Last week I talked about jump-starting a business that’s stalled, but it’s a completely different challenge if you’re just starting out.   Many of the components are the same, but it’s a little different approach, since your goal is going to be twofold – getting your business started, while at the same time building brand-awareness for you and your company. 

Keep in mind, just like jump-starting an established business I’m assuming you understand the skill set!  I’m taking it for granted you understand exposure, composition and already work with a great lab!  Seriously, don’t underestimate the importance of the skills to create great images – no amount of publicity, networking and marketing will help you get established if people don’t love the images they see!

The Community:

Personally, I absolutely believe this where it all starts.  You need to be involved and I’ve written a lot about it.  People like buying products and services from companies they perceive as giving something back.  You’re looking for the community to be good to you, so you’d better be sure you’re good to your community. 

There are lots of ways to get involved and most involve volunteer work – PTA, Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Rotary, Exchange Club, community events, local charities, even helping out at a specific event that might be a fund-raiser, Little League dinners, soccer events etc.   The key is just getting people to know who you are and while you might be the new kid in town, you want everybody to understand it’s your town too and you’re there to help.

Networking:

New business new community means building a new network.  You need to get to know every business in town, especially those that might be targeting the same consumers you are.  For example, a wedding photographer needs to get to know the florist, the limo company, bridal salon, wedding planners, venues etc.  A children’s photographer should get to know the local children’s shops, pediatricians, barbers and salons etc.  A commercial shooter should invest some time in getting to know any business that might be producing catalogs, brochures, annual reports etc.

I still love the Dawn Shields model.  Dawn is in Missouri and established a monthly networking luncheon of everybody associated with the wedding business.  Everyone pays ten dollars for lunch and they get together once a month to just network, talk about business etc.  In the process they all get to know each other.

When networking, this isn’t just about building awareness with non-competing companies – get to know your competitors.  The strongest photographers in our industry have a network of counterparts they refer business to as well.  They work together and often cross-promote each other.  Let’s face it, at some point you’ll have a conflict and won’t be able to take on a new assignment.  Or, maybe you won’t have the skill-set, but you’ll have a friend who does. 

An effective network isn’t just about the number of people you know, but how well they compliment each other as well as fill in the gaps for what you might personally be missing.  It’s all about having friends who cover your short suits, while you in turn can help them. 

Advertising and Publicity:

You need to advertise and get your name out there.  If you’re just starting out in the senior market, I still love the idea of photographing a half dozen seniors for free and letting them spread the word.  If you’re just starting out in weddings you need to let people know you’re there.   There are tons of publications, both in print and online that offer wedding photographers advertising opportunities.

It might be time to design a postcard and do a mailing, either by yourself or with a couple of those non-competing companies in your network.    Share the cost of the mailing and hit your target audience with some high impact promotional packages.  And when doing that postcard, don’t forget your own holiday cards.  I’ve written a ton about the importance of using your own images in your holiday cards and now is the time to plan for that early November mailing!

On the publicity side, there’s too much information to include here, so refer back to a blog I wrote previously.  There’s even a template for you to use, all ready to go and there’s information on GhostRighters.com as well.  Publicity in the local paper doesn’t happen by accident and nobody can do it as good as you can yourself!  The key to great publicity is to simply become a machine, sending out releases on a regular basis to the local paper, Chamber of Commerce, even some of the local associations you might belong to.

Social Media:

From your website to your blog to utilizing Twitter as a marketing tool, you need to have a presence.  No, you need more than a presence, you need a solid non-stop plan with consistent participation.  There’s so much to talk about in just this one area, that all I can do here is refer you to some great blogs for more detail.  My good buddy Scott Bourne has been cutting edge on social media since the two words got put in front of us.  Take the time to read his blogs on Twitter and using social media effectively.

Promotions:

I touched on it briefly in the section on advertising, but in any business today you need that “hook”, something that gets your target audience excited and brings them through your door.  Think about your own buying trends as a consumer and it can be anything you’ve ever bought.  How many times have you bought something after being stimulated by a special limited time offer?

Your business is no different and getting started in a new community as a professional photographer demands the same excitement.   As a new photographer though, at least from my perspective, it’s easier.  A promotion can be as simple as a an open house, inviting the community in to see what you’re doing.   If you don’t have a studio or a formal storefront, a gallery opening might just do the trick and you can tie it in with a local venue.  Even a coffee shop like Starbucks needs their walls decorated and might just give you the venue to present some great images.

