Commercial, Corporate and Architectural Photography

My Client’s Advocate

 

Every once in a while things don’t go as planned. I was recently contracted for a shoot for an advertisement in a rather high end magazine. My client is the advertiser and not the magazine but the magazine is who connected me with the client. My client wasn’t sure he needed a professional photographer; he was one that thought he had a camera, and he could take the images himself and they would be ‘good enough’ for the ad. After a long consultation and some negotiation, he was willing to “give me a try.”

 

The shoot went well and the images were more than the client had anticipated. He was very happy with the results, in fact I would have to say that he was actually impressed with the differences between what a professional photographer could do compared to what he himself could produce. That was when he realized that ‘good enough’ probably wasn’t.

 

All is going well, I was paid, the images were delivered to the client and the magazine. My part was basically done; so I thought.
Now let me take a moment here to clarify; although the magazine had referred me to the client I had never done any work for the magazine before; in fact they had found me via my website and some referrals. I did not have a relationship with them prior to this project.

 

This past Friday evening I get a call from the client and he is furious!  He is almost screaming on the phone telling me that he had received a box of copies of the magazine and his ad looked horrible!  The images were all dark, lacking detail and did not represent him as he intended. He was ready to call his lawyer and have the contract voided and start a legal battle to get his money back, which I might add wasn’t a small amount.

 

The client went into detail about how the images were not representing him well and in fact he felt I should be angry too as they didn’t show my talent to capture the feelings he felt the original images did. He knew that I did not have a relationship with this publication prior to this project and felt that I should be as angry as he was because how was I going to get more work from this magazine if my images “looked like crap.” He was right too; if my work is the ugliest in the magazine it is highly unlikely that I would get any further referrals from the magazine.

 

The fact that my client was not happy is more of an issue for me than anything else. A positive review from him is likely to do more for me than how the magazine feels. More importantly, my client is pissed and that is just not acceptable to me, period.

 

But I am just the photographer, what can I do? This is an issue between the client and the magazine. In fact I could do something.

 

I had the client overnight a copy of the publication and I took a critical look at the ad and yes, the representation sucked. The images were dark, fuzzy at times and just generally looked horrible. So I did what I thought would be the next right thing, I called my contact at the magazine and I asked them what happened.

 

My contact had not yet seen the printed version and referred to the soft proof that she could see on her computer. She forwarded me a copy of the proof while we were on the phone and I let her know that the files she sent me in fact did not in any way represent what I was seeing in print. She then in turn referred me to the manager of their production department and my questioning began all over again.

 

To make a long story short, or at least not so long, After comparing files, computer profiles, processes and anything else we could think of it was finally agreed that the print version didn’t match the electronic version and that something needed to be done to make it right.

 

I offered the magazine an additional 30 images to choose from and my time and knowledge to work with them to create a new advertisement for my client. I would be the advocate for my client and I would use my print experience to help create a new ad. They in turn offered to run an editorial about my client’s product next to a full page ad that we would compose together. This would give my client greater exposure than originally planned, gave him a discount of more than 60% on his previous contract, and should override any negative exposure that may occur from the copies that were already on the street.

 

My client wasn’t sure how to negotiate with the publication when the project was less than expected and was put in a place where he was not sure how to proceed. He was about to do what he thought was right and bring in legal counsel. Instead he reached out to the person he thought might have an idea on how to handle the situation, even if it was more to assure him that the ad looked bad. In doing so, he brought in an advocate for himself and his business.

 

I didn’t charge the magazine or my client for any of this. I wanted to do what was right for my client and for everyone involved. In doing so I was able to help my client; I took a bad situation and made it a Win/Win/Win. The client gets a second ad with a two page spread for the cost of a half page ad, the publication gets a happy client and a minimal financial compromise, and I have two happy clients.

 

Being my client’s advocate is for me, just smart business.

Keep It Simple (Stupid)

 

Complication is easy – While simultaneously applying downward pressure and twisting in a counter clockwise motion to create upward movement, creating a release of pressure and separating multiple items bound together. Also known as unscrew it. However, anyone who has tried to loosen a screw with a stripped head knows that simple isn’t always that easy.

