Highlights:

• A real photo assignment from a real client
• In-depth analysis of running a photo business, with emphasis on marketing, sales, pricing, negotiation, and image management
• Personal one-on-one consultation on your personal objectives in the photo industry, analysis of your current business model, and laying the groundwork for future development
• Interactive class programs, day and night shooting techniques, learning to shoot for the client and yourself for aftermarket sales and licensing
• Full coverage of legal matters from model releases to taxes to operating a profitable business

Overview:

Travel and Stock Photography go hand in hand. If you're into travel, you need to build your stock photo business. If you're into stock photography, you need to apply the business development skills used by assignment photographers. But today's world isn't like it was, where the supply of images was controlled in large part by photographers and agencies. Today, more semi-pros and amateurs alike are contributing an infinite supply of images into the marketplace, turning the photo industry into a free-for-all. We'll cover the of highly competitive real-world of the photography business where your competition or your clients may not necessarily play nice or fair. Whether you're a beginner looking to enter the business and compete with the pros, or a veteran looking to protect yourself from the hungry newbies coming fast and furious, this workshop will help you adapt well to the 21st century.

A Real-life Assignment:

Workshop participants will be involved in a real-life travel assignment for the city of Santa Cruz, who will be using selected images for their 2008 set of promotional materials. The class will cover all aspects of managing this assignment, from initial pitch to the client, all the way to final delivery of product. Discussion and analysis of the various ways to approach this job will be used as a basis for extending the reach of your images to other business segments beyond traditional media and advertising. We'll also get into the depths of effective (and ineffective) marketing techniques, pricing models, sales methods, promotions, and use of the web.

Participants will have two days to shoot the assignment, During this time, individual one-hour sessions will be scheduled for personal consulting for this assignment, as well as broader goals you may have for your photo business.

Curriculum and Format:

You will be expected to capture a full range of images from dawn into the nite, including hotels and restaurants, candid street and people shots, and the Santa Cruz Boardwalk (amusement park). We will explore and dissect every aspect of building a full and complete inventory of the kind of images needed by the client. Inclusive of this will be discussion of photo techniques, compositions, styles and digital editing using Photoshop in the lab. The course is designed to give you real-world experiences with a full understanding of what is required to complete a professional travel assignment.
At the end of each day, we gather again to review the days' shoot, and address methods for making selections, both for the client, and for your additional business needs (stock, art, etc.). We then address what is left to shoot, and disperse again for evening and night photography.
At the end, we bring it all together by compiling all the images together for packaging, archival and final presentation to the client. Post discussion will involve where you go from here. Career development requires different methods at different points along the time-line, so each step will be examined and objectively analyzed..

Schedule:

Note: Days are packed with activity, and meals are on your own. However, people still tend to eat at the same time (generally at the usual timeslots throughout the day). Yet, because of the intermixing of lab and field photography and the variability of shooting conditions, meal times may vary by an hour or so, give or take.

1. May 3
   Morning: Introductory and preparatory overview of the business of photography. Review of background requirements, photo equipment, overcoming barriers to entry, understanding client needs, targeting niche market segments, and finally the stock photography market.
   Afternoon: Finding potential clients, do's and don'ts of initial contacts, legal concerns (license agreements and model releases). The group will then engage in role-playing activities to better understand the objectives of a hiring client, and the realities of a photographer with lots of competition. We'll then apply all these tactics to real-life scenarios and discuss pitching a job, pricing it, negotiating, and finally, executing.
   
2. May 4,5
   Morning: Review of today's shooting objectives. Go shoot. Individual one-on-one meetings throughout the day.
   Afternoon: Bring in your day's shoot, review, download, edit for selects, plan next day's shooting objectives. Discuss evening and nite photography, indoor and outdoor coverage, composition and lighting for commercial use (such as catalogs and travel brochures). Evening photo shoot and dinner on your own.
   
3. May 6
   Morning: recap of assignment, and reviews of individual projects.
   Afternoon: discussion of aftermarket opportunities, such as stock, art sales, strategies for generating recurring businesses, moving to next stages of business growth.

Class size: 16 students

Cost: $1200

Instructor: Dan Heller

FORMAT:
Lecture, Lab, Group Sessions, Field Assignments, One-on-one Review/Consultation

REQUIREMENTS:
Digital photo gear and a car. (Laptop strongly recommended.)

AUDIENCE:
Photographers interested in entering or expanding their stock photo business and/or travel photography.

Contact Dan Heller for sign up by clicking here

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