A month ago, while it was still raining daily in New York, we reported how one of our favorite photographers, Jake Chessum, was set up in Union Square taking photos of passerbys for a new HSBC campaign.

Our dashing VP of Marketing, Andrew Fingerman, walked over to gather some info for the blog, but ended up getting his photo taken by Jake. Jake clearly could see the latent, sexy beast beneath the button down shirt and trench coat.

A few weeks later, Andrew received a phone call saying that his image had been selected for the campaign. He signed a model release, filled out his 1099, and then waited.

Yesterday, we started to see the ads start to trickle across the Internet. There are rumors that he might be a part of a large print advertisement in the New York Times or in the subway. Who would've guessed that a bald dude from Jersey would become the every day man for HSBC.



We've already started creating parodies of the banner ads for fun. And most all of them are too risque for public consumption. But boy, we're giggling like little girls around here.

Where does Andrew really bank? Mum's the word.

P.S. RIP Michael. Shamon!

Update 7/7/09: Look who showed up in the NY Post today:

by Cradoc Bagshaw

It's possible that you might have to battle with one client to get paid $150 for the use of a photograph yet you might get $15,000 from another client for the use of the same photo. What makes the difference?

The answer is image uniqueness, but this may not be what you think it is.

To some extent it has to do with whether an image is a "one of a kind" shot. But often the profitable shots are chosen by how uniquely the image fits the client's specific need. Often these shots can be the non-spectacular images that you are thankful you didn't throw away during an edit.

Agencies used to say that they only needed 10% of the images they had in their files, but they didn't know which 10%. Buyers see things in photographs that have always been difficult for the sellers to predict in advance.

It's understanding what the buyers are seeing, what is going on inside their head when they are looking at your photo, that will give you the edge when you negotiate with them. You need to understand what is going on from their point of view. You get this information by asking questions.

ADDING VALUE TO THE CLIENT'S PRODUCT
In stock photography the word unique does not describe your photograph as much as it describes the way your photography is being used in any given project.

Clients use your stock photographs to add value to their products. It's that simple. Your job in negotiating a price is to convince the buyer that your image will add enough value to their product to be worth what you are charging.

Learning to judge the uniqueness of your image is one of the most important and difficult skills that you must acquire to compete as a stock photographer. It is an important skill because the amount of money you make is tied directly to your ability to understand the client's needs. It is a difficult skill because the uniqueness of a single image can vary from sale to sale, depending on the value being added to a client's product.

by Brian Smith

EDITORIAL PHOTOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT RATES have traditionally been lower than rates paid for commercial or corporate photography but with the caveat that you own the work and can re-license it after it appears in the magazine. The best photographs of any subject can get licensed again and again all over the world.

EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Even though you chose to be an artiste - not an accountant - on career day, that doesn't mean you can skate through your career without any business skills. Don't expect to find a rep to handle all of this for you. Reps like to work with artists who understand your business. Editorial Photographers is a great source of information about the business of editorial photography. Educate yourself.

AIM FOR THE TOP - not the bottom - when licensing stock. There's plenty of money to be made in editorial stock licensing. Bear in mind that the best images get licensed again and again and again. Work hard to create the shot everyone wants - not just another interchangeable image. Don't get stuck in the $200 bargain basement bin: Create images that have value.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND MICROSTOCK or how it fits into the editorial market. It's almost like telling clients that the largely stagnant editorial rates that have largely stayed frozen in 1985 are somehow too high, which is clearly not the case. An editor I work with at TIME magazine told me they recently a royalty-free photo for their cover for three dollars. That's exactly 1/1000 of TIME's normal cover rate. That's like saying "I'm holding firm to my price no matter how much more you're willing to pay!"

SHOW THE WORK YOU LOVE TO SHOOT. This sounds really basic, but it's amazing how often photographers get this wrong by showing what they think clients want. Work that comes from your heart is always the strongest. When it's what you love to shoot, it doesn't even seem like work, does it?

By Paul Smith/Featureflash Photo Agency 

Professional photographers who routinely cover entertainment events are often annoyed when called "paparazzi."  I admit we're prone to extreme rushes of adrenalin when A-list celebrities walk by, and our cacophony of "Jennifer!" "Brad!" or "Miley!" is, well, just plain bizarre.  But the vast majority of these fully credentialed men and women photographers, who work regularly with the entertainment media and Hollywood publicists, do not race down Rodeo Drive in black SUVs chasing Britney Spears.


