Last weekend, the Cardinal Stritch University Art Dept hosted the “Business of Photography” workshop, organized by yours truly. On occasion, I try to pull together professional development workshops for the photographers of SE-WI. This one went very well – curious, interested attendees, engaging speakers, and a variety of topics for discussion.
We started the day with introductions from all the creatives, to facilitate better networking throughout the day – it always helps to know who’s in the room with you! 🙂 After introductions were done, we had a 90-min. discussion on a topic that always is of interest to self-employed creatives: writing estimates for clients and determining our skills’ worth. The discussion was lead by Andi Haas and Lee Golden – two designers whose work-history gave us two very different, and valid, viewpoints to learn from.
One of the biggest lessons that came from that discussion was the importance of seeking clear communication with your client – talking with them, asking many questions, and discussing expectations from each side of the table.
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Next up was a portfolio-showcase with Tim Waite, a 40+ year veteran of the MKE photo-scene. Tim shared many photos with us, told us tales of shooting fashion photography for the shops, department stores, and malls of Milwaukee. He reminded us to “keep the passion” for our profession and how important it was to keep honing your skills.
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After lunch, the talks continued with Aurelia Schultz, a local IP attorney, giving us an overview of copyrights and why it should matter to us. I think the biggest surprise for me was the ease of bulk-registering photos!
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Next up were Shelby Supasek and Jim Raffel of She/He Media to discuss social media strategy. They gave us some good tips on utilizing socmed for photographers – >have< a strategy in how you use socmed, analyze the outcomes of your efforts, tweak it and continue. They also shared a case-study of a photographer in Indiana, showing how that portrait photographer used a couple different “streams” to keep their phone ringing and the email inbox filling up!
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Sarah Stevens, of I Do Photography, gave us a fearless talk about managing debt. She shared some resources, books, ideas, and tips that she came across in her drive to pay off a large sum of debt in just two years. What impressed me most about her was her drive – when she says she has a goal and plans to achieve it, I highly doubt if she EVER misses her target. It was really generous of her to share with us her journey through the scary world of debt. A lot of people get nervous talking about such a topic, but Sarah was frank, funny, and open about it.
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John Hart, a photo-journalist from Madison, was the day’s “closer”! John was a photojournalist at a daily paper in Watertown, WI for 18 years before going to Madison to continue his work at the Wisconsin State Journal. Like Tim earlier in the day, John had some great stories to tell, including “the time I saw my first volcano…” while on assignment with a medical mission to Central America. He also said that the key to capturing strong photos was “patience, persistence..and luck!” Seeing his photos of Wisconsin was a great, inspiring way to end the day.
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There were a number of photographers and creatives in attendance at the workshop. They were: Pat A. Robinson, Ingrid Laas, Ben Brewer, Johnny Marsz, Barbara Budish (and her graphic design site), Alex Goecks, Chris Colas, Katie Berg, Deni Storm, Paul Akert, Erik Magyar, Kristen Kubisiak, Jen Janviere, Elizabeth Krill, and Stevie White.
