Going to try something new for Monday’s – will give you all a weekly wrap up from the previous week, just in case you have missed reading a post or watching a tutorial or video interview.

Love The Products & Services Posted On Tiffinbox? talked about how some of the reviews of products and services mentioned on Tiffinbox have actually been very useful to you and your photography business.

Robert Norman wrote a guest blog post on How To Use CardMunch To Manage Business Cards, an application for your iPhone that will scan and save your data. Pretty cool!

Leon Sandoval from Colorati came back to Tiffinbox for another guest blog post about < a href="http://tiffinbox.org/how-do-you-keyword-your-digital-images/">keyboarding digital files. He had two short tutorials on using Lightroom or Bridge, whichever works best for your workflow.

Blair Phillips has a handle on using video to attract high school senior clients to his studio. In his guest blog, “Video Speaks Louder Than Words,” he tells us just how he goes about it.

Lastly, I had an opportunity to speak and interview David Hobby, the photographer/teacher behind Strobist, a veritable repository for off-camera flash users. David also spoke about his new project “HOCO360,” photographing the people and events in Howard County, Maryland. Check it out!

P.S. This weekly wrap idea was highly influenced by the awesome Copyblogger blog. You ought to check it out too.

As an Adobe Community Professional, A.J. has been an enthusiastic representative in the creative community for several years. It’s not surprising he’s been ranked the #1 Adobe Instructor WORLDWIDE more than once. Students enjoy his straightforward teaching style, and the ability to communicate ideas in the simplest of terms. An active NAPP Evangelist, A.J. posts Adobe tutorial videos each week on YouTube. Follow A.J. on Twitter, post your questions to his Facebook page, and catch the latest insights on his blog.

Catchy huh? Yeah, I’m not once to mince words although, I generally like to spin a tale or two. It’s my pleasure to join you today, and I appreciate the invitation Seshu extended to me quite some time ago. He is a gracious & patient host, and I hope my thoughts leave you wanting… Wanting more like Charlie Sheen’s 2nd performance in Chicago, not wanting to leave like the angry mob that caught him in Detroit. Where was I?

Oh yes, harnessing your talent, your desire, that passion which many of us find in photography. It’s rather difficult to focus on that passion when you’re bogged down with the day-to-day running your photography business isn’t it? There’s the marketing, the office paperwork, the website, dealing with clients, to Facebook or Twitter, the list goes on, and yet many of today’s photographers seemingly do it all. Maybe you’re just starting out, and you haven’t thought about your business plan or the logistics of making money from photography. Perhaps you’re a seasoned pro, and you’re wondering how you’ll stay on top of all the changing technology, and the wolves scratching at your door. It’s a wonder you get to take any pictures at all. That’s okay, I’m here to tell you:

To discover your talents you have to recognize & acknowledge when you suck.

It’s a common philosophy I share with my students, and many interpret it as a direct statement about their passion. Like Simon Cowell, I’m somehow there to obliterate their dreams. Let me clarify the statement with some editorial tweaks:

To maximize your talents you have to recognize & acknowledge where you suck.

I know plenty of folks who at some point were caught in company downsizing, and ended up being one of the lucky ones who had more job responsibility for the same or less pay. Oddly enough, I see the same types of folks launch their businesses with DIY zeal only to suffer from burnout or stagnant growth after a year. Yes, you have grand ambitions, some talents, maybe a kickass plan or two, but you’re just one person. What you need are minions … I mean a support group … umm … network –- You need to develop your network. Just like that lone crusader Batman had a sidekick, and spent some time with other superheroes in the Justice League of America. (Wait … what do you mean a comic book reference kills my credibility?) Focus–a network.

Leverage your strengths, outsource your weaknesses.

When I talk to photographers about networking events many of them mention social mixers based around getting clients or connecting with peers. Generating leads is a must, and mentoring other photographers or finding a mentor is a wonderful thing. However, those connections do not address the immediate issues of office management, marketing or managing your website. I highly recommend finding those people at the networking events they attend. Where do you start? Your local Chamber of Commerce is a good place. Another good place is Meetup.com. Any hobby, popular fad or obscure interest can be found listed at Meetup.com. The best part is meetup groups are specifically designed to get people together live and in-person. Now I know what you’re thinking, “That’s a good way to generate client leads!” Point to you dear reader, that’s a takeaway bonus for hangin’ out with me this long.