Photo by Featureflash

Pros at red carpet events could not do their job without keeping up on the latest equipment and imaging technology.  We also have to know what events are happening, maintain good relationships with the studios and publicists, acquire proper media badges, and play by the rules at movie premieres, awards ceremonies like the Oscars or Golden Globes, celebrity parties, film or TV sets or film festivals.  More photographers are also using services like PhotoShelter, which is an integral part of my web site and combines seamlessly with the other elements of my site.

Not just anyone can pick up a camera and start shooting at Hollywood events, as it is a controlled, restricted media environment with very tight security.   But I can give you some insight into what I do, the equipment and technology I use, my workflow, and the fast-changing market.
   
In 1991, I opened the Los Angeles office of Featureflash Photo Agency.   Thousands of my photos have been placed throughout the world in a wide variety of publications.  I've covered hundreds of film premieres, awards shows and other entertainment events, including a particular favorite of mine, the Cannes Film Festival, every year since 1979.  So far, there are about 120,000 celebrity images in my online archive, which are sold either directly or through photo agents to magazines and newspapers worldwide, web sites, as well as for download sales. 


Photo by Featureflash

I've always been fascinated by technology, so that interest dovetailed nicely into digital photography.  I was one of the first freelance photographers to digitally transmit Hollywood red carpet photos all over the world.  Featureflash received the Computerworld Smithsonian Award in Media, Arts & Entertainment in 1998.  
   
For the 10 years that I ran my photo agency on Fleet Street in London, selling pictures to British daily newspapers, I never dreamed how digital would rock the photography world.  What I do today would have been science fiction to me then.  In those days, we literally walked our prints over to the newspaper and put them on the photo desk.  Now photographers routinely transfer images all over the world at lightning speed. 

Equipment/Shooting Position/Shot Set-Up
When it comes to my equipment, I'm a little like Eric Clapton and his prize Stratocaster electric guitars.  At this time, I shoot with the Nikon D3 and Nikon D700 SLRs using Nikon 28-70mm and 70-300mm zoom lenses, and Quantum Q-Flash and Nikon SB900 flashes.  I use a Mac Pro desktop with dual monitors, MacBook Pro when I'm on the road and the iPhone for keeping abreast of emails and up-to-the-minute news of celebrity events. 

By Lou Manna with Erin Laverty

In food photography, you eat with your eyes first.  Colors, textures, contrasts and composition are key.  These elements are what go into creating mouth-watering images that jump off the page.  I've been a food photographer for over thirty years, and mastering the techniques to achieve these goals takes time and patience.  Here are some tips that I've learned over the years to help you along the way.  

Of utmost importance, enjoy what you do!  Your passion will shine through in your images.

Where to start
First of all, get to know your camera.  Some people are scared off by digital technology; make it your friend, but you don't need to get too caught up in all the bells and whistles.  Understand what your camera is capable of doing, and learn how to use it to your advantage to bring out the best in your subject.  Learn the foundations first, such as f-stops, shutter speeds, ISO's and metering.  Keep in mind though, that your eye is still the most important element in taking a good photo, and no amount of developing technology will ever replace this.  
Learn how to see in a new way.  Pre-visualize your shot - what do you want the outcome to be?   
   
Take a class or attend a seminar! 
Meet people, get involved, join professional organizations, go to conferences, workshops, etc.  Besides improving your skills, you'll make connections in the industry, which can lead to jobs.

As an artist and an entrepreneur, try to keep a balance between the creativity and the practical side of business.  Keep good records of your expenses.  Stay organized, in both your business and with your images.  Use metatags and keywords in all of your photos. 

The best way to make money, as my father told me early on, is to keep your overhead low.  Work from home when you can, and rent a space when you have a job.  Why didn't I listen to him?

What are the important elements of a photographer's website? What should each website contain, and what do your customers want? These are important questions to answer before you settle on any website design.

This article outlines the most important elements of what makes an individual photographer's website effective, much of which we heard straight from top photo buyers in our 2009 What Buyers Want survey. You should be sure that your website can accommodate as many of the items from the below list as possible.

An ideal photographer website possesses the following traits:

1. Contains HTML that search engines can index.

This may be the most important element of all. Search engines are such a significant traffic source that you can't really succeed without them. The foundation of HTML is text, and search engines love text. Give search engines what they love, and they'll return the love in the form of a nice steady stream of traffic.

Putting your entire website in Flash, or including captions and keywords in the image itself instead of as text below the image, is not advised if you expect search engine traffic.

