Last week a reader asked if Daylight Photo was doing much in the way of video production. Quite a bit, actually. I don’t mention video services a whole lot because, after all, this is a photography blog and my first love is still photography. But, truth be told, adding video to our repertoire is what’s currently creating new business opportunities.
Today …

Let’s kick this one off with an email from my friend Paul D’Andrea. Paul is an accomplished photographer who still works his day job while earning freelance photo income. I think he shares a perspective with many readers and it’s one I try to keep in mind when talking about the business of photography:
I certainly toy with the idea of …

The current financial crisis is the elephant in the room, so let’s acknowledge it and take a look. I’m taking the lead from 1001 Noisy Cameras and their recent post entitled Opinion: The financial markets and photographers.
I like to keep prophotolife relatively on point, targeted on the positive benefits of photography as a hobby and the realities of photography as …

A few days ago I came across this 30 second video of images from Southern California wedding photographer Ira Lippke (subscribers view video here):

Ira Lippke Studios from Wedding Life Photography on Vimeo.
Though I’m not a wedding photographer the images were inspirational because of their unique style. I can’t imagine any photographer that wouldn’t be moved by his style and presentation …

Surrounded by nine computers, fifteen strobes and more light stands than you can shake a tripod at, I’ve been daydreaming. The dreams have been about what it would take to create a “bare minimum” photo business. Sometimes you grow a business and look around and one day the idea of paring things down sounds appealing.
Starting tomorrow we’ll be looking inside …

Wal*Mart advises us to “Save Money, Live Better”. As consumers we strive to save money but as sellers we need to sell at an amount fair to all. How much should you charge for your work? Okay, here’s the short version: I don’t really know. For the long version, read on…
Most every photographer that has been at it for awhile …

It‘s Wednesday already, a day when we usually talk business. A couple weeks ago I mentioned possibly “downsizing“ my photo studio, Daylight Photo. Since then I‘ve received some wonderful input on the subject. Faithful readers Jan Klier and Juan Bonilla have suggested the benefits of possibly renting out part of Daylight Photo to other photographers, either full-time or on a …

Today I was thinking of a photo shoot I once did for a top manufacturer of motocross (motorcycle) clothing. They paid me to attend a race and photograph their star rider in racing action wearing brand new gear they were about to release. Rather than photograph the rider on a closed course, I was hired to photograph him in peak …

Most every Wednesday for the past few months we’ve discussed business topics here on prophotolife. How to start a business, negotiate with clients and how to find a niche have been popular subjects. As these topics are discussed it has allowed me to assess what my studio, Daylight Photo, is currently doing well and what we could be doing better.
As …

This past weekend was the Worldwide Photo Walk and it was a great deal of fun (David Ziser has a really nice wrap up on the Cincinnati Walk here). I had an opportunity to speak with a number of other photographers in attendance and would like to thank everyone that took the time to say “hello”. I shot some candid …