Photography Business Whats your budget.

The first thing your probably going to need to establish coming into the Photography Business is your budget.

The amount of funding required to get going, don't think of just photography equipment. You will need a budget for training, travel, website the list will be quite substantial.
Get used to this kind of thinking because it's important to establish your start up and working budget and also the client budgets as you branch out commercially.

Draft up a first year projection P & L and Balance sheet.
Its easy to incur costs and even easier to under price jobs which will reduce your margin. It will be important to perform financially covering all costs now and in the future plus make a living.

Understand the different elements involved in pricing jobs and the value of your work when completed, don't be a busy fool.

If you have never costed your work maybe you should log the time and resources involved, often jobs at the lower end up eating up more resources than you think.

Plan to be successful.

Dancer Shoot - the Amazing Manuela.

Manuela came to me via her agency for a portfolio update, I was running a group shoot. Why a group? well dancers can be quite difficult to work with from experience so running a session with a few can help them settle quicker.

I haven't come accross a dancer not confident when performing, however put them in front of a camera and they can stall. It's no biggie, this is where a group dynamic and some music can help, they are used to working as a team so they often help each other with getting the right shape/look and so on.
Dancers are highly critical, so time allowing it pays to work at a slower, more deliberate pace.

These shots with Manuela we taken within the first 20 frames of her shoot, going last in the group Manuela knew the look she wanted and nailed it.

VIDEO committed for MODELS.com

Just in time for Fashion Week madness, Casey Brooks rounded up a circle of today's coolest models outfitted in clinical fashion and set them loose on set to create "Commited", her high energy fashion video set to the sounds of Santigold

See the full story at models.com

MIlan Fashion Week MENS f/w 13 with familiar faces.

These two male models are in demand, both are over in Milan for the Mens Fashion week F/W 2013 shows.

I have photographed both models, it is a certainty that they will be busy in New York, London, Milan and Paris this year.

They are a photographers dream to work with.

Wishing Jake, Jourdan and AMCK their mother agency a great year.

VIDEO LIU WEN in Model Behaviour.

Model Liu wen is Represented by

• Paris | Marilyn Agency
• New York | Marilyn Model Mgmt
• London | Select Model Management
• Milan | d'management group

We see their elegant images everywhere, but what are our favorite models really like? Director Harrison Boyce sets to find out in his appealing new Model Behavior film for Dazed & Confused, which focuses on elegant Estee Lauder face Liu Wen and her engaging personality.

The film follows Liu as she travels around the streets of Manhattan looking pristine as ever, but revealing amusing anecdotes about her life and interests. We learn about her first job, favorite hobby and why she loves dancing – even though she’s not very good at it. Take an exclusive first look here and fall for Liu all over again.

View the complete Liu Wen editorial shot by Benjamin Alexander Huseby & styled by Robbie Spencer on dazeddigital.com

See more of the Dazed & Confused December issue on dazeddigital.com

Original post can at models.com here

Starting Your Photography Business

So you may be thinking of starting your photography business, be sure you understand what is involved in starting a business.

It’s important to have in place a business plan, an understanding of sales and marketing, financial budget and know who is your competition. 

There is a lot more like break even point, cash flow etc. Get the basics covered to be sure of a good start.

My biggest piece of advice to anyone new in the business is to take a small business class, get some kind of sales training.. It doesn’t matter how great your photographs are or how good your equipment is if you can’t sell your work.

 

With a solid plan in place you will likely have less stress and more time and energy to focus on your photography rather than fire fighting, making your output better and be more creative.

Get organised, be fearless, push out there.

Make The Space Work with Dynamic Content

Make the available web space work, whether with you do this video or animated frames, engage the viewer the best you can.

Original images by Rad Hourani for Exit Magazine, as featured at models.com

Alan Bailey Writer, Actor and model.

Photographed Alan Bailey a few weeks ago, a hugely talented guy who is a writer, actor and model.

He has written and acted in his feature film The 9th the movie trailer is below.

The 9th Official Trailer from The Film Mill on Vimeo.

His film project sounded amazing. The 9th will make it's debut at one of the big film festivals this year, my feeling it will be a huge success so watch out for him and the film.

Here are a few of the shots we took when we met.

Focus on Imaging 3 - 6 MARCH 2013.

Catch me at Focus on Imaging 2013 NEC BIRMINGHAM 3 - 6 MARCH.

FOCUS ON IMAGING is Europe's biggest annual imaging show, covering all your needs from image capture through to output and beyond. Whether you are a professional image maker or processor, a buyer of image making equipment or materials, a manufacturer or distributor of products or a keen hobbyist, a visit to FOCUS ON IMAGING is a must. 

I will be going along to FOCUS with the great people of Calumet

Blogging - When the stats sore.

I have been blogging for a few years now and it never ceases to surprise me how popular certain posts are.

Month after month they draw consistent viewers, however from time to time due to the subject being in the news or a feature in the press the hits shoot up.

The last few days has seen such a spike with one model I shot a number of time over the last few years.

A Google search quickly reveals what is going on in their lives, always interesting from my perspective.

So...Blogging Tip of the day
The key to making your web content search engine friendly and to maximise your drawing potential is to make sure you enter a relevant title in the H1 field, titling images.

Keep the title relevant

Happy blogging.

Photography Business - Making it pay.

One question that gets asked a lot about the Photography Business is How to make it pay.

For the occasional shooter being honest it is unlikely you will be able to make anything out of photography. Coming into it to make money from the get go is going to leave you disappointed.

My first P & L reflects my lack of success, when I got to a certain point I knew tht this was no sprint, more of an iron man event.

Whether you intend to be a full time pro or a serious amateur one thing to keep in mind is to have fun, embrace your mistakes.