2. Is simple and clean. It showcases the photography, not the design of the site.

When a visitor comes to your website, the first thing thought across his or her mind should be about your images, not about your website itself. If a visitor is distracted by the design, annoyed because it is busy or slow, or consumed with navigation that may seem cool but is confusing to newcomers --that's attention away from your images.

Your website should be as simple as possible. The reason art museums have simple white walls is to showcase the art.

3. Has contact information available on every page.

Contact information that is difficult to find is the single biggest pet peeve of photo editors. Make sure your website contains your contact information - or at least a link to it - on every single page. A good practice is to include your phone, and email address on the bottom of every single page of the site.

Yes, that's right... every single page. If you want your phone to ring, then don't make it difficult for people to find your contact information.

We talk a lot about Search Engine Optimization and how it can benefit photographer websites by bringing unsolicited visitors and expanding your marketing reach. There's not a photographer in the world who couldn't benefit by having more eyeballs on their work.

Many photographers have downloaded our SEO Cookbook, and made all the suggested on-page changes like unique page titles, meta descriptions, captions and keywords, etc, but still can't figure out why they aren't showing up on page 1 of a particular search.

According to most SEO experts, on-page factors only account for about 10-15% of your SEO juice. The real meat comes through building links to your photos and other content. But how the heck do you build links to your website?

Build it yourself
There are a number of easy ways to build links to your photos.

1. Blog: A blog is an SEO machine. You pick the topic, you pick the keywords, you build the links. Even if no one is reading your blog, you're still gaining some SEO benefit.
2. Join Trade Organizations: Many of the photo trade organizations maintain websites with member pages. And in many cases, these pages allow you to list website information. It's a perfect way to link back to yourself.
3. Social Networks and Online Communities: Been resisting the social networks? You might want to rethink that strategy. Having a public presence on Social Media sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn can benefit your SEO juice. And of course, community sites like SportsShooter give you great ways to showcase your photography at the same time.
4. Google Local Business: Make sure to create an entry with Google Local Business. This not only provides you with some SEO juice, it also gives you the potential of showing up on Google maps when people search for photo services.

Create Compelling Content Regularly
I see a lot of photographers shooting the same old crap in the same style every day. You know what I'm talking about. A rose in a vase on white seamless. Raindrops on the window. More "street photography." And you wonder why people don't link to your content.

As an extreme example, think for a moment about the stupidest YouTube video you've ever seen. Was it David After Dentist? Chocolate Rain? Dog Dreaming? Star Wars Kid? Humiliating or not, these viral videos make for compelling content. And besides the millions of "views," they each have thousands of links to them (I just created four more).

What's compelling photographic content? Tomas van Houtryve posed as a Belgian chocolate maker to gain access and shoot phenomenal photos in North Korea. On Location News shot the first on-set photos of Iron Man 2 with Robert Downey Jr.


Photo by Tomas Van Houtryve

Ok, maybe you're not ready to risk life and limb to enter a country controlled by a brutal dictatorship, but you certainly are creative enough to shoot something compelling and distinct. Shawn Rocco's cellphone photos have been featured in numerous sites like PDN and the New York Times Lens blog.He didn't risk life and limb, he just followed a project which other people found interesting.

You need to understand that the average joe on the Internet doesn't build links. Links are built by a very small population of users who we call the "linkerati" (the linkerati aren't a mystical group of people, by the way. They are just people who take the time to link to content they like). They are the power users of the Internet, and they aren't interested in pictures of flowers. That isn't to say that there isn't a market or interest in flower pictures, but the linkerati are much more interested in things like these crazy underwater/overwater photos by Dustin Humphrey.


Photo by Dustin Humphrey

And while there are many cases of one-hit wonders on the Internet, you need a much more constant production of content for SEO purposes. Google will look more favorably upon you if content on your website is updated frequently (Google has a concept called Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) that is factored into their search algorithms). And think about it. Doesn't it suck when you go to your dentist and they have a copy of Women's Home Journal from 1997? Wait, George Clooney is the Sexiest Man Alive again? No, no, no, my friend. That's the November 2006 issue of People. Doesn't it make you think that your dentist is out of touch with the times?

Think about how a visitor to your website feels when your last update was two years ago. Maybe you have pictures of Borat, when you should really have pictures of Bruno. I think you get my drift.

So keep in mind that link building is the most important factor in your quest for SEO domination, and don't get frustrated if your on-page work hasn't yielded you the best results. Building links takes time and effort, but creating compelling content can dramatically help your linking strategy.

Photo contests and awards can bring exposure to a photographers work. However, many photo contests are nothing more than a mechanism for the host to collect entry fees while grabbing your rights. Many of the most prestigious awards have low or no entry fees.

