My only wish is that someone had shown up wearing a NASA spacesuit. That would’ve been amazing!

Several times over the past few years my website contact info – email and phone number – has gotten hijacked and I get numerous phone calls and email messages from various service providers. In the past it’s been home repair services with Sears, real estate “I  hear that you’re selling your property” and today it was mortgage refinance loans. (There’s a 4th scam in there but don’t remember the type of service.) This is a major pain in the backside. It can go on for a month before the calls and emails will finally stop. Yes, I tell every caller, return every email that I am not interested. The folks contacting me also have my sympathy because they’re not the instigators of the problem. Most immediately apologize and take me off their lists, but these lists are distributed to many businesses, hence I get lots of calls/emails. Obviously I can’t take down my website info – potential clients need to find me – but when one problem ends, I wonder how long before the next one starts. I can’t be the only one with this problem. Anyone want to share?

We all know that this is a tough “new” economy and I wonder how successful college grads will be in looking for work in their fields. But I also wonder what would I do if I was in my 20′s, finishing school and wanted to be a photographer. Where would I start looking for work? I was a staff photographer for the first 20 years of my working life, and staff positions still exist, but not as many, and I’m not sure where. Plus, I assume, the photographers in those jobs aren’t leaving until they retire. Newspapers are also laying off staff and TV news channels are relying on the “public” to share their pictures with them (CNN Lays off Staff). Photographers interested in stock photography will discover the falling of prices and competition from the general “non-pro” shooter who posts their images on Flickr and Getty decides to use those images. “Yikes! Ma. I gotta compete against some guy who just happened to get a lucky shot, or if my image is chosen they’re gonna pay me only $3?!” (Time Magazine uses iStock photo dirt cheap.) Then there is assisting other photographers to learn the ropes on both the business and technical side. I never assisted. I landed my staff position and when I was laid off, just like all those other photographers, I opened my own business. What I needed at that point was assistance in learning how to “run” a business so I struggled through it but I wonder how many “new” photographers are getting the opportunity to assist and learn. I say this because I see many seasoned pros turning to “educating” the newcomer – lectures for a fee. And other pros who are leaving the photo business thus not providing opportunities for the newbie to assist and learn. And other photographers, like myself, who are reasonably busy but don’t hire assistants because the jobs don’t demand it. I’m getting more and more requests from recent college grads wanting to assist. I know that I’m not the only one they’re contacting, but I always feel  bad when I have to say that I don’t need their help. It’s always been a scary world, but it just feels like it’s getting scarier, at least if you’re looking for work as a photographer.

The image above was taken as a test shot before taking the actual portrait. It was used as a background for the portrait.

Half the problems in life are not listening. Whether we’re listening to our wives, husbands, moms and dads, they tell us something but our thoughts are elsewhere. This  also applies to our jobs. Our clients/employers provide info on what they want. Our job is to listen and, hopefully, enhance what they’re asking for. On a recent assignment last year I had to capture a portrait of an employee in a toy store without any brand identification. In other words, I couldn’t photograph the person in front of any Barbie dolls or some other famous brand. While it was difficult to find the right angle in the toy store for the portrait, I listened to the client and got the image they needed. Yup, listening helped. It’s a simple task, but one often ignored.

My son is entering his junior year in college. What makes it different is that he’s leaving home. While he’s not completely moving out, he’ll return when school is not in session, it is something that I haven’t really been prepared for. His mother, sister and I dropped him off yesterday at his dorm. We helped in move in, moving all his clothes and other items into his room. He has been very excited about this move, but on the day of the event, he was nervous. I am confident that he will acclimate to his new environment quickly and succeed in his studies, but I’m not so sure how long it will take me to accept this new reality. It’s only one day but I am missing him already and it’s going to be a month before I see him again. The longest we’ve ever been apart was a week, when he went away on vacation with his buddies. I guess that I should consider myself lucky that he’s attending an in-state university and he’s only two and half hours away, and I have texting, email and video conferencing to keep in touch, but he’s not under my roof. I can’t just walk into his room and see him sitting on his bed. His education is an investment in his future – both career and family – but the time I have spent with him has been wonderful. I really don’t want it to end.

The photo above was taken on his first day in kindergarten. It is my absolute favorite picture of him.

I get many hits to my blog and they arrive via internet search. How do people find me? By googling “superhero fill-in-the-blank“. I’m a comic book fan, have attended the New York City ComicCon and have photographed many folks in their super hero outfits. Occasionally I’ll post a photo on my blog to have some fun. Little did I realize that many of my visitors would find my blog, not because I wrote something regarding the current state of photography, but because I have someone in a set of tights. Now if only superheroes were real because maybe then they’d hire me to do their portraits.

Even in the new economy there are some jobs that I wouldn’t be able to do. But also in this new economy it has been difficult to adapt to the new lower pricing clients expect. It is easy to state that everyone wants everything cheaper. Heck, I’m one of those people. But then there’s the problem that many prices are still being raised based on higher fuel costs. So, at the end of the day, what do I do when a client asks how much does the job cost? I see a number of columns with business advisors suggesting “bringing more value to the table”, “improving negotiation skills,” “don’t become a bottom feeder”, etc. but these tactics aren’t helping me. I have more and more calls from people who just want to know “what does it cost?” You can’t negotiate with companies that don’t want talk to you. You’re advised to “find better clients.” Okay, but it seems that there’s fewer of them and harder to find. And then many of us, me included, have lost clients because they now have their own cameras and are happy to accept that their photos are “good enough.”

I do not have unrealistic expectations. I’m not 20 years old anymore thinking that I’m going to be the photographer to the stars. The next George Hurrell. I’m older, just want to pay my bills, have some fun and find some more clients that don’t think that my “modest fee” is still too high.

The window washers above are working on the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.

Regarding SEO, one of the important actions to work on is building quality links between your site and others. Obviously this takes time, and resorting to a “link farm” – companies that readily provide your website with 100s or 1000s of links – is not the way to go. Google will penalize you and you’ll wind up in the “phantom zone” (reference to Superman, for all the fans out there). My main website – RJGreen Photo – has built up a bunch of links. Photographers, many from England, have found my site requesting reciprocal links. (That is, I link to them and they link to me.) On my link pages I offer the option to any photographer wishing to do so, offering my code to input into their websites. While I’m small potatoes compared to the big guys I’m apparently attracting enough attention that non-photographers/photography websites want me to link to them. No, I haven’t received any from adult sites, but I have gotten them from marriage counselors.
I like to keep a check on my “link popularity” by using SEO websites to check my stats. Recently Google changed something with their search algorithm and my stats took a nose dive. Down into the single digits. I checked other websites whose stats I knew were excellent and they also nosed dived so I knew it wasn’t me, but all of my known links have disappeared. One way to check them is to google – links:yourdomain.com. I used to have pages of them. Not any more. Even my best quality links from ASMP are gone.
I know that Google does this periodically to weed out the scammers, but this one was the biggest drop for me. I hope everything rebounds soon.

The image above is how I feel.

Happy New Year!

It’s the final day of the year. New Year’s Eve. It’s been a year with big ups – a trip to England – and near catastrophes – my car on fire. Wow. Never a dull moment.
My resolutions for the new year – 1) No robbing banks. 2) Do not start smoking. 3) Forget about being an astronaut. 4) Flying like Superman is simply not possible. 5) Start planning my next vacation.
Many people have difficulty keeping their resolutions. The trick is, make ones that you can. I know that I can keep mine.
Happy New Year to all.
(The image above was taken in London of the London Eye.)