed a photograph, or essentially telling me the “back story” of the creation of the image. It’s all interesting but “the story” is the bottom line – if that doesn’t come through to the viewer – the rest doesn’t matter – including how it was executed.

Be authentic – be true to yourself. That means that you have to trust your gut instead of second guessing it. This is hard, especially when things don’t always work out the way you had hoped. Step away from the “noise” and listen to the voice inside.

Fail more. – Rejection is a tough pill to swallow but it usually means that you are either pushing yourself to try new things, you are too far ahead of your time or it just wasn’t meant to be. If you look at successful people you’ll see that most have had failures and rejections in their lives but they stuck with it – instead of letting failure defeat them.

Self-Initiate more projects. – I don’t like to call non-commissioned work, “personal projects”. That co notates that there is no monetary value, and these days just the opposite could be true. With more and more lopsided contracts being presented to photographers for commissioned work a photographer has a better chance to make more money and keep ownership of their work by creating self-initiated projects. But they need to be prepared to work hard. We’ve been working on a project entitled “Like A Woman” where we shoot environmental portraits and a short video about women who are working in traditionally male professions. It is a subject I know all too well after working in the career of photography and now filmmaking my entire adult life.

Forget about the past and learn from mistakes. – You can’t change the past but you can learn from it and then, move on. Look toward the future but make sure you take time to enjoy the “now”.

In the scheme of things, you’re just one small speck in the universe. – I think we all get way too stressed about things that really don’t matter and we let those things control our life. When we become more conscious of that, we really begin to live life.

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Business Tips for Photographers in a Multiple Media World

In the blogging sphere of photography and video there is a lot written about gear and how to use it, but precious little written about business.  Chances are, if you are photographer who has been in business for more than 10 years then you know that technology has not only changed our tools, it has changed the way we do business.

For starters we are doing business in a global economy and with that comes pluses and minuses.

Cuba-3858
Havana, Cuba

One huge plus is that we are able to reach a much wider audience than ever before. That is if you have an understanding of how to do that and take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.  One minus or downside is if we don’t adapt our dated business models in a business that has seen monumental changes we won’t be able to compete.

As commercial photographers we are in the visual communications business.  We create imagery that delivers a message or tells a story for a variety of markets including; advertising, corporate, architectural, editorial and others.  Each market has a need for visual content and these days that encompasses both still photography and video.  In the last couple of years the lines dividing these two mediums have faded away at least in terms of how content is consumed in our culture. What’s next – VR (virtual reality)?

Here are a couple of tips to help photographers prosper in our multi-media world:

  • Decide what your company will offer.  Will you only provide still imagery?  Or will you expand your business and offer both still photography and video? Are you quick to answer the question with; “I don’t want anything to do with video” ? The problem with that answer is that most of your clients probably have a dual need for stills and video.  Are you going to send them away to your competition?  Or will you keep your clients in house and take care of their video needs by hiring or outsourcing? That’s a different way of thinking and has the potential to broaden your revenue stream.
  • Decide what role you will play if your company does offer video?  Will you be the director and work with a camera operator?  Or will you assume the role of a DP (Director of Photography) and direct as well as operate the camera?
  • What will you outsource and what will you keep in house?  Maybe you want to expand your business by offering both still photography and motion but you’d prefer to just shoot the still photography and outsource the video.  In that case you could assume the role of the producer and oversee or outsource the video production.
  • Reassess your insurance.  Video productions have a lot more variables. They also usually have larger crews.  More than likely you will need to upgrade your current insurance policy to accommodate and cover that.
  • Change your paperwork.  Make sure that you go through your talent and property releases and modify the language for multi-media.  Change any and all boilerplate contract language to include video (motion).
  • Licensing.  Regardless, if you decide not to expand into video production you will have to contend with the fact that your still images won’t always be used in a stand-alone fashion.  Many still images will be commissioned and/or licensed as part of multi-media projects and that has a dramatic effect on licensing. And if you do decide to expand into video production you too will be licensing other people’s work.
  • Understand new business models.  Let’s face it things have changed in the business of photography.  Photography has become ubiquitous and the competition is fierce.  You are not only competing with professional photographers – you’re competing with semi-pros, amateurs AND video production companies.  One thing is certain, it’s never been more important to have an understanding of multiple mediums and to be unique and stand out amongst the noise. There are no templates you should follow.  Be authentic and true to yourself.
  • Keep an eye out for the next big thing. At this year’s NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) Virtual Reality had a big presence. I’m not quite sure if it’s for me but I will follow the trend and keep my options open.

Check out more tips and information in my ePub The Craft and Commerce of Video and Motion.

 

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Pricing, Photographers & the Race to the Bottom

The bottom is getting crowded.

I read Seth Godin’s blog daily. He’s usually concise and right on target. His post entitled,”Clawing your way to the bottom” really hits the mark as far as what professional photographers and other visual creators are up against.

I used to make a lot of money shooting stock – that is before the consolidation of agencies and the commoditization of stock. While it’s understandable why that happened when the world went “digital”, the prices and value of images has dropped so far that an “average” stock shooter can no longer make a living shooting stock.