 

So just how does one keep it simple? Obviously that entirely depends on what the ‘it’ is. In my case it’s usually photography or getting the right image for you. So what if the image you need is complicated? That is where experience comes in; anyone can make the simple complicated but experience is what can make the complicated simple.

 

Recently I was contracted to photograph a large mansion in the Poconos of Northern Pennsylvania. This home has 6000 square feet of living space just on the first floor. Included are bathrooms, sitting rooms, a large foyer, an entertainment lounge, a koi pond (with huge koi) with a bridge and 3 meter waterfall, dining room, formal living room, two bedrooms, mud room, hot tub and full size indoor heated salt water pool, not including upstairs or the full basement! To capture the ambiance of this home is not an easy task.

 

I have some experience capturing the mood and feeling of an estate like this as I’ve shot quite a few of them. I have an approach to shooting large estates and the process is very similar to all the projects I do. The first and foremost thing that I do is find that ‘feeling’ and to do this it’s best to start by talking, at length, to the client. In most cases a home like this is the pride and joy of the people who live there and often they are more than willing to share what means the most to them.

 

Once I have an idea of what ‘s special about a project I need to survey it and that means taking  time to walk through it and determine the flow of the project or, in this case, the home. Some estates will strike you as soon as you pull in the lane: Winterwood Estate in CT was like that and the flow of the property was as important as the structures on it. In the Poconos it was a bit different though: it wasn’t the property itself or even the beautiful home, it is how the home interacts with the view from atop a mountain. From almost every room there was a view of the valley below or the ski resort across the valley.

This meant that whenever possible I needed to include the views and vistas. My experience has shown me how to do this in a way that shows both the home and the view without compromising either. By walking through the home I was able to experience what the homeowners enjoy every day with their morning coffee or their evening meal.

 

What I did was take a very complex job and I broke it down into pieces, learn, observe, review, survey and then formulate a plan of action. This is what I do with all my work whether I am shooting a multimillion dollar estate, simple portrait, an event or a major advertising campaign. Depending on the type of project the length and details of each step may change but the same simple formula is applied each time and I get the results my clients want, every time.

 

For me it isn’t just to keep it simple, for me it is Keep It Simple Stupid and that is why I call it my “K.I.S.S.” method.  Let me know if you need a KISS. 😉

 

You can see 50+ images of the home at www.19whisperinghillscourt.com and if you may be interested in purchasing it, contact me and I will get you in touch with the owners.

Save Money With Photography

As a professional photographer I hear all the time “I have a digital camera; can take the pictures myself. Why should I pay you?”  In fact I was speaking to a potential client yesterday who said exactly that. He is a retired developer who started out as a painter doing very high end residential painting. He has been known to charge as much as $25,000 or more to paint a New York apartment. He understands the idea of a high end service, but more importantly he understands the need for high quality work.

 

As with painting high quality photography can save you a lot of money in the long run. In the short term, when done correctly and done at the right time, it can make you money too. As my client pointed out it may take him weeks to prepare a space to be painted and painted properly. Some say why bother?  The prep work isn’t seen “once you slap a coat of paint over it.” That is sometimes true, for a little while. Over time the lack of preparation can allow heat and moisture to affect the paint and how the paint binds to the surface eventually leading to discoloration, pealing and flaking. Then the prep work, or lack of it, does matter; the initial job may look OK, not fabulous, but OK and the overall quality begins to suffer. Before you know it you have to strip away the ‘old’ paint and start over.

 

My clients (not this one though) will ask why I need to survey a space before I shoot, or they ask why I can’t just go in a take a few shots and call it done?  Sure I can do that but in time, most likely a rather short time, the images will lose their appeal and become dated, dull, and boring. Yet if I prepare for a shoot properly and I work to capture a timeless image I can create an image that will still wow people 100 years from now. Unlike a painter though, my preparation can easily go unnoticed.

 

There are thousands, maybe millions of professional photographers. But quality photographers are a bit more rare and they almost always are more expensive in the beginning. A quality photographer will spend time, years often, preparing for your photo shoot. Those years are spent learning composition, tone, looking at all the details of an image, the shadows, and most importantly, studying light.