But let’s stay focused. I don’t want you networking without purpose. What you should be doing is building your network. Your team of professionals. The people that you can call to handle the portions of your business that are really best suited to be handled by someone other than you. If you suck at website design, then by all means hire someone to do your website. And if you’re great at website design, why in the world are you spending your time as a photographer? My point is by building your network, you can focus your energy at the really important tasks. My good friend Glyn Dewis is a fine example. He had a hand in building his first website, and it wasn’t bad. It got the job done. See for yourself. However, Glyn’s passion for photography literally oozes into everything else he does, so a good website wasn’t good enough. Now he probably could have spent the man-hours himself building & retooling his website, but he found someone better suited to the task. Scott Kublin is another fine example. You don’t know Scott? He enjoys HDR photography. He’s friends with another HDR guy–Trey Ratcliff. *heart pounding from sheer awesomeness* You can read the backstory on Scott’s About Me page, but the summary is Scott wanted to learn HDR and Trey needed some top-notch SEO for his website.

Leverage your strengths, outsource your weaknesses.

Thank you for taking a moment to read this post. As a fellow-overachiever-one-man-band-DIY-caffeine-infused-control-freak, I know it’s tough sharing some of the parental responsibility for your growing business. However, it’s the best way to ensure your business does grow. I want to thank my partner in creative shenanigans, J Schuh for illustrating my thoughts in the opening cartoon. Feel free to buy a t-shirt if we’ve tickled your funny bone. Oh, and where are my manners?

Here’s a quickie Photoshop tutorial for you:

Tiffinbox, at its core, is about providing solutions and resources for photographers, by building a community of “go-givers.”

Will you join me in making this happen?

For 2011 and beyond I am looking to grow Tiffinbox into something much bigger. As the diversity of guest blogs have shown in 2010, I know that a group effort is much more interesting for all.

7 Things You Can Expect From Tiffinbox In 2011?

1) Video Interviews with photographers

2) Tips on how you can use social media to grow your photography business

3) Portfolios from emerging photographers that will inspire you

4) Reviews of the following:
- popular Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets
- photography equipment
- workshop DVDs, seminars and conventions
- online solutions to streamline your studio workflow

5) More fun contests and giveaways of products you will actually use

6) Opinion-editorials on a variety of topics (some even controversial because we still need to discuss them!)

7) A brand new design that will make it easier to find and share information and connect with other photographers

Seeking Your Support

So, if you are just starting out, or, you’ve been in the photography industry, for a while, I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions, suggestions, tips or heck, even strong opinions about one topic or another, please feel free to email me at – seshu at tiffinbox dot org.

I might be able to answer your question(s) or someone who has guest blogged here might jump in. Or, even better, someone who hasn’t written for Tiffinbox before might offer an answer in the form of a quick article.

a) Guest Blogging For Tiffinbox

My heartfelt thank you’s to ALL the 2010 guest bloggers here on Tiffinbox.

If you are interested or even ready to guest blog for Tiffinbox, feel free to submit your ideas now. I am scheduling guest posts for 2011 and will publish them in the order they are received. The sooner you send me your pitch, the sooner your post will show up on the site.

If you have been following my Twitter stream @PicSeshu, you’ll know that I am pretty good about promoting the articles you see here on Tiffinbox.

The benefits of guest blogging can be summarized by these three points:

1) Helps you take the first steps in establishing yourself as a credible authority
2) Link back to your site from mine (happens to be a PR5 site)
3) Gain a loyal following of your own if you publish regularly here

b) Tiffinbox began as a labor of love. It will remain so for the most part, but I do have expenses to deal with. If you find the content here valuable, please consider the following 7 ways to support this site:

1) Express yourself. Write a guest blog post.

2) Make a small monthly donation of $1 or more (my PayPal address is – fei8ht at gmail dot com)

3) Buy the e-books you see on the right hand side of this site. I wouldn’t recommend anything if I didn’t think it was of value. Yes, I make a small commission off of each sale.

4) Buy all your camera equipment from Adorama using this affiliate link: http://www.adorama.com/?kbid=66174. Their prices are competitive and their customer service is awesome!

5) If you are into blogging yourself, consider using WordPress and the Thesis Theme (great for SEO) and Hostgator for your hosting needs. Go on click on those affiliate links and sign up.

6) Help Me Spread the word! Tell your friends, blog about Tiffinbox, Tweet or use Facebook to mention a specific blog post.

