Reinvent, Reimagine, Reinvigorate

by Pat Hunt

INSPIRATION!  That was the overpowering feeling that people walked away with from the Reinvention Weekend in Boston this spring.  Sponsored by the American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) (www.aspp.com) and the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) (www.pacaoffice.com) the event offered top industry leaders as keynote speakers, allowing everyone to acquire new ways to run their businesses and new goals for success in this constantly changing digital world.  The age of crowdsourcing has forever changed the industry, but change brings opportunities.  These opportunities require the professionals to differentiate themselves from the crowd and perform on an epic scale.  Now, the demand for quality and uniqueness is scaled up, and media producers must meet the challenge.

Highlights from some of the programs follow:

Lou Jones (www.fotojones.com), Boston’s long-time top commercial photographer, tells us that, “We have to surprise people.”  Lou has been surprising people for years, with his imagery, books, lectures, gallery shows and workshops.  Through his famous books on death row, Final Exposure and Exiled Voices, he reminds us of the tenacity and passion that is required to produce great work.  The first book took six years to create, as access was a huge challenge.  However, the new marketplace that exists today allows him to reuse and repurpose his works, making them available in formerly non-traditional formats.  

Lou is a blogger extraordinaire and claims that the blog is his company’s personality while the website is his resume or brochure.  His RSS feed and the new technologies “allow us to reach out far beyond our old client base.” (RSS stands for really simple syndication and is a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works, such as blog entries.) Lou claims, “Repurposing is my mantra.”  The industry used to be linear, but technology allows creativity to come full circle.  A new concept can inspire new clients and attract new grants, traveling virally through the internet and the blogosphere, bringing back new interest and new sales.  Well-known for his 20 years of photographing the Olympics and his unusual images of Cuba, Lou now uses still photographs in a cinematic fashion, adding sound and original music.  The lesson learned is to take advantage of modern opportunities with renewed passion and creativity.

Ilise Benun (www.marketing-mentor.com) is a prolific book author, national speaker and co-founder of Marketing Mentor.  She’s in business to “help creative professionals get serious about their business.”  Her comments on the “myths of doing business” are a wake-up call for all creatives:

• - Do what you love and money will follow. There has to be a market for your work or nothing will follow.
• - Word of mouth is the best way to get work. You can’t build a business on whatever comes along. Go after the work that you really want.
  
  

- I’m not a business person; I’m a creative. There is no such thing as a business person or a creative person.  There are business skills that can be learned.

Ilise insists that there are “realities” of business that have to be faced:

- Self promotion is not about you, and it never will be. You must describe yourself by the way you help other people solve their problems.

- Everything flows from the market. Listen first to how your client describes a need.  That becomes the answer to the question of how to describe yourself.  “Becoming the go-to guy for that market is the way to proceed, and you can charge a premium for that specialty.”

Ilise offers three steps to succeed:

- Identify your market.  Excuses like “I just can’t decide,” “I can’t afford to specialize,” “I need all the work I can get” or “I don’t want to alienate anyone” will all keep you from the type of work you want to pursue.

- Locate your market. Narrowing your market tells you what marketing tools to use.  What groups does your market belong to?  Where do they hang out online?  Can you use an email campaign, publish or write articles?
Networking. Go where people gather.  Meet people in person.  Describe the “effect of what you do,” not who you are.

- Ilise’s final major piece of advice is, “Follow up or die!”  The opportunity dies if you don’t follow up.  In six months, you won’t remember much about that person.  Employ cold calling, email, snail mail, Twitter, newsletters--whatever it takes to keep that person’s trust and attention.  

Ilise offered the tools to be the best professional you can be.  There is no room for less than 110 percent effort in today’s market.

Allen Murabayashi adds excitement and fun to the technical demands of running a business in today’s environment.  His opening mantra says it all:  “Taking good pictures isn’t enough to succeed in the twenty-first century.”  As CEO and founder of the online website service, Photoshelter (www.photoshelter.com), Allen knows search engine optimization (SEO) and analytics.  He was a founding employee of hotjobs.com and understands the potential of the internet firsthand.  He won’t accept the typical excuse:  “I’m not technical; I’m just a photographer.”

The internet is not scary technology, but an amazing marketing tool with global reach.  The goal of SEO is unsolicited website traffic, so searching for your name and finding your own website is not SEO.  Google has done a lot of the work for you by an amalgamation of the components that allow you to match your expectations.  The goal of SEO is to get on the first page of a Google search.  If you can’t get on the first page, you are using words that are too competitive.  Have your description be your advertising copy.  Links to anchor text on your website have to be descriptive and unique.  Also each link from another company is an endorsement, and if you are not building links, you will never show up in the search engine.  Links and anchor text account for 74 percent of the important factors affecting SEO.  Captioning and keywording images are all signals to the search engine.  

