Jess and I are both trying out “Etsy”:http://etsy.com/, the marketplace for handmade goods. I’ve got “a few photographs”:http://danieljames.etsy.com/ in mine as well as a large, affordable poster, and Jess has packages of “handmade paper”:http://sivatonight.etsy.com/ for sale in hers. If you like photographs, scrapbooking, or handmade paper have a look and be sure to add us and our items to your favorites. If you create handmade goods yourself, I encourage you to try it out too.
business
support the things you love
Last night Jess and I stopped by “Art Six”:http://www.myspace.com/artsixcoffee for a cup of coffee. This place has everything that I look for in a coffee house. First and foremost, it makes good coffee. It also has nice cozy places to sit, lots of tables, lots of corners to hide in with a book, and lots of open space to be social with whomever else happens to be there. There’s always a friendly face behind the counter, art on the walls, and, fairly often, live music. If you’ve never been, give me a call and I’ll personally take you there and buy you your first cup.
This time, pouring out from the back room, was the beautiful, soulful voice of “Arielle Silver”:http://www.ariellesilver.com/ (on “MySpace”:http://www.myspace.com/ariellesilver) accompanied by rich, fluid bass and percussion with subtlety and finesse, something sure to make the misses a very happy woman. I’d never heard of them before but I’m glad I found them there. The poetic lyrics, complicated melodies, and tight rhythm give them polished sound of “real musicians” yet leave them with enough of a raw edge to keep them interesting. Give them a listen, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. They are playing tonight at the “Standards and Pours”:http://www.standardandpours.com/ coffee house and are currently “touring all over the US”:http://www.ariellesilver.com/calendar.html. Find out when they’ll be near you and check them out.
In this morning’s dose of the world wide web, I learned that David Hobby, photographer for the Baltimore Sun and creator and author of “Strobist”:http://strobist.com/, is feeling the pain of “putting in too much personal time for not nearly enough money”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/07/strobists-next-phase.html, something I’m all too familiar with.
For the photographers in my readership, “Strobist”:http://strobist.com/ is a website that encourages the use of small, inexpensive, off-camera flashes and simple light modifiers in a manual fashion to allow lit photography to become a often used tool in every photographers repertoire. David offers “well written instruction”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html, provides a wide range of “well explained examples”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/on-assignment.html, gives his opinion on a big selection of “related gear”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/04/gear-articles-and-reviews.html and is holding a “lighting boot camp”:http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/06/lighting-boot-camp-archive-page.html where he encourages his readers, assignment after assignment, to take the flashes off their cameras and make some incredible images. Check it out! It’ll change the way you look at flash photography.
Unfortunately for this budding new blogger, David is learning that most people these days expect handouts and a free ride and are rarely willing to part with their own money, time, or resources when they don’t have to. Despite thousands of new readers all scraping together equipment based on David’s simple suggestions and millions of hits to his website from all parts of the world, he’s making very little from his affiliate banners, product links, and advertising. Why? Because people are too lazy to be bothered to use a link from David’s site to buy the products he recommends.
I make it a point to use links from David’s site (or other sites like his that I support) even when purchasing products he didn’t recommend because it’s important to me to have such a valuable resource (and others like it) continue to exist. It’s important to me that a place like Art Six exists that, even when it’s a longer drive than other places for me, I still make the effort to get out there and I always leave a good tip. While I’m grateful that Arielle Silver was able to gain some exposure last night, it really made me sad to see so many people enjoying this music and yet so few willing to drop a few bucks in the tip jar or buy a CD. Jess and I bought a CD and a small tip, though it doesn’t even cover their hotel room for the evening, let alone gas, food, equipment and a decent wage for the three of them.
If you don’t support the things you love they will go away.
100,000+ views on Flickr
Sometime last night my “Flickr Account”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/ topped 100,000 views. With almost 600 photographs and over 300 contacts, Flickr, despite is quirks and difficulties, has been instrumental in increasing my exposure, building my network, fine tuning my skills, and finding new friends.
Whether you’re a professional photographer, a serious amateur, a fan of beautiful photographs, or someone who just takes a lot photos of friends and family with your digital camera, if you aren’t a member already, I encourage each and everyone of you to “get a Flickr account”:http://flickr.com/signup/. It’s absolutely free, will help you organize your photographs, and will open you up to a whole new world never thought possible.