The following is a growing list of reputable contests and/or awards that we believe are beneficial to serious photographers, and worth consideration.

Photojournalism/Documentary
Alexia Foundation Grants
The Alexia Foundation promotes the power of photojournalism to give voice to social injustice, to respect history lest we forget it and to understand cultural difference as our strength -- not our weakness. Through grants and scholarships, The Alexia Foundation supports photographers as agents for change.

Website: http://www.alexiafoundation.org
When: January
Eligibility: Pro: Any photographer may apply for this grant. Proposals that have received grants or awards exceeding $1,000 in the previous calendar year are not eligible. Student: Applicants must be duly enrolled full-time students in an accredited college or university in the U.S. or abroad in a degree program at the time of application.
Entry fee: none
Prizes: Professional Grant: $15,000; Student: Full tuition-scholarship (~$15,000)

Alicia Patterson Foundation Grants
The Alicia Patterson Foundation Program was established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson, who was editor and publisher of Newsday for nearly 23 years before her death in 1963. One-year and six month grants are awarded to working journalists to pursue independent projects of significant interest and to write articles based on their investigations for The APF Reporter, a web published magazine by the Foundation and available on the web.

Website: http://www.aliciapatterson.org/
When: October 1
Eligibility: U.S. citizens who are fulltime print journalists, or to non-U.S. citizens who work fulltime for U.S. print publications, either in America or abroad.
Entry fee: none
Prizes: $40,000 full year grant; $20,000 six-month grant

Editorial Photographers Education Grants
Awards will be granted to each of seven outstanding full time photography students.

Website: http://www.editorialphoto.com/epedu/
When: Mid-May
Eligibility: Eligible contestants must be enrolled in an accredited, full time college photography program in the U.S. or Canada during the 2008-2009 year, and previous winners are not eligible to win again.
Entry fee: none
Prizes: $1000 cash prize, ThinkTank Urban Disguise 30 camera bag, Blinkbid Software, one year Livebooks:Edu subscription, one year PhotoShelter standard account, and other prizes


Eugene Smith Fund
The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith's concerned photography and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.

Website: http://www.smithfund.org/apply/smith
When: End of May
Eligibility: Any visual journalist
Entry Fee: none
Prize: $30,000 grant

Ian Parry Scholarship
Ian Parry was a talented photojournalist at the beginning of his career, when he was tragically killed whilst on assignment for The Sunday Times in December 1989. Each year we hold a competition for photographers who are either attending a full-time photography course or are under the age of 24. Entrants must submit a portfolio of their work and a brief synopsis of a project they would undertake if they won the scholarship. The prize is £2,500 towards their assignment.

Website: http://www.ianparry.org
When: June 24, 2009 (and each year)
Eligibility: Students or pros under the age of 24
Entry Fee: none
Prize: £2500


Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography & Grants for Good
Heavyweight Getty Images sponsors two major grants for photojournalists. "We believe that photojournalism is a powerful tool for telling compelling social, political and cultural stories. We also understand that creating and managing world-class photography assignments requires time, freedom, support and considerable resources." The Grants for Good support a photographer's work with a non-profit.

Website: http://imagery.gettyimages.com/getty_images_grants/overview.aspx
When: Editorial Grants: May 15; Grants for Good: April 15
Eligibility: Student or pros under the age of 30
Entry Fee:none
Prize: (5) $20,000 grants. (4) $5000 grants for student. (2) $15,000 Grants for Good


NPPA Monthly Clip Contest
The National Press Photographers Association hosts a monthly clip contest, and the winners are published in their News Photographer magazine. It is open to any NPPA members in good standing.

Website: http://nppa.org/competitions/monthly_news_clip_contest/
When: Monthly. Entries are typically due at the end of the first week.
Eligibility: Any NPPA member in good standing
Entry Fee: none
Prize: published

NPPA Best of Photojournalism
The National Press Photographers Association hosts a monthly clip contest, and the winners are published in their News Photographer magazine. It is open to any NPPA members in good standing.

Website: http://bop.nppa.org
When: End of April
Eligibility: Any visual journalist
Entry Fee: none
Prize: published

PhotoPhilanthropy
PhotoPhilanthropy is an organization created to promote, support and connect photographers to charitable organizations around the world. The PhotoPhilanthropy community is a place for photographers, photo enthusiasts and charitable organizations to come together - to network, to tell their stories, show their work, exchange ideas, find opportunities and financial support for their efforts.

