Comments on: The Business Of Photography – Books

By: Darkroom Branding: Marketing Strategies for Photographers » The Daily Snapshot

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:01:17 +0000

[...] The Business Of Photography – Books (tags: photography) [...]

By: Lou

Lou — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:08:54 +0000

@James Warden,
Yeah, it should read…
“Bankers are sales people interested in making their monthly numbers and as long as you can convince the computer that you have income and a decent credit score then they’ll cut you a check and not worry about it because they probably won’t be working there anymore when you may or may not default.” That’s basically it for big banks, community banks and credit unions may be different.

By: James Warden

James Warden — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:23:56 +0000

A must read book but – “Bankers are math people who look to make sure that if they loan you the money, you’ll be able to pay them back; they have a vested interest in making sure you can do so and that you’ll remain in business (p.7)” seems naive and out of date.

By: Boston Photographer

Boston Photographer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:15:22 +0000

Thanks for the list of references. I checked out the website and it looks like I know how I will be filling a few more hours.

By: Alex Gauthier

Alex Gauthier — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:17:06 +0000

I read John’s first book and paid attention to some speaking he did for Photoshelter before it partially imploded. I’ve been very impressed with him and observe anything he has to say with plenty of attention but at times, I think it can be easy to fall too far into “covering my ass against my clients” mode or become a little too much of a hardass towards potential clients. John obviously is good with his clients but I did feel from his first book and after talking with other photographers further along in their career than me that he could have focused on the kinder more win/win side of client interactions a little bit. I guess, what I mean is that he could stand to project a tad more sunshine if that makes sense?

By: anoon

anoon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:10:22 +0000

Now if we could get Mr. Harrington to switch the colors scheme on his blog from the (give me a screaming headache after reading one article) black with white type, to a easier reading dark text on light background I would be grateful…

By: anon

anon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:00:01 +0000

Wouldn’t trade my MBA for all the books on business ever written. Not the same, though that’s not to say you can’t learn a lot on your own.

Wouldn’t spend money on an MFA.

THAT, I can learn on my own.

By: christian

christian — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:48:50 +0000

I think the first business book I ever read was Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi.

hahaha just kidding, but on a serious note. I found the Art of War quite correlating to daily business practices as well. Thank you for the heads up on this book and I will be sure to check it out.

By: narayan

narayan — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:20:51 +0000

@Greg Ceo,
thanks for suggesting Lou Lesko’s book. I ran down to the local library and started reading it already. I like his candor and he has a lot of good, practical advice.

By: Brett Deering

Brett Deering — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:22:46 +0000

John Harrington’s book IS comprehensive. Great stuff on contracts, and just good, solid nuts and bolts stuff on a photo business. His legal knowledge of the photo business is amazing and he encourages one to copy his forms. I shot him an e-mail question about contract language in the vain hope of a reply and he frickin’ called me on the phone to answer my question. Highly recommended.

By: Don Giannatti

Don Giannatti — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:09:57 +0000

May I add the new book from Gary Vaynerchuk, “Crush It” as a fantastic addition for photographers book lists. Small (perfect for our short attention spans) and packed, PACKED, with up-to-date info. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

By: selina maitreya

selina maitreya — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:34:36 +0000

Thanks as always Rob for bringing photographers back to the business aspect.
As you are all running creative businesses it ’s key to read books that focus on key aspects that you might other wise miss..re marketing business AND creativity.
More additions?

The Tipping Point :Malcolm Gladwell
Guerrila Marketing:Jay Levinson
War of ART Stephen Pressfield
Focus (oldy but goody) Al Reis
Waiting For your Cat to Bark(using emerging media to promote)Jeffrey Eisenberg
The Do-It Yourslef Lobotomy(cretative thinking)Tom Monahan
Word of Mouth Marketing Andy Sernovitz

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:47:44 +0000

Thanks for all of the recommendations. I’m always interested in a good book or two.

By: Greg Ceo

Greg Ceo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:24:35 +0000

I believe that Skool is absolutely correct, it is about the relationships! But it is also about providing great work to the clients that meet or exceed their expectations.

By: skool of hard knocks

skool of hard knocks — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:12:21 +0000

I grew up around photography, and always felt confident in my chops. What I didn’t feel comfortable with was my ability to run a business, so I went to college and earned a degree in Strategic Business Management. (I skipped out on the MBA simply because I was tired of writing papers!)

I’ve never been to an art school, but I can honestly say that I feel I have benefited more from the business school than from any photography class I could have ever taken. I wouldn’t trade my Fast Company and Inc. subscriptions for PDN any day, and marketing books in my library outnumber photo books by a huge margin.

I couldn’t tell you who has won what contest yadda yadda..I’ve just always focused on my own thing and so far it’s worked out just fine. I own a commercial photography studio , so the work and approach is different than editorial, and I’ll readily admit that a lot of the photography is almost like a commodity, so we’ve found the effort dedicated to relationships and creating a fun atmosphere around our brand/studio has been more successful than spending countless hours trying to shoot like ABC or loosing sleep over XYZ because he’s a hack and was awarded the 12345 award when “I could have shot better than that”.

By: Greg Ceo

Greg Ceo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:07:50 +0000

I personally dig the ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography, 7th Edition, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1581154976

For Advertising Photography, I like Lou Lesko’s Advertising Photography: A Straightforward Guide to a Complex Industry. I love the Lou talks about his mistakes and how he learned from them. That is so rare in this industry!

I use both of them in the course I teach on Business Practices for Photography.

By: Douglas Lowell

Douglas Lowell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:30:41 +0000

Right on, Mr. APhotoEditor.

Built to Last and From Good to Great have more wisdom and insight in them than most MBA’s have when they graduate.

Not a slam, just an observation. Because business isn’t about theory, it’s about humans and all their complex motivations and actions.

As a business owner myself, nothing replaces testing your theories in the marketplace. The key is to not be afraid to experiment and come up with new thinking and new approaches. It’s what will fill up the business books to come.

But it’s almost more important to think like an anthropologist than like a business person.

Doug Lowell