I struggle to write. No, it's true. Given the choice between writing a paragraph and finding an image to photograph in a bare 200 square foot room, I'll choose the latter any day. That's just the way my brain works.

I visit many blogs each week. If they are any indication, I suspect other photographers are very much like I am; choosing to publish images more readily than text.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

When Jenika McDavitt of PsychologyforPhotographers.com posted an invitation to join her for four weeks to learn to write persuasively, I jumped at the chance to learn from her. Perhaps you feel you could use a bit of a lift too.

Why am I recommending this course? Let me be wholly transparent with you and say that I gain nothing more than good karmic brownie points. No money has been exchanged and in fact, when I signed up for , I paid the full price.

Like Tiffinbox, Jenika runs a “Top 10” photography blog that I have come to respect. Her course “From Portfolio To Profit Engine: How To Build An Absolutely Irresistible Photography Website” is something I have recommended (as an affiliate partner) in the past because the systems and strategies she teaches has borne results for scores of photographers. Read more about it here.

So, why is it essential for photographers to learn how to write? Isn't it sufficient to take amazing images and post them to our blogs or websites and have our “art” do all the talking? Good question.

Sorry to break your bubble, though. Your images have to rock. No doubt about that. But something amazing happens when you marry your images with powerfully engaging text. When images and complimentary text are both presented, the value of that work goes up. Still not convinced? When was the last time you picked up a National Geographic magazine that was nothing but images in it? Yeah, probably never.

Want another example? It's probably not very obvious, but Spencer Lum, Zack Arias, Joe McNally, and David Hobby are great photographers. Guess what else they have in common? Yep, fantastic images AND blogs with very descriptive and in-depth posts.

The other, perhaps more obvious, reason you should learn to write is because you may want to rank higher in all the search engines. They weigh text much more heavily than images when making their decisions on where you stand compared to your competition. Want to beat your competition: write.

Ok, back to Jenika's course on writing persuasively. It starts on July 8th and wraps up on August 2nd. Registration, though, closes on July 4th. She and I recently riffed on the subject of photographers and writing in this video below:

So, why not sign up to take this course with me? At the time I wrote this post, there were only six remaining seats left.

Here's what's included:

– 4 weeks of writing instruction, delivered via PDF once a week
– 2 Skype Writer’s Dates with Jenika
– 2 Short Writing Assignments (e.g. website pages or blog posts) edited by Jenika
– Private Facebook group for after-hours help
– Surprise gifts & in-group contests

All that with a total value of $836. You can, however, sign up for this course for only $399. But knowing how quickly those 8 seats were taken (yes, she will only work with 14 of us), I wouldn't wait any longer if you feel a course on writing persuasively will elevate your profile online and help you beat out the competition (who will invariably continue doing what she/he always did before, which is to simply photograph and post those images up on their sites).

Hopefully, I've managed to persuade you [grin], but it's totally your call!

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you are likely a semi-professional or professional photographer. That means you are either looking to make a living at photography or already are making a living at it one way or another.

If that's the case, you probably don't need to be told how crazy and competitive things are in the industry. You have two choices – continue going about your business and eke out a living or find a way to stand out so much that you can't be missed and you are the obvious choice for most people in your community.

How do you stand out in a crowded marketplace? Focus on these two words – customer service. A popular post here already discusses why giving away your images on a CD or DVD is terrible mistake. What's been forgotten by a lot of photographers is that we are in service of our clients – from the moment they call you on the phone till it's time to deliver their images to them.

It was when I spoke with Chris Scott of Preveal recently, that he hit home the idea that to truly serve your clients you need to be their guide all the way to that point where you even help them hang their images on their walls. Taking them through all of their options where they get to enjoy and experience their images every day should be your ultimate goal.

Here is more of my chat with Chris. He touches on the exciting new features that have been added to the next version of his iPad application, Preveal, that launches on July 8th. More importantly, he showed me how photographers can benefit by using Preveal in their own businesses, to show and sell images that their clients want for their homes.