Flickr’s popularity metric — called Interestingness — has, thus far, brought 28 of my images into the limelight by featuring them as one of the top 500 most interesting images for that given day. These, and other images brought forward by this metric, can be browsed using Flickr’s “Explore”:http://flickr.com/explore/.
In celebration of these 100,000 views, and as a token of my thanks, I’m offering a signed, numbered special edition 8×10″ of any of these 30 images for $15 (plus $4 shipping and handling) for the next two days (through June 30th). Email me (daniel AT djamesphoto DOT com) with any questions you might have or browse through them and then “buy now”:https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=daniel%40djamesphoto%2ecom&undefined_quantity=1&item_name=Flickr%20100k%20Special%20Edition%208×10&item_number=F100K%2dSE%2d8x10&amount=15%2e00&shipping=4%2e00&no_shipping=2&cn=Notes¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8.
1. waiting for a ride, 2. a reward from patience, 3. rows of summer heat, 4. pinhole sun on horizon over water, 5. something interesting, 6. thanks for waiting, 7. the day is much too bright, 8. all the way to colorado,
9. unraveled, 10. bashfully captivating, 11. reaching higher, 12. a little bit late, 13. Rows of Silence, 14. neon bordered triangle, 15. If I am Silent, 16. a disturbing calm,
17. reflected trees under blue skies, 18. A Writer, 19. golden field with low hanging moon, 20. One Tree in the Bayou (Edition 2), 21. sunrise over black creek (edit 1), 22. what are you looking at?, 23. pink, bold, and blue, 24. stay behind the fence,
25. Unused Railway (edition 3), 26. chickadee on a wire, 27. Safe in my own Skin, 28. A Suggestion, 29. greener over there, 30. Rob and Vicki – New Love (2)
consider ME: a clarification
In case you were wondering, the point behind “go figure: consider ME”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/20/go-figure-consider-me/ is not about telling my friends to pay me more or even to pay me at all. I mean, sure, I’d be happy and grateful if they did, but that’s not the real purpose.
More than anything, its purpose is to bring understanding about what it is that I put into each photo session, in terms of both time and money, and trying to install a sense of partnership and responsibility into the friends and acquaintances that I do choose to work with for free. As “Josh said”:http://revjim.net/2006/06/20/go-figure-consider-me/#comment-8339 I can’t expect to make any kind of money selling to only friends and family as I’m tapping a very limited resource. However, my friends and family have lots of friends and family. A limitless resource, if you will. At this point in the game, $84.04 will help a little, but bringing even one paying portrait session or a handful of fine-art purchases my way will help a lot more. Especially when I then make friends with those people and get them to bring me even more business.
Advertising is expensive and I’m willing to accept that. They way I see it, I can spend $84.04 and advertise to my friends’ friends through word of mouth, or I can spend $84.04 and take out an ad in the yellow pages.
where to be?
I’ve given this a lot of thought. Trust me when I say that this seemingly trivial bit of information and the small seemingly insignificant question that follows are, in fact, very important to my success as an artist. Please read this carefully and give your opinion honestly.
h2. the future.
In the not too distant future, I will be represented online in the following fashion:
* revjim.net
** The public side of me: technology, life, politics, humor, electronics, poetry, pleas for the baring of breasts.
* djamesphoto.com
** The business side of me: Portfolio, Rates, Events, Sales, Projects, Travel Notifications
* somedomain.com/someclevername/
** The starving artist side of me: Photoblog, Five-A-Week, Donations, Casting Calls
* un.dis.clos.ed.com
** The intimate side of me: more intimate aspects of my life and personality
* myspace.com/revjim
** Links to the public side of me (and, under filter, the intimate side)
* myspace.com/djamesphoto
** Links to the artist side of me
* revjim.livejournal.com
** Links to the public side of me (and, under filter, the intimate side)
* djamesphoto.livejournal.com
** Links to the artist side of me
My public site will frequently link to my business site through the use of images in the article, as well as links in the side bar, and random images in the side bar. My artist site will also link to my business site with each posted image, as well as in the side bar. Somewhere deep in the bio pages of my business site, my public site and artist site will be linked to as well.
h2. the question.
