Kris D'Amico Photography

November 9th, 2010 by Kris

Sometimes our egos get the best of us, right?

Sometimes that one guy, you know that guy (or gal), gets the gig. He under bids you, they out promote you, or just sweep the client off their feet. If you’ve been in business for, oh I don’t know, a day you’ve run across this. It stings a little, doesn’t it? Especially those of us shooting in small and medium size markets where it can be difficult, if not impossible to even get clients to give us a chance to re-bid, we need to be mindful of what our attitude says about our character. How are we walking through our day-to-day workflow? What is our relationship like with other creatives? How are we checking our attitudes about the gigs that got away?

I have found that when I am hitting wall after wall with my bids, my best bet is to take a step back and say what I am doing right?

In this current economic climate, where our resources are scant, we have to remember our clients are making tough decisions about money as well. So, look at what you are bringing to the table, if it’s just a few pretty pictures then, why would you get a call back? How many times have you surfed the internet and seen some kid, fresh out of school, who’s work is breathtaking? There will always be someone who has “prettier” work. We need to dig deep and find a way to present more than pretty work, right?

I recently tipped a few pints with 2 guys who I feel are true pioneers in the creative field here in Nashville, Blake Allen and Matt Reed. Now I posed a simple question to both of them:

How do you redefine your creative vision to keep on top of the pile?

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November 3rd, 2010 by Kris

So, recently my friend, Jeremy Mitchell, had this idea for iPhone app called, Gallerytopia. I tipped a pint with him at our local pub and he gave me this interview.*

Kris D’Amico: “Dude, so where did you come up with the idea for Gallerytopia?”

Jeremy Mitchell: “So, I had lunch one day with Chuck Norris, right? And you know he only eats uncooked red meat **, so we ate over at the butcher department at Sam’s Club, but I digress. He was telling me that since he has a flash website for his photography people cannot see his images on the iPhone or iPad. He proceeded to tell me how he thought that this is a travesty and might have to ‘take care of things’ over at Apple.”

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November 3rd, 2010 by Kris

Do you have anyone in your life that is providing you with daily accountability? Spiritual, health, business; remember this is an integral part of personal and professional growth. Find someone you can trust and dive in, it’s only going to help in the long run!

November 1st, 2010 by Kris

From Seth Godin’s blog this AM:

“This year, fewer than 40% of voting age Americans will actually vote.

A serious glitch in self-marketing, I think.

If you don’t vote because you’re trying to teach politicians a lesson, you’re tragically misguided in your strategy. The very politicians you’re trying to send a message to don’t want you to vote. Since 1960, voting turnouts in mid-term elections are down significantly, and there’s one reason: because of TV advertising.

Political TV advertising is designed to do only one thing: suppress the turnout of the opponent’s supporters. If the TV ads can turn you off enough not to vote (“they’re all bums”) then their strategy has succeeded.

The astonishing thing is that voters haven’t figured this out. As the scumminess and nastiness of campaigning and governing has escalated and the flakiness of candidates appears to have escalated as well, we’ve largely abdicated the high ground and permitted selfish partisans on both sides to hijack the system.

Voting is free. It’s fairly fast. It doesn’t make you responsible for the outcome, but it sure has an impact on what we have to live with going forward. The only thing that would make it better is free snacks.

Even if you’re disgusted, vote. Vote for your least unfavorite choice. But go vote.”

Thanks Seth, like he said. JUST GO VOTE!