Photography Blog: September 2014

Electric Sand by Alex Chamberlain

Friday, 5th September 2014

PhotoCompetitions.com Find photo contests to enter sorted by deadline and theme.

Buy prints to support A Photo A Day and go to GeekFest Sept. 12-14 in Philadelphia

Support APAD by bidding on prints

Both Matt and I have participated in the A Photo A Day community (APAD) over the years. It’s a wonderful community, run by Melissa Lyttle, of (mostly) photojournalists who look at each others’ work on an email listserv. Now, APAD has become a registered non-profit and will be offering grants to photographers to work on projects. I’m happy to see this development; money for projects is always a good thing. You can help out by bidding on prints from a wide-ranging group of photographers. The auction goes until September 16 and features the work of: Alan Berner, Barbara Davidson, Kendrick Brinson, Matt Eich, Preston Gannaway, Todd Heisler, Ariana Lindquist, Susana Raab, and others. For some of the work available, these are likely the lowest prices you’ll ever see. Check out the auction here.

APhotoADay

And while you’re at it, consider going to APAD’s annual GeekFest in Philadelphia Sept. 12 – 14, 2014. It’ll be my first GeekFest, but everything I hear about previous years is that it’s an experience not to be missed. For me, it will be an opportunity to finally meet many photographers around the US whom I’ve only known through email and social media. But even if you aren’t a member of APAD, it should be a great weekend. There’s a full roster of talks and presentations, including Ed Kashi, April Saul, Kainaz Amaria, Sara Lewkowicz, David Maialetti, Holly Andres, J. Kyle Keener, Luanne Dietz, and Vince Musi. Saturday night will also be the book launch of Sol Neelman’s Weird Sports 2.

As you can see from the schedule, it’s a full weekend, and if you buy a ticket this week, it’s only $100 (next week it goes to $125). You can get more details in the GeekFest Philly facebook group.

Make Money As A High End Wedding Photographer

With our ongoing look at the wedding photography industry, so far we have looked at “How to Become a Wedding Photographer in 10 Easy Steps” and “Why It Sucks To Be a Mid-Level Wedding Photographer”. In this article, we are going to look at a wedding photography business model that is actually profitable and a [...]

The post Make Money As A High End Wedding Photographer appeared first on DIY Photography.

Jane Ammon, Inspire Interviews: Episode 2

I hope all of you have checked out the first episode, where I interviewed New England photographers, Doug Levy. Starting this month and running through October, I’ll be posting short interviews I’ve conducted in partnership with Inspire Photo Retreats. The interviews will be of each of the presenters and some sponsors, to get a better idea of who they are and why they feel attending Inspire Photo Retreats is important to them.

Ok, so for this episode, I spoke with Jane Ammon, a child photographer who serves clients in central New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania. She will be presenting at Inspire Photo Retreats, from February 9-11th, 2015, in Portland, Maine.

When we spoke, I asked Jane about one aspect of her future presentation; why it was important for her to submit a proposal and finally what drew her to Inspire Photo Retreats.

Here are some of Jane Ammon’s wonderful portraits of children:

Click to view slideshow.

For more information about the conference please visit the site. If last year was any indication, registrations will fill up and the conference will be sold out. So, I urge you to register early.

If you are still on the fence, please take a look at all the speakers who will be coming to Portland. I believe speakers like Jane and others have one mission: to inspire you to do your best work in the near year. Everybody needs that kind of motivation year-in-and-year-out. If you agree, I expect to see you at Inspire Photo Retreats in 2015!

Author information

Seshu | Editor, Curator & Publisher

The post Jane Ammon, Inspire Interviews: Episode 2 appeared first on Views, Reviews & Interviews For Photographers On Tiffinbox.

What Does Sephi Bergerson’s 6 Year Quest Look Like?

I am reading an advance copy of Chris Guillebeau‘s new book, The Happiness of Pursuit. In the first few pages of the book, Chris describes a quest as thus:

– Has a clear goal and a specific end point.

– Presents a clear challenge.

– Requires sacrifice of some kind.

– Often driven by a calling or a sense of mission.

– Often requires a series of small steps and incremental progress toward the goal.

My friend and fellow documentary photographer Sephi Bergerson began his quest six years ago to document a wide variety of Indian weddings. When you look at his work, you’ll agree that his images are heartfelt and stunning. After years of pursuing these Indian weddings in India, Sephi is now ready to publish a book. But he is clear that he wants to publish and distribute it in a non-traditional way. Today, he launched “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India“, a crowd-funding campaign to raise $42,000. At this writing, he has already raised $615!

A few days back Sephi and I sat down to talk about his journey and why he decided it was the right time to launch this campaign for “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India“:

(I am again sorry that the poor connection didn’t allow us to record this as a true video.)

Having seen Sephi’s previous book – Street Food Of India – I can tell you that “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India” will also be a book that you will easily explore and lose yourself.

Here are a few of the many images you can expect to see in the custom-designed book:

So, what does Sephi’s six year quest look like? To find out, step up and support the “Behind The Indian Veil: Weddings In India” campaign today!

Author information

Seshu | Editor, Curator & Publisher

The post What Does Sephi Bergerson’s 6 Year Quest Look Like? appeared first on Views, Reviews & Interviews For Photographers On Tiffinbox.

Donal Doherty Will Teach You To Fully Engage With Your Business

He is a wedding photographer and educator based in Derry, Northern Ireland who has just launched a series of video courses for photographers called ENGAGE.

Donal Doherty has a vision. And that vision is to help as many photographers as he can with all that he knows about running a successful photography business.

Talk to the man and he is terribly humble about it. He shuffles through a slew of recent awards quickly, not making a very big deal about them. His focus is on what he can do, based on all that he learned in the PR world, to help photographers who struggle to run just “ok” businesses to running great ones. While he does offer mentoring sessions and he speaks often at industry events and writes a popular column for a UK based photography magazine, his busy wedding photography schedule keeps him from going all-in. That is, until he decided to invest a good deal of his own time to create ENGAGE.

If you are starting a photography business, branding one or need help with social media marketing, I recommend you check out Donal’s newest offering.

Donal also launched an ebook called, “Engage: Social Media Marketing for Photographers.” Go to the website and sign up to receive your first chapter for free.

Still intrigued? I was. So, I sat down with Donal to chat about this new launch and why photographers like you should pay attention.

Check out some of his award-winning work here:

For about $150 a year … yes, a year … you receive nearly 30 videos that are between 10 and 15 minutes in length that explain the many facets of growing a business with a plan, branding it properly and then marketing it via social media.

Every two weeks, starting today through February 2nd, Donal will release each of The Business Plan Course videos to you. The Branding Course and The Social Media Course will follow.

Donal’s intent isn’t to just load you up with a whole bunch of content. There is enough of that already in the market. The reason each of the videos is released gradually is to give you a chance to watch the video and then implement what he has taught you to see results. I think this is what makes Engage so different. The emphasis is as much on the process as the results, which you will need to adjust because everyone’s approach to business is different.

How will you fully engage with your photography business this year?