So, there’s only one remaining question to be determined: Where do I put my starving artist site?
Since my business site is merely the hopefully profitable wing of my artistry, it makes sense to include it with the business site, perhaps as a subsite within my business site. However, displaying VERY edgy images, asking for donations, making casting calls, and looking for subscribers are hardly “business like” things to do.
Since it’s more an aspect of who I am and what I do, including it as a part of revjim.net makes a lot of sense too. People who take interest in my life and my opinion are also likely to take interest in my art and my vision. Therefore, I may find more patronage in this setting than I would from a site where I look more like a professional begging for handouts.
However, the artsy side of me and, therefore, my artsy work tends to draw an entirely different audience. Therefore, it may be better to keep it separate from revjim.net in order to attract more visitors and patrons. An alternative is to place the starving artist site at another domain all together, but that just seems silly.
Another alternative is to give djamesphoto.com a very edgy, quirky, honest yet still professional feel. In other words, state clearly on djamesphoto.com that photography is not my only source of income and, in fact, is not really a source of income at all. Allow djamesphoto.com to be artsy, seek donations, subscribtions AND paid customers all in one shot. Stop trying to “act professional” and just be who I am using the separate domain names to provide a separation of audience.
h2. the poll.
[poll=5]
Your opinion is very important to me, so please vote.
go figure: consider ME.
I decided to do a little business math. In the end I determined that in a lowest cost scenario I need to make $84.04 per photo session just to break even.
h2. fine-art.
When it comes to the prints that I sell, I’ve already determined what my costs are so I know how much I can sell an print for without losing money. And I agreed with myself long ago that, at least for the time being, I would not attempt to include the costs of travel, or other expenses in my costs calculation for fine-art prints. I told myself that if I ever landed a paid assignment, then, surely, I would bill for time and expenses, however, trying to include the expenses for the travels and assignments I take on for myself in the costs of the prints would make them quite unaffordable. The little (and I do mean little) bit of “profit” that I do make from print sales and subscriptions will hopefully grow into much more “profit” (either from more sales or more expensive prints) so that I can cover the expenses need to produce the images I sell. Then, in a perfect world, maybe I’d make some real profit… perhaps even enough to keep a roof over my head and food on my plate.
h2. portrait work.
However, when it comes to non-project, non-assignment studio work, I’ve never really considered my costs… until today. There isn’t much of a market for selling portraits to anyone other than the subject and the friends and family of the subject. So, in other words, unless I’m doing project work that I can sell as fine art, the only money I’ll collect from a typical photo session is the money I collect from the subject. Therefore, every time I do a session (for free or otherwise) if I don’t recoup a certain percentage of my costs, I’m losing money.
h2. costs.
So, just how much are my costs?
The first time I did calculations, I included a modest salary, travel expenses for special projects, costs of my home studio, office expenses, advertising, the whole works. Then I determined how many sessions I could possibly hold in a year in order to find how much I needed to make per session. Let’s just say that I didn’t make enough all last year to cover a single session.
So, I did the calculations a bit differently. I figured in enough to replace my camera every 2 years, and my lenses and studio lights every 5 years. Then I factored in a fraction of my webhosting costs, a fraction of my communications bill, a tiny bit for office supplies, a small amount for short-lived photography supplies (gels, seamless paper, makeup, batteries, etc), gas and maintenance on a vehicle to drive to Dallas twice a month, and the costs required to have a space to photograph in (12% of my mortgage and utilities). I neglected paying myself any kind of salary or making any form of profit whatsoever. Then I gave myself a few weekends off each year and then counted on booking sessions for two days out of each remaining week (which will NEVER happen).
Given all of that (i.e. cheapest possible expenses, most possible work) my cost per day of shooting in my studio is *$84.04*. This means, essentially, that I have to pay $84.04 for every day that someone walks into my studio for a photo session. Period.
