Behind-the-Scenes: Tennis

Check out our latest behind-the-scenes video from a recent tennis shoot here in Salt Lake City. Over the past few weeks I’ve been working hard to create some fresh images for the portfolio. Most of you know I’m a huge believer in taking the time for personal work, and many of these images have been dancing around in my head for some time. I am stoked to have finally created them! Several final images from this production and other recent shoots have been added to the “LATEST” gallery on my site. You can check them out here.

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British Journal of Photography

Over the past year I’ve been working with consultant Suzanne Sease to help guide my business and tighten my marketing efforts. Together we have come up with some simple but creative ways to market my work that have been highly effective. The British Journal of Photography recently published a short article in their January 2011 issue about our efforts in hopes to give their readers some ideas on how to grow their own businesses in 2011. There’s no smoking gun when it comes to making it as a photographer, but commitment, hard work, and building good, old-fashioned relationships are definitely some key ingredients. You can read the article here. It’s targeted at photographers, but hopefully it gives you a kick of inspiration to press on forging your own path, whatever it may be.

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iPad as a Portfolio?

Confession time. This will probably come as no surprise, but I’m an Apple fan boy through and through. My wife thinks I am a bit obsessed but it is true. I love all things Apple and am starting to think I should buy stock in the company. In the last 18 months I’ve purchased several new computers and 3 iPhones. Yes 3. What can I say? I’m hard on gear, and our plumber has slippery hands. It was no surprise then when the iPad was released earlier this year I was immediately enamored. The technology is changing how media is consumed while opening new doors for photographers. It wasn’t until my latest round of portfolio reviews in California that I took the plunge and purchased an iPad.

As many of you may know, I recently invested a truck load of money into a new print portfolio that has been getting great response from creatives. So what then possessed me to add an iPad to the mix? Simple. The cost of updating my printed portfolio to show my latest work and images tailored to a specific project/client was simply too great. Now that I’ve used the iPad in numerous portfolio reviews I thought I would share some pros and cons based on my experiences and feedback from real-world, in-person meetings.

Pros:

• Portability – nothing beats having a portfolio with you at all times for those chance encounters
• Ease of updating/customizing presentations
• Multiple “portfolio” apps available. I personally use (and highly recommend) FolioBook.
• Ability to share motion/multimedia presentations through a medium less bulky than a laptop
• Cutting edge technology and slick user interface keeps the photographer looking up-to-date
• Great way to supplement a print portfolio with your latest work or show images tailored to a specific client
• Option to show personal work in a personal setting. For me this meant creating a portfolio of portraits taken on a service trip to Honduras last February. I definitely didn’t show these to all clients but when it felt appropriate it was a great way to show more of my personality and the things that are important to me.
• Cost is minimal when compared to the traditional custom print portfolio.

Cons:

• In my mind an iPad will never come close to the wow factor of a custom built portfolio with high-quality prints. There is something to be said for the tactile feel of fine art paper and beautiful prints.
• Surprisingly intimidating for many users. Some had never used one and were unsure how to navigate.
• Liability for the viewer. Most art buyers I met enjoyed reviewing work this way, but commented they wouldn’t want someone to ship them an iPad for fear of theft, damage etc. I found this interesting since my printed portfolio cost 3 times that of the iPad, but understand their point given the universal appeal of an iPad.
• Viewing size – a little small.
• Finger prints – must clean after each use.
• Cost is significant, if used in conjunction with a printed portfolio.
• Since many photographers are starting to use iPads it will become increasing difficult to make presentations stand out and leave an impression during meetings. While it’s true a photographer’s work should be enough to garner attention, there are other factors to consider too, like branding and the overall experience.

All that said given my own experiences thus far I would not personally feel comfortable showing just an iPad at a formal “meet and greet”–especially for the high-end advertising and commercial work I am after. To me it simply doesn’t have the same “wow” factor as my printed book. However, I do believe the iPad is an excellent tool to supplement my custom print portfolio and share more recent work than what is in my printed book. It is also a great tool for sharing motion/multimedia and is great for those chance meetings.