Then there are formal promotions around holidays, purchases offers and buy-one-get-one campaigns.  Joining forces with another company, for example, teaming up with a limo company at Homecoming for a portrait tied together with the limo company’s services.  The list goes on and on.  Check out this blog on ideas for the Spring.  It’s also not too late for a pet promotion similar to Vicki Taufer’s or the one Kay Eskridge did.

And speaking of Vicki Taufer, when she first started as a children’s photographer she went to the local children’s store and photographed the owner’s kids and all the clerk’s kids.  Imagine the power she had with her images all over the store.  A customer would be at the register checking out and notice the pictures the clerk had of her kids on display.  You couldn’t ask for a stronger word-of-mouth promotion!

The list of things you can do to get your business literally goes on and on, but remember…

“If you wait until all the lights are green before you leave home, you’ll never get started on your trip to the top!”Zig Ziglar

If nothing else I want to share the background of what happened yesterday.   Sheila and I had been dating for a year and a half, when we decided to move in together at the end of last April.  We’ve known each other since second grade, but were never friends through high school.  The friendship started up when I attended a high school reunion three years ago.

We had decided to get married in late August and even had invitations printed up for a backyard wedding.  We wanted very badly to have my folks here with us, but knew with their health problems that was unlikely.  So, we really started thinking about what most important to us.  We’ve both been married before, so it wasn’t our first rodeo!  The more we thought about it, the more we wanted to find a way for my folks to be a part of the day.

Yesterday was my parent’s 63rd wedding anniversary and it just made sense to take advantage of the great karma and get married on their anniversary date.  So at 7:00 am yesterday morning, Sheila’s friend Karen, the Chaplain at Akron Children’s Hospital where they both work, married us on our back patio with Molly the Wonder Dog as our witness.   The “wedding” could not have been more wonderful or had more meaning for the two of us.

So, thank you for your good wishes.  Thank you for continuing to show that social media is faster than the “grapevine” ever was.  And thank you for being such an important part of an industry I love so much.

Oh, and the answer to who was the photographer – oops, we didn’t have one.  But I did have a Flip set up on a tripod that captured the moment and the rest of the event was all shot on “neuro-chromes”!

Happy Wednesday everybody – make it a great one!

I’m going to profile one photographer a day in alphabetical order for the next few mornings.  All the links to their blogs, Twitter, etc. will be right here , so expanding your horizons will be just one click away.  

Scott Bourne:  Scott’s become a great buddy and we’re involved in the GoingPro project  together, but that’s not why he’s teaching at Summer School.  I love working with people who I truly learn from and Scott is at the top of the list.  Professional Photographer Magazine wrote a story about him as the “King of Social Media” and he deserves the title – just his blog alone gets close to two million page views a month, greater reach than most of the photographic magazines.  

Scott’s message is so strong and his willingness to help people utilize social media is unmatched.  People used to say you can’t be in business without a yellow pages ad…well today, you can’t be in business without a website and in turn, social media is a critical component.  How are you going to make your blog more effective?  How are you going to use Twitter to expand your reach? 

He’s done a few guest blogs here on how to get the most out of Twitter.  Plus his background includes virtually every specialty in professional photography and he’s got a great marketing head as well.  Technically,  he’s pure geek through and through – on a constant quest to stay on top of technology.   And it’s the same for staying current with the latest challenges in our industry.

In his controversial January 25 blog regarding too-low pricing he wrote:

“It’s impossible to run a sustainable business over the long haul, deliver good quality and care for the client at lowball prices. I’ve been around a long time. I’ve seen dozens of businesses fail using this model and more importantly (and more to the point) have seen dozens of brides’ wedding memories ruined by photographers who had no business being there in the first place. There’s no do-over on a wedding. It takes a decent budget to get a decent result. Good reliable gear with backups cost money. Training cost money. Quality wedding prints, albums, books and gallery wraps cost money. If you sell a bride a cheapo wedding album that falls apart because you couldn’t make enough profit doing the cheapo wedding shoot, how does that serve the client? These are people’s lives you’re messing with. What could have more value than the wedding album – the first family heirloom of a brand new family? Think about it.”

Scott’s program on Visualization will kick off the first full day of Summer School on August 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas!  Then he’ll be helping me with some fun networking ideas at the end of that day.  One of the best parts of Summer School is just the ability to hang out with everybody and Scott will be there throughout the program to answer questions and help you with ideas to build a stronger business.

