Setting prices is a constant struggle for photographers. Since photography is a creative service, the pricing in this market differs wildly, seemingly with neither rhyme nor reason. It gets even more confusing once you start doing research on photography pricing. On one hand, you'll find some photographers willing to shoot weddings for
When I was a kid I went to my local comic book shop with my dad. When we arrived, the place was packed full of people because of a comic book signing that was going on. As we tried to walk in the crammed space, we saw a man dressed up in a homemade Batman costume waiting in line, clutching his comic books. My dad looked at him
So Rich and I are ramping up our social Media efforts. Over the post couple of years our updates have been strong in some places, but pathetic in others. I mean, we've posted to our Facebook page twice in the last three months, and that's not good. The thing is that its been hard getting around to it in the beginning months of
A lot of people ask us how we light our photos, almost like we hold some sort of secret technique that pulls our photos into that high-quality, commercial territory. Want to know the secret? Make it up. That's all there is to it. Of course we know the basics, like three point lighting set-ups and all that, but to get something
Today is National Philanthropy Day! Today above all other days people will be asking you to donate. People tend to hesitate when it comes to monetary donations cause lets face it money is tight. Being a creative I find my self in a unique position to offer something more. Sure I could afford $10 or even donate blood ( all very important ), but what if I could create something that would raise hundreds if not thousands for a group or individual in need?
I find this story difficult to talk about or even brag about because I don’t want to take the attention away from the people who need it. But I think if I share this experience it might inspire others to offer their highly valuable talents to others and make a bigger impact than you could even imagine.
About 4 months ago I saw a post on facebook by Melissa Wiggins the mother of Cannon who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. She went on to describe an idea she had for a t-shirt that would help spread the word about the lack of funding and medical advancements in childhood cancers (read the disgusting facts here). I could have liked the post, maybe even shared it and felt like I did my part. Instead I thought I would offer my talents and design the shirt. I reached out to Melissa made a few suggestions and I was soon contacted by Melissa’s friend Ashley who was helping the family.
We soon connected on the phone, and as a team we created a t-shirt that has sold over 1500 units raising well over $15,000 to directly benefit Cannon while opening eyes and raising awareness for other children fighting this way to common disease. We used a crowd-funding t-shirt site called Teespring to sell the shirts. This made it so there was ZERO out of pocket cost and risk for the family.
Lets break it down real quick. I charge my design clients $75 per hr for design. Cannon’s shirt took me a total of 3 hrs from design, edits, and launch. I could have donated $225 dollars to the Wiggins and they would have been beyond appreciative, but instead I took it a step further, aimed a bit high and raised more than any of us ever expected.
The point of this way to long post is that you can make a difference no matter what your talent is. There are people who could benefit from your skills with very little effort.
Thank you for reading and if you would like to find out more about Cannon please visit his page and spread the word!
Oh to be young again! It’s crazy how we spend so much of our life wanting to be bigger and older, and then the rest of our lives wanting to be young again.
This video was captured in one day with my son. I feel it truly captures the joy and imagination us adults have misplaced. Please comment and let me know your thoughts!