This year in each issue of Shutter Magazine, we’re focusing on a building block for your business. Your site and blog, together with your skill set, make up the foundation of what can become a thriving business.
It never fails when I read about new ways to better my photography: There’s usually an equipment pitch. It’s all about having the best lenses and cameras. Or on the flip side, I find large-format film photographers preaching lessons in the landscape. Hauling my 4x5 view camera everywhere was great when I was shooting for 40-by-50-inch prints and I had grant money to blow on art projects. But technique is often more important than equipment. One technique, “focus stacking,” can lend greater depth to your landscape imagery.
We started out talking about your website, then your blog, last month. Well, the next big building block for your brand awareness is figuring out how to use your blog. That means filling it with useful content. I always hear photographers whining that “there’s nothing to write about!” The truth is, there’s always something to write about, but most of you take so much for granted in terms of your expertise and being helpful to your readers. Let’s come up with a series of topics you can expand on so you’ve got a nonstop flow of content.
I’ve had a bunch of people ask me how to get their business to appear on Google Maps in SERPs (search engine results pages). The map results still use Google’s algorithm to determine ranking here, but with more emphasis on certain factors. Here are some of those factors. PHYSICAL ADDRESS This is your physical address in the city of the search. If you do not have a physical location in the city, do not try to fool Google by getting a P.O. box or using a fake address. You can still rank organically in the search, but without a legitimate physical location in the actual city of search, or if you are in a suburb or a short distance away from the targeted city, you will most likely not show up on the top of the map results.
I’d like to share a few experiences that I believe helped me become a stronger travel photographer. I hope that by the end of this piece, you’ll be searching online for plane tickets for a trip you’ve been putting off. But first, allow me to tell you a little about myself in my first-ever contribution to Shutter.
The majority of my corporate shoots are in locations I’ve never been before. We average five to 10 destination weddings a year. They require working out of suitcases, taxis and hotel rooms with limited time and resources. Filming at home in a studio is one thing, but bringing your filmmaking productions to Hawaii, Mexico, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, England, Canada and everywhere in between is another. Over the past decade, I’ve made many traveling mistakes in my destination filmmaking. I’m going to try to help you avoid those mistakes.
There are several factors that play a part in creating a great image. Location is often one of the most important. Location sessions have become very popular. Being able to travel to tropical locations to photograph weddings sounds like a dream job. While it can be both fun and rewarding, it can bring a ton of liabilities that most photographers overlook. Locations have helped keep my interest in my portrait business. If you shoot in the same camera room day after day, you are sure to become bored at some point. But there is more to finding a location than just riding around and hopping out and shooting.
Why are millions of people mesmerized by the Humans of New York project? For me, it’s the connection photographer Brandon Stanton quickly makes with his subjects to enable a life story to be told in a single portrait. Photographer and subject are both participants, resulting in a different kind of “decisive moment” than the classic street photography of a photographer like Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose subjects often aren’t aware that their moment has been captured. Viewed together, the HONY portraits tell the story of a city, revealing a true sense of place through its inhabitants. Street portraits are my favorite type of travel photographs, my favorite way to tell the story of the places I visit. They are also the most challenging for me to capture.
I used to think of a day when I was taking a flight as a day off. I couldn’t plan anything that day because I was flying. Traveling would take all the energy out of me, and being midair meant I was free from contact with the outside world. Not anymore.
When our businesses are run well, we have the ability to give of our time and even our money to people and causes that are important to us. If you’ve never gotten involved with a charitable organization, I challenge you to seek out something that speaks to you. There are so many different causes to get involved in, and I promise that you will be blessed through your giving. If you aren’t financially able to give money, give of your time, talent and service.
