In the early 2000s my first child was born, I took on a mortgage and my biggest client decided to stop using freelancers. All within a week. To cope I knew I had to improve my time management. Reading Getting Things Done by David Allen I adopted his GTD model. With half of Australia about … Read more
When professional photographers make major changes to their equipment they don’t take the decision lightly. We depend on our gear and clients rely on us to deliver results. Apart from the significant capital expense there are the years of knowledge invested in the idiosyncratic characteristics of each camera and lens. Humans don’t like change The … Read more
Like many other professions a photographer solves problems for their client. We have the experience and skills to help businesses overcome issues allowing clients to concentrate on what they do best.
I’ve been commissioned to create image libraries for hundreds of education providers. Here are a few of the most common marketing strategies I’ve worked on for childcare centres. Every centre has a unique key message that differentiates itself from competitors. Those that are part of a larger chain will target the unique benefit that each … Read more
Back in 2006 I was on the education board of a private college. Later that year I was co-opted onto the board of the Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP), a not-for-profit association. The head of an organisation determines the culture They say a fish rots from the head down and that’s true in business … Read more
Austin Kleon wrote, “…validation is for parking, not for artists.” However I’m not referring to validation as a creative. Photographers need to regularly validate their image archive to ensure it hasn’t deteriorated. A lot of things can go wrong: file corruption, bit rot, missing images and more. In ye olde days of film we could … Read more
People sometimes ask how I scored such a great URL. Dumb luck and money would be the TL;DR. Email When email was established as a normal way for businesses to communicate in the mid 1990s I was using my ISP’s domain: something like: robertjedwards@mpx.com.au. Tim Pie, a client and financial communications guru, wanted to refer … Read more
Life is full of relationships. Foremost are our personal relationships. In business we have a variety of relationships. Relationships are long term, at least for me. Clients and customers Writing this article my first thought was client relationships. Customers are the centre of business. In making business decisions I first consider how it affects clients. … Read more
Yes I know, historically photography started with Niepce in 1826. What I’m referring to is the intent of photography: to communicate. We’ve been conversing with one another visually since year dot. Once refined into a formal language, artists used imagery to convey messages by those who commissioned them. That same language is used by commercial … Read more
Success depends on how you measure it. For my commercial photography clients a successful photography shoot is one that illustrates their key messages through strong images. Delivering results within budget and not disrupting their core business is a given.