The Real Business of Photography


Book Description

This honest, tell-all guide is written by one of the best-known players of the media photography business. Drawing from decades of experience as a working photographer and industry leader, the author defies popular business myths and trend-driven behavior by providing a fresh, common-sense approach to running a photography business. The essentials of running a photography business are covered-from setting a strategic vision to managing finances.




The Successful Professional Photographer


Book Description

Learn how to confidently build a thriving and profitable career as a professional wedding or portrait photographer!

For nearly a decade, renowned wedding and portrait photographer Roberto Valenzuela has been sharing his vast knowledge and unique, systematic approach to making photographs as he has taught workshops around the world and written five critically acclaimed and bestselling books that cover composition, posing, lighting, and wedding photography (his Picture Perfect and Wedding Storyteller series of books). He has helped countless photographers improve their craft.

But the truth is that you can create the most amazing photos…yet still have a failing business. And what’s the point of being a great photographer if you can’t build a career, pay your bills, and feed your family? In order to create a thriving business, you need a different kind of knowledge and a new set of tools to succeed. In The Successful Professional Photographer, for the first time Roberto turns his focus on the business and marketing of your photography so that you can build and sustain a highly profitable business as a wedding and portrait photographer. Roberto shares all his hard-earned knowledge regarding finding clients, marketing and presenting your work, and getting paid what you deserve. Topics include:

    • Best practices and strategies for Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook
    • Being found through SEO
    • Promoting yourself and your work
    • The role that testimonials and reviews play in your success
    • Creating long-term client relationships
    • Forming personal connections with clients with promo videos
    • Why you should feature your work in publications
    • Pricing your work and the gentle art of the up-sell
    • Understanding and conveying the crucial importance of selling prints

While the photographs you create are the core of your work as a photographer—being exceptional at your craft is a must—that’s only half of the formula you need for building and sustaining success. The other half of the formula is here, in The Successful Professional Photographer. Implement the strategies and techniques outlined here, and you’ll have everything you need to succeed and build a long, prosperous, fulfilling career as a wedding or portrait photographer.

Foreword by Luke Edmonson




Selling Your Photography


Book Description

Selling Your Photography is the road map to help photographers find their way through the complexities of the marketplace and get their images published! This insider’s guide examines magazines, newspapers, books, posters, greeting cards, calendars, brochures, print and Web advertisements, annual reports, and more. Chapters cover how to: • Break into diverse markets • Shoot and sell stock and assignment photography • Find advertising, corporate, editorial, and merchandise segment clients • Work with photo editors, art directors, and communication directors • Market your photography • Develop good business habits • License and price your work • Get new clients through past publication • Make additional sales with the same photographs. Anyone who plans to have his or her images published will need this handy guide. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.




Photography Q&A


Book Description

For years, editorial and commercial photographer Zack Arias has been a respected and trusted voice in the photography industry. Known for his photography, his teaching, and his ability to connect with photographers, Zack has long had an “open door” approach to discussing his career–the ups and the downs–and in so doing has provided a straightforward and candid look inside the industry. By consistently showing great work and offering helpful advice, he has built a large, loyal readership that looks to him for guidance in navigating the currents of a difficult and dynamic industry. Now, Zack finds yet another way to cut through the noise and offer truly valuable information to those struggling to make their way through the twists and turns of an ever-changing landscape. In Photography Q&A, Zack answers over 100 questions that he fielded directly from the public. These are questions that range across all aspects of the photo industry: gear, marketing, street photography, vision, pricing, branding, light, models, work/life balance, technical advice, and much more. From how to “put yourself out there” and start to get jobs, to how to get paid for those jobs when the client is slow to cut the check–and everything in between– Photography Q&A answers many of the pressing questions that photographers are asking, but until now have not been addressed. The book also includes intermittent “Visual Intermission” sections–where Zack discusses individual images that were milestones in his development as a photographer–as well as worksheets on topics such as pricing and costs that help photographers to “know their numbers.” With all this material, and with insightful, honest answers that come straight from Zack’s experience as a photographer who has seen it all (or at least a lot of it), Photography Q&A is an essential resource for any photographer looking for the real answers to the real questions in the industry today.