Learning light is the hardest thing there is in photography. It is also probably the most important thing we can learn. I can go into a thousand words and not even scratch the surface of light but photography is the art of capturing light. To capture it you have to understand it and understand how it works; how light and the lack of light affect the subjects you are trying to capture. Learning light takes time and more importantly it takes the ability to see light differently than most people. That is the beginning of the preparation.

 

Preparation for capturing the image you want and/or need is a matter of taking those years of learning light and composition and incorporating that into generating the image that will be as timeless as possible.

 

So how does this save you money?  We, just like the quality painter whose work need not be done time and time again and will last for a good long time, so shall your images when done by a quality photographer. The images you will get from a quality photographer will do that as well: they will last a very long time. If the right image is created for you it can represent you and your company for years to come. This means that you will hire a photographer less often, though it may be a bit more money in the beginning, the timeless image will not need to be reproduced every six months, a year or more.

 

 

So what of the images that need to be created more regularly? How can quality save you money in that case? Simply put they represent your products, your services and ultimately you. Those images that need to be created regularly can be done at a more cost efficient rate when you chose one quality photographer. That person can streamline the process and produce the images you need regularly and reliably. If the quality of their services is consistent, so is your reputation.  And what costs more to recreate than your reputation?

 

Those that value quality, hire it.

Integrity

Integrity – from Merriam Webster’s Dictionary: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values; incorruptibility

 

Heck of a word.  It’s not the word though, it’s everything it stands for and everything it doesn’t. Many people and companies say that they live by a code of integrity. I won’t say that they do or don’t; I will say that it is a tall order to fill.

 

I am a firm believer in everything that this word stands for and all that it means I strive to be integral in everything I do every day not just my business. Do I succeed? I feel that I do; I feel that the reason is this is just a part of the ‘code’ I live by. In my life I try to live in a honorable fashion and that honor is at the core of everything I do. As long as I am quoting dictionaries…

 

Honor – also from Merriam Webster: a: a keen sense of ethical conduct, integrity <a man of honor>
b: one’s word given as a guarantee of performance <on my honor, I will be there>

 

The part that means so much to me is “one’s word”. I am a firm believer that if I tell you I am going to do something I am going to do it. For me that leads to doing things with integrity, a code of especially moral and artistic values.

 

So why the heck am I writing about this today? Because I was re-reading the ASMP’s Code Of Ethics and I was proud to be able to read that and find myself saying “yeah, well that is obvious”, which it apparently isn’t or they wouldn’t have found it necessary to A) write it down and B) send it to all the members like me.  Granted, for most if not all of the people I have met through ASMP it is second nature and the way they live every day. But it would seem that many don’t live this way and that is what kind of gets me.

 

I mean, how can you live in a way that is less than honorable and expect others to treat you with integrity?  I know that the only way I know how to treat people is to treat them as I want to be treated. Wasn’t that the golden rule once upon a time?

 

Maybe that is what people, and especially businesses, need: a return to the old fashioned common sense of honor and integrity, back to treating everyone you meet with respect. However when I say a return, perhaps I am being a bit misleading when in reality we need to move forward to this level of mutual respect. In the past a façade of respect was presented to anyone that was like us; those that were different were ridiculed or discriminated against. Some were just plain shunned.

 

Let’s make a step into our own future and treat everyone that we meet with integrity. Let’s all start to live in an honorable fashion. Perhaps we can live by a solid code of ethics. I think that we can and I feel that the best way to start it is to just do it. Be the best we can be in every way.

 

For me the idea of integrity isn’t just a bunch of words that I use for business. For me it is a way I live my life that spills over into my business.

Happy Holidays – Free Gift (Really, It’s Free)

 

About 10 days ago I finally got around to sending out my holiday cards. A bit late but at least I got them out!  They were on time for those who celebrate Christmas and Yule, but they were a little overdue for those celebrating Hanukah. What can I say? Hanukah was early this year. I know, plan better.  If you celebrate one of the other winter holidays all I can say is Happy [insert appropriate holiday here]!

 

 

I wanted to send cards to everyone I know but I don’t have everyone’s mailing address! It seems that many who got the snail mail version of the card liked the image very much (yeah, the one above). I always want to give something to everyone. The problem with that is I am a photographer, not a millionaire. Details.