Website: http://www.photophilanthropy.org
When: October 31, 2009
Eligibility: Student, Amateur and Professional divisions
Entry Fee: none
Prize $5,000

POYi
The Missouri School of Journalism has organized the Pictures of the Year International contest for the past 66 years. It is one of the oldest and most venerable of the photojournalism contests.

Website: http://www.poyi.org
When: Mid-January
Eligibility: Any visual journalist
Entry Fee: $50
Prize: $1000


World Press Photo
Amsterdam-based World Press Photo aims to support professional press photography on a wide international scale through contest, exhibitions and educational programs.

Website: http://www.worldpressphoto.org
When: Mid-January
Eligilibilty: Working photojournalists
Entry Fee: none
Prizes: €10,000 + camera equipment


Eddie Adams Workshop
The Eddie Adams Workshop is an intense four-day gathering of the top photography professionals, along with 100 carefully selected students. The photography workshop is tuition-free, and the 100 students are chosen based on the merit of their portfolios.

Website: http://www.eddieadamsworkshop.com
When: Late May each year
Eligibility: Students, Military photographers, or pros with less than 3 years of experience
Entry Fee: $45
Prize: 100 students will attend the tuition-free workshop each October


Sports Photography
SportsShooter Student Contest
Adorama Camera and SportsShooter.com present this rich learning environment, designed specifically for students. Start off by entring your best "One Week's Work", and you may end up having your portfolio reviewed by some of the most respected photographers in the business. As if that isn't enough, one dedicated and talented student is going to end up winning the title of SportsShooter.com Student Photographer of the Year, and take home the outrageously cool Grand Prize: "The Essentials", the tools to have when you're ready to start getting serious.

Website: http://www.sportsshooter.com/student_portfolio/index_new.html
When: On-going
Eligibility: Current photo student at accredited institution and SportsShooter member
Entry Fee: none
Prize: Nikon D300, MacBook Pro 15", Aperture 2.0, Nikon 18-200mm, Nikon SB800, Think Tank Airport Security, and more

Travel Photography
Magnum Expression Award
Established by Magnum Photos and HP with the goal of raising awareness and inspiring change through photography.

Website: http://expression.magnumphotos.com/
When: Deadline September 30, 2009
Eligibility: Anyone
Entry Fee: none
Prize: $10,000 + HP Z3200 Printer


Macro Photography
Nikon Small World Photography

Website: http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/info.php
When: End of April each year
Eligibility: Anyone over the age of 18. Photos must be taken with a light microscope
Entry Fee: none
Prize: $3000 top prize and other prizes available

General
PhotoShelter Local Grants
We're looking for local organizations (or individuals) that are helping keep the spirit of photography alive and vibrant in communities everywhere.  We have a small budget for event sponsorships - $500 every month - and can also provide speakers, prizes, discounts, judging platforms for contest, and temporary group accounts for displaying a group's collective work.  Depending on your event needs and how strong of a match it is for us, there are plenty of creative ways to get PhotoShelter involved.

Website: http://pa.photoshelter.com/mkt/stimulus-plan-photography-grants
When: monthly
Eligilibity: Anyone organizing a photo-related event that benefits a local community
Entry fee: none
Prize: $500

By Brad Mangin

When I was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area my father always said, "You can't beat fun at the ol' ballpark." He was right. I grew up a San Francisco Giants fan and I have capitalized my love for baseball into a career as a sports photographer, specializing in shooting the Grand Old Game.


Photo by Brad Mangin

Baseball is one of the more difficult sports to photograph since there is not as much action like football or basketball or soccer. There are long periods of time where there is not great action to photograph- just pitchers throwing the ball and batters swinging the bat. However, every once in while something great happens that will make a great photograph: a great play on the base paths or an exciting catch in the outfield. This is when you need to be ready to capture a special photograph with your camera.

Photographing baseball requires knowledge of the game and its players, a great sense of timing, the proper equipment, and an eye for good light and clean backgrounds.

Baseball is a game that can be photographed at many levels, starting with small children playing t-ball all the way up to the Major Leagues. If you have never shot a baseball game before it is best to practice and learn shooting Little Leaguers (ages 8-12). At this age the game is played on a smaller field where the bases are only 60 feet apart (opposed to 90 feet apart from age 13 and up) and the pitchers mound is only 45 feet away from home plate (instead of 60 feet 6 inches from age 13 and up). This means you are able to make close up pictures of the players in action without needing a big and expensive 300mm or 400mm lens.



