{"id":875,"date":"2011-02-20T19:36:41","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T00:36:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/?p=875"},"modified":"2012-04-13T09:11:18","modified_gmt":"2012-04-13T14:11:18","slug":"looking-for-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/?p=875","title":{"rendered":"Looking For Work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

For Aids Walk, Los Angeles<\/p><\/div>\n

Here are the shameless plugs at the beginning of the blog. My book Understanding and Controlling Strobe Lighting: A Guide for Digital Photographers<\/a>\"\" is on Amazon.com. The wonderful folks at Shutterbug magazine are printing a 3 page excerpt in the current issue. Please pick up the magazine.\u00a0 Here is a sample chapter<\/a> from the book. Of course I still hope that you will consider purchasing my fine art book B Four<\/a>: pictures of beach, beauty, beings and buildings. Frankly purchases of this book mean a lot to me, and it is also a fine gift for any occasion. As you know I teach for BetterPhoto.com. I really hope you’ll sign up my class: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shot for a breeder.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sign up are very good this month!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Recently I\u2019ve been having a conversation with a couple of people on the discussion board at BetterPhoto.com<\/a>. We\u2019ve been discussing selling photographs. One of the problems that a person has as he\/she becomes a more committed photographer is that she\/he needs some sort of validation. Many people will participate in contests, but often the judging of <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Shot for Ramada South Bay.<\/p><\/div>\n

a contest is capricious or even insane. Selling photography can seem like a much better way of getting validation, and it might even buy you some new gear. Heck, it can even turn a hobby into a tax write off. \u00a0 If you want to sell photographs you need to look at the photographs that get bought, rather than the photographs you want to take. I have been selling photographs for almost thirty years. I started out photographing backgrounds for the Chipmunks: Alvin, Theodore and Simon. The last job I did was photographing a concrete<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

For Aids Walk, Los Angeles<\/p><\/div>\n

pour for the footings of a new building. In the middle I\u2019ve done work for General Motors and Aids Walk. Almost every photograph I\u2019ve ever sold I sold to a business or a magazine. These are markets that need a lot of photographs. I\u2019ve already done 6 jobs this year for one client. You can see some of the work I\u2019ve done for this client at www.beelerbuildsembetter.com<\/a>. Families don\u2019t need a lot of photographs, would you do a family portrait more often then every other year?\u00a0 People don\u2019t have weddings frequently, at least most people don\u2019t. I\u2019ve seen a lot of bad photography that got paid for, because the clients needed the images. If you want to sell photographs look at the businesses<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

For Rhythm Child<\/p><\/div>\n

that buy photographs. Also get the Photographer\u2019s Market. The Photographers market lists ad agencies, magazines and publishers. It even lists art fairs. It also tells you how to approach various kinds of businesses.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have the 2010 version of Photographers Market right now. If I were going to do a major push for new accounts I would go get 2011 version. While there may be new markets, and that is important, the key thing is that you have up to date information on who the buyer is in a particular company or publisher. I found the publisher for my current book, and my next book, in Photographer\u2019s Market. I sold to the New Yorker because of Photographer\u2019s Market. What is not to love?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is difficult for emerging photographers to understand that<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

For West Wind Studios.<\/p><\/div>\n

they need to develop a broader definition of what a photographer does. You might want to look at my website: www.siskinphoto.com, to see the many kinds of photography I do to make a living. Oh, and I also teach at BetterPhoto.com. The pictures this week are images I\u2019ve made for clients.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On a related note, I am really interested in what people are sending out as digital portfolios. If you have a digital portfolio, and you don\u2019t mind, could you send me a copy? If you want I could add a link to the portfolio here in the blog, or not. Of course if you could tell me how the portfolio is targeted, and how you send it, that would be great.
\nThanks, John Siskin<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope you’ll suggest my BetterPhoto class An Introduction to Photographic <\/a><\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/a>Lighting<\/a> to other photographers you know, or perhaps you’d like to give it as a gift? Amherst media sent me the cover for my second book, you can see it here<\/a>, of course you can still look at my first book at Amazon<\/a> . Also if you look at the current issue of Shutterbug you’ll find a three page excerpt form my book. I am so pleased that they did this. <\/span><\/span>
\n\"BetterPhoto.com,<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Selling photography can seem like a good way of getting validation, and it might even buy you some new gear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=875"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":907,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875\/revisions\/907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/siskinphoto.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}