David H. Wells is more than a photojournalist. He is a teacher, an avid blogger and even after years of experience creating powerful photo essays or personal projects, he is still an enthusiastic student learning the medium of video to further his goals.

Over the years of running into him at conferences or workshops he is teaching, David and I have become friends. So, when I heard he was teaching a course called “Create Powerful Photo Essays and Personal Projects,” on CreativeLive, I wasted no time to contact him via Twitter and then email to set a date and time to chat about it.

Here is the link to the personal project David mentions in the video that he is currently pursuing in India.

Are you pursuing a personal photography project? Have you completed a photo essay you want published here on Tiffinbox? If so, I want to know about it. Comment below with a link or more information. I might choose to interview you.

Lastly, don't hesitate for even a second to take David's course on CreativeLive, if you are interested in creating a photo essay or a personal project. You get to watch for free while CreativeLive is broadcasting it live from Seattle. In the event you miss it, you can always buy the course, download it and watch it in its entirety whenever you want.

I have added this course to my calendar and I'll be watching and learning from a photojournalist who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk when it comes to producing a body of work that speaks of the larger issues humanity faces. I hope you will join me in checking out “Create Powerful Photo Essays and Personal Projects.”

When Canadian photojournalist Louie Palu and co-director Devin Gallagher launched a campaign on Kickstarter to fund their film Kandahar Journals, it was very quickly funded. Still, the duo are looking to raise even more money for their project.

To date, there are 290 backers who have donated $29,000+ for the completion and distribution of this film about Louie's experiences as a photojournalist in Afghanistan.

Louie and I sat down to chat about the project. Here is that conversation:

Now today more than ever, we need to examine conflict and the policies driving it.

With only 12 more days to go, the campaign could use your financial support to get this film distributed even more widely than originally planned. As I said and as I believe, it's only through dialogue and exploration of other cultures can we approach peace, reconciliation and perhaps even an end to the war in Asia.

Louie Palu, Devin Gallagher and a small crew of other collaborators have risked life and limb to unwaveringly bring home this poignant story. Now it is our turn to honor them by supporting Kandahar Journals, before the campaign ends.

It was 2008 and I had just wrapped up working at ESPN.com as a photo editor. I remember running into Zack Arias' advice to offer headshot or business portraits.

Zack taught us all how to light (see his One Light 2.0 tutorial) but the marketing was up to me. Back then, with little to no real business sense, I dove into Twitter and offered my services to the first 20 people to respond. Yes, I offered to photograph them for free.

Twenty eager and friendly people made appointments for their portraits to be made and I obliged them. I loved the experience so much that I launched Connecticut Headshots and have been serving business executives, realtors, lawyers and a few actors.

Would I do that again? Knowing what I know now, would I offer to photograph them for free? Probably not.

For me, it came down to feeling less than confident. I gave myself a goal of 20 people before venturing out and creating a business out of it. I am learning now that there is another way.

Molly Marie and Jamie Swanson have created Profitable Portfolio Builder just for photographers like you and me.

“Portfolio building for free is like shooting yourself in the foot. It is hurting your business from the very start, and you’ll be losing out on a huge opportunity to create a client base and make money right from the start.”

Could I have used the revenue from 20 paying clients? Heck yeah!

What I was missing back when I started was a guide like Profitable Portfolio Builder that would walk me through the following:

Why the Profitable Portfolio Builder method is a better way to build your portfolio

How to get people to book portfolio building sessions with you

Exactly how to respond to people who want to book a portfolio building sessions in order to maximize the opportunity to get sales and long-term clients from the session

What you need to know and do ahead of time to get results

How to get the sale

The secret to getting powerful testimonials that influence others to book with you

Profitable Portfolio Builder also includes customizable scripts (yes friends, for those of us who are easily tongue-tied this will come in handy) to help us make the transition offering one type of photography service to another.

The only caveat Molly and Jamie offer is this: “The Profitable Portfolio Builder is based on psychology and past experience, and if you leave anything out or modify a vital part of it, it may not work.”

Are you willing to give this a try? Are you open to shifting gears and seeing what other opportunities might exist for you? I know I am glad I made the jump to also offering business portraits in Connecticut.

Please read all the way through the Profitable Portfolio Builder page to see if your current or future choice in photography would benefit from this incredible resource. As Molly says, her advice is meant for a select (but large) group of photographers. Still, there are some, like wedding photographers that this resource will not be a good fit.

It's normally $129.99, but right now and through June 29th, it’s only $79.99 (save $50!).

There is a small group of photographers who look beyond the photo industry to be inspired. They seek out leaders in other industries to keep their own businesses fresh and sharp. Are you one of those photographers?

Clearly Jeffrey Shaw is. He and Lori Nordstrom (another dynamo in the industry) are hosting Photo Success Summit on June 24-26, 2014. I urge you to sign up and listen in. Not only will it do you wonders, I suspect it will help your business grow as well.

What's more, it's 100% free!

You read that right. No catches. Nothing to buy, if you don't want to. Register here. When you claim your ticket, you'll immediately receive gifts from Michael Port, Jeremy Cowart and Sally Hogshead.

You don't believe me? Check it out.

When I spoke with Jeffrey today, he told me even the replays for each of these presentations will be available for up to 30 days … for free! So, if you are busy or booked on June 24-26, you can always dip back in and listen to the presentation at your leisure.

The Photo Success Summit, is from my memory, the first of its kind. Quite frankly, I have scheduled the Photo Success Summit presentations during the three days in order to learn and perhaps see my business from a very different perspective.