“Avoid Flash (software)” is the rule of the day.  It won’t optimize on the relevant material and attracts far fewer links.  Also update your website regularly and show signs of life.  Google knows if your website is not updated (frequent blogs will help in this respect).  The final key is to “measure and analyze.”  Your website is a marketing tool, so you have to understand the return on investment.  Know where your traffic comes from, and be on Twitter for brand enhancement.  Follow Allen’s famous advice, “Don’t be the needle in the haystack; be the haystack.”  

Caitlin Jewell (www.silverscape.com) is a “catalyst for change.”  As the principal and creative director at Silverscape in Boston, she knows interactive marketing solutions and web applications with clients as big as Nokia.
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To state it clearly, Caitlin says, “creative professionals/photographers have the most challenging industry and the ugliest glass ceiling out there.”  It consists of the economy, the stock companies and every prosumer shooter.  At 35, Caitlin is the oldest at her firm in today’s creative youth culture.  This year alone she was approached by more than100 very talented photographers.  She is likely to hire people over and over again because she has gotten to know them. She advises that if it’s impossible to get in touch by phone, get in front of people through Linked In, Facebook and Twitter.  Show up, go to parties, get involved, send a consumable like a picture, wallpaper or handwritten thank you note.  

Personality is everything, but it’s important to have a good and searchable website and to stay in constant contact.  Last year, Caitlin did shoots for clients as diverse as an apparel company, a chocolate maker, a brewery and a VIP event.  If you want to stand out you have to be unique, she says, to present the best in quality and have an appeal that gets you noticed.  Be a part of the youth culture and be available.  

Jerry Monkman (www.ecophotography.com) fosters “creative collaboration on the world and local stage.”  With a passion for conservation, Jerry has partnered with NGOs and non-profit organizations, to create more than 100 land conservation projects in New England.  He has co-authored six books with his wife, Marcy, including Wild Acadia, the top book of its kind in 2007.  Jerry’s two focuses in life are protecting wild places and staying home near his children.

Jerry is an example of what can be accomplished in the photography field today when you give more than 100 percent and try to become the best in your industry.  Typical of his projects are his images of Mount Katadin Lake in Baxter State Park in Maine.  The images helped raise money to secure more land for the park and demonstrated the importance of conservation.  Most important were the images of people enjoying recreation on the land. Jerry’s images were used for fundraising in brochures, Power Point demonstrations and grant applications. Working with non-profits is no different than working on any commercial shoot.  It requires building a relationship and an image archive that can have future uses.

One of the most dynamic projects of Jerry’s career has been the Connecticut River Watershed Project, which lasted over two years and 100 days of shooting.  He partnered with the Trust for Public Lands and the Nature Conservancy to document the ecology of the longest river in New England.  The Connecticut River starts at the Canadian border and 400 miles later, ends at Long Island Sound.  The importance of the project lies in getting the word out about the geographic diversity, the cultural history of the towns, the agricultural resources and the endangered species. How people interact with the river is also important.  These kinds of educational projects that serve the future of New England can only be tackled by dedicated professionals like Jerry.

Ian Ginsberg (www.viiphoto.com) truly inspires an audience with human stories spanning the world, including those in The Congo, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Haiti.  As director of projects and partnerships at VII, he brings together stories of conflict and world events from the agency’s top photojournalists, who include Marcus Bleasdale, Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Joachim Ladefoged, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey, Franco Pagetti and John Stanmeyer.  The agency best describes its own vision on the website:  

“While the stark realities of the battlefield loom large, VII turns its gaze with equal intensity to more subtle forms of conflict and documenting the changes and development of society and culture worldwide. But this is not merely artfully captured, neutral observation; nor is it the doctrinaire elaboration of a political or social position. Each photographer is inspired by an array of often very different motivations, and it is from this breadth of reference that the agency draws its originality and strength. What unites VII's work is a sense that, in the act of communication at the very least, all is not lost; the seeds of hope and resolution inform even the darkest records of inhumanity; reparation is always possible; despair is never absolute.”  

Raising awareness of major world issues is what keeps VII’s photojournalists in the field.  What makes VII’s talented photographers so important is not just the photographs they come back with, but their ability to consistently make the best choices in the field.  Handling issues such as planning assignments, getting equipment to the location, crossing borders and checkpoints, turning down a wrong road, being in a war zone are key to keeping a project from being derailed.

Distribution is important for keeping this type of talent in the field, from magazines, exhibitions and books to films and video.  Workshops, seminars and internet outreach keep the public aware of the news and human stories it needs to know.

