Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Competing on price is tough when what you’re selling is your time. Your business model is different Visa,MasterCard and Paypal make huge amounts by clipping a tiny percentage off every purchase we make. Lucky them. Microsoft and Adobe make a fortune by charging hundreds for something that costs them less than a dollar to produce. You’re not that lucky. You have to charge hundreds (or thousands) for something that nobody needs, and only a handful of people want. So … what do you do? How much? There are two questions To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook Our brand isn’t a look but a promise kept — not what we say but what we do. Value Imagine if you said, “I want you to pay me what you think I’m worth.” Most people would imagine themselves out of business. We need to tell our clients what we’re worth, and live up to our rhetoric. What is the value of your work to people who don’t know you, or how much they should be paying? The value of a compelling and authentic brand is that it tells people the price of entry and helps them see it’s worth To View More >>

Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook There’s no room in this business for cynics. Ambassadors of Love Sure you love photography … but then this whole business is about love. Love and other emotional drivers — like the desire for connection, significance, family pride, and the human need to remember and be remembered. My Dad wanted a photo of my mother to fit in the breast pocket of his battle tunic in North Africa. Eighty years later I still have it. They married after the war. We have a few formal group photos. All us kids can do is try and judge what To View More >>

Someone asked the other day why some photographers using Print Shop seem to be selling their prints “quite cheaply”. "I can understand that there is potentially volume in art prints that isn't there with portraits. But I still wonder how a client might feel if the price is significantly lower for an art print." I think there are a few questions here — does the difference in price matter? Are people undercharging? — and anyway, how much should you charge? I'll leave the last one for later, but meantime… 1. Why might you need to charge differently for your art versus To View More >>

When we first launched Print Shop in Workspace people asked, “How do I know which images will sell? And which products?” They're excellent questions — and yes we do have ideas about what works, because we print and create the products! But we can't generalise. Every photographer is different and so is every photographer's work and audience. You need to find what works for you. Let's be clear, this is not expensive. It's not like you're stocking a shop with stuff that might or might not sell. In Print Shop everything will be printed and handmade To View More >>

Ever since digital replaced film as the photographers’ tool of choice, there’s been a rapid rise in reported cases of Photographer’s Herd Instinct Disease (PHID). Like other herd behaviors (buffalo grazing, people drinking Kool-Aid®, etc.) the symptoms of PHID include needing to hang out with the rest of the herd, think the same thoughts and do the same things. PHID is viral and highly contagious, and affects wedding and portrait photographers in particular. Although often transmitted through direct photographer-to-photographer contact, recent studies suggest that software To View More >>

Our friends in the northern hemisphere may find it hard to imagine the festive season without snow, hot cocoa, and a warm fireplace, but in Auckland, New Zealand, where we're based, Christmas day is more likely to be beach adventures and a barbeque. We spoke to Kate Roberge  about what makes a New Zealand summer, and our unique festive season, so special. And what does she do? She sends us photos with snow in them! Do you have a favourite or secret go-to spot in NZ? Jacks Point definitely. It's right outside of Queenstown, on the east side of the lake. There are about To View More >>

Towards the end of last winter, photographer Rachael Brown hired a small camper, and set off on an adventure around the North Island of New Zealand. Her goal: to photograph families in their homes for her series This is Home, inspired by the photos that Rachael's Dad took when she was growing up. Rachael has spent many hours flicking through those photographs. They evoke in her a strong sense of nostalgia, and she hopes her own images will have the same effect on the families she photographs. Four years ago Rachael had a complete shift in how she captured family connection. As a mum she felt To View More >>

There are only a few weeks in Winter where the setting sun can beam its light all the way through New Zealand’s Milford Sound, and I was dedicated to getting the perfect photograph of it. But when I set that goal I had no idea it would take me four years to accomplish. After three years of trying, my fourth trip to the Sound left me with some of my strongest memories, and taught me a lot. It was my last, eighth day of waiting: getting wet in the bush, heavy rain clouds hanging above me, and no signs of any light passing through the sounds. Disappointed with my fourth unsuccessful trip, I To View More >>

Jessica Reeves claims to have been "very average" at school — "never did badly, never did amazingly well". But after two years as a photographer she's come to believe that this is something she can be great at and love at the same time. Ideal foundations on which to build a career! The biggest lesson she's learned is very simple: make friends. "Running your own business can be pretty lonely, especially at the beginning when you feel you are running along with a blindfold on. Making friends with other photographers, or others in the industry, takes a huge To View More >>