Want to learn more about Scott?  Follow his blogs, Photofocus and GoingPro.  Follow him on Twitter @scottbourne and @GoingPro2010.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at Joe Buissink, repeatedly referred to as one of the top ten best wedding photographers in America!

As business slowly starts to improve, you’ve got to stay focused on more than just your subjects.  Just because the government is quoting statistics showing the improvement and Ford and GM have record sales doesn’t mean the challenges are over.    It’s great news, but, at least to me, what it really says is that we’ve all got an even better chance of making 2010 a great year.

Last year I promoted a recurring theme, “Just because the media says it’s going to be a bad year, doesn’t mean it has to be!”  That theme still holds – everyone has the power to rebuild providing they stay focused on the challenge.  You’ve got to keep building your brand.  You’ve got to keep fine-tuning your skill set.  Most important of all, you need to deliver the very best product and exceed your client’s expectations every time.

All the major shows are over and the wedding/portrait season is about to kick off.  Now is the time for you to take out that shoebox of new ideas you collected at every program/workshop and start to blend them in with your business.  Do it gradually, with just one new idea at a time.  This could be an amazing year for everyone, but only if you think through your goals and work to develop your business and reputation one image at a time!

At the risk of being overly anecdotal, there was a great story put in circulation by the advertising community in the early ’90s.  I’ll save you from the long, original version and summarize:

A very successful hot dog vendor is hitting record sales. He’s advertising,   cross-promoting, staying open longer each day and business is fantastic. His son comes home from college for the summer and says, “Dad, don’t you know we’re in a recession? You need to watch your spending and be ready for business to slow down.”

The father, concerned, stays awake all that night worrying about what his son has said. The following day he pulls down a lot of his signs and puts the money he would have spent on advertising and promoting in the bank. By the end of the month, business is terrible and all he can say to himself is, “Wow, it’s a good thing I listened to my son. There really is a recession.”

I’m not minimizing the challenges of today’s economy, but I’m frustrated with hearing photographers cry the blues when they haven’t made an effort to evaluate and restructure their current business model.  Those photographers whose businesses are pretty solid this year are doing new things to reach their audience. Nobody is working any less, just smarter.   Every photographer who has told me they’re doing okay this year always follows with, “But I’ve NEVER worked so hard in my life!”

There is no secret to surviving as a professional photographer today—survival is all about marketing, promotion, hard work and utilizing every aspect of new technology. But there are some aspects of running a photography business that one should keep in mind during the next few years of slow economic growth:

Diversification: Are you hitting the same old target or developing new markets? If you’re a wedding photographer, how many of your brides in the last few years now have children? If they loved the wedding album you created, how about photographing their young family?

Years ago—sorry I don’t remember where—there were statistics suggesting that 95% of brides under 30 have a baby within three years of their wedding date. Every bride you’ve ever photographed is a potential customer for family portraiture.

The demand for professional portraiture still runs in this order: brides, babies and then pets. So if business is down, take a look at your client database and find the opportunities that will create new clients or new applications.

Market and Promote: Our hot dog man, in an effort to stave off the recession, stopped reminding people he was there. What are you doing to promote yourself? Are you involved in the community? Are you advertising in local papers? Do people recognize your presence?

Years ago, leading senior photographer Larry Peters told me one of his best marketing tools. At the time, he was photographing a half dozen seniors each year at no charge. They, in turn, became his ambassadors and helped spread the word among the various high schools in his area.

Well known pro David Ziser tracks anniversary dates and does a first anniversary sitting at no charge. The younger the bride, the more friends she has who will soon be getting married—it’s a publicity manager’s dream!

The Internet: You can’t be in business without a website, but how about the message you’re presenting? Look at blogs, for example. Everybody wants to have a blog, but only a handful of photographers are doing it the right way.

The key to a successful blog is in two parts: First, you need good content—topics that people really want to read about and comment on. Not everybody has the humor or the skill set to create a following like Jim Garner with his video spoofs. However, Jim’s getting leads from these videos mainly because they’ve made brides laugh. The videos are a testimonial to Jim and how much fun he and his staff are to work with. Jim is, of course, one of the best photographers in the country, but this extra exposure he gets just adds to the excitement he creates for his clients.

