Digital Archive & Website's

Building a website online can be difficult. There are a lot things to consider when having a website made, to make sure it is easy to navigate on and something clients will find visually interesting. The purpose of the website needs to be considered, is it being used to present archiving, sales, portfolio and even blogging. Many photographers use all of these for their work on their website but often can be a web link to another website more suitable, such as a blog. Updating a website often is crucial for clients to see what recent work has been done, but also should have options to see any other projects and portfolios that are relevant and include the best work you have done. Images should look sharp and the colour's should be correct, it could be misleading for viewers and result in less interest. Keeping it clean, simple and minimalistic seem's to be popular within photographers. It appears more professional and more appropriate when navigating around the website and making sure page titles, such as the contact page, are clear. Although many websites have a separate contact page, it is useful to just include all contact information on every page, small enough to not effect anything important but big enough so that it is clear to see and easy to read. This would make it more accessible for a future client.

During a seminar, we looked at different websites that provide templates but also build you website to your taste and requirement, that differed in price. We also looked at domain names and if they were available to what we would call our own photography business. Using .com or .co.uk as a photographer is the most appropriate domain name. Below is an example from www.fasthosts.com.

Examples of photographers websites.

Alamy

During a seminar learning about Digital Archiving and websites, we were shown stock photo website Alamy. The website began in 1999, when at the time there was already large agencies that provided stock images, but founders James West and Mike Fischer knew that the industry could change quickly and was an intelligent move in the website. This website unlike other stock image agencies, seems the most fair. It is a 50/50 commission rate on all images that can range from £15-£1000 and even more in some cases. It depend's on how the image is used from how much the photographer will be paid but for larger jobs it can be a very big amount. After 14 years after the website was founded, it now has the largest collection of images and videoclips online than any other agency. Alamy has paid out over $110 million to its sellers and contributors since it began and pays the largest royalty fee out of all the industry. Anything goes on this stock agency, there are no restrictions to what type of photography can be sold, whatever field any photographer is in then it can be submitted. The fact that there is so exclusivity from them and they do no further editing to your own image, really makes the website different and special from others. Retaining all copyright to your own work and being able to use it else where, makes yourself question why shouldn't you sign up. Students like myself, can upload images for free and gain 100% profit back for two years of registering. After hearing about this website I will definitely consider joining this website very soon.

Some screenshots of the website: http://www.alamy.com/default.aspx

Marketing and Promoting

Marketing and promoting a photography business is crucial to success and more clients in any photography career. Knowing who you are working for and who your ideal client is can shape a business and focusing on a specific part of the industry can result in working for a with who you ideal would like your client to be. By knowing who you want and produce work for can make your business and any previous work more appealing, even by just adding what field of photography applies to you.

Having a website is probably the most important and first part of a photography business the client is going to go, to view what work you have done to see if it appropriate for them. Photography websites tend to have a white background and a few pages (e.g contact page). Always having the best examples of work and keeping it updates shows the quality of your specialism to the client.

High quality customer service is always appreciated and keeping clients happy before and after the work completed for them, will be remembered and could result in more work in the future. Working successfully with one client often mean's more work will come from work of mouth also, from being exceptional during one job can lead to another as, customers will talk about the great work done for them. Facebook and any other social media's are also a great way to promote a business. All work posted can be shared by other people, leading other people to viewing it. Posting consistently will remind people what you are doing and that you are still there.

Attending exhibitions and events can also be helpful. Meeting people in person and explaining what you do has a stronger impression that a phone call or an email. It is a great opportunity to hand out business card that could result in a new client. A more expensive option in the marketing business is exhibiting work. Although it can be pricy, exhibiting can show on a professional level you are as a photographer, it can draw more people to your work that could then go on to follow your website and future exhibitions and also lead to future commissions. Entering competitions could also benefit and promote work. It will be viewed by many professional, well known and successful expert photographers that could result in opportunities that can be won, such as an exhibition in most cases, leading to connections in the future.