Townsend Dickinson (Towny to his friends and associates) bravely introduced an open dialog between text book publishers and image creators to offer a safe and respectful environment for understanding each other’s business demands. As an accomplished photographer, photo editor/researcher, and executive specializing in education-oriented imagery, Towny recently worked for McGraw-Hill Publishing. He claims to have gone to the “dark side” over the past 17 years in working for publishing companies, and is an expert in understanding how photos will be used by educators.

With the introduction of non-traditional stock sources—such as Flickr, iStock, and Google Images—can the professional still make a living in editorial imagery? Towny quotes, “Technological change is not additive; it’s ecological. A new technology does not merely add something; it changes everything.” (Neil Postman) The challenges are as diverse as Orphan Works, unauthorized uses, changing rights models, lower pricing models, and the economy. “The effects are felt by everyone in the food chain.”

The average editorial use in 1984 was $160 for an over 40K print run. By the Consumer Price Index, that should be $345 today. However, the amount has not changed much, showing that pricing has been eroding for years. Traditional forms of media are under assault. Books are now electronic and publishing companies are consolidating to strike deals for controlling costs. A major issue for picture producers is to know why the publishers need electronic rights for 10 years. Pearson Education expressed that they typically sign a 7- or 8-year agreement with school districts, and a 1- to 2-year option on either side of that. There is a digital component for the entire life of the program.

Houghton Mifflin offered that they are expected to keep their products the same for their customers. If their books run out of print because sales are better than expected, re-permissioning the image rights can be very difficult. People might have moved on, or collections may have changed hands. Because of this, the picture agencies and photographers are expressing the importance of having a base pricing rate that is higher, so the publishers can continue to get real quality from reliable sources. Creative Commons licenses through Google images and Flickr are inadequate for most editorial book publishing products. The publishers won’t rely on amateurs found on the Internet, no matter how good their imagery appears to be. “An organized collection brings professionalism. Sources that are reliable are efficient and quick. Peace of mind is of utmost importance.”

Issues are never resolved in these open forums, “but understanding comes through open dialogue, and we got off to a great start,” claims Towny. “The discussion needs to continue if we, as professionals, are going to be part of the next golden age of photography, which will see exponentially greater numbers of images being used for educational purposes on the Internet than were ever used in printed books.”

Brian Storm is spellbinding with his multimedia productions. As founder and Executive Producer of MediaStorm (www.mediastorm.org), he brings a rich selection of social documentary, incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, and animation, which reaches across multiple media. Brian says, “The goal of a photojournalist is to make a book. I’d like to change that. If a photojournalist gives you their book, they give you a piece of their soul.” A far greater audience is available on the Web. The book is a piece of the franchise; but the reach can be extended.

Brian is a great promoter of professionalism as a differentiator from the crowd of amateurs. Introducing video is a very powerful tool. With multimedia you can control an attention span and make characters come alive. The use of body language, visual sequencing, and leading with sound help to create powerful stories. One of his most stunning projects is Jonathan Torgovnik’s 'Intended Consequences', about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 when the Tutsi women were raped repeatedly by the Hutus. 800,000 people were slaughtered in 100 days. We are reminded of a Stalin quote: “The death of a single person is a tragedy; the death of a million people is a statistic.” Brian states that it’s part of our job in journalism to get out of statistics and put a face on humanity. “One of the great callings of journalism is to tell stories of others whom can’t tell their own stories.” Setting up foundations, winning grants, and working with NGOs are all part of the tools to accomplish these goals.

Brian inspires us that we are living through a communication revolution. MediaStorm’s blog creates their RSS feed. Their newsletter is in steady growth. Their brand is connected to all the platforms they're using, and all the bloggers pick up their package for the blogosphere. He claims that, if you are not on YouTube, you don’t matter. You must touch all social networking platforms, from Facebook to Twitter. “This is not the time in our industry to be down. It’s time to be up. People are starving for what we do.”

Rick Smolan is defined by his famous 'Day in the Life' book series, as he is an amazing storyteller and technology expert. A former Time, Life, and Nat Geo photographer, he has captured the world with his production company, Against All Odds.

Most recently known for his very cool book, 'The Obama Time Capsule', he integrated the book with “publishing on demand,” offering each reader a unique feature. Each copy of the book integrates the reader’s photos into what becomes their personalized historical time capsule of the Obama Presidential story. The book generated more than 70 million media impressions including feature stories in the ABC Evening News, USA Today, CNN Situation Room, Entertainment Weekly, ABC News Now, and the MSNBC Morning Program. Fortune Magazine described Rick’s company as one of the 25 coolest companies in America. He is a master marketer.

