T&J Alphabet Photography Pushes Success with Facebook

Think back to high school, what do you recall thinking about your classmates? “There’s the jock, wonder if he actually did his homework or did the teachers just pass him so he could play in Friday night’s game.” Or “There is miss know it all, wonder if any one will tell her she’s got toilet paper stuck to her shoe.” My ten-year reunion is in July and with all the social networking theses days I connected with some of my old classmates and find that their life path has taken them on quite a journey to places I never expected them to go.  One such classmate is Jessica Downing, who is now Jessica Allers. I have always admired Jessica, she’s very smart and one of the sweetest people. She has a joyous sprit that lights up the room with her laugh and smile.

            As of November 2010 Jessica and her best friend developed T&J Alphabet Photography. They developed the business as a way to be able to stay home with their kids and still make some money. They both love photography and crafts, and eventually developed signs they make from beautiful photographs that represent letters with in the English alphabet. They developed away to make theses beautiful works of art affordable and one way is to keep overhead cost low, which includes marketing.

             T&J Alphabet Photography utilizes social networking to get the word out about their business along side art and craft shows. They now have a couple local stores selling their art. Since December 2010 T&J Alphabet Photography has gained 138 likes on Facebook and many orders for their beautiful pieces. Their facebook site keeps their fans in the loop of what craft/art show they may be at and the latest letters they photographed, giving potential clients the ability to give their opinion on the pictures.

            The Facebook sight has definitely spiked an interest in me and I am now trying to decide which occasion to get what sign for whom. Like my mom’s wedding gift or for my dad’s father’s day gift, at $5 a letter I cannot go wrong.

            T&J Alphabet Photography has only been around for seven months I will be excited to see what they can do in five years.

Written by: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA owner of Focal Point Imaging www.focalpointimaging.org , and member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) www.ppa.com

FPI-blog Quality Survey

What impact has digital marketing made on the Photography industry?

Digital marketing has its’ positives and negatives for the photography filed. The digital world is ideal for the freedom of speech but is also almost impossible to police, so media is easily stolen.

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Portable Portfolio

It is a nascence to carry a bulky portfolio wherever an artist or photographer goes. It is also quite expensive to continually up date a printed portfolio. Using a website to and networking sites help photographers and other artist get their portfolios seen easily and allows them to keep up-to-date on their current works. Using the networking sties allows photographers to reach people that would other wise never seen their work, and in turn create opportunities they would never have considered before the digital age.

On The flip side however, many people see material on the Internet as free game and tended to take it for their own uses. Sure, the work is copyrighted and if the artist can actually track down who is taking their work they can sue for damages, but not every country has the same copyright laws and it’s expensive to go through all the legal procedures.

Easy access

The websites allow photographers to share the photographs with clients and have them pick-out their desired photos with little a nascence. Digital marketing also allows photographers to get current and up-to-date information on the latest products and techniques.

Photographers now have convent access to professional printers across the country and locally. This allows photographers and other artist to get the best possible products for their clients and photography needs.

Cheaper advertising

The World Wide Web has a multitude of access to thousands of possible cliental. The net working sites make it cheep and easy to come in contact and influence potential cliental. Unfortunately, it is also easy to be too casual with the networking and the lines between social and business become blurred.

More competition

With easy access and cheaper advertising there is also a much more competitive market. A photographer’s market is no longer the town they set-up shop in, but across the country. People are continuously pushing the envelope and if a photographer dose not stay-up with it and up to date, they become obsolete and lose business. Additionally photographers are also competing with the do it your-self types who use all the user-friendly sites like shutter fly.

Needless to say as great as digital marketing is, it has it’s own challenges photographers need to over come.

Who’s got the rights?

Photography is a fun hobby for most people and for some like me it is a way of life. Whether you are a random enthusiast playing with vacation pictures or a professional photographer, you need to be aware of who has the rights to your pictures and even if you have the rights to take it or use it once it’s been taken.

Doses one even have the right to take a picture? Anyone can take a picture on public property such as a street or sidewalk, but since September 11, 2001 places have been restricting camera use (Masoner, 2011). Places like the Milwaukee Art Museum require one to summit a request and review on a case-by-case basis, though their stated requirements are more geared toward larger and invasive productions. The building it’s self is copyrighted to the architect Santiago Calatrava, and much are the art work in the museum has copyrights owned by the artist so the use of the photographs once taken is still limited.

Buildings and structures that are copyrighted need a model release, especially if they are the subjects of the photograph. Like wise, a photographer and/or publisher need a model release for and person as a subject in a photograph. There are some loopholes and certain conditions where they are not necessary, but it is always best to be safe and get permission before any photograph is published or sold.

With all that hassle to make sure a photographer is not taking someone else’s work no wonder they flip when clients and internet users rip off their work. The photos taken can get the photographer in a lot of trouble. It can also cause blemishes to the photographer’s reputation and brake privacy laws between client and photographer. Though the photo copied may seem like the client saves a few buck, but it can cost the photographer thousands, as well as the thief who stole the photograph .Bet the $30 8X10 no longer seems too expensive compared to the $1000 fine a copy could cost. Bottom line be safe and get permission.