 

As a photographer, what can I give that everyone might like? Imagery of course! So I decided that I was going to give everyone that visits my site a chance to have a unique image for their desktop or mobile phone! I figured, why not offer up the image I was using for my holiday cards?

 

Below are links to 4 different sized copies of the image above that you can download to your computer or mobile phone and set as your desktop background. All you have to do to get the image is Click the appropriate link below and then Right Click on the image and select, “Save Image As” and save it to a folder on your computer or phone.

 

Wide Screen – For wide screen monitors (1680×1050 or smaller)
Standard Screen – For standard sized monitors (1280×1024 or smaller)
Mobile Phone Portrait – Size based on the iPhone in Portrait Mode
Mobile Phone Landscape – Size based on the iPhone in Landscape Mode

 

As there are literally thousands of mobile phones with almost as many screen resolutions I used the iPhone screen resolution as a standard. The only thing you need to know is do you want it in landscape or portrait!

 

This is my free gift to everyone this holiday season. I hope you enjoy it!  It’s not holiday specific, it’s just a nice wintery scene for all of you to enjoy.

 

Thank you all and Happy Holidays!

Nice People

 

I have said it before and I will say it again. I love my job!

 

OK, OK. I know not another post on how wonderful it is to work for yourself doing what you love, blah, blah, blah. Nope. This one is about the people I work with and for. And believe me, they are great people.

 

I have been lucky in that the people I work for are very nice people. They are friendly and engaging. Some of the portraits I have done are of some of the nicest people in Philadelphia (and the surrounding areas). This woman for example.

 

 

I went to do business portraits of Anne and her friend Melody and these two women were fantastic. They offered me coffee, we chatted about what images we were going to do and then when it can time to shoot they were both happy and smiling and cheerful. We had a great time!
When I shot James (below), we took the whole day and made an event of it. We shot in 3 locations and we got all types of images. The best to come from the day even created what I call “The James Effect” as seen in this image.

 

 

I meet new people all the time and never has one been rude or angry. Every time I have been graced with clients that just define professional and personable. Even when I am shooting architecture I am working for someone that has a positive attitude and is generally a great person. I work with Dana from Nason Construction out of Wilmington Delaware of this image of the SEED Center at Philadelphia University.

 

Dana wanted to learn the process of how I created the images for her company. She actually worked as my assistant the whole day!  She didn’t have to lift a finger. In fact she could have just looked over my shoulder and said things like, “Why are you shooting it that way?  We need Blah, Blah, Blah.” Nope. She was helpful, friendly, understanding and willing to listen to why I shoot the way I do. Fantastic people.

 

 

So why am I such a lucky guy?  Who knows? Maybe I just jinxed it. Maybe it’s because I am as excited about the results of my work as they are. Maybe it’s because there is an enthusiasm in getting and image that tells the story that needs to be told, or maybe, just maybe, it’s because photography is exciting!

 

Whatever the case is I know I love my job and I love the challenges that my clients put me up to. Nothing makes me happier than to make an image that just makes their day.

All This Networking. Now What?

 

How about family networking?  It is the season. In fact here in the US it’s almost Thanksgiving and although many people think it is a time to eat and watch American football that is not what it is all about. In fact it’s not even really about the food either.

 

A few hundred years ago people new to the continent gave thanks to a bountiful harvest after a drought earlier in the year. They were grateful that they had managed, mostly due to the assistance of the native people, that they would have food throughout the coming winter months. This is said to be the first Thanksgiving; the year was 1621.

 

Over time we have learned how to grow and harvest food that can sustain millions through the winter months. Although we are still grateful for a bountiful harvest; that is not the true reason we should be grateful. At least, it shouldn’t be the only reason.
Read more

Value Added – Buzz Words Or Real Service?

 

It seems of late I am constantly hearing the term “Value Added”. To get the upper hand on your competition you need to have a message that shows your Value Added proposition or something that helps you stand out from a crowd. So is this just a new buzz word or is it a new way of doing business?

 

For many it is a new way of doing business. For far too long you got what you got and that is what you paid for. Photographers, writers, advertisers, suppliers, whoever always gave you what you ordered or contracted and that was that. The value was in the service or product they delivered. Today the idea is to add more to what you are giving your clients hence adding value to your service or product. For me this seems like customer service.

