Previous |  Contents | Next Download the eBook "Me me me! My favourite word." — Seth Godin The people paying Here’s the key thing about social photography. Those people in your viewfinder are paying your bills. All of your bills. And the images you take are more or less worthless to anyone else. What are your customers after? Why do they want their photographs taken? Actually, do they want their photographs taken? In social photography the trick is to understand that it’s not about the print, or the album, or the photography, or Photoshop, or what your peers think To View More >>

I have a friend going back to work full time after working part time for six years to raise his kids. Some weeks ago he phoned me, incredibly disheartened after many job applications and many knock backs. No one wanted him. I encouraged him to stop treating each job interview as make or break, and to start playing. To apply for jobs he thought he couldn't get. At salary ranges he thought he couldn't justify. To mix it up, try something different each time and see what worked. The trick, I said, was to remember that his next interviewer would know nothing about his past interviews, and it wouldn't To View More >>

I have read so many photographer interviews that started out, "I was given my first camera when I was ten". Hands up those who can say that? Certainly I can. I was given a beaten up old Yashica by my father for my tenth birthday. Pity it isn't that easy these days because, let's face it, when film was king an image taken on a 50 year old twin reflex could still create a beautiful neg. So why did we start taking photos? I bet it wasn't for money. It was the love of capturing the image. This is where every photographer starts leaving the crowd behind. The passion and the excitement of taking the To View More >>

Click here to watch on Vimeo. I've never met Crash Taylor, but I've been looking forward to interviewing him because of this endearing habit he has of poking his head above the parapet and getting shot at. As in this post, for example, which I published because he was nice enough to call Queensberry "the Tiffany of wedding albums". I didn't mean to buy into a storm, but I did anyway – as you can see from the post comments. You can read the full brouhaha on DWF if you're keen. For the record, I think it's hard to argue with "cheap publicity" (is there any other kind?) and when I spoke to him To View More >>

It's not all bad out there you know! There are plenty of people doing better than ever, even considering the recession. So over the next few weeks we're bringing you a series of interviews with clients who are doing just great. We'll share their advice, ideas and opinions as they give us some insights into how they're successfully running their businesses. Here's the first. He's been recognised as one of the world's best photographers, serviced clients like the New York Times and Apple Computer, photographed celebrities such as Alec Baldwin, Amanda Peet, Isabella Rosselini and Donald Trump,  regularly To View More >>

The New Year is a great time to stop, take a look around, absorb what you've achieved, and focus on what the year ahead offers. I've just done the absorb bit. Gone back and had a look at what we've posted over the past year. I found some really great stuff I'd forgotten about! No doubt you've forgotten or missed some of these posts too so over the next few days we'll bring you our favourite posts of 2008.  There's not much of a criteria - just posts that really stood out to us. I hope they do to you too. We'll start by engaging your senses. Today we've picked a couple of really interesting interviews, To View More >>

Johannes is half way through his MPA-sponsored tour of the UK. Coventry and Croydon are behind us and we're sitting in the BA lounge on the way to Falkirk with Staveley (sponsored by CPT) to come next week. He's had some very generous feedback, and well deserved I reckon. The estimable Simon Whitten called it "genuine, exceptional and inspiring" on DWF and a number of people have emailed Johannes directly. Quite apart from his photographic and design skills what always strikes me with Johannes is how genuine he is in getting to know his clients, so that he can apply his talents to their specific To View More >>