By: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA Owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org/ and Member of the Professional Photographers of America http://www.ppa.com/

Works sited

Biehl, Kathy. (2006, Febuary 7). Bloggers Beware: Debunking Nine Copyright Myths of the Online World. LLRX.com. Retrieved from http://www.llrx.com/features/bloggersbeware.htm

DSLRBlog Editors. (2009, April 6). Do you need a model release?. DSLRBlog. Retrieved http://dslrblog.com/do-you-need-a-model-release/

Masoner, Liz. (2011, April 15). Photographers Faced with Confusing Regulations. About.com. Retrieved from http://photography.about.com/b/2011/04/15/photographers-faced-with-confusing-regulations.htm.

Milwaukee Art Museum. Retrieved on 2011, May 7 from http://www.mam.org/info/policies/photo-film-permission.php

Why Archival?

There is a picture of my Great, Great Grandpa and Grandma in my father’s foyer. It is sepia and a little creepy cause it’s from the early 1900’s to late 1800’s, When no body smiled due to long exposure times.  Minus the photo’s creepiness I enjoy looking at the picture because I can see where my dad gets so many of his features from and in turn even where get some of mine. The picture was arrived and kept safe from the natural brake down process.

Often when looking at art supplies artist see archival and note the more expensive price. If archival is more expensive then why get it? For photographer’s it’s so the photograph stay’s it’s truest form and resist fading.  Using archival products deters unwanted degrading of the product. When a client purchases a piece of art for $100+ they do not want it to fade and degrade in value.

The most common archival concern is in paper, and adhesives. They contain acid, which erodes and yellows photographs. Have you ever looked though your old family albums and wondered why the pictures are turning yellow and fading; it is do to the adhesive, paper, and even the plastic covering. In a hundred years most of those picture albums will be indiscernible and lost to feature generations.

As Artist, we have to choose our materials for our art. Some times the subject dictates our materials, other times it is our own preferences, but if we want our work to last and out last ourselves we choose archive materials.

 

Some great archive art supplies :

I have used theses supplies my self and find then easy to work with.

You can get theses supplies at your local art store or here at ArtSupply.com http://www.artsupply.com/headerpages/archival.htm

 

I get my paper from B&H http://www.bhphotovideo.com or Calumet http://www.calumetphoto.com

Written by: Mandy S. Chenoweth, BFA owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the Professional Photographers of America http://www.ppa.com/

In house vs Out sourcing

In college, I spent hours, days, and weeks, in the dark room and print lab working my photo projects. I loved the feeling of working the medium and producing the perfect print. The longer it took me the more enduring the final print became. I enjoyed working the chemicals and experimenting with alternative printing process both in the dark room and in the print lab. Theses process and experimentation can only happen in an in studio print lab. My hands produced art, my heart felt, even when I switched entirely over to digital Photography and did much of my work on the computer, but controlled and worked the print.

Now, I out source all my print work to a print lab. The reason for the switch is an economical one. Unfortunately, I cannot afford my own state-of-the-art print lab, nor is it plausible to spend hours perfecting each print. A print lab has everything already configured and many more supplies than I have access too. Just for a basic print lab with just an Epson Stylus pro 9880 printer initial cost would be about $5,461 and to keep using it would coast $1,132 in paper and ink. At the moment, my studio is not large enough to hold the equipment and my cliental have not grown enough to support the financial investment.

Out sourcing has allowed me to print on many different mediums I would otherwise not have tried, such as metallic prints that have and in-depth chemical process and metal prints with is printed directly on aluminum. I also have the ability to have prints printed on stretched canvas and are ready to hang on the wall. With out sourcing I have the freedom to use my energy to prefect my images and let those who have already perfected the art of printing print my work saving energy, time, and money. To produce my 1^st 60 out sourced 8X10’s it coasted me about $186 to produce giving me $1,614 in profit. The 1^st 60 in house would still leave me approximately $3,661 in dept.

Economically speaking out sourcing to print labs is definitely more profitable, but for the love of art, I still want my print lab.

Prices were taken from B& H Photo-Video-Pro Audio http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

Reputable Print Labs

Apollo Imagizing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin http://www.apollo-imagizing.com

BayPhoto.com in Santa Cruz, California http://www.bayphoto.com

Iprintfromhome.com in Buffalo, New York http://iprintfromhome.com/

Written by: Mandy Chenoweth, BFA

owner of Focal Point Imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the Professional Photographers of America http://www.ppa.com

“Capturing the moment” what dose that really mean any way?

             Many photographers talk about capturing the moment, but what do they really mean? Moreover, what moment are they talking about? For the most part it really is artist speak tor the perfect picture. The perfect picture tells a story and expresses emotion. The favorite “moment” for child photography is the expression of true curiosity. Other popular “moments” are of adoration, love, growth, and surprise.  If a photographer can successfully capture these emotions and stories with a beautiful composition then they have captured the moment and not just a stander pose or smile.

            For weddings, photographers really are trying to capture moments to tell the couple’s love story and preserve the memories of the day. The most popular moments are the enviable cake fight, father’s goodbye, the first kiss, and the beautiful love between the couple.

            For seniors, photographers try to capture moments that revile the senior’s personality. The point of senior pictures is to celebrate the senior and their hard work.

            For families, photographers try to capture moments that are unique to the way the family members interact with each other. These pictures then are timeless as well as precious to the family.

            “Capturing the moment” is what sets experienced photographers apart from the armature photographer. Armature and hobbyist photographers get a lot of happy accidents and can often spot a decent photograph, but the experienced photographer can set the moment-up to happen.

By: Mandy Chenoweth, BFA Owner of Focal point imaging http://focalpointimaging.org and member of the PPA http://www.ppa.com