Now, Preveal isn't inexpensive ($74.99), but I am going to take Chris' word that photographers like you and me can easily make double or triple what we are making by using this application in service of our customers. You see, that's an important point to highlight. It's not merely a tool to show of your work or to make selling easier. There are portfolio applications that do that just fine.

What Preveal does and does very well is it provides your clients a visual facsimile of what their own images can look like on their own walls. You will agree this is extremely powerful as it takes the guesswork out of the sale and ultimately reduces and eliminates the perceived risk your clients are likely to harbor when doing business with you.

When you know as plain as day what you can expect to receive from your photographer, what client isn't going to see it as a big win for them?

Use the application to show your client's images with frames or as canvas prints:

Here is an example of finished canvases in a bedroom:

If you ever get stuck, help and support is built right into the application (yes, with links to videos showing you how to use the features):

I twisted Chris' arm to give away two redemption codes for two lucky commenters below. Before you race off to type anything below, please first vote for Preveal on PPA Magazine‘s website.

As a pioneer in this industry, I feel it is Preveal that totally deserves to win the Hot One Award for Best Mobile Business App. Voting ends on July 7th and you can vote daily.

Once you have voted, come back here and tell me a little bit about yourself and why winning one of two redemption codes will mean the world to you and your business. Please do not forget to include your email address as that's the only way we are going to be able to notify you. Good luck!

And do remember, version 3 of Preveal launches on July 8th. If you buy Preveal today, updates via iTunes are always included.

Working in the genre of documentary landscape photography, Marc Wilson looks at the memories and histories in the landscapes that surround us, and man’s interaction within it. He has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions, both in the UK and internationally; in Milan, Grenoble and New York. Exhibitions include: The Terry O’Neill Award, 2013, The Royal Armouries Museum in Portsmouth and Leeds, the inaugural solo shows at the Back Hill and Now Showing galleries (London), a solo show at Focal Point gallery, Southend and group shows at Art 2001, Photo2005, The Photographers Gallery, The Association of Photographers gallery and Lucy Bell Fine Art.

An Update From Marc Wilson:

“To coincide with the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2 I am this year publishing a 3rd edition of the photo book The Last Stand. The first 2 editions sold out and having the publishing rights back means I am able to make this 3rd edition in a different format with a number of new images and new design.

This new smaller softcover format also makes it more affordable which is something I’ve always wanted to do with this book in these later editions.The new version will start at only £25 but is currently £20 during the pre-order. There are print and special editions options also.”

Throughout all of my photographic work, I feel it is important to create visual reminders of our histories and the stories they contain.

These visual markers then give us the trigger for story telling and remembrance…which is ever more important as the number of individuals who lived through these histories grows ever smaller each year.

In many cases, the photographic document will become the only visual record of these places and the connected stories as many defences are subsumed by sands or water, or some even, pulled down and removed.

Many people whom have bought the book of the work have told me how they now have, or wish to, visit these places.

For all of these reasons I feel driven to make work like this, work that I hope triggers discussion, storytelling, inquisitiveness, remembrance and thought.

Pre-order the 3rd Edition here.

You are called a ‘documentary landscape photographer' – is that a term you came up with?

I can’t remember where I read the expression first but it was about five years ago I think. I had always struggled slightly with describing my work as it did not seem to fit into any conventional genres but the term ‘documentary landscape’ desribed it perfectly.

Do you feel your work echoes the work of those landscape photographers who have gone before you or do you think your work stands on its own?

My work is very subject specific in that I seek out particular objects and structures within the landscape and the stories behind them, as opposed to either the urban sprawl or the greater landscape itself. The landscape does though play an integral role in my work, as both the background and container for the subjects. Whilst it could be seen to have echoes of the work of John Davies and Stephen Shore it probably more closley echoes the ‘New Topographics’ work of photographers such as Joe Deal and Robert Adams.