Second, if you’re not updating your blog at least once or twice a week, don’t bother to have one. Blogs feed the search engines. Constantly updating your material is the only way to ensure that the search engines recognize your blog and drive traffic to your site.

And when it comes to social media, you’ve heard me mention Scott Bourne’s name a half dozen times.  Check out his guest posts here and learn to Twitter – (here’s where I sound like my Dad – do as I say, not as I do – I’m still Twitter dysfunctional!)

Attitude: When was the last time you did an attitude check on yourself?    I am reminded of the unspoken oath we all took when we fell in love with photography!   That oath, we all share, is about quality, service and responsibility.   It’s everything I’ve been writing about since this blog went live in early July.    Your clients trust you to be their eyes at a wedding.  At a portrait sitting they’re trusting you to see them the way they see themselves.  They’re trusting you to deliver a product far better than Uncle Harry could ever dream of! 

Think about how much you love the craft and all the excitement that is in our industry today.   I’ll go anecdotal one last time—we’re living in our own version of Who Moved My Cheese? It’s a business parable that was on The New York Times Best Seller List in the late 1990s and well worth a two to three hour investment of time to read. If you’ve read it, you’ll understand that the only thing that’s changed in our industry is that the “cheese has been moved,” and we simply have to work harder to find it!

First, check out a new program from Nik, The Nik Summit.  Put together by my good buddy Tony Corbell and the team at Nik Software, here’s an opportunity for some great programming and an excuse to spend some time in San Diego – as if anybody needed an excuse for that one!  It’s an all-star cast leading off with Joe McNally and Robert Beck.  Great programming, hands-on shooting and the opportunity to help build your portfolio and your network!

Then comes Skip’s Summer School - Okay, so it’s shameless self-promotion, but what a great program!  Check out Skip’s Summer School, especially with the early bird special of just $199 and 15 different speakers, but it’s not just about the quality of the programs and the diversity of the topics – it’s about the learning potential.

Scott Bourne talked about it yesterday in his blog - how great is it to not have to worry about getting seat?  We’ve locked in the entire third floor of MGM’s Conference Center and we will NOT over sell this program.   That means, no long lines every time a speaker starts a program.  And the programs are set up, one right after another – no decisions to make in terms of the balancing act between topic.

It means classroom seating, so that everybody not only has a seat, but a “desk” to work at.  And virtually unheard of at any program today, the room will be set up for WiFi – I know you need to get away from the office, but how many times have you wanted to do a quick check on email just to stay in touch?   Into Las Vegas on Sunday afternoon and headed home by mid-day Wednesday.  Short, high-impact and very sweet!

It’s a program jam packed with information from some of the finest instructors in photography today and we’re covering weddings, children’s portraiture, social media, high school seniors, creativity, lighting, photojournalism, business, marketing and even boudoir.   And the sponsor list is amazing with all of the following companies planning on being there, not just to pitch you on their products, but to meet and get to know you and your business.  It’s an all star lineup with:

Albums Inc www.albumsinc.com Asukabook www.asukabook.com Azura Albums www.azuraalbums.com B&H Photo Video www.bhphotovideo.com Big Folio www.bigfolio.com DWF http://www.digitalweddingforum.com
Fujifilm www.fujifilmusa.com GhostRighters www.GhostRighters.com GoingPro www.GoingPro2010.com GraphiStudio http://www.graphistudio.com/usa/index.html H&H Color Lab www.hhcolorlab.com Jill-e Designs www.Jill-E.com Kubota Image Tools www.kubotaimagetolls.com Marathon Press www.marathonpress.com Marketing Essentials International www.mei500.com The MAC Group www.macgroupus.com Midwest Photo Exchange www.mpex.com Nik Software www.niksoftware.com OnOne Software www.OnOneSoftware.com Photodex www.photodex.com PhotoOne Software www.photoonesoftware.com PhotoFocus www.photofocus.com Pictage www.pictage.com PWDlabs www.pwdlabs.com Simply Canvas www.simplycanvas.com SmugMug www.smugmug.com Tamron www.tamron.com TripleScoop www.triplescoopmusic.com WHCC www.whcc.com

Still undecided?  Check it out this week at www.mei500.com and we hope to see you in Las Vegas!

It was the headline of a story by David Dudley in the AARP Magazine this month and yes, I admit to reading AARP and damn proud of being old enough to have earned the subscription!   But the best part of the story is that for once I feel I’m actually ahead of the curve.