 

I was raised in a family business, a seafood restaurant, my first tasks were gutting fish and peeling potatoes and it was all I did all day. My father instilled the old adages of “the customer is always right” and “take care of your customers and they will take care of you.” In a family business you are expected to do twice as much work for half the pay and none of the glory. But it teaches you a lot. (That is my father in the image below. Hey it is a photography blog.)

 

I swore a long time ago that I would never gut another fish or peel a potato. I never stopped giving customer service though and I never will. I’m not sure how often the customer is actually right but they will take care of you if you take care of them.

 

I do my best to promise the right service in my photography business and I try to over deliver whenever I can. I want my clients to be not only happy with the quality of my work but impressed with how I do business. For me that is customer service.

 

Is customer service a value added proposition?  I wish it weren’t but it seems that in today’s world it can be. Going the extra mile (another of my father’s sayings) is not a bother or even a choice for me. Doing the extra is what my clients deserve. They are paying for quality and quality comes in many forms. Quality is in the images I deliver, it is the service I give and it grows into the partnerships I have and will have.

 

Taking the time to grow and foster a relationship with my clients does what my father taught me; take care of your clients. In turn I hope my clients stay my clients for a long time to come. I want to build relationships with them and get to know them and their businesses so I can give them more the next time I work with them. I want them to value my skills and services as much as I value their business.

 

Does all this become a “Value Added Service”? Beats me. For me it’s just good old fashioned business.

Made You Look

 

If you are a client of mine you are probably hiring me to get the attention of your clients. That is what imagery does; it captures the attention of viewers faster and hopefully, more powerfully, than the written word.

 

With the addition of the internet as a strong marketing tool all, marketing has changed. Your clients paging through a magazine, online or in print, make choices in nanoseconds. Images, text, and all marketing, needs to capture their attention in a maximum of 7 seconds. Online advertising is getting bolder with pop-ups and flashing ads that tend to annoy more than they attract. All this does is make potential clients more and more jaded, in turn making it harder and harder to get your message to them.
So what can you do?  Do you take the risk of putting up an ad that may annoy your client?  Do you reserve web browser real estate for an advertising toolbar? For print, do you resort to loud colors and bold text to get a subtle message across to the client?  What does actually work?

 

In my case creativity, originality and old fashioned style works.

See?  You looked at the entire ad, not just the model’s face. You probably looked at her, then glanced at the text, then back to her and after deciding if you liked her image, then you looked at my logo. After you did all of that you started reading this paragraph; you did all of that in about 6 or 7 seconds.

 

So how do you capture your client’s attention?  Give me a call or click here and let’s figure it out together.

Cheese With Your Whine?

 

You may as well have some cheese with your whine because it may be all you get. The days of whining are over. My clients don’t need whining, they need results.

 

Recently I was contracted to shoot portraits of some award winners at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. As is the norm for a larger city, not all the winners could be at the shoot at the same time. One winner, Taylor Fernley of Fernley & Fernley could not attend, yet the chamber still needed a portrait. I offered to go to his office at Mr. Fernley’s convenience and get the shot needed. Although my client said that would be going above and beyond I did anyway; for no extra charge.

 

My contact at the chamber said the day of the shoot that I didn’t need to go to their office for the shot and that they would just make due. ‘Make due’ usually means they will have an intern go over with a point and shoot and take a snapshot of the subject. That snapshot would be included with all the other winners, problem solved. Wrong.
I want the client to have consistent quality. I want my name to be known as the photographer that will go above and beyond; the one that will do whatever it takes to get the job done and done right. So I spoke to Mr. Fernley’s representative and told them to call me when he was available and I would be there. Last week I got the call.

 

What this did was give my client, and subsequently their client, the confidence that they would consistently have quality photography for the publication and they didn’t have to do anything, not even ask.

 

For me there was no whining or complaining to be done. It was about just doing what was needed to get the shots needed, no matter how convenient or inconvenient.  I did my job and I did it with a smile. My client was happy, Fernley & Fernley was happy and I was proud of the work I delivered before the deadline for the printer.

 

No whine, no cheese. Just results.