Head to “Photographers, Don’t Fall for These Client Pick-Up Lines” to get a taste of the pick-up lines Lindberg has heard, as well as his encouragement to just say “No!”

You probably already know to say “no.” It’s one of the best, most basic pieces of advice for the business of professional photography. However, knowing this doesn’t seem to make saying “no” any easier. Grounded, positive encouragement like Lindberg’s is needed, and often.

There are a lot of reasons that photographers are apt to say “yes,” but let’s not dwell on them. Let’s turn the problem around and considering relishing in the opportunity to say “no.”

Not only is saying “no” often a critical business decision, but as Stewart Cohen once told me, “Saying ‘no’ shows that I am in a good position.” He told me he gives his high (but reasonable) quotes and doesn’t think twice if clients say “no” to him. “No problem,” he told me. “They can choose to work with whoever they want. And I’m too busy with the jobs I do want to take on ones that I don’t want.”

I’m too busy with well-paying work to say yes to all the jobs I’m offered, even when I want them. Now there’s a sentiment to embrace.

It might seem easy to say, “Well, I’m not in Cohen’s lucky position. I have to say ‘yes’ even when I don’t want to.

Again, I think it is helpful to turn the dynamic around, upside down, reconsider it from where we want to head in business, not where we are today — where we might feel stuck.

Cohen, like all the well-paid photographers I know has ended up being so well paid because he has made his own luck. He has always valued his own services, he has always kept a straight head for business, he so he ends up saying “no” with a smile quite often, and never saying “yes” with a frown.

As Lindberg makes clear, photographers should say “no” because it’s good business sense. What we can take from Cohen is that being in a position to say have to say “no” should be a business goal. It says, “I’m a success.”

Well, I didn’t, and it’s my job to know. But (not that I should look for excuses!), perhaps my oversight of “Back Star Rising” (the Web site resource in question) came from the fact that photojournalists often seem so “out there” from what the rest of photographers are doing.

In any case, you don’t need this post to find the value in “Black Star Rising.” Just head on over there and take a gander.

If I’m assuming to much about your knowledge of Black Star, let me share a bit of the agency’s history, as explained by the site:

“The list of those who in the early years signed a contract with Black Star reads like a Who’s Who of photojournalism in the following decades: Walter Bosshard, Robert Capa, Ralph Crane, Herbert Gehr, Fritz Goro, Andreas Feininger, Ernst Haas and Philippe Halsmann, to name but a few.”

“According to photo historian Marianne Fulton, Life brought Black Star 30 to 40 per cent of its business. Black Star, in turn, contributed to Life becoming the most popular magazine in America for nearly three decades, with tens of millions of readers.”

You can see why I equated Black Star to photojournalism. And you will certainly see why Black Star Rising rises far beyond the needs of photojournalists alone. Here are a few recent blog posts:

• “Writing Your Photography Marketing Plan: Setting Goals.” By Matthew Kauffmann.

• “Get Trippy with Black-Light Photography.” By Jeff Wignall.

• “Eye on Image-Making: Sales Is Not a Four-Letter Word.” By David Weintraub.

This is good stuff!

Regular categories include: Advice for Clients, Art of Photography, Business of Photography, Photography Law, Photojournalism, Stock Photography, Teaching Photography, Video and Multimedia, Video Blog Posts.

This is good stuff!

Did Black Star Get a Rise Out of You?

Presuming your not a photojournalist and also presuming that you ran to check out “Black Star Rising,” let me know what you think. Do you like the site? How does it relate to your specialty?