One of my new year’s resolutions was to talk more and email less.  Just this afternoon I caught up to a new friend, Joey Carman, and had a conversation about WPPI.  Every day I talk to my co-author and good buddy, Scott Bourne.  Jim Davis Hicks, founder of Thirst Relief is coming over to the house for lunch in the next week or so and I know, like last time he was here, we’ll spend the day coming up with new ways to create more awareness for the challenge of more fresh water around the world.

The issue is let’s find a way to talk more and email less!   We don’t talk to each other enough, but instead we Tweet and email.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but we all need to do a better job of doing both!  It’s especially important since we’re all part of an industry that thrives on human contact – we’re in the business of capturing those special moments – moments of people interacting, not communicating through their computer!

So, here’s the challenge – see if you can match one phone call to anybody you know for every email you send and texting doesn’t count.  This is about using your voice and really talking to friends, no matter where they are.   If we don’t talk more we’re all going to lose our ability to communicate.   I’ve already noticed that I’m spelling things phonetically as I struggle to capture a thought in just 140 characters.   While it might B gr8 2 B able 2 do, we’re even frgetting how 2 writ!   Photographers became photogs and then just togs…grammar is out the window, words like “at” has been replaced with @, two, to and too is just 2 and the list goes on & on & on!

David Dudley said it best in his close: 

“We’re in danger of becoming a nation of hyperconnected hermits, thumbs furiously working our BlackBerrys!”

PS. After posting this a few minutes ago, I can’t stop laughing over the link for Scott Bourne.  You’ll go directly to his lead story at www.photofocus.com on using Twitter for business.   So, let’s clarify my point…it’s a balancing act.  Social Media is as necessary to building your business as a website is today or a yellow pages ad was twenty years ago.  But, it’s a balancing act with personal contact and you’ve got to have both.  Keep the connections “live” with close friends and good customers and let’s not let having a live conversation with somebody become an obscure art form!

For those who are just getting home from WPPI…you just spent the last week having every nerve-ending tweaked!  Your NN, (Network Nerve) has been totally over-stimulated with all the new people you met as well as the ones you didn’t meet!  It’s an eye-opening experience to learn you’re not the only one on the planet worried about business, looking for new ways to improve your marketing or on a quest to create the ultimate image.   Since you just got back, consider doing a quick “inventory” of the new people you want to “friend” or “follow” and then send them a quick email just to connect.  They’re in your network now and good networks require communication – sort of like the mortar between the bricks that hold a building together.

Your NIN (New Ideas Nerve) is totally fried.  It’s on information overload and has been over-stimulated, leaving you sleepless and exhausted.  Sure, a few parties added to the challenge, but it’s the ideas running through your head that really takes it all out of you.  The bottom line is that you don’t have to implement everything you learned right now, just put them in order. 

Even more important is that if you don’t inventory these ideas soon, they’re going to go into that informational ”shoe-box”.  Then it gets kicked under the bed and not taken out until you’re in a panic mode months from now, realizing you never took any action on all these great solutions.

Last but not least is your PN (Priorities Nerve).  This is the toughest one to deal with because you have to sort out the mess they’re in.  You simply don’t know where to start first.  You’ve got new ideas about the business, your photograhic and creative skills, your marketing skills and your relationship skills.   They’re all screaming for attention at the same time and you’re fighting to keep from going psychotic!  So, at the risk of sounding like Dr. Phil here’s the priority list to consider.

First, to thine ownself be true.  Take care of you first – you won’t be good to anybody if you don’t straighten out the mess in your head at the very beginning.  And, here’s the cool thing about taking care of you – you don’t have to do anything – in fact that’s the prescription – just kick back and relax for a few days before dealing with everything new you learned last week.  Second, pay attention to your family and close friends.  More than likely they weren’t with you, so they only know you’ve been away.  Give them some attention, share what you learned last week, welcome their input on all those new ideas.

Third – now it’s time to attack the challenges, but prioritize them into the categories they represent.  Remember, you don’t have to do it all at once!  Start with the low hanging fruit, the easiest new ideas to take on and then branch out into the harder ones.

For those of you who didn’t go to WPPI, whatever you do, don’t “should” on yourself.  Walking around mumbling, “I should have gone!” or “I wish I had gone!” isn’t going to get you closer to anything except an over developed FN (Frustration Nerve).  That’s the one that can really hurt, turn you gray before your time and create too many sleepless nights.  If you look in the mirror and the bags under your eyes are making you look like Yoda, it’s your FN and you need to relax!

