Multiple Markets Panel at Adorama – March 2013 and at PPE – October 2013
Multiple Markets Panel at Adorama – March 2013 and at PPE – October 2013
The Business of Photography: Presenting Your Work To Multiple Markets
Date: Tuesday, March 12th, 2013, 5:30pm – 8:00pm
Location: Adorama, 42 West 18th Street, 5th floor (between 5th & 6th Avenues), New York City
Date: Friday, October 25th, 2013, 8:45am – 11:45am – Session FA4
Location: Photo Plus Expo @ The Jacob K. Javits Center, New York City
Event Description: They Say That “One Size Fits All” – Or Does It?
These days it’s quite common for photographers to be promoting to and working in multiple markets in order to maximize their exposure and their earning potential. Since you’re working hard on expanding your brand and income, is there a right or a wrong way to approach each different market, or can your “brand” simply speak for itself?
To read more about this panel, who was on it and my write-up afterwards revealing “who said what” – click here
Come hear Louisa J. Curtis of Chatterbox Enterprises, and her select line-up of industry experts, to find out what might work best for your situation. Even if you only plan to work in one area, you will still learn something useful and gain valuable insights to help with your individual strategy! Combined, this stellar group has numerous years of experience spanning multiple genres that include: Fine Art, Commercial Advertising, Editorial Magazines, Music, Weddings & Events, Portraiture and Photojournalism.
Louisa says: “In my experience, one size rarely fits all, so each photographer, each situation, is going to be different. As a consultant, the recommendations and the recipe I give one client, is not necessarily going to be the same for another. It’s a question of a case-by-case examination and considering the whole picture before determining what makes the most sense for that particular individual.”
Continuing on from the successes of her previous panels, Louisa invites you to hear all of the must-have and key tips when it comes to managing multiple markets, websites and creating appropriate marketing plans. Some of our topics under discussion will be:
Who are you and where should you be showing your work in the first place?
- Are you a niche-based photographer or more of a broad-based generalist, and are you even ready to make the move into multiple markets?
- Can you have one website for all markets, or should you have several websites?
- Do multiple websites suggest versatility or imply multiple personalities?
- What are the essential website features and tools that best serve the end user’s needs and requirements?
- Should you have a different marketing strategy for each of your targeted markets?
- Does Social Media play a big part in finding work in new markets, and how can you utilize it to best support your brand?
- How can you make your marketing plan effective and have the most impact?
Whether you’re a commercial photographer looking to cross over into fine art, or an editorial photographer who wants to shoot weddings, or whatever areas you are looking to expand into, this discussion is for everybody!
There will also be ample time for the audience to ask questions. Attendees should bring items for note taking during the Workshop.
Panelists (in order of appearance) @ Adorama:
Louisa J. Curtis – Creative Consultant & Moderator, Chatterbox Enterprises
Sean Stone – Photo Editor, Wonderful Machine
Patricia Cortese – Director Creative Operations, Rosetta, LLC
Megan Re – Director of Photography, The Food Network
Manuela Oprea – Photo Editor, Bloomberg Markets Magazine
Julie Grahame – Editor-in-Chief, aCurator & Associate Director, Clampart
Meg Reinhardt – Deputy Photo Editor Digital & Print, WWE Magazine | WWE.com
List of Guests/Panel @ Photo Plus Expo:
Louisa J. Curtis – Creative Consultant & Moderator, Chatterbox Enterprises
Julie Grahame – Editor-in-Chief, aCurator
Darrick Harris – Editorial – Freelance Photo Editor @ People Magazine
Kaia Hemming – Ad Agency – Integrated Producer @ McCann Worldgroup
Megan Re – Director of Photography @ The Food Network
And here is my report of who said what following the panel @ Adorama in March 2013:
They say one size fits all – or does it? To find out, and as part of Adorama’s Workshop Series on Tuesday, March 12th, 2013 I moderated a wonderful group of industry experts on the topic of Presenting Your Work to Multiple Markets
I had preassigned my panelists with some specific topics and each gave their own mini-presentation that spoke specifically to the market(s) they work in. Despite some initial technical challenges, the evening was a great success with a magical combination of really helpful information along with some moments of total hilarity!
After the introductions, I began by briefly describing how I might work with some of my clients regarding multiple markets, and in my opinion, one size certainly does not fit all. Each photographer is going to be different, so what works for one client may not work for another. I gave some visual examples of photographers who have multiple websites for multiple markets, and then I also showed a few photographers who have all of their work in one place and simply promote their “brand” with a single website.
My first panelist Sean Stone gave us some recommendations on photographer presentations and websites, and what Wonderful Machine is looking for when seeking out new talent. Sean talked about the importance of branding, and presenting the whole package as a cohesive look, not just the images. He recommended shooting personal work regularly and to make marketing a priority, even when you’re busy. A couple of his US photographer examples were Mark Katzman and Brian Sorg while for International, there was Kazakhstan-based Ikuru Kuwajima Bhutan-based Kara Fox and Zambia-based editorial photographer Gareth Bentley
In response to my question as to how a photographer can stand out, he gave us automotive photographer Adam Kurtz Kansas-based editorial photographer Steve Puppe and Texas-based advertising lifestyle photographer Terry Vine. When we saw a slide of Terry’s beautiful custom-made portfolios, one audience member was curious to know if they should still have a printed book besides showing images on an iPad? Sean recommended that it’s always good to have a printed book on hand, and to use the iPad for supplementary portfolios and videos. I also reminded the audience that after a while iPads all look the same, but you can still retain some individuality with your printed books, and they are very affordable. Sean added that as with most marketing decisions, “It all depends…” which brings us back to my point that “one size does not fit all – it all depends.”