It may be time for you to do the same. Register for Photo Success Summit now.

The Web has become an infinitely complex place to bring your business to. A few years back, the WWW could have stood for Wild Wild West instead of World Wide Web. People easily put up Flash-based websites that did cool “things,” proper HTML was forsaken in the attempt to make sites pretty, but these attempts were workarounds and left the realm of solid web development.

Thankfully, albeit gradually, order came in form of thing like: Web Standards, CSS, Search Engine Optimization and Google Best Practices. And of course we can praise Steve Jobs for driving the last nail into Flash’s coffin with the creation of the iPhone and iPad.

While many of the standards and practices above have made life easier for web users, the implementation of those standards can vex common business owners that just need to get their site up. It can be analogous to herding cats, and requires a broad range of skills to manage. Because of that, I highly recommend that when you do look for someone to build a custom site, you find a Web Developer instead of just a web designer. They will be skilled in the various areas (or have a team of people skilled in those areas). Here are a number of the skills required to put together a solid, custom website:

* General hosting server operations. The knowledge to move sites, and be able to handle Redirects, 404 errors, etc. is absolutely critical.
* PHP, HTML and CSS experience. These coding languages are the building blocks of the Web.
* SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Google's algorithms are constantly changing, and then every 9 months to a year there comes a big change that turns the SEO industry on its head. A good developer will keep up with this or have a person that they work with directly to stay up to date on these changes.
*  WordPress expertise. This is of course assuming you're using the best CMS out there. A developer knows how to use template files, Custom Post Types, and advanced plugins that enhance your custom website.
* Security. Having a secure website is a big deal. There have been a number of brute force attacks on sites that have rendered them completely useless. GoDaddy's entire infrastructure was down for a full day! A developer will know where you should host and what you should do to prevent these types of attacks.
* Mobile. Responsive website design “responds” to the size of the device you're on whether that's desktop, laptop, tablet, or phone (small device). There are very important things to consider when developing and designing for the various sizes. You definitely want someone well versed in that world.
* UX/UI. User Experience / User Interface. Your website is a tool to make sales for you. How efficient it is at doing that will depend on how well your Developer understands the process that people go through when entering a site. A good developer will suggest strong CTAs (Call To Actions) on home page, and wherever else a potential customer could be enticed into reaching out to you.
* Design. Of course, you want this thing to look pretty, right?!

Who To Hire?

Different developers have different strengths. Personally, I'm rock solid when it comes to SEO, HTML, CSS, UX/UI and WordPress, fairly strong when it comes to PHP, server functions, and security. I'm OK with design, but I still want my clients to have great designs. So I hire a great designer for our custom website builds.

Finding a developer that has these areas under control, either by himself or with a team, is a must in order to get the absolute best product. I've heard a lot of stories of people not getting what they expected. I even know a photographer that had a custom site performed, but was told to never update WordPress! This is a very critical step in preventing security problems, and an example of someone not familiar enough with WordPress to make the site work properly.

I also see beautifully designed sites that will never see the light of day if searched on Google because they failed to structure the site properly, and the SEO is poor. Do yourself a favor and interview the developers you have in mind and find out what their knowledge is in each area. Thoroughly test out the sites in their portfolio. Ask yourself if they have good designs (beware of the “I don’t like the paint on the walls” thing that people say on those HGTV shows). Pay attention to the level of design. Do elements on the page stick out, do they do a good job of balancing the needs of a website with the design, do the sites look like they were designed in the 90’s, does it appear that the designs get better with each and every website?

I'm happy to help you find the right person too. Even if Flaunt Your Site isn’t the right fit, I often help people figure out what the best path is for them. And we’re not always the answer. (I'll even pose as your web developer brother that works for Qualcomm and can't work on your project, if it helps you).

Who Not To Hire

* First and foremost, avoid anyone that mentions the word Flash. That should elicit the response of you hanging up the phone, or pretending you don’t speak English. Even if they say it’s mobile friendly, you should still print their email out, and then light it on fire. (Cackling like a witch is totally optional.)
* Anyone spouting anything about HTML5 or CSS3 or other technical mumbo jumbo to influence you into working with them. First, websites are about people and their businesses. The developer’s job is to use the technology to accomplish your goals, not to use buzzwords as leverage to get you to hire them. (I’ll also add that HTML5 doesn’t mean what most people think it means).
* Someone without a portfolio, or a list of previous clients and links to their site. You really want to look at the websites they’ve worked on before.
* The guy that will do an “amazing full custom website” for $500…

Do you remember the last time a $500 wedding turned out “amazing?”  … Yeah, neither do I.

What Developers Cost

Cost is, of course, a huge factor to consider. Custom websites can vary from developer to developer. It will also vary depending on what functionality you want for your site. To give you a range, Flaunt Your Site does full custom sites from $3,000 to $5,000. We can do sites beyond that price point as well, but that tends to be the averages when it comes to our clients.

You will find developers that charge less than that, and you’ll find developers that charge more than that. My suggestion would be to interview more than one person for your project. Just as your clients have no doubt interviewed more than just you to find out who the right photographer.

Whether you hire someone for $1,000 or $10,000, your aim should be to have your new website be the type of investment that actually makes you money. If this isn’t on yours or your developer’s radar, you need to make it a priority quickly. If you’re doing it just to have a pretty site, then that is narcissism or “keeping up with the Joneses” getting in the way of running your business.

The only reason to spend money on a custom site is to increase your bottom line.

I have a personal goal that each website Flaunt Your Site does is directly responsible for our clients gaining 5-10 new clients in that first year.