People have commented about not reading my blog because my Twitter updates showed up here, and there weren’t many regular posts. I can understand, especially if you follow me on Twitter already. But at the same time, I wanted an archive of my posts.
The compromise? They still show up here on BigPinkCookie.com, and you can access them by using the sidebar over there on the right, but they don’t display on the homepage any more. If I can figure out how to exclude the category in the XML file as well, I’ll do it. Probably not tonight.
Much bigger news? I’m taking over the ENTIRE building where my studio space has been located since last June. I’ve always had permission to use any of the space, but it wasn’t mine, decorated by me, my work hanging in the front room, my name over the door. Now? It will be! YEAH!!!!
I am waiting to get the BIG prints in that I’m hanging on the walls, but that doesn’t mean I should wait to celebrate, right? No way! So this Saturday, I’m flinging open the doors! Everyone is welcome to come by, check it out, see the building, hang out and talk, buy up the Fresh Photography art show stock (we are still considering doing more shows in the future, but want new work to show there – so the old stuff needs to go!) and really, just say HELLO!
Things happen at an amazingly fast pace these days. Something happens, someone makes a video, sticks it up on YouTube, before you know it a meme has been born, and it is remembered for a long time afterwards.
(If you don’t care about all this business stuff – watch the video. It is pretty awesome.)
As photographers, we’re putting photos out there in a digital form. Our clients then take the photos and use them, maybe in ways we didn’t intend originally. What should you do? Should you embrace it? Enable it? Or be angry?
How you choose to react can impact how people feel about your brand for the long run. More & more people think that if they have the files, it is ok to upload them all to Facebook, Flickr, or wherever else. Sharing them with their friends. From their perspective, they’ve done nothing wrong. Even though your license may not authorize them to post them online at all.
I plan to provide all of my 2009 clients with a web-ready DVD, along with instructions that those images can be posted anywhere and everywhere. I *want* them to post them all over the place. I use the Mogrify2 Plugin for Lightroom and put my logo on every file on the DVD. Whenever someone sees the images, they can easily look me up and hire me for their own great photos. My clients love the idea, and I love that I’m giving them a way to spread the love.
I’ve been thinking about all of this for a few weeks now. Peter Shankman, the man behind Help A Reporter Out – aka HARO, came to Houston recently to talk at an ISES meeting about things like Twitter, Facebook, and your business. You know I couldn’t pass that opportunity up!
At the end of his presentation, he closed by showing us the following video. First he told us the backstory. Basically, there was a mime. Everyone hates mimes, probably even more than clowns. So the mime came up with a routine to this song, Torn, by Natalie Imbruglia. Originally, when “the Man” got word that he was doing this performance to a song, they were not happy. Copyright issues, performing to a song without the proper license (you know, sort of like when people put your digital files on Facebook even though the license doesn’t cover that), and cease & desist letters were going to go out. But then the artist’s manager found out about it. It was already a hit on the internet. They stopped and realized that they could take the other route. They could tap into the buzz already generated, and use it to turn it into something so much more.
(I’m such a dork. I get goosebumps every time I watch this video!)
What are you embracing as technology moves at such a breakneck speed? What are you doing to make sure your clients have the best experience possible while working with you, and that makes them want to shout from the rooftops about your work?
(Posted over on PhotoLoveCat too, but I wanted to share it here as well!)
