It’s been a while, but i thought that I would update and start this again.
In the interim i’ve moved to NYC. Quite a bold move, but I needed a change of scenery. Upon arriving here I hit the ground running and hit up every contact I had and asked for more. This seemed to get me going with a bit of work – mostly assisting and a bit of retouching. After a couple of months I found several really solid regular photographers to work for. Unfortunately one of the photographers who kept me the busiest has turned out to be the worst on the payment front. I’m still chasing payments from jobs that I worked back in October. I get all the excuses and have pretty much written it off and don’t budget it into my future earnings. When (if) the check comes, it will be a pleasant surprise. I’ve tried just about everything to get the money from him, but nothing seems to work. Having spoken to his previous assistants this is a standard fair for him. Hire a couple of assistants, keep them busy and when they ask for payment move on to someone else.
Lesson to be learned – when shooting, pay you assistants in a timely manner. Doesn’t matter if you’re moving house, they’re possibly moving house too and need the money.
I spent the last week going through folio images and working out what I plan to do with them. It would be great to start showing them to prospective clients and to start getting some shooting work. There seems to be two distinct areas of work that I can aim for – architecture + still life. The architecture folio I currently have is mostly exteriors. It feels like this may not be the best thing for NY, but I’m going to make up a database of architects in the area and start to call them, hoping for an interview. The still life work I’m contemplating using a database like AdBase or AgencyAccess. I haven’t really decided yet and the price of them will probably make some contribution to my decision. Having late paying photographers makes outlaying money on getting shooting clients somewhat difficult. I have a friend who keeps telling me to stop making excuses, so I’m going to start.
I’m going to add in here a list of things i want to have done each week as a form of accountability. For the following week I intend to:
- make database of architects and designers
- choose a mailing database of advertising + art directors
- make up a e-mail blast
- update this blog
- update the website
I’ll try to keep the future posts to a single topic, but thought it was important to get this back on track.