For those looking for more opinions, check out A Photo Editor’s recent post on this very topic.

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New Print Portfolio

After nearly 6 weeks of hard work my brand new portfolio is finally finished. I owe a great deal of thanks to those who have helped me along as I truly could not have created something of this caliber on my own. One thing I have learned over the years is that you can only get so far with your own knowledge/expertise. So when I set out to create a new book I knew I wanted to work with the absolute best in the industry.

Prior to starting the project I decided to hire a consultant to help me with image selection. I knew taking my personal connection to the images out of the equation would ultimately allow for stronger body of work. Little did I know how much the experience would push me. After tons of research and preliminary conversations, I decided on Suzanne Sease since I felt a strong connection to the way she thinks and liked the fact that she had tons of real-world experience working in high-profile ad agencies. Suzanne challenged me throughout the process to let go of images I was emotionally tied to, making way for stronger images that more adequately conveyed my vision/style. Although difficult at times, I honestly cannot say enough enough good things about the process and the way she thinks.

Knowing I wanted my book to stand out from the crowd, I hired Scott of Mullenberg Designs to build me a one-of-a-kind custom portfolio and slipcase to display the new body of work. I’ve been a fan of Scott’s for a while so I was excited to finally get the chance to work with him. He is a true craftsman and artist in his own rite. The internal pages were beautifully designed by Cheryl at Isaacson Design and printed on Moab Entrada paper by Lincoln at PushDot Studio out of Portland, Oregon. The end results far exceeded my expectations and I could not be happier with the team I assembled to help me take things to the next level.

This summer I’ll be hittin’ the road with my brand new print portfolio in hand. I’ll be posting updates on the blog with specific dates and locations at a later date. For now plans are in the works to be in the Seattle/Portland areas in June, Denver/Boulder in early August and Chicago/Milwaukee/Madison/Minneapolis in mid-August. If you are in one of these cities and are interested in meeting up shoot an e-mail to mike@miketittel.com. I’d love to buy you lunch and share my latest work.

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2010 PhotoCamp Utah “Business of Photography” Panel

This past weekend’s Photocamp Utah was a huge success–an entire day of workshops for $15! Incredible . . . where else can you get a deal like that? Over 350 people signed up for the one day event here in Salt Lake City. This was my first year at the event, and I felt honored to be a part of it. As mentioned in a previous post I sat in on a business panel with Brody Dezember (wedding guru), Rich Legg (full-time micro stock shooter) and Zack Arias (Atlanta area music photographer). Questions and topics ranged from business plans and insurance to marketing budgets and accounting. It was a great start to a good discussion, but I left sensing there were many questions left unanswered. We could have easily filled up another hour. So . . .

. . . I wanted to offer a place for people to continue the discussion. If you have a question, leave a comment below. Nothing’s off topic . . . marketing, pricing, business plans, finding your vision, insurance, accountants and taxes, budgeting . . . whatever comes to your mind is fair game. Chances are if you are curious about a particular aspect of running a photo business, there are countless others with the same question. So please, don’t be shy. Fire away! I’ve contacted the other panelist inviting them to chime in as well. It’s an open discussion, so please share your perspective.

For those who don’t live in SLC or who were unable to get a ticket, all of the presentations in the main auditorium were streamed online. These included the keynote presentation by Zack, as well several other great sessions. You can watch any of these, including the business panel session, online here for free.

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PhotoCamp Utah

PhotoCamp Utah: An amazing one day event here in Salt Lake City for photographers of all abilities. Sadly this year’s event is sold out. However, for those who are interested all of the presentations taking place in the main auditorium will be streaming live here throughout the day. This includes the business of photography panel I’ll be chiming in on at 1:15PM MST and Zack Arias’ keynote presentation at 3:30PM MST. I feel honored to be a part of such an amazing event. Hope you can join us.

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