If I don’t charge at least $84.04 in sitting fees or make $84.04 in profit on portrait sales then *I’ve paid* to have my subject in my studio. When I’m working on special projects, art that matters to me, or images that will sell as fine-art, then it’s worth $84.04. However, when I’m only making images for the subject that have no value with anyone other than the subject, then my $84.04 doesn’t buy me anything but practice and I can get lots of practice doing work that benefits me in other ways too.
h2. print sales.
I know what you’re thinking, “What about print sales, doesn’t that cover it?” Well, since my print prices are so cheap, the most I’ve ever sold in prints from a single session was right at $150. Now, that’s not $150 in profit, that’s $150 total. My costs to produce those items well exceed 50% meaning that those sales earned me far less than $84.04. And, that’s only a best case scenario. Most of my sessions produce a lot less than that in print sales.
h2. time.
Further more, I have to consider what my time is worth. Even if all of my costs *were* met, it’s quite easy to go broke and starve to death when you work for free. For special projects, interesting concepts, and other work that I enjoy doing, the pleasure of the work is often enough reward for my time. However less interesting work isn’t at all personally beneficial. And don’t forget that every hour I spend in a photo session generally takes two hours of post production.
h2. consider ME.
So let’s say you come to my studio as a friend for a one hour non-project photo session. At that very moment I’ve just spent $84.04 in COSTs as well as 3 hours of my time on you with no benefit to me at all. When was the last time you spent $84.04 plus 3 hours of your time on me?
Consider that as you’re leaving when the session is over. Think about it again when you inquire on the status of your images being edited. Consider it again when I show you your images and offer to make prints of any that you like. Think about it again when I post an image of you on my site and direct viewers towards my “donations page”:http://revjim.net/donations/ and my “Five A Week”:http://revjim.net/five-a-week/ subscription. Consider linking to my post when I put up an image of you on my site. Consider that when you ask me to photograph something special for you. Think of me when your friends mention how much they like the photographs you’re showing them. Drop my name the next time you talk to that good looking girl you have lunch with once a week. Consider linking to me when you book your session, again after you finish your session, and again when I finish editing the images. Consider me again when you are wondering what to buy someone for their birthday or Christmas this year. Consider buying a print instead when you email my images to your friends and family. Even in this digital age, mothers need things to put on their walls. Consider making a small donation when you post my images on your own website. Consider what I put into each and every session before you book a free session with me and again when you recruit your friends and family to book paying sessions with me.
Consider ME as much as I consider YOU.
thought results in change
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about photography, art, my business, and my happiness lately. As a result of this thought, there are a few business changes I’m considering and a few more that have already been made.
I’m considering starting a trend where I edit fthe photographs *with* the model after the shoot. If you’d be interested in trying this, let me know. I think it might be beneficial for several reasons. While I *always* edit my paid sessions in a *very* timely fashion, I’m a bit more lax about my test sessions. I edit what I really like, and the others just… wait. Editing the images with the model will not only give me valuable feedback about each image *before* I waste my time editing something the model doesn’t really like and I’m not going to use, but it will also ensure that I schedule time to get them done. If you’d be interested in being my guinea pig for this process, let me know.
Also, due to some complications that need not be explained right now, I may begin charging a small sitting fee even for my test sessions (and I’ll include some prints in exchange). It’s not something I *want* to do, but it may be needed. It won’t be more than $25 or so, and there will be some exceptions but, for the most part, it will apply. So, if you want to work with me while it’s still free, you may want to let me know now.
Starting now, I’m only taking two sessions a week, one during the week, and one over the weekend. Exceptions can be made, of course — as I’m going to want to get into projects that really excite me as soon as possible — but this is the general rule. So, my time’s become a bit more limited. This is all the more reason to *hurry up and email me*.
I’ve rethought my pricing entirely. As a result of this, I’ve added a few new product options for purchasing my work and I’ve lowered my prices significantly. I was a bit leary about doing this as I know that lowering my prices can make my work seem cheap and without value. However, having my prices all over the board doesn’t really create any sense of value either and it isn’t fair to my patrons. So, unless I manage to find a much less expensive supplier of the materials and services I use to produce my prints, the prices I have now (“sample image”:http://djamesphoto.com/image/view/115912996/ with prices and products) are the lowest I will ever sell them (outside of clearence sales and special promotions). As supply,demand, popularity, free time, and other conditions dictate, these prices will go up in the future. However, they will not be reduced.