Copyright

Copyright is an area of law, that covers all aspects of photography. It means that the right of the copyright owner of the work, that in this case is photography, can authorise or prohibit certain things. It is a collection of rights that the copyright owner can also have that has little control over what the permitted acts are and also depending on the limitations to the copyright. The balance between the authors right and a right to creativity shows how it is a human right. In photography, copyright gives the photographer the rights to control how they use their photograph and also grants the photograph's to be used and available for payment from a client ect, as long as the photographer gives their permission to use the photograph. In the photography industry there are many implications of how copyright is exclusive to its owner. Permission is needed for others copying the photograph, infringement can be put forward if done so. When working with a client, exclusivity from you to them means they would have a more profound right to the images produced for them and would be more privileged for how they would only have access to them. Copyright exists in a photograph as soon as it has been taken by the photographer here in the UK, giving all rights to the photographer from the very beginning.

The copyright act in the UK: Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 actually became effective in 1989, from other amended acts from 1956 and 1911. It looks at the definition of a photograph, still's from films, work generated from a computer and the originality in the photographs. It is interesting to see how much there is to know about copyright and how important it is when in the photographic industry and having a photography business of your own. It also goes into other details that would not normally seem to come straight to mind, such as can a photograph have more than one author. It seems to be possible for a single photograph to have two or more authors, which means two copyright owners, but can lead to complications like who has control over the work.

Employed photographers do not hold the full position of copyright in their work, unless in a contract or agreement stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the employer. Anyone who is in a contract, tax and national insurance is contributed by their employer tends to mean that it is taken by the employer. A clause should be included in any employment contract, which should state who has right's to the photographs and how they can be used. Freelance photographers should also ensure a contract is brought up and stated they have copyright.

The length of copyright in an image is the length of the photographers life, plus 70 years on top of that and then it will be passed on. However it is a debated issue that has complex areas that need to be discussed when having a photography business. Extended copyright was applied in the 1988 act, which is all works were still in copyright at the end of 1995 plus 50 years for photographers. The revived copyright is also a term that means protections has expired, but is still protected by copyright.   Copyright is hugely important in professional practice and many photographers today are freelance or commissioned, and are the copyright owners of their work, but agreements must be made to make sure it is clear about copyright.

Pricing & Costing

To have a successful and manageable photography business, it is key to have a solid understanding of numbers and the cost of business: desired salary, total annual costs, non reimbursable expenses ect. It is important to have realistic goals for a profitable career, rather than having really high prices it would be more sensible to start and go on with practical fee's and have a consistent work flow to the quality you know you could achieve. To handle your expenses it is important to keep track and a record of every shoot is taken and any other professional and personal expenditure. Fee's are charged at a daily rate, that is usually on a normal day 7am-9pm. It depends on the experience, knowledge and type of shoot the photographer is doing, such as an editorial or advertising shoot could mean a larger fee calculated on what the images will be used for. In the Photographic Industry, we all want to be able to price and fee our photography as high as we can, but being realistic will mean a more sustainable future.

Knowing information about your client before a shoot and how to fee them is a must. For example if you are shooting food and is for a local restaurant, you are not going to charge them as much as you for a major food chain such as pizza hut. But feeing them appropriately to your own daily rate to what it should be, needs to be applied. Production costs should also be applied, different shoots may require different equipment and specific requirements that will show up on your expenses. The investment on the shoot should be evaluated for what will be used. Even small things such as catering food and drink for models, make-up artists and hair stylists need to be included to keep on track of all costs used.

Clients will always want to know prices and costing straight away. They will also want to know why does it cost so much or why it doesn't look to be costing enough. By knowing all your expenses by keeping organised, so that you can explain and even show the client through spreadsheets so that it is easier for them to understand why. Sometimes a price is best decided on by negotiating a price with the client to see what is most suitable. Pricing can often result is a client going against the photographer and cancelling the shoot. However as the photographer it is also critical to know when to turn down a shoot also. For every cost of every shoot there is a minimum for what can be charged, which means that is the price for what is needed to cover any costs and salary.

How do photographers make money:

• Selling price higher than costs = profit margins.
• Value = quality, reputation, experience, location, competition, price.
• Is the price profitable?

Cost:

• Overheads = General to business
• Direct costs = Specific to a piece of work e.g film, editing, prints

Break even:

• Costs, value, income are equal. 
• All can be used as salary.