A digital SLR camera with a 70-200mm zoom lens will allow you to photograph Little Leaguers when you are starting out. You can shoot batters from first or third base. You can also shoot the pitchers from both sides, as well as from behind home plate while shooting through the backstop. If the backstop is made of chain link fence you can shoot the pitcher throwing right at you through the fence with your lens at 200mm and make a real nice picture.

Fifteen years ago, the notion of storing your photos on a computer didn't exist, but since then the archiving of photos has become a major problem for professional photographers and consumers alike - particularly as the resolution of the cameras has increased significantly from the 1.3 megapixel first-generation devices to the 24MP devices of today. It is not unusual to have a single 70MB file.

There are many ways to store photos, ranging from the cheap to the expensive; the limited to the robust. In this article, we're only going to look at the ways of physically storing your digital photos. We won't be talking here about asset management strategies (i.e. which images to store, workflows, meta data, software, etc), but Peter Krogh's article on Digital Asset Management does a great job with that.

Why archive?
Photographs can hold tremendous emotional and monetary value. Before the proliferation of digital cameras, photographers could store a physical negative or slides with the expectation that the medium would last decades, if not longer, under a controlled environment.

But with digital photography, images are only stored as data, and the integrity of that data is only as good as the archiving system. None of the typical storage media, from CD/DVDs to hard drives, have proven to be as resilient as film, and therefore, photographers need to create archiving systems that support multiple copies.

Part I: Physical Issues to Consider
Before we jump into actual product recommendations, here are a few issues to take into account before you plunk down your money:
-    Initial investment
-    Expandability
-    Power requirements
-    Noise
-    Heat
-    Connectability

Initial Investment
If you own a car or a house, you know that the purchase price is only part of the total cost of ownership. Similarly, when you look at a long term strategy for storing photos, the cost of the storage device is usually just the tip of the iceberg. Insofar as storage as concerned, you have to think about your electricity bills, as well as the service plans that are often bundled with the higher-end offerings. Total cost of ownership is a non-issue for a single hard drive, but it becomes a real factor is you have large storage arrays that need maintenance, power and potential cooling to operate optimally.

For our purposes, we've created three pricing tiers to help you assess your options for your initial investment:

1.    Cheap: <$500
2.    Mid: < $1000
3.    High: > $1000

by Peter Krogh

Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a term that refers to everything one does with image files from the point of capture onward.  This includes transferring, renaming, attaching metadata, rating, adjusting, proofing, backing up, archiving and more. Understanding the principles of sound DAM practices will help you design a workflow that is secure and efficient, and can help you increase profitability in the world of digital photography.

As professional photographers, there are a couple of functions of your DAM practice that are going to be most important. The prime directive, to borrow from Star Trek, is to make sure you don't lose the files. If the images can't be delivered, you can't be paid.  So the first thing a professional photographer needs to do is to evaluate the risk points in file handling, and develop an adequate system to protect against these hazards.

The second most important function of the DAM system for the pro is to create an efficient workflow, so that jobs can be delivered profitably.  If you are spending twice the time (or more) that your competitors do to get jobs out the door, you will be at a significant competitive disadvantage.  In a business environment that is becoming more challenging by the month, every advantage you can leverage is important.  Understanding the principles of digital asset management will help you to increase your efficiency.

A good understanding of DAM can also help the pro photographer to find images in the collection, and to combine them in new and valuable ways.  Because a photographer's collection can be brought together as a large body of work, the photographer can find and group images efficiently.  As both the technological and business landscape change, it becomes even more important to mine your collection for new sources of revenue.

Developing a DAM system will be an ongoing process.  As your understanding the tools improves (and as the tools themselves improve), you'll be able to do more.  Start with the prime directive (don't lose the photos) and move out from there.  Don't try to do everything at once, as it can make the process overwhelming, and lead to paralysis.  Let's take a look at some of the tools and principles, and see how to come up with a plan of action.

Use DAM Software
Implementing good asset management will be best done by making use of DAM software.  While you can do lots of the necessary functions by looking through folders of images and keeping a pencil and paper handy, that's going to be frustrating and inefficient.  DAM software is designed to help you with these tasks.

While Andrew and I attended Look3 in Charlottesville, we had the pleasure of seeing some very unique work by Alejandro Chaskielberg who chronicled life along the Panara River Delta in Argentina. The photos were taken at night using a long exposure and moonlight, which give the images a mystical quality.

It just so happened that Alejandro's images were entered into the Burn Magazine Emerging Photographer Grant program, curated by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey. PhotoShelter provided the submission mechanism for the over 1,200 applicants who competed for a $10,000 prize to continue work on their photographic vision. A big congratulations on a well-deserved prize.