I’ve divided my products into two sections, regular prints — machine titled, unnumbered, unsigned — and collector’s editions — hand signed, titled, and numbered, and cautiously cared for by me every step of the way. I hope this will satisfy all of my patrons and allow me to create value in my images and yet still allow my art to reach as many people as possible. So take a look at my “new prices”:http://djamesphoto.com/image/view/115912996/ and then look at my “body of work for sale”:http://flickr.com/search/?q=forsale&w=37996577120%40N01&m=tags&s=int&z=t
and see if you can’t find something that interests you.
I’ve also started “a sellers account on Etsy”:http://danieljames.etsy.com/. Feel free to look at my work there and, if you have an account there, please add me and my images to your favorites so that others can see my work too.
As always, I’m interested in your feedback.
on advice
When it comes to personal matters, the advice you, my dear readers, give is all over the board. But, I’m able to collect it and it allows me to consider opinions and thoughts I never have before. For that, I’m grateful. However, when it comes to matters of my photography and my business, quite frankly, you suck.
* You told me I wasn’t charging enough for my prints, so I started charging more and my sales went down.
* It was suggested that I should make my prints as cheap as possible, which I did, this increased the number of sales but my total income was less than it was when I was charging a more moderate amount.
* By suggestion and as an exercise in testing price point I had a “name your own price” sale, which actually ended up costing *ME* $75, despite several of you making very generous offers, because I miscalculated my costs and accepted a few too many low offers.
* I was told that if I offered matting and framing more people would buy my work because it would be ready to hang. So, I spent nearly $500 buying supplies to mat anf frame prints. To date, aside from the “name your own price” sale, I’ve *never* had an order for anything other than an unmatted, unframed print.
* I was told that I should accept donations, so I built a page to do so. Since that time, I’ve had exactly $0 in donations.
* I was led to believe that a book of my work would be in high demand and that the price point I had settled on would be quite fair, and that a discounted pre-sale would be even fairer. Yet, even after begging, I only have 9 pre-sale orders despite having over 50 people respond saying they would purchase at the price I was targeting. And, to make matters worse, 6 of those 9 people aren’t people who repsonded to the initial inquiry.
* The “Five-A-Week”:http://revjim.net/five-a-week/ program was *my own idea* (that I stole from “Jonathan Coulton”:http://jonathancoulton.com/ which *I discussed with absolutely no one*. I currently have 4 subscribers and consider it my most profitable endeavor yet despite the fact that PayPal takes 33% of the subscription rate.
I have people ask me on a regular basis how I’m making the book, who I’m using to print the book, where I get my prints made, what kind of software I use to sell my prints, what my profit margins are, how I ship my prints, where I buy matting and framing supplies, and what techniques I use to produce my photographs. It seems that everyone really likes what I’m doing and how I’m doing it, yet no one is willing to support that.
So, from now on I’m not asking for your advice. I don’t care if you think my prices are too high and I don’t care if you think they are too low. I don’t care if you like the quality of my prints. I don’t care if you like my product offering. I don’t care if you don’t understand my art or my vision. I don’t care if you think I’m going to fail as an artist, a photographer, or a human being.
While I’m implementing this change in thought and direction, there’s another big thing that needs to change. From now on, unless you’re a *friend* — a real honest to goodness *friend* who has done something for me in the past, will continue to act as a friend to me, and would offer similar amounts of time, money, effort, support, and loyalty as you are asking me to offer you — I have no desire to do favors for you. I have no desire to help you sell prints. I have no desire to give information on how I’m making my book. I have no desire to photograph you, your dog, your wedding, or your children. I have no desire to give you personal feedback on your work, or to recommend equipment to you. If you aren’t offering me something in return (money, ideas, a larger project, true friendship) then I have no desire to do anything for you.
To my *real* friends, my “patrons”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/tags/forsale/, my supportive fans, my “good models”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/tags/girl/, and my “Five-A-Week”:http://revjim.net/five-a-week subscribers: you are important to me. Your thoughts and ideas and suggestions matter because you’ve proven that you put your time, effort, loyalty, support, and money where your mouth is. To the rest of you: well… I hope you enjoy my work. If not there are lots of other photographers on the internet. I’m sure you’ll find something somewhere else to your liking.