I’m grateful that I never relied solely on stock photography to make a living. However, commissioned photography has not escaped the race to the bottom as far as photographers pricing themselves out of business. There’s only so low one can go on their fees. It’s a short fix to nowhere.

The solution is there for anyone who is willing to do the work – that is, make the effort to stay at the top of your game. Focus on the big picture. Be curious. Don’t panic. Stay away from trends., Focus on the story – not on the gear. Tell them a story. Live life because if you don’t – your work will show it.

 

 

 

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What I Would Say to my 30-Year-Old Self

Most folks would write about what they would say to their 20-year-old self, but I chose to address myself a decade later when I’ve had some time to experience more of life.

You’ll be OK – How many of us have thought at times that things will never work out? I have survived a lot of experiences that I thought I would never get through. I’ve done some stupid things and made some dumb decisions. Some have taken their toll but I’m OK.

Don’t confuse “young” with “emerging” – It’s common in our culture to equate youth with fresh or emerging. Don’t tell yourself that this will be the only time in your life that you will “emerge”. I was young when I first started out but I am only now “emerging” in terms of my craft. I am creating from a lifetime of experience and my authentic self.

 Business is personal – Relationships are what it’s all about. People will come and go in your life in both business and personal. Be mindful of the relationships that have value and keep those connections secure. As singer/songwriter Don Henley wrote, “you get the best light from a burning bridge”.

Don’t preach to the choir – Don’t just hang out with likeminded people. It’s boring and provincial. Broaden your perspective by connecting with people who are different ages, genders, races or religions. It will bring more understanding and tolerance in your life and others.

Don’t be a quitter – but know when to walk away – I tell folks, “I’m not a quitter. I don’t even walk out of a bad movie”. I’m tenacious and it has gotten me far in my life. At a film festival where I won best documentary, I told a filmmaker that I might have never started to make my movie if I knew that I would still be involved with it, 3 years later. He told me “that’s normal” and then said “you’ll know when it’s time to walk away”. I have found that to be true with all kinds of things – not just making movies.

Make each day count – I’m paraphrasing a bit,

LeonardoTitanic
Leonardo di Caprio, Titanic

but in the movie Titanic, Leonardo di Caprio’s character, Jack makes a remark about making each day count. I love that scene. Life goes by in a blink.

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5 Ways to Leap Forward and Get Unstuck

Roller skaters jump over teammates, Tokyo, JapanIt’s February 29th and that means we all get an extra day this year. Let’s celebrate leap year by taking action to leap forward – not just today, but every day this year and every year.

  • Finish something you started. This could be anything from an online course, a book you put down, a personal project etc. I always tell myself that a start is a start to nowhere if you don’t finish it.
  • Identify one thing that you’ve talked yourself out of (for all the right reasons) and take action on it. This could lead to the start of something. After you’ve faced your fear or resistance and have overcome your inertia – follow up with a plan for completion.
  • Toss out one bad habit. It’s easy to fall into a rut with bad habits. Identify one bad habit and change it. Start easy. If you find yourself starting your day in an unproductive manner change it. If you begin your day by checking your emails and then letting it consume your entire morning then start your day by tackling something that you keep putting off before you get distracted by someone else’s urgency.
  • Get rid of the resistance in your life. Are you letting toxic people derail you? Misery loves company but I’d rather hang out with people who energize me than those who bring me down. There are plenty of people on both sides of the misery camp. Surround yourself with those who add value to your life and stay away from those who suck the life out of you.
  • Tell yourself you can. Take notice how often you stop yourself by telling yourself you can’t. Really take note and every time you find yourself in that default mode of “I can’t” – tell yourself you can. You are your thoughts so be careful of what you tell yourself.
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Why Playing it Safe is Bad for Business

Gladys Mooney on motorcycle
My grandmother on a motorcycle. circa 1920’s or ’30’s.

Have you ever talked yourself out of doing something that you felt passionate about?

Have you ever bought into others’ advice, even though it was contrary to your own beliefs?

If you answered yes to either question then you are like most of us humans, and you second-guess yourself by buying into your fears.

Now ask yourself – Did anything good ever come out of NOT doing something? Other than stopping yourself from following foolish pursuits that may have put you in harms way, stopping yourself probably never led to a positive outcome. In my experience whenever I stopped myself from following my own instincts, it not only didn’t move me forward – it set me back.

So, why do we let resistance keep us from what we are meant to do? It’s fear of the unknown. And why do we let others’ resistance and fears stop us from taking a leap of faith? Can other people predict the outcome anymore than we can? Just because something didn’t work for someone else doesn’t mean it won’t work for you or me. There just are too many variables that play a part in whether someone succeeds or fails.

I’ll make one prediction – If you stop yourself from pursuing your big idea or even your small idea – it won’t happen.

So why are you letting resistance rule your life? That’s just plain stupid.

Watch this and then ask yourself – what are you waiting for?

