In the context of professional people photography here are a few things that surprise and puzzle us. How often the images are released from the studio before the sale is finalised. How the album planning/sales process can take months, sometimes years. How there's often no attempt to up-sell after the event. How the album is treated as a cost, not a marketing tool. How album planning is treated as an obligation not an opportunity. How studios go with the crowd, instead of standing out from it. None of those maximise your opportunities, and there are probably less of those to go round right now. To View More >>

I have read so many photographer interviews that started out, "I was given my first camera when I was ten". Hands up those who can say that? Certainly I can. I was given a beaten up old Yashica by my father for my tenth birthday. Pity it isn't that easy these days because, let's face it, when film was king an image taken on a 50 year old twin reflex could still create a beautiful neg. So why did we start taking photos? I bet it wasn't for money. It was the love of capturing the image. This is where every photographer starts leaving the crowd behind. The passion and the excitement of taking the To View More >>

Every now and then I see an "About" page that I particularly like, such as Amanda's at Orchard Cove Photography. It features this photograph, which she says "captures me and my brother running up the hill at my Grandma’s house when I was two years old. When my Grandma passed away, I found the photo framed in her bathroom. It now hangs in my bedroom." Amanda says that one image calls back countless memories of her grandmother, "playing with her dogs, exploring her movie collection, leafing through her scrapbooks, eating her famous tuna salad, feeding the birds, jumping on her bed, and trying To View More >>

This post isn't a judgment on the underprivileged, or a suggestion that we all move into gated communities. It is about how to succeed. Who you surround yourself with, according to psychologists, affects how successful you’ll be. The same’s true for who you emulate or seek advice from. If you want a happy family, check out someone who has one. If you want to be wealthy, ask a rich person – not a financial advisor (not the same), and not a poor person either. Unless of course you want a list of what not to do. The internet delivers to us the best and the worst of all advice. I can’t count To View More >>

I know how to type, have a good grasp of English, know how to spell – but that doesn’t mean I could or would or should try to write the next John Grisham. Having a pen doesn’t make me a writer. Having a camera doesn’t make me a photographer. Having a computer doesn’t make me a designer… To be a designer takes talent, knowledge and practice. You need to understand balance, beauty, symmetry, asymmetry, flow, pace, shape, unity and contrast. Being a great visual story teller requires all those qualities. It also requires the understanding that that’s what you’re doing - telling a To View More >>