My art is mine. I do it for me. I’ll share with you if you share with me. I’ll consider you if you consider me in return. It is, after all, my art, my life, and my peace of mind. I’m taking me back.
IndieKarma: 1 penny per visit
Thanks to “IndieKarma”:http://indiekarma.com/ you can now support your favorite internet websites, authors, and artists by easily contributing 1 penny every time you visit their website with no effort required on your part. What’s more, if you act now IndieKarma will give you your first $1. That’s 100 free donations to websites that you enjoy and visit on a regular basis.
Just to give you an idea of what this means… in the articles that I’ve written and photographs I’ve posted in the last 6 days alone, I would have made $6.81 so far. Or, if you look at my top ten posts of all time (since I started counting, anyway) I’d have made $111.06 so far. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but, I assure you, it adds up quite quickly. And it costs you, my dear reader, a tiny, puny, insignificant, $0.01. That’s 0.25% of the cost of that latte you bought at Starbucks this morning. In fact, if you view five of my photographs each week for an entire year you will have paid me a WHOPPING $2.60.
Here’s the real kicker, if every person who has ever visited my site, in passing, or on a regular basis, had given me a puny $0.01 per visit, I would be able to quit my job, take photographs full time, and be giving away free photo sessions and prints left and right.
So do me a favor and sign up for “IndieKarma”:http://indiekarma.com/. It doesn’t take long, you’ll get $1 for free, and even if you don’t ever put any more money into your account (and why wouldn’t you since it’s such a cheap, effective way to support the sites you visit on the internet?) at least you’ll have donated that $1 to the sites that enrich your life on a regular basis.
So I’ve added IndieKarma to this site. You’ll see the banner pop up at the bottom of your browser for about 15 seconds every time you visit a page here. Additionally, I’ve signed up for a donations account myself and intend to keep funds in my account so I can support the sites that I visit easily and without hassle or effort.
Do it for me? Pretty please? With a cherry on top? I’ll be your best friend?
a note from a friend
My eyes filled with tears yesterday in the middle of my before bed email check. It wasn’t because there was another book order sitting in my Inbox, though it was greatly appreciated. It was, instead, because of this note that came along with that book order, which I offer to you now in it’s entirety.
“Some people are reluctant to buy things without seeing them first.”
That’s me. I have never Pre-Ordered anything in my entire life… until just now.
When I first read about your book I thought I would buy it as soon as it was in a form I could hold, and look at, and buy on the spot.
But reading this changed my mind. The $44.05 I just sent your direction via PayPal isn’t just about a book. It is my way of telling you that I believe in you and am willing to support your dreams with more than just words.
Your Friend,
Sheridan
Right now, more than anything else, I needed that. I needed that expression of support and belief and understanding. I needed those tears.
He’s right. It’s not about a book. It’s not about a business. It’s not about photographs. It’s not about cameras or lights or business cards or websites or models or travel expenses. It’s about connecting with people. It’s about sharing a dream. It’s about art.
I appreciate your support, Sheridan, more than I have the words to say.
I appreciate the support that everyone of you offer in whatever way you offer it: by buying “the book”:http://revjim.net/books/20054q-finding-place/, ordering “a print”:http://flickr.com/photos/revjim/tags/forsale/, subscribing to “Five-A-Week”:http://revjim.net/five-a-week/, making a “donation”:http://revjim.net/donations/, scheduling a “photography session”:http://revjim.net/photo-sessions/, spreading “the word”:http://revjim.net/2006/03/29/finding-place-linking-information/, offering yourself as a model, sending your feedback, or offering words of encouragement.
I’ll be finishing the book and I’ll be making the next one too. Not so I can sell it in book stores. Not so I can display it in galleries. Not so that I can sell more books or book more photo sessions. I’ll be finishing the book because I believe in myself. I’ll be finishing the book because I am deeply honored by those of you that support me and believe in me and choose to show that support.
Thank you all. Truly. From the bottom of my heart. And a special thanks to you, Sheridan, for supporting me, encouraging me, reminding me of why I do this in the first place, and for being my friend.