 

 

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7 Things I Learned About the Business of Photography

It’s a Business – You may catch some lucky breaks in your career or you may be an incredibly gifted photographer – but if you want to make a living taking pictures and sustain yourself financially,

Times Square New York City

you will need to manage your art and your career as a business. That means find a way to make a profit in pursuing your craft.

It’s Not Personal – Keep emotions out of your business decisions. This is a tough thing to manage because it’s usually at odds with the passion that energizes the creative side of you. I think my best work is very personal but I try to avoid the pitfalls of letting my emotions cloud my business decisions that are in my best interests. That could mean walking away from a job or a bad contract.

You’re Selling Value – If want to make money and stay in business, you need to understand your value or your photography’s value in the marketplace. Are you unique, have special skills or access to places other don’t, have one of a kind images, or are you simply a really good professional photographer who a client can hire with complete confidence? The answer to that question can help you assess your value in the marketplace. If you don’t know what your value is, then it will be very tough to sell yourself. You can’t sell what you don’t believe in.

“Always be Marketing” – I learned this from James Malinchak – America’s Big Money Speaker. I’ve never been comfortable selling myself, which is somewhat odd in that my dad was a great salesman. It always felt a bit disingenuous to me to toot my own horn, and no doubt I missed a lot of opportunities by not doing so. It’s tough to sell ones self and many of us are better off having a rep or an agency do that for us. But, I have found that the best marketing happens organically, when I’m at conference or a social gathering and connections are more personal.

Be Proactive Not Reactive – Change is inevitable. If you want to sustain your business, you can’t get complacent. Keep in mind two things: 1. Nothing lasts forever and 2. There will always be cycles of ups and downs. As Robert Frank said the other night when I heard him speak “Keep your eyes open”. He said that in answer to the question, “What advice would you give students?” and I’m sure he was speaking about creativity, but if you allow yourself to become complacent as an artist – your business will surely suffer.

Don’t Burn Bridges – Singer/songwriter Don Henley wrote; don-henley-don-henley-sometimes-you-get-the-best-light-from-a-burning“Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge”. Isn’t that the truth? It’s also a lesson that I have learned the hard way. Think twice before you say something or react in a way that might come back to bite you.

Relationships are Key – Most business people will tell you that their best clients have been from referrals. It’s a lot easier to create a bond with a new client when you have already been vetted. Some relationships are easier to manage than others. Some are good and some are toxic. It’s up to you to sort through which relationships you want to nurture or abandon.

More practical tips can be found in The Craft and Commerce of Video and Motion

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The Value of the Experienced (Old) Photographer

I don’t think of my self as old, except at times when a part of my body doesn’t act or react the way it used to. But, I would say that many of my colleagues would call me old, chronologically speaking. The premature deaths of Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Natalie Cole and Alan Rickman – all in the span of a few weeks and all in their late ‘60’s, has given me pause to look at my own mortality. It has also given me resolve to make the most of each day.

The fact is there is nothing we can do about our age.

Gail Mooney with James Michener, Chesapeake Bay, MD
Gail Mooney with James Michener, Chesapeake Bay Photo © Thomas Kelly

Unlike other things in life that we can change, we can’t change our age. But we don’t need to allow a youth-obsessed culture, define our value. I’ve grown weary of the dismissive attitude our culture has about aging. It’s especially frustrating for me as a photographer, filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur. Creativity comes from the spirit within. Our spirit never ages, so neither does our desire and need to create. I’ve never felt more in tune with my spirit and my authentic self than I do now. I never imagined that would happen at this point in my life but I’ve never felt more creatively alive.

I get bewildered and frustrated when society perceives my value as somehow diminished, simply because of my age, but then I look at my assets.

  • Experience – There are no short-cuts when it comes to experience. It’s earned over years of trial and error on the job and in life.
  • Problem Solving – I wish I had kept track of all the problems I’ve solved on assignments as well as in personal life. Countless decisions and consequences to learn from. I’ve gotten pretty good at it.
  • Creativity – I take more chances and push myself in terms of my craft now, than at any other time in my career. I’m not afraid to try something different because I realize that failure is part of the process. So, I hate it when getting older is equated with getting stale. Sure, some folks do but there are so many people in my generation that are still incredibly vibrant and innovative. Check out my latest personal project, “Like A Woman”, short films and still portraits of women working in male-dominated professions.
  • Perspective – I’ve lived through profound changes in the span of my life. They haven’t always been easy to deal with. Technology has changed everything – how we do business, how we communicate, and how we interact, globally. My generation has experienced both the analog and the digital world. Hopefully, most of us are able to see the merits of each. Change is inevitable, it always has been. I’ve been around long enough to experience many cycles of change, and I can tell you for certain, nothing lasts forever. I try not to let change intimidate me, but rather let it excite me to embrace what it has to offer. That has opened me up to all sorts of possibilities.
  • Wisdom – It’s true that we get wiser as we age but only because we’ve had a lot more mistakes to learn from. Whether we’ve learned from our heartbreaks or from the stupid things we’ve done, we’ve grown despite it. Wisdom is kind of like experience – there are no short-cuts to getting there.

I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this topic and their perspectives.

 

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