Contracts & Releases

In the Professional Photography business it is important to keep track and know about the business and legal side of the industry. Whatever photographs are being taken, as a photographer being paid for produces them, you should protect yourself with a basic contract, stating the intention of the work being done, the whereabouts, pricing and the agreements made between photographer and client. One of the reason contracts are so crucial is anything could go wrong, such as camera equipment not working and any injuries made to yourself or anyone around you. It also makes the job more formal, so that if you are are working with a client that is new, they would know and appreciate the contract being made. 

The basic info on a contract about yourself should be:

• Name/Name of business
• Business address
• Relevant contact information
• An arrea to sign your name.

The clients should be exactly the same, but the date, time and location for whereabouts you are shooting. 

It is also essential to include a clear precise amount of time you will be shooting for. In many cases such as weddings, the photographer often has to work a few more hours than planned because of the reception going on into the evening. You should shoot along as the client needs and plans you to so that the contract stays the way it was intended to. 

Pricing of contracts should be included and will be different every time depending on the photographer, type of shoot and how many hours. The flat rate or hourly rate is different for photographers depending on how they work. It should be as specific as it can be so there will be no confusion about the agreement afterwards. Anything that is not stated in the contract, could result in losing time and money, including everything that comes after the shoot like post processing which should also be covered.

The type of payment should also be stated in the contract and when you should receive the payment. This means how the payment should be delivered, who will be paying you and if you require a deposit. A date to show when the payment is due should be clear and a receipt or invoice is required. The issue of late payments can also arise. Many photographers add a late fee to their contract, showing that the client will pay extra for every day/week they fail to deliver the payment, which the contract should also state what should happen if it is a complete failure to pay as well. Any client should understand and respect this issue as it can happen quite a lot with the wrong clientele, it should come across as professionalism and not greediness. 

The rights to your images and the clients also is necessary to include. The question of who owns the images could result in being a huge problem if not dealt and stated with. Every photographer is different and so many give all rights to the client so that they can do what they will with the images. Others will not give the full rights due to how they could be used after they have finished with the clients, such as the images being printed else where or even being sold on stock photo website ect. An agreement of how the copyright of how the photographer would like the images to be used is definitely a crucial point for a contract, as no photographer would like to see there work being used somewhere where they did not agree too or taken credit for. 

The amount of time the images can take to be delivered to the client, whether it may be printed or just by a USB. The client should know when to expect to receive them as they will want to use them for their own purposes(that are stated in the contract). All the contract needs to say is the amount of time that you will preform your job as the photographer and how you will prepare and post process the images. You and the client should agree on a appropriate time, it is important to give as much time as you need to give the best results that you and the client will be both happy with. 

The collapse of the contract is a possibility that can happen at anytime due to any cause. An emergency could arise and there is nothing that you can do to stop it. However if stated in the contract and protected, this issue can be avoided. An agreement stated in the contract explaining in the event of an emergency or equipment not working that you will return the money to the client and claim no liability.  It is necessary to protect yourself in case of these situations, that will benefit you and your client from any legal battles. It should be a contract that will gain good results that you and the client want and will take interest in. 

Group Crit and Reflection

In our group crit on friday(20.03.15) each group presented their work on the magnetic board in the studio. We then proceeded to talk about each others work, about the positives and what could be improved on each image. Everyone's work represented Vanitas or Nature Morte and had symbolism within the objects that were used, just light paintings in the 15th century such as Treck. The feedback for mine, Lauren's, Sophie's and Jess' image was very strong because of the way we placed the flowers, which seemed to be very popular with its audience. No one else had done anything like this so it stood out from the others to be quite different, and once everyone knew the meaning behind it, it was clear to see why we arranged it the way we did. A way we could improve that was mentioned was the lighting and if any of us were to to it again we should change the lighting as it was too harsh, as to how the light source was in the paintings.We also did not follow this mini-assignment, to recreate the painting using modern objects, which would be interesting to do if it was done again.  It was great to see other work from the different groups to see how Vanitas and Nature morte was presented, through how people understand the meaning behind it.