It’s not the end of the world just because you didn’t go to WPPI.  It was a great convention, but it sure isn’t the only convention and it’s NOT your only access to so many great speakers and educational opportunities.  Here are some easy ideas to pick up on what you missed.

1) Go through the WPPI list of speakers and identify the ten top speakers you wish you had heard.  Every speaker has a website.  Many of them have material and presentations you can download.  There’s nothing out there you missed that can’t be duplicated with a little travel through cyber space.

2) Who are the companies that make products you wish you had seen?  Same thing again, visit their websites.  Many of them have WPPI specials still up on line, giving you an opportunity to make the purchases you need.

3) Check out your favorite blogs and forums.  I noticed yesterday that DWF (Digital Wedding Forum) has a ton of information starting to fill the forum on things that happened at WPPI, new ideas etc.  And check out the community at Pictage.  You might not have been at the convention, but there are so many resources for you to gain the knowledge you missed.

4) Look for future programs that will give you a similar experience.  The Ohio convention is going on right now. The Texas School is in early May.  And registration for Skip’s Summer School opened up last week.  Check out the line up of speakers!   (Hey, you didn’t honestly think I’d avoid some shameless promoting here did you?)  There are also a lot of speakers doing their own programs.  For example, Mitche Graf and Ken Sklute are hitting the road in April and Sam Puc’s Family Tour has another month to run.    

Many of you know I’m a guest editor for PDN.  Focus on Weddings was the first project and PDN’s Virtual Trade Show in late May is within days of being formally announced.  Here’s an opportunity to ”attend” some outstanding programming, a great trade show and all while sitting with your feet up at your computer! 

You only missed one convention.  You’ll have to be a little more aggressive on your own, but all the information is out there and available.  Opportunities for you to pick up on new ideas on marketing, business, creativity, photography and networking are right at your fingertips – but you’ve got to make the first move to chase them down!

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.  Thomas Edison

Every day, you’ll have opportunities to take chances and to work outside your safety net. Sure, it’s a lot easier to stay in your comfort zone.. in my case, business suits and real estate.. but sometimes you have to take risks. When the risks pay off, that’s when you reap the biggest rewards.  Donald Trump

And my favorite from Sun Tzu, over 2000 year’s ago…

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

There are a handful of movers and shakers in this industry and Mark is one of them.   Working closely with Jeff Caplan and Tim Uhl at the Digital Wedding Forum he’s actually got the lofty title of  “Tech Ops Director” – since I’m the most low-tech guy on the planet, I have no idea what that really means, except he’s the go-to guy and simply gets stuff done.  Not sure how and not even sure when – it’s sort of like not wanting to know what really goes into a hot dog!  You just know they’re good!

I can’t believe I’m taking one of the guys I respect most in this industry and totally screwing with his job description – but here’s the bottom line.  Mark is on top of technology.  He’s a great photographer and the only thing more impressive than his understanding of so much of the new technologies is his passion for photography and our industry.  I begged him to do a guest post and he came through with flying colors – so much so that I think I need to dump my new Blackberry!

As I sat here a couple of weeks ago reading Skip’s “13 Tips on Getting the MOST Out of a Convention” I found myself mentally expanding upon my personal favorite #6. NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK aka how to maximize your partying networking

Please forgive the gratuitous use of my favorite Blazing Saddles quote and “Excuse me while I whip this iPhone out…”! Show me a photographer without a smartphone and I’ll show you one that needs to get one. These amazing little personal portfolio devices, as my accountant likes to call them can now, pull double duty as a “Network Growing Device” by using a simple little application or two.

At any convention these days you’re bound to see photographers “Bumping” with one another. Don’t be all shocked at once just because I dared to say it out loud and fellas don’t go home and tell your wives that… “Mark Lutz said it was OK to BUMP whomever I wanted while I was in Vegas!”

The Bump I’m referring to is an amazing little FREE application that allows users to share their contact information simply and easily by, as the name implies, bumping one phone with another.

“Bump is a quick and easy way to connect two phones by simply bumping them together. Exchange your phone number, photos, or compare friends with just a bump.”