Almost every book he has done has been the cover of a magazine, and he is best known for his ability to collaborate with hundreds of photographers to produce great works. The 'AMERICA 24/7' book was opened to the public with their digital cameras to portray one week in America. The end product amounts to America telling America’s story and was profiled by Barbara Walters, Ann Curry, Katie Couric, and Oprah Winfrey.

He is credited for other well-known books, such as 'From Alice to Ocean', 'Passage to Vietnam', and '24 Hours in Cyberspace'. Most of all, he is a promoter of the modern forms of distribution that are at hand for every media producer right from their desk at home. “Until recently, if you weren’t plugged into one of the major networks, you didn’t get published. Now photographers can take control of how their pictures are used.” Rick is another example of how quality and professionalism put him way above the crowd.

Dane Howard bills himself as a designer, father, author and entrepreneur. He has been a top player in all of those fields, moving among companies like BMW, Microsoft, and eBay. He co-founded VUVOX, which creates dynamic visual galleries, interactive panoramas, and offers customization in a wide range of media presentation formats. That company was acquired by eBay in 2008. Devoted as a father, he created chloehoward.com, which launched his book 'The Future of Memories'.

Dane urges, “I share with all of you an aspiration to create significant works. We aspire to great works every day.” He works to build teams and reinvents himself constantly. During the Internet bubble of the ‘90s, he was inspired to innovate at the powerfully creative company called Quokka Sports. There they learned the principals of “Authenticity, Immediacy, and Intimacy,” by working with the likes of the Olympics and Major League Baseball. One of the skills he took with him was to “set up systems to fail faster.” He learned that the benefit of working quickly is that you resolve all the problems you will have to solve later. His mantra: “Push yourself and fail faster!”

Just a few of his best lessons: “Put your work on the wall and move it around.” “Find someone that you respect and ask them to edit your work.” “Stories build in strength with the retelling.” “Collaborate with a programmer.” “Shoot your next assignment with a microphone.” “4D will be ready; begin to think this way.” “You will compete for people’s time, not with other photographers.” And, “Shoot quality. There is a lot of salt, sugar and fat in our photography today and we have to get healthy again.”

Nancy Andrews flourishes in a changing environment. As Managing Editor for digital media at the Detroit Free Press (www.freep.com), she has created an Emmy Award winning department, and produces a daily newscast aired on the local CBS station. As a photographer, she was known for her work at the Washington Post and as White House Photographer of the Year. She has also written two books.

She instructs us that, “We are in a time of Destructive Innovation.” New methods and technology change the field of play, and professional photographers face more competition than ever before. We can’t dismiss the consumer and their digital cameras with their definition of 'quality.' “If you only do work of a certain high quality, then you are missing a lot of work, and leaving room for destructive innovators to enter your field, and walk through your client’s door.”

In the Detroit area, life’s events are very personal. Everyone knows someone who has lost a job or a home. The local journalist has to stay passionate and be the best photographer or videographer. Be willing to do different things and give of yourself 110% of the time. They are especially proud of their work on the Michigan foster care system. Some of their best work, even on cell phone, can be seen on www.freep.com/christchild. Seven children were adopted as a direct result of the coverage.

Most importantly, know your audience and your customer. She says, “People are not satisfied to see the same content across all platforms, so there is room and need for more content specific to TV, Web, phones and tablets.” Newspaper editions are down, but the total audience is expanding and they have a voracious appetite for information.

Jose Azel skillfully monitored the speakers and warns, “We now have a new manner in which to communicate.” The 'Predicting the Unpredictable' panel was sponsored by Aurora, and Jose is co-founder of Aurora Photos (www.auroraphotos.com), a stock photography company that merges traditional photography and digital media. He demonstrated a list of social media sites that runs for several pages. From this, he determines that the feedback loop has changed, and there is a whole new world for exchanging information. Because of that, social media has paralyzed media collaboration, and we have to determine where we fit in.

As for his company, high quality is their hallmark. They remain true to editorial origins and the photojournalistic style; but have laid a foundation for commercial model released images. At Aurora, they embrace all the new venues and see them as opportunities. As Jose puts it, “Once the dust settles, I am sure we will have found new avenues for growth. In the area of multimedia, we are already doing well with Aurora Novus.” Even though the business is becoming a more volume-driven marketplace, their archive of imagery is the key to continued growth, “providing alternatives to our historically high-end and unique images for those clients who need a different level of licensing and price.”

Pat Hunt, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , is a writer and workshop leader for the stock photo industry. She is managing director of Huntstock.com in Boston, in partnership with Mark Hunt, creative director.  Huntstock is a lifestyle image production company specializing in people with disabilities, Hispanic lifestyle, industry/technology and Boston lifestyle. Mark has been featured in magazines for his iconic travel photography and for the community being built around his positive lifestyle with disabilities collection.