If you were to pay homage to any one landscape photographer, who would it be?

It would have to be John Davies … not a traditional ‘landscape’ photographer of course but I do find his work of ‘our landscape’ very inspiring and images that I can return to again and again, I think because of the human interaction found within.

Tell us about The Last Stand. What motivated you to start that project?

The seeds of the work came out of an older piece of work I produced called ‘Abandoned’ in 2003. Two locations in this work had military significance and I found myself returning to them (visually) and wanting to explore the subject matter further, and the more I did the more important it became to me that it was a story that I felt compelled, as a photographer, to tell. The work then became self motivating with each location visited and story told.

What have you discovered about yourself the most as you have gone through this project?

This work has really made me realise how important a photographer can be … not of course in terms of him or herself but in the subjects that they document, the stories and memories they have the ability to tell, and the importance of this. As a photographer I have a great responsibilty to tell these stories and the weight of that is what drives me on. The idea that work I produce is seen by others as ‘vital and important’ is a wonderful feeling.

Do you identify yourself as a photographer or an artist or is it a combination of the two?

I used to call myself a photogapher, then when I started working commercially I tried to separate the two strands into ‘photography’ and ‘art’ but today I am really quite comfortable with just being a ‘photographer’ and not trying to justify any diffeence to myself (or others). At the end of the day it is just a label but a bit of definition is no bad thing. I think the comfort of the word ‘photogapher’ has come as I feel more confident in the work I do and its place in society.

If there was one museum where you would like your images to hang permanently which one would it be and why?

It’s probably no great surprise but I think for The Last Stand it would, in the UK, have to be the Imperial War Museums. Simply that it seems the most appropriate venue to hold the images on a permanent basis.

Your images are quiet. They are devoid of humans, yet are full of suggestions that humans have inhabited that particular place in some interesting ways. Even your portrait say more about the space your subject takes up than the subject themselves. Is this your mission? If not, what are you trying to say.

In terms of this particular work it is very important for me to make sensitive and subtle images that are respectful of the memories I am depicting. There is no need to add ‘photographic glamour’ to these subjects. I have always been interested in the memories and histories that the landscape and objects within it can hold. To me the suggestion of human presence is what holds my interest more so than a physical presence. I feel it allows a wider audience to imagine themselves in these places. I think that is where my work differs from more traditional documentary photography and photojournalism. It is telling these same stories but in a different way and allows me to look at historical work.
As for my portrait, I guess I set it up in the same way, without really realising it!

I see you are using a 4×5 (or it is 5×7) view camera for your work in The Last Stand. Is that your first choice for your commercial work as well? What is it about his particular format that you like so much?

It is just the most appropariate format for the work, allowing the rise and fall that I need for the ‘architectural’ elements within the images and also the large film giving quite beautiful and subtle prints. It also works best for the quiet, sensitive and considered approach the work requires. Commercially I shoot digitally but still using shift lenses.

How did you get your start in photography? And, why have you spent a good deal of your own money pursuing documentary projects? What compels you to do what you do?

I studied Sociology at University and my final dissertation included elements of image making and photography and from there my love for the medium grew. I then went on to study at both degree and MA level. I spent some years teaching before starting to work commercially also about 7 years ago. It was only about 3 years ago that I felt I had ‘earned the right’ to start working on these projects again.

To me the story is everything. It is very difficult to get commissioned to produce this scale of work so the funding has to come from somewhere, in this case a combination of self funding and crowdfunding. The first stage of the work I funded 70% and crowdfunding 30%. This second stage will be more the other way round. My hope is that this work will go on to fund the next through print sales and books. (I am starting discussiosn about a printed book of the work very soon).

That said I am currently in the very early stages of discussion about continuing The Last Stand outside of Northern Europe and away from the second world war so it can happen.

If this project by Marc Wilson resonates with you, please consider supporting his project, The Last Stand. You can make a donation here on this emphasis page.