From Sean we moved to Patricia Cortese to talk about the busy world of the advertising agency Art Buyer/Producer, and the wide range of imagery she handles for Rosetta, in particular for their Healthcare clients – from the conceptual to the clinical, or the more literal (such as a doctor with patient) to the more emotionally evocative (a loving couple in a pair of bathtubs on a hillside!) With advertising, Patricia is looking for a certain skill set, both in terms of handling the business, as well as dealing with production and being on set. She is relying on you to deliver the goods, not just for her agency but also ultimately for the client. Patricia also talked about the importance of a good website.
With promotions, she is open to receiving both emails and postcards, and surprisingly she likes receiving posters too, mainly so she can cover up the walls of her office! For emails, she suggests a more “provocative” subject line to grab her attention, and she (like several of the other panelists) recommended that photographers participate in photo contests and portfolio reviews. Think about it – if you meet an art buyer at a review, that is what they are there to do, review you – they are not busy multi-tasking at work while taking a few minutes out of their busy day to see you. Some of her photographer examples were photo journalist Steve McCurry as well as commercial photographers Daniel Kennedy, Michael Weschler and Glen Wexler
I was very excited to have Megan Re from the Food Network & the Cooking Channel, given the enormous popularity and reach that food has. Megan said it’s about finding talent that can best support their “brand.” The Food Network also uses a wide range of photography, not only the more literal food and still life imagery, but also talent shots and TV chefs, product lines, recipe books and website content, and now the latest is food apps! Just recently she was photographing mac & cheese and sliders for baseball stadiums. The bad news is because it’s so brand-specific, all the shoots are total buyouts – but then the good news is, it’s for the Food Network!
For Megan, great photography is a must, with a clean look that is reminiscent of natural daylight, even if it had to be shot in a tiny studio! But it also has a lot to do with personality, versatility and how well you’ll work with the crew. Some of her current favorite photographer examples were Adrian Mueller, Marshall Troy, Yunhee Kim and Brian Kennedy
When it comes to promotions, she had us all laughing when she said, “I once received a box of rotten oranges.” They weren’t meant to be rotten of course, but unfortunately they took so long to get to her, they were indeed rotten by the time she got them! But her best story was the photographer that sent a beautiful promotion inside a hand-made bento box, and who also had the audacity to ask that the recipient kindly return the box once they had looked at the images inside. Floored by this outrageous demand, we asked if she had indeed returned the box, and were even further amazed to hear that she had! I mean, who does that?
Next up and covering the world of editorial for us was Manuela Oprea, whose main recommendation was for photographers to do their research. This is so important when approaching any market, not just Editorial. She is managing multiple shoots all over the world, so another of her main suggestions was for photographers to think “globally.” She is looking for a cohesive style, even if the photographer shoots multiple subjects, and she reminded us that Bloomberg now has a new high-end lifestyle magazine Bloomberg Pursuits, as well as the more business-oriented Bloomberg Markets
Some of Manuela’s photographer examples were Andrew Hetherington and Edward Keating as well as Robert Benson who has 2 websites for 2 different shooting styles. The 1st is for his editorial work, and the 2nd humorously called Seek Shelter Immediately is for his lifestyle work only.
Remember I mentioned at the beginning of this article about those moments of hilarity? Well, my next presenter, Julie Grahame, never fails to deliver and provided us with probably the standout moment of the night. My 1st question for her was how should a photographer best approach the Fine Art market – to which she replied, “Not like this” and she then proceeded to pull a creased and crumpled over-sized photographer promotion out of her bag, that had been mailed to the gallery in an ugly clear envelope, and was addressed to the person that Julie had replaced six months ago. Her dramatic rendition of what not to do was not only hilariously entertaining but also a great wake-up call (literally!) to really think about how and where you spend your marketing dollars.
Julie regularly features photographers on her award-winning blog aCurator including Brooklyn-based photographer Geoff Green who recently came to see her at a portfolio review with a box of deliberately dirty prints and a pair of gloves, if she wanted them. She didn’t, and this was a great example of Patricia’s point about the importance of going to these reviews – you just never know… and in this case, she loved his project and featured him. Julie understands the power of the Internet and how being featured on her blog, or any other reputable blog, can open doors and lead to opportunities. She also showed us photographer David Pace as well as some of the Clampart photographers, including Bill Armstrong, Brian Finke, Manjari Sharma and British photographer Marc Wilson
Not to be outdone, my last (but certainly not least) presenter was Meg Reinhardt from WWE. She got everyone’s attention when she explained that she works with a lot of large muscular men in their underwear, but assured us that wrestlers are really not as scary as people might think they are. She produces multiple shoots all over the country for both WWE Magazine and WWE.com and demands a lot from her photographers. But then, that’s just the way it is for her particular market, and much like the Food Network, we are dealing with a very specific brand and buyout situations.
Some of the local photographers Meg likes to work with are Marius Bugge, Chad Griffith, Kareem Black and the Gorman Studio but she also had a great example of Colorado-based portrait photographer Marla Rutherford who has 2 websites, one for her commercial work, and the other CakeKnife Photography for weddings.
Louisa J. Curtis, Chatterbox Enterprises © 2013