Kris D'Amico Photography

January 26th, 2010 by Kris

This month my focus has been on the power of the relationship. If you saw this month’s e-blast I mentioned a little about how we like to create, and the creator/producer and client relationship is where this whole thing starts. If you missed the eblast for January here’s a link to it and if you’d like to sign up for the mailing list here’s a link for that as well.

So, let’s talk about the partnership of the relationship. As I’m sure you saw, I used this image in the eblast:

I think it’s a nice photo, the primary purpose of this image is a web header so we left a little area for copy and most of that effect was done in camera, to try and keep it from looking too over processed. So let’s get to why I chose this image for a email and now blog post about relationships.

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January 19th, 2010 by Kris

So recently I read an article about Chase Jarvis and some of his philosophical approached to photography. He  has made an iPhone app that does some cool mods on your picture and whatever. It’s a fun tool, and I’ve really been enjoying it. But, there’s not a huge difference his app and a lot of the others out there. Why then did he make the blog? Well, first because he a great shooter and second, the simple philosophy about the camera that you have on you is the best camera to shoot with.

What?

Yeah, so if you’ve got your D300 and 75-200 lens, great! Grab the shot. BUT, what if all you’ve got is you blackberry? Does that cheapen the moment? So what if it’s only a 2 megapixel camera.

Anyway, here’ the video and link to that app’s site for you to check it out. Don’t worry so much about the app, just listen to his philosophy about “modern” photography. Thanks for reading and we’ll talk at you later.

January 12th, 2010 by Kris

For those of us who do not have an MBA, these can be nagging questions. What does all this stuff mean? Why does it matter? Well, recently I’ve been working with a few startup companies that have been struggling with these questions, so I decided to turn it in on my studio. So, here’s a few exercises that you can use to flesh out, refresh, or like many of us small biz owners, establish a written mission statement and define values and goals.

So, here we go step one: Core Values.

You can google core values and get a list 3 miles long of what that means and the corporate definition, blah, blah, blah. Here it is boiled down to a sentience:

Core values are 3 to 5 words that define your approach to business on a daily basis.

For example the values that I came up with for Kris D’Amico Photography:

• Inspire
• Serve/ Contribute
• Invent/ Set Standards
• Experiment
• Embody Excellence

So, what do these mean, well you can break them down as much or as little as you like, but for me these can be put into one line. I want this studio, my studio, to inspire, while serving the community and helping to invent new methods thru experimentation, all while giving our clients a level of excellence that makes them raise up over their competition. Get all that? Alright, I know there’s a lot here, but the best advice that I read was from some Ph.D. at Harvard. He said, if your industry changed, your core values would not, if your management changed, your core values would not, you get the idea.

So, step two: The Mission Statement

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January 6th, 2010 by Kris

I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this little article with you all. In the spirit of full disclosure, I read it on fresh dirt’s blog.

Tim Earnhart, Principal, Earnhart+Friends Advertising
Notes from presentation given on September 17, 2009

Brand Congruency. It’s That Critical.

It seems only logical with a topic such as brand congruency that we first define what a brand is. However, let’s begin with what a brand isn’t. A brand is not the logo, the corporate identity system or the product. Although these elements make up aspects of a company’s brand, it is not at the core definition of what a brand is. Read the rest of this entry »