The state of things in the photo world
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under career, freelance, state of newspapers
Vincent Laforet wrote a long, but informative article on state of things in the photo world that I enjoyed.
The article has me thinking about a lot of different things(just ask Jenn) about how I/we plan to approach this scary, but exciting new world of visual storytelling.
I have a ton of thoughts racing through my mind on this, but I need to sleep as tomorrow is another early and long day working in the prison, which I’ll post more about later when I have time.
Vincent writes:
One more thing to consider about the general photography market: supply vs. demand - our formula is WAY off kilter. Do you know that there are more than 20,000 graduates with degrees in photography released EACH year in the U.S. alone by colleges/universities? Contrast that to the negative 100 or so staff jobs opening up each year (that’s a total guess on my part) and you do the math… The freelance market is becoming incredibly over saturated… and that worries me a LOT.
The most important thing that happened to me as a result of leaving my staff job was for me to remove the blinders that I think most photojournalists have on these days. We’re so focused and passionate about what we do that we often don’t see how much opportunity there is in the world of photography - outside of photojournalism.
I’ll leave you with this. If I were 22-years old right out of college looking for a job or a career path, I wouldn’t be focusing on working on x newspaper to get to y newspaper and then eventually z magazine with my 20 image portfolio that contains 2 spot news photos, 4 sports pix, 4 feature photos, and a 10 picture story. That model is dead - to put it bluntly. I’d be thinking big - realizing that I have a chance to be a pioneer in this new world of opportunity. Trying to think up of the next big thing.
Tags: business, freelance, photography
Freelance photography and self promotion
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under freelance
If you’re looking to enter the world of freelance photography or are already in that realm this post by art buyer Heather Morton is for you.
We work in a world of paradoxes and conundrums: Send an email blast vs. no one reads emails. Send a nice promo card vs. it will get chucked. Get face time with an AD or AB or PE vs. no one has any time to meet with you.
Every interaction that you and your work have with an agency is a potential to sell or unsell the experience of working with you, don’t let that go to waste.
Tags: freelance, marketing, promo
Thinking of yourself as a brand
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under promo
If you’re a freelancer or ever thought of going freelance you need to think of yourself as a brand and market yourself accordingly. Even if you’re not freelance you should be thinking about this stuff. This slideshow will get you on the right track:
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(Note if you’re reading this by a feed you may have to be on my site to view it. Not sure if the embed from Slideshare works through a feed. It’s worth it don’t worry.)