7) Sponsor a series of posts in a particular month. Contact me for details on ways that I can help publicize your company in exchange as well.

The end goal at Tiffinbox is to create a community of passionate photographers who are looking to openly learn from each other, elevate their craft and thrive in their businesses together.

Thoughts, reactions, responses, suggestions or opinions? Sound off below in the comments. I would love to hear from you, especially if it is constructive. [grin]

Happy New Year To You All!

This blog post is by Taiwain-based culture & travel photographer Craig Ferguson. You should follow him on Twitter.

One step forward and two steps back seems to be the pattern for a lot of photographers lately, particularly in the area of cultural travel photography. Falling editorial rates and increased competition make things tougher for all. For me personally, potentially beneficial long-term opportunities in the world of travel photography have recently opened up (one step forward) but at the cost of tougher times in the short-term (two steps back).

Choosing to forgo immediate gain in order to focus on the medium and longer term future isn’t always easy. I recently sent off the last of a series of photographs to a publisher. It’s unlikely that I’ll see any licensing fees from this until 2011 at the earliest, even though putting it all together took the best part of the summer. Other than a couple of small and quick portrait shoots and a little bit of editorial travel photography for a regional magazine, the past couple of months have been lean. In the long run, it will be worth it but that doesn’t necessarily make it easier to stomach now.

2010 was always going to be a year of major transition for me as I move my photography business away from the general and into a much more specialized direction. That transition is still ongoing and becomes frustrating at times, as the bulk of my time is now spent in front of a computer rather than behind a lens. This recent project was a vital step in that process but it was only a step. Completing one major task would, in a perfect world, be cause for celebration and signify time to take a break. In reality though, it’s just another box to tick and task to cross off the list. Almost as soon as the DVD’s full of photographs were dropped off at Fedex, it was back to the grindstone. Seeking out, researching and reaching out to new potential clients. A day full of crafting individualized, cold email introductions to a market that is not covered by Agency Access and the like. When that day is over, I end up with a stack of further possibilities for the future to investigate and approach. It’s not a task for the impatient but at the same time, it’s a task that must be done sooner rather than later.

So why do it? Why not take travel photos for fun and work in something else, something that provides a regular salary? I know plenty of photographers who have done just that. They work a full time, salaried job and save photography for the weekends. For some people, that’s the best thing to do. Not for me however. Why? It’s quite simple.

I am a photographer. More accurately, I am a cultural travel photographer. It’s what I do. It’s who I am. It gives me more than I could ever hope to repay. It’s a passion. I have no choice. I can’t not do it.

Short term pain may well be necessary for long term gain, and if that is the case, then so be it. Photography is a calling and when you’ve been called, you have no other options.

This is a guest post by Alethea Cheng Fitzpatrick, NYC based architect, interior designer, photographer AND mom! Alethea has her own business, alethea cheng fitzpatrick photography.

I hear photographers talking about digital images all the time.

I’ve noticed that portrait photographers tend to be the ones bemoaning the fact that their clients “just want the CD”. Mostly it’s because those same clients also think that the CD should be really inexpensive, because it “didn’t cost the photographer much” to make.

Wedding photographers, on the other hand, often celebrate the fact that their clients don’t really want albums any more. They claim that it’s hard to make money off albums because they take so long to design and cost so much to make. They are quite happy to wow their brides and grooms by having an iPad pre-loaded with all their photos waiting on their doorstep when they return from their honeymoon.

The different perspectives are interesting, and there’s a simple reason for the difference – wedding photographers typically charge up front for a package and include the high resolution files because they are already assured of the sale. Portrait photographers depend on post-session sales and, unless properly priced, high res files undercut their other products.

But regardless of the type of photographer you are, in both cases I strongly believe that you are doing your CLIENT a disservice if you only give them the CD. It is not in their best interest!

Here’s why.

Fifty years from now, where is that iPad going to be? Where is that CD going to be?

What about a hundred and fifty years from now? Or longer?

Technology is going to COMPLETELY change, I don’t need to tell you that, but have you thought about how your super fancy high resolution digital images of today… might not look so good on technology down the road, or might not be viewable at all? Now, I do not have any expertise in “future proofing” digital files, but then, you probably don’t either, and nor do your clients. And a quick Google search seems to show that … no one really knows, and one recommended strategy is to make hard copies of important documents and photos!

Yes, your clients may upwardly convert their files, but do you want to depend on that?

