Feb 21 2011

ASPP eNews Blog: A Wealth of Photo Industry Information for ALL

Category: Business & Marketing, Online Resources, The IndustryEthan G. Salwen @ 6:51 am

The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP) has done a great service to all serious photographers by, 1) Turning their email newsletter into the ASPP eNews blog, and 2) Making this blog available to all — for free, no sign in required. Very, very cool.

Check it out, and if you like what you see, add it to you feeds or sign up for email alerts.

AfterCapture Blog_110221_ASPP eNews_1

What’s ASPP?

ASPP is a unique photography industry association in that it includes photographers and picture agencies and picture researchers and end users, a.k.a. publishers. This means that when you are part of ASPP, you are not just dealing with your colleague-competitors, but also networking with your colleague-potential-clients.

AfterCapture Blog_110221_ASPP eNews_2ASPP is a close-knit, supportive community (I know; I am a former board member), and as a photographer ASPP gives you the opportunity to befriend supportive professionals at picture agencies you might want to work with (to license your images) as well as researchers (who might want to license your images).

ASPP’s $125 membership fee might seem steep, but it’s a small price to pay for access to this unique community. So definitely consider joining ASPP.

The Old ASPP News

Until recently ASPP sent out a massive monthly email newsletter to members that was stuffed with industry and member updates. Two problems:

• Way, way too much to digest, check out, sift through, enjoy.

• You couldn’t get at it if you were not a member.

The Super Cool New ASPP eNews Blog

It’s the same content, but on steroids: with images, links, embedded videos.

Some content, like the monthly “President’s Corner,” is clearly geared for members. However, you can ignore this content or, better yet, give it a peek as a kind of “trial run” of ASPP membership.

Some content is from members who are industry experts, like Jim Pickerell, who offers these image licensing insights.

Then there is news related to the industry, like “Update on the Senate Hearing about Intellectual Property” and info about contests, like the “Focus Project 2011.

ASPP agency members are dishing up news about their collections, like the “Lebrecht on Self-Portraits.”

And then you have photographer members sharing their latest efforts, like Wolfgang Kaehler’s “Run with the Wolfies.”

And this was all in the past two weeks!

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Jan 12 2010

Learn Stock Photography Strategies from Jack Hollingsworth

Category: Business & Marketing, Online ResourcesEthan G. Salwen @ 1:33 pm

Today, Jack Hollingsworth posted a Twitter poll asking, How many of you Photographers have a physical portfolio (besides your website/blogsite)?” It’s a good question, and it motivated me to check out Hollingsworth’s Web site. There I found a work-in-progress featuring just two videos:

“See The World” is a snappy portfolio piece featuring gobs of Hollingsworth’s images that zip by with quick pans and lively music. You won’t really see “the world,” but you will certainly a great example of how a large body of work (a photographer’s overall style) can be presented quickly.

See The World from jackhollingsworth on Vimeo.

• In “Coming Soon” Hollingsworth speaks directly to us to explain what’s going on with his site. He shares that he is currently building a totally new site that will be part-free and part-subscription based. The four topics he will focus on are stock photography, lifestyle photography, Continue reading “Learn Stock Photography Strategies from Jack Hollingsworth”

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Mar 13 2009

What To Do About the Death of Stock

Category: Business & Marketing, The Industry, ViewpointEthan G. Salwen @ 5:39 am

ACMF_NG_029On Monday I strongly proclaimed that “stock is dead.” I was trying to force home the point that considering making a living solely though licensing stock images is about as practical as considering trying to get rich selling ice to Eskimos. And I stand by my strong-minded opinion. But, don’t worry. I’m actually not all doom and gloom.

I wrote what I wrote because I feel that it is critical that forward-thinking photographers utterly abandon any kind of perverse line of thinking that will lead them to plan their financial success around stock, even in part. As I keep saying, stock is Continue reading “What To Do About the Death of Stock”

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Mar 09 2009

Stock Photography is Dead

Category: Business & Marketing, The Industry, ViewpointEthan G. Salwen @ 5:26 am

ACMF_NG_026There, I said it. Stock photography is dead. Which is to say, from the photographer’s perspective, making and licensing stock imagery is no longer a viable way to earn extra income, let alone make a living purely through stock sales.

This opinion is not one based on deep research, and it can easily be refuted by any number of photographers who are still making big bucks from both old and new stock. But I think this “stock is dead” perspective is critically important for photographers to embrace so that they do not waste precious resources trying to squeeze money out of a dead industry.

Don’t get me wrong. Stock isn’t going away — especially not from the user’s point of view. Stock images are Continue reading “Stock Photography is Dead”

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