David has a fantastic slideshow of Alejandro's work on the Burn Magazine website.

I had never attended a "Festival of a the Photograph" before, but kept hearing great things about it. What started as a bunch of friends gathered in Nick Nichols backyard, has grown into a major event for photography with people traveling from all over the US to attend. The festival has been able to maintain its homegrown, organic feel, which makes it very different from other events that we've attended in the past.

PhotoShelter was there to support the "YourSpace" exhibit. Festival attendees could drop off an image for printing by our good friends at Canon, and then upload it to PhotoShelter for inclusion in a festival slideshow.

High school student, former PhotoShelter-intern and awesome concert photographer Leia Jospe is one of the featured artists at the BrooklynVegan Photo Show that is a part of the inaugural Northside Festival of Music and Art. I'm definitely not hip enough to have heard of the bands that are performing (I mean I just "discovered" Radiohead last year), but I can recognize some good photos...

Our friends at AdoramaPIX are sponsors! Check out the great concert photography in between concerts this weekend in Brooklyn.

There's smart, then there's METAsmart. The Stock Artist Alliance received a grant from the Library of Congress to extol the merits of meta data and its relationship to photography. So they've created a series of seminars to talk about how meta data can be used to protect copyright, smooth workflow, track image usage, and much more. If you're serious about photography and want to learn about extending the power of your images through meta data,  you're going to want to attend one of these free seminars around the country.



PhotoShelter will be attending in several cities on both coasts to talk about SEO and how meta data can be used to bolster your visibility to search engines, which gets you more eyeballs to your photographs. Here's the schedule. There's even one this Thursday in Seattle which Grover is attending.

Seattle / June 11
San Francisco / June 17
Los Angeles / June 18
New York / June 22
Washington / June 25
Atlanta / July 21


The seminars are free, but you have to register. Hope to see you!

Every summer, a healthy chunk of the photography world descends on Charlottesville, Virginia for several days of good, wholesome, photo loving.  What started as a backyard slideshow at the home of Nick Nichols has blossomed into LOOK3: Festival of the Photograph http://look3.org, with dozens of exhibits, talks and workshops, and participation from some of the most recognized names in photography.  This year, the festival is June 11-13, and if you love photography and have a way to get there, you should make it your business to do so. Get Tickets.  



But, let's just say you can't get there.  

Now you can get your images displayed at the festival and online, thanks to a partnership between LOOK3 and PhotoShelter.  We're supporting the new LOOK3 YourSpace Online Exhibit.  For the first time, photographers around the world can submit their work through PhotoShelter, where special guest curators like David Griffin, Director of Photography at National Geographic, will review your work.  The editors' favorites will be chosen for display on large screens in the center of the festival via Leica projectors, and in slideshows online at the Look3 YourSpace PhotoShelter-powered website.  

Plus, anyone who likes the photos can grab and embed the LOOK3 slideshow in their own blog or website, so this is a way for your photos to get seen in many different places.        


LOOK3 YourSpace Online Gallery - Images by Festival of the Photograph

This year, the YourSpace theme is "fortune" meaning "chance or luck as an external, arbitrary force affecting human affairs; a large amount of money or assets." Very fitting for the way the world has been turned upside down in the past few months.  Per LOOK3: "What does this word mean? Who is truly fortunate? How does fortune (or chance and luck) play out in the photographic process? What photographs can you share that demonstrate the pliability of this theme?"  I can't wait to see how this theme is manifested through the eyes of the world's photographers.  

Andrew and I will be road tripping to Charlottesville for the festival too, helping YourSpace participants in Charlottesville get their images into the slideshows too.  

Plus, we'll be checking out a ton of PhotoShelter members' talks and exhibits, including Thomas Mangelsen, David Alan Harvey & Burn Magazine's announcement of the Emerging Photographers Fund $10,000 prize winner, the Redux American Youth Book exhibit and at least 13 more exhibiting photographers from our community, including Melissa Farlow, Vincent Laforet, Chris Bickford, and Joel Sartore.

So, how do you get your images showcased?  Easy.  

1. Create a free PhotoShelter Starter account if you don't already have one.
2. Upload a selection of images to PhotoShelter.
3. Within PhotoShelter, create a gallery of 1-3 photos that represent the theme: "fortune"
4. Remaining within PhotoShelter, click "LOOK3 YOURSPACE" under the "Community" tab. Choose the gallery you created, and click "Submit Gallery to LOOK3."

Images will then be sent directly to LOOK3 curators for review.