Crisis of the Real


Book Description

... His interpretations and critical views have helped shpae a broad understanding of photography's complex roles in art and in the media. This volume is the first compilation of his work.




Real Fantasies


Book Description




Licensing Photography


Book Description

Today, photographers can make every image pay and pay again by controlling and pricing the rights to their work. In Licensing Photography, a veteran photographer and a respected attorney team up to present the complex subject of licensing of clear, understandable terms. With this step-by-step guide, readers will be able to forge successful, legally sound, and profitable agreements. Digitial imaging and Internet technology mean the market for licensing is bigger than ever—and Licensing Photography helps every photographer get a piece of the pie. • All the tools a photographer needs to craft licensing agreements, price licenses, and negotiate fees • Real-life examples, sample agreements, Q&A section, plus legal advice in layman's terms Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.




The Real Cuba - Black and White Street Photography


Book Description

Twenty-first century Cuba is culturally rich, economically poor and yet has an energy that is infectiously uplifting. It was eighteen years ago when Sarah, a photographer, first travelled to Cuba, so she was pleasantly surprised to find that on her second visit in 2013, visibly, not a great deal had changed. There is no McDonalds or garish neon advertising, and the old Chevrolet cars are still everywhere in 2013 Cuba. Cuba is an alluring country trapped in a 1950’s time warp - well-suited to capturing in black and white photography.Discovering the real Cuba on foot is the only way to explore the ‘gritty reality’ of the place. In this photographic book, Sarah wanders the back streets of beautiful Havana, the classical french architectural city of Cienfuegos and the enchanting 19th century colonial town of Trinidad, capturing the daily lives on the street - the real essence of Cuba.




Real Photo Postcard Guide


Book Description

The Real Photo Postcard Guide is an informative, comprehensive, and practical treatment of this wildly popular American phenomenon that dominated the United States photographic market during the first third of the twentieth century. Robert Bogdan and Todd Weseloh draw on extensive research and observation to address all aspects of the photo postcard from its history, origin, and cultural significance to practical matters like dating, purchasing, condition, and preservation. Illustrated with over 350 exceptional photo postcards taken from archives and private collections across the country, the scope of the Real Photo Postcard Guide spans technical considerations of production, characteristics of superior images, collecting categories, and methods of research for dating photo postcards and investigating their photographers. In a broader sense, the authors show how "real photo postcards" document the social history of America. From family outings and workplace awards to lynchings and natural disasters, every image captures a moment of American cultural history from the society that generated them. Bogdan and Weseloh’s book provides an admirable integration of informative text and compelling photographic illustrations. Collectors, archivists, photographers, photo historians, social scientists, and anyone interested in the visual documentation of America will find the Real Photo Postcard Guide indispensable.




The Freelance Photographer’s Guide To Success


Book Description

Grounded in real-life experiences and scenarios, this practical guide offers editorial, non-profit, foundation, and corporate photographers an honest and insightful approach to running a freelance photography business. Pulling from thirty years of experience as a freelance photographer, veteran Todd Bigelow presents a timely and detailed account of the methods and tactics best used to navigate and succeed in the profession. He explores the topics that define the business of freelancing, including: analyzing photography contracts; creating and maintaining an image archive; licensing for revenue; client development; registering for copyright; combating copyright infringement; and understanding tax issues, freelance business structures, and more. Chapters feature examples of real contract clauses and emails to better prepare readers for the practical daily activities that are essential to growing a success business. Likewise, Bigelow shares conversational anecdotes throughout to provide real insight into the world of freelancing. Based on the author’s sought-after Business of Photography Workshop, this book is an essential guide for emerging, mid-career, and experienced photographers interested in starting or improving their own freelance business.