At the recent DWF Convention in Nashville this nifty little app allowed me to collect contacts swiftly and easily even integrating itself with my Facebook account so I could continue my networking once I made it back home. I swear my net(work)worth grew by leaps and bounds in a single evening. I love my iPhone!

Follow me, follow me… I know where I’m going! Famous last words right? Well with the exponential growth of Twitter use amongst photographers there has never been a better excuse to jump on the “Follow Me” bandwagon. There are some awesome resources out there that can help you network with the best of them. Follow your favorite album company, vendor, organization or individual and you’ll be privy all of their goings on. All around the twittersphere helpful networking accounts are popping up left and right. @WPPI_2010 is the offical feed of the WPPI 2010 convention. @WPPIparties is Candice Cunningham’s party location twitter feed. @DWF_events is where you’ll find DWF action at industry events and the list goes on and on. From Kevin Kubota playing a game of twitter TAG with his followers to Pay It Forward photo blog planning a random twitter meet up.

You get the idea… people are going to be networking via twitter.

The Internet changed the way we share images, shop and communicate.  Digital photography changed the way we create and capture.  Social Media changed the way we connect and with who we connect.  Do I miss my life from ten years ago – NOT A CHANCE!

First, I love staying connected to an industry I truly appreciate.   Think about the people you “talk” to every day.  It used to be a year between friends connecting, often only at an annual trade show.   Now I’m connected to those once-a-year friends every day.

Second, the world is getting to be a tiny place.  I “talked” to Jerry Ghionis from Australia the other day who’s in Rome doing a wedding with Ryan Schembri.  And I’m connected to Yervant and Anie on a regular basis. I’ve never met Chris Fawkes and yet we regularly communicate, again on Facebook.    I can also keep track of where everybody is…Seshu, who I’ve also never formally met, a contributor to Charity Fest last fall, is on his way back to CT from India, Joe Buissink was in Russia and Charity Goh, a student I met at Hallmark Institute last year is trying to land a job in her home country of Singapore.  It’s all thanks to Twitter and Facebook.

Third, trends that used to take months to create, are out there in seconds in front of hundreds of thousands of people.  And if a manufacturer produces an inferior product, the word is out on a dozen forums in a flash.  Best of all, when you need help with a challenge, especially in photography, just post it on a forum like DWF and watch the number of people, many of whom you’ve never met, come to your aid!

Fourth, how about the way digital technology is changing our lives?  Jason Groupp, Charles and Jennifer Maring, Joseph Victor Stefanchik and Katherine Hall are leading the charge in Fusion Technology, while Jose Villa is shooting exclusively film and creating work that’s spectacular.  Bambi Cantrell and Dawn Shields worked a bridal fair recently and Bambi sent me an image on her i-phone that was good enough to post on the blog!   We’ve got the very best of all worlds at our fingertips.

The world shrinks a little with every step you take further into Social Media, but best of all is the power you have as a photographer to market yourself.    If you do it right and build your website and blog with a great attitude and the dedication to stay involved, you’ve got the power to communicate that just a few years ago only a national magazine might have had!  Scott Bourne’s PhotoFocus site has over a million page views every month, more than most publications!

So, every now and then I’ll complain that my day starts out with a couple of hours of blogging and I’m answering emails before the sun comes up.   But, would I go back to a nine to five job and not knowing what was going on until I literally opened my mail?  Would I trade in my computer for the silver letter opener my Dad had on his desk?  Would I trade in the excitement of “chimping” now and then for the pride of getting 38 exposures out of a 36 exposure roll?

The answer to all of the questions and the dozens we could all add to the list – NEVER!   In the history of photography, there’s never been a more exciting time and never more tools at our disposal to capture, create and share images.   If you’re not actively involved in staying on top of technology, as well as social media, you need to take another look.  I found the following quotes that seem so appropriate:

 ”Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
Stewart Brand

“The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.”
Steve Ballmer

So, here’s the fun of this – follow me (http://twitter.com/skipcohen) on Twitter and next Monday we’ll give away the bag below to a random follower.    Then, we’ll follow up next Monday with a medium men’s bag from the “Jack” product line to give away.   Camera bags are a very personal thing, but the fun of Jill’s designs is simply they don’t look like camera bags – color, lots of style and functionally terrific!

So, sign up to follow me on Twitter and you might just find a new camera bag on its way to you!   We’ll find our first follower at random next Sunday night, February 14 – just in time for Valentine’s Day!