Reviews and updates will happen in advance of LOOK3, and throughout each day of the festival. Be sure to visit the YourSpace Online Website to see if your work was selected!

Our venture capital company, General Catalyst, teamed up with Silicon Alley Insider to produce "Start-up 2009" -- an east-coast conference with a entrepreneur competition. I attended this morning at a packed Schimmel Auditorium on the campus of NYU.

PhotoShelter board member and GC partner, George Bell was on the panel that evaluated 10 different companies. And Henry Blodget, founder and editor of the Silicon Alley Insider, moderated the festivities.

Hey entrepreneurs! PhotoShelter is proof that you don't need to go west to find good talent and good capital! Oh yeah, I took some photos.


Silicon Alley Insider: Startup Conference 2009 - Images by Allen Murabayashi

Last year, three of the girls from the PhotoShelter team stepped into a cab going uptown, and by golly, it ended up being the Cash Cab. Cash Cab is a Discovery Channel game show in which the passengers answer trivia questions for cash. If you get three questions wrong, they drop you off on the side of the road.

It took a while, but a year later, we had a little pizza party to celebrate the airing of the episode which featured Caroline (product manager), Meghan (client services) and Kate (our former linguist) winning a big pile of money. Sorry, we don't have any video, but I do have some crappy screen captures from my iPhone for your enjoyment.


Opening credits!

In April, we released a SEO Cookbook for Photographers so that the average photographer could understand how to plan and execute changes to his/her website that would lead to better Search Engine Optimization. The step-by-step guide was chock full of practical information and help "do this, not this" examples.

Then a few weeks later, we started to hear success stories about how people were starting to see the pages and images in their websites start to creep up in the search engine rankings. The photographers who had installed Google Analytics started to see an increase in search-engine based traffic -- so the goal of generating essentially free marketing from an entirely new audience was starting to be met.

SEO is a fluid discipline because search engines change all the time. Microsoft even released a new beta search engine called Bing this week, which underscores how search is still in its infancy. Smart photographers recognize how important search engines can be in promoting their products and services, and want to stay on top of new trends.

With that in mind, we have just released a 14-page supplement to our SEO Cookbook. If you're already a PhotoShelter member, you can download it here from the Photographer Area. Otherwise, you can download it from our SEO for Photographers and Photography Websites resource page.

Among the various topics, my personal favorite is how to use Google Analytics to measure whether your SEO efforts are actually working. With limited time and money, we're all interested in getting the best return-on-investment of our marketing activities.

Get optimized!

Today we're proud to announce our latest selection of featured photographers, whose vibrant work will be displayed in the "Images" tab of the PhotoShelter homepage slideshow throughout the month of June.

Take a moment to browse through the 20 winners, whose work ranges from food (Rick Osentoski's fresh spinach makes me hungry) to Mexican entertainment to the NHL playoffs:

You may note an extra dash of color this month - we couldn't resist paying homage to spring's arrival through our selections. In particular:

• Poras Chaudhary's view of a local fair in India
• Gerry Walden's handmade candles
• Gunther Deichmann's elephant in Jaipur
• Gregory Wrona's Font Magica de Montjuic

Like what you see? Embed our June featured slideshow in your own website or blog by clicking the up arrow in the lower right of the above widget.

As always, we're thrilled about the quality of the submissions and strongly encourage you to keep sending them our way! (**Note: Please pay attention to the guidelines if you want to be considered - this is necessary for us to keep the review process efficient. Images must be submitted by the 20th of the month, and winners are posted on the first Tuesday of the following month.)

Take a bunch of intrepid photojournalists, put them in a house in Iowa, and see what happens. It's not the Real World, it's the Stumping Grounds. Keith Bedford, Michal Czerwonka, Allison Joyce, Eric Thayer and Joshua Lott covered the 2008 elections starting in Iowa and made their way to various venues around the country culminating at Grant Park in Chicago on the night of Obama's victory. The journey was captured on their project website entitled The Stumping Grounds.

Check out their one-night only show in Brooklyn:

Thursday, June 4, 2009
6-11pm
Pochron Studios
20 Jay Street, 11th Floor
Brooklyn, NY

Then two days later, join New York Times and Sports Illustrated contributor, Robert Caplin, for his solo show entitled Rebirth, comprised of images shot since his arrival in New York.


Photo by Robert Caplin

Saturday, June 6
5 - 8 p.m.
SB Digital Gallery
125 East 4th Street
New York, NY

It's summertime, and great photography is permeating through the air. Support your local photographers!