Prints and albums (of archival quality – which of course you are going to provide) are your most future proof medium. They can sit on a shelf for years and still be viewed with no additional effort required by anyone.

But even aside from the future proofing issue, even assuming that the format you pick for your digital images is readable forever, is that really the only way you want your clients to experience your images?

Forget 50 years from now, even tomorrow, does viewing a digital images come anywhere close to the experience of holding viewing an actual physical piece of artwork in person?

Honestly? If you think it does then, seriously, you are not getting your prints made at the right lab!

I love my prints – love love LOVE them, and so do my clients. In fact, some of my clients start out thinking they just want the high resolution files but after they see the artwork products I offer (including museum quality framed and bamboo mounted prints, custom designed heirloom photobooks on presentation stands and beautiful notecards), they “get it”. Often they end up with everything BUT the high resolution files they started out so concerned about and are very happy about it.

Why?

Well, first of all, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying DON’T offer digital files. I absolutely understand the importance and value of digital files and I offer them to all my clients. I’m just saying that to ONLY provide digital files is doing your clients a disservice. I follow the recommendations that Alicia Caine makes in Easy As Pie (I highly recommend this resource by the way – well worth the investment). I offer high resolution files but a la carte, they are the most expensive item on my price list, and it’s actually less expensive for clients to purchase high resolution files AND a proof box. I also offer low resolution web-sized watermarked files but only after a minimum purchase of other artwork has been made. Basically, my pricing is structured in a such a way that no client ends up with only digital files.

So how do clients end up changing their mind about the high resolution files?

Well, first of all, a big reason people want digital files is so they can share them online and via e-mail, and the low res web files take care of that. It helps that I offer my low res web files in the form of a finished product – an online digital storybook that is a cohesive presentation, designed and paced to tell a story, and set to licensed music. It can also easily be shared in a matter of clicks.

Secondly, they want them for archival purposes, but as we’ve discussed, hard copies are better for that.

Finally, they want the freedom to make their own prints in the future … and those that are really motivated to have this option available are willing to pay for it (or I am just not the right photographer for them). But most clients, when it comes down to it, and presented with the beautiful artwork options I offer, plus the fact that I sit with them and help them select their images and put together their order, not to mention frame, deliver and install their custom designed wall gallery, know deep or even not so deep down that they will not make such beautiful artwork themselves, and even if they had the resources and knowledge to do so, probably would never get around to it.

Think about it. If you hand your client a CD, they have to put it in their computer, open it up, download them to their desktop, sort through the images, select the ones they want to print, upload them to a printing service, collect or receive their prints, get them framed, buy the hardware to hang them, and then hang them.

Yes, some clients are very motivated and will do this. But most of my clients are busy professionals and they want to spend their spare time hanging out with their kids, not traipsing to a framer or a hardware store.

And how many clients can design an album? How many will?

My high resolution digital files are my highest priced a la carte product, because if they were any less, I would be underselling all my other products. But I feel that my clients get a LOT more value out of ordering artwork and albums from me, and after a certain spend level, I actually throw in the high res files at what works out to be pretty much for free as part of a collection.

Many photographers follow a “shoot and burn” model I know, and if it works for you, great. But if you’re doing it because you think that is what clients want, consider whether it really is in their best interest, not to mention yours. You know how I feel about it – please don’t just give them the CD!

How do you handle high resolution files for clients? How about low resolution files? What is your take on delivering just the digital images and nothing else to clients? Who wins and why do your clients almost always lose?

As a documentary wedding photographer, each November as the wedding season in the US winds down, my thoughts swing to the next season and whether I will meet my target of 25 weddings per year.

One of the best books ever written about being booked solid is by Michael Port, called Book Yourself Solid. I recall reading it cover to cover, taking notes along the way and paying attention to the steps Michael outlines to have a thriving business. In addition to being an author, Michael is a speaker and educator.

So, when Michael speaks or emails me something, I sit up and take notice. A recent note from him introduced me to his new Booked Solid University. It’s his “entire lead generating, client producing, business building, book writing, product creation, book yourself solid (and beyond) systems and programs” as a business coaching program online.

I signed up as an affiliate because I feel his message, his methodology and his means are all sync with how I would like to learn about creating, sustaining and elevating my photography business in Connecticut. And I bet you will enjoy his course as well.

Please come back here and let me know what you think about the course in the comments section. Your feedback is always valuable not only to me but to others who may be reading this blog regularly as well. Thank you!