Are the Likes and Comments Helping

Dean Reid Photography

As photographers where do you look for inspiration…Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or some other social photo sharing platform? I pose this question because I have been noticing that several photographers leverage one or several of the platforms mentioned above. However, are you looking for inspiration to fuel your creativity or are you looking for inspiration of approval that you are doing a good job?

If you answered yes to either are you getting what you’re looking for? Social photo sharing platforms can be a cruel environment and at times can make one doubt their photography efforts. Granted platforms like Facebook have several friendly photography groups with rules that state that you should offer constructive critiques only when the person posted the photo asks for constructive critiques.  Some may think this is the safe route to take when posting your photos and others will have a difference of option regarding these types of groups.

I think the only way to truly grow as a photographer that posts their work on any type of social photo sharing platform is to toughen up and take the good with the bad.  Knowing that everyone has an option and your work will not appeal to everyone that views your work.  You can either do two things: evaluate what was pointed out or simply ignore and delete the comment. Now, if you’re posting just to get likes from everyone that views your work and always say something positive at some point you will realize that you are not growing as a photographer. Why you might ask…wait for it….because nobody is being honest with you so you end up having this false positive about your work. So, I challenge you to get away from those so called safe groups and get some thick skin and critically evaluate what others have to say about your work (disclaimer: this can be painful) after all I know you are not posting your work just for the social thumbs up…or are you?

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Pricing...Do You Value Your Work?

One of the most secretive topics between photographers is pricing.  It is almost as if talking about pricing is a cardinal sin of sorts; well, personally I think most photographers do not want to discuss this topic for a few reasons.  One reason would be that they are under charging for their services or another reason would be that they are not charging at all and lastly, they do not understand how to properly charge for their services so they cringe at the thought of discussing pricing.

For whatever the reason photographers choose not to have this discussion, I truly believe that one key ingredient that makes a photographer very hesitant to venture down the lane of pricing for services is based on the economy.  We all know that the country was in a pretty severe recession a few years back and discretional income was limited. Well, news flash the economy has recovered quite nicely; however, people have learned how to curb their spending during the recession and the side effect of this is not going away anytime soon.

So, what does this have to do with photographers discussing pricing? Actually a lot!  The cost to get into the photographer world is relatively in expensive and this low cost of entry has heavily saturated the market and made it extremely tough to squeeze a dime out of a potential client.  Now, you hear about some of the big name photographers like Peter Hurley, Scot Kelby, Michael Jordan Smith and Dixie Dixon and all the work that they are landing. Well, granted the names listened above are landing some very nice gigs; however, their success was not overnight and for the most part they are not just giving away their services. They are charging for services rendered and they understand their target market / client and they understand pricing.  The reason that they are so successful I believe stems from a few things:

1. Offer something unique and professional.

2. Continued education.

3. Speaking engagements, training and/or workshops.

4. Understand that people pay for what they value.

Although understanding that people pay for what they value was listed 4^th does not, by no means rank the importance level. Item 4 should be studied more carefully and always be in the forefront of your mind when attempting to land clients or additional work. So, understand and value your work and be able to pitch your services with confidence because at the end of the item #4 is ultimately going to be the driving point in the clients purchase decision. Lastly, understand your market and demographic to ensure you are pricing what your market bares. If you are charging Peter Hurley prices for a head shot session and you live in the Midwest…well…there is the problem. To better understand how consumer spending has changed the past few years and type of consumers you are challenged with check out the A Tour Guide to The TwoPlanets: NEO and Traditional.

A Tour Guide to The Two Planets: NEO and Traditional from MEGA Labs on Vimeo.