Kris D'Amico Photography

December 5th, 2011 by Kris

From Seth Godin’s blog Thursday, I think these are especially true when running your own shop. Enjoy.

“You don’t even realize there’s a game. (And any contest, market, project or engagement is at some level a game).

• You start getting involved and it feels like a matter of life or death. Every slight cuts deeply, every win feels permanent. “This is the most important meeting of my life…”
• You realize that it’s a game and you play it with strategy. There’s enough remove for you to realize that winning is important but that continuing to play is more important than that. And playing well is most important.
• You get bored with the game, because you’ve seen it before. Sometimes people at this stage quit, other times they sabotage their work merely to make the game feel the way it used to.
• And then a new, different game begins.”

August 15th, 2011 by Kris

This weekend I spent a little time in the Great Smokey Mountains. Now, if you’ve never been, it’s worth seeing. It’s truly a remarkable place. We went with some friends who are big conservationists and they shared with us that around 90% of the people that visit the national park never get out of their cars. This got me thinking about perceived value vs intrinsic value.  These travelers decided to go see the beauty, appreciate the scenery but for some reason, are just passing thru. Are they are missing something? Is there intrinsic value of getting out of your car, even for a few minutes into the park, walking the trails, breathing the air, that intrinsic value of being in nature?

What if we look at this as it reflects on our business lives? I think we all recognize that ”je ne sais quois” that a large client can bring. The platform that hitting that benchmark number of followers on twitter can give you. Even just landing a gig at some big studio can change so much. But, I wonder if we are missing some aspect of intrinsic value here? With that large client, are we leveraging that relationship against other clients to just get more work, or are we using those new resources to push forward into new relationships? Are we just happy to have 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 followers on twitter, or are we engaging in conversations that elevate our art and enrich the short amount of time we have on this planet? These are daily struggles for me, and I know it’s a very individual thing. Maybe it’s something completely different for you.

This week I challenge you to find something in your life that you take for granted and dig in, find some of that intrinsic value and get out of your car, even just for a few minutes.

-KD

July 20th, 2011 by Kris

So, last time I talked about Brain and Franklin, if you missed it, you can read it here. Today I’m going to focus on two gents that in many ways shaped (and are still shaping) some of my core business principals.

The first is Chris Blanz. Chris has been in the interactive community in Nashville for several years now. He’s been head of his own shop Cabedge.com for the past 8 or 9 years and he is an amazing aggregator of talent. I shared space with Cabedge for a few years and was their “director of all things Photo” for about a year. Although this whole experience changed the way I looked at the creative business, I did have some pretty major take aways from this relationship.

• Sometimes it’s ok to take the long odds.
• If you are going to add a team member find someone who fill that gap at something that you suck at or hate doing.
• Don’t be afraid to get excited about an idea. Even infront of a client.
• Sell with a narrative; Pitch your idea with a story, it goes a long way.
• Strong process and procedure will save your ass in a pinch. If you have none, email me and I’ll send you a few of my docs.

The other gent I’d like to mention I will not post his name here, but I’ve learned more about how to be fair and honest in a very dishonest and cut throat industry than anyone else. So, I have one major take away from this relationship; Be transparent in your business dealings, it’s amazing how many people will respect and respond positively. If you’re new at something, tell it, own it, and then explain why you’re the long shot who’s going to make the project sing.

That’s all for this morning. Have a great week and don’t forget to appreciate the people in your life who help you along the way.

June 27th, 2011 by Kris

Let’s start at the top, what is a “mentor”? Well, the term actually comes from Greek Mythology, Mentor was a character in the Odyssey and to some extent the Iliad. I won’t get into the gritty details but the over simplified version is simply that he was put in charge of the estate when Odysseus went off to war and subsequently like a father to Odysseus’ son. That’s where we get the term mentor, someone who is not related by blood but who is “father like” and passes wisdom to us like a father would.

I think in modern times it’s not such a weighty term but the roots are similar, after all, how many TV personalities tear up when talking about their mentors? We all have people in our lives that rise up and teach us things about life. I recently have been reflecting on some of those people in my life.

{Take your time, wait for the shot. Above image (c) Brian Robbins}

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March 16th, 2011 by Kris

Found the following post thru someone I follow on twitter. I don’t know Jeff, but I think I’m going to start reading his blog! If you’ve got a twitter account add 10 people a day, talk to all of them at least once. You’ll be shocked what you can learn. Anyway, here’s a repost from jeffkorhan.com.

He talks about why, especially in this economy, price is new focus to buying goods and services. And then follow that with some good tips, my favorite is “What’s underground in your business? That’s what you need to be sharing – with photos, videos, and expertly scripted sales presentations.” It’s a good read, thanks Jeff. Enjoy it!

Your Price is Too High Because the Value is Hidden

If you have to pick one thing the Internet does well, high on the list is helping consumers to choose the provider with the lowest price, which unnerves many small businesses that provide a higher quality product or service than their lower priced competitors.

Why is there so much focus on price? Because everything seems to be about the same – nobody has separated themselves from the pack.

Consumers today are educated – we have the Internet to thank for that. Your job then is to use it to educate your community by showing your prospects and customers what nobody else is showing them.

This is the art of authenticity – amplifying what you do best. Read the rest of this entry »

February 24th, 2011 by Kris

I got this post off of entrepreneur and funny enough it’s not a brief article… So here’s the reader digest version, hit the “more” for the full article:

1. Write in short, strait forward sentences.
2. Only use 110 of your 140 character limit.
3. E-mail’s need to be 200 words or less; action point at the top and bottom.
4. YouTube videos 2 minutes or less.
5. Keep your phone calls brief, remember to be polite and get right to the point. Same with voicemail, leave your number at the beginning and end of the message.

There we go. The full article is here and reposted below – have a good one!

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February 13th, 2011 by Kris

I took a long plane ride today. Being the marginal workaholic that I am 45 minutes into the flight I had killed the battery on my mac book pro. Just a side note, AfterEffects on battery power, not a great idea. But, not having my usual work crutch of my laptop it allowed me to focus on some things that just get pushed to the back burner. I know before I’ve talked about mission statements and crafting razor specific goals for your business, but it’s worth mentioning again. I strongly believe that there’s merit in revisiting and if necessary reworking all of your business goals and objectives on at least an annual basis.

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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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August 30th, 2010 by Kris

Just quick post today, I’ve got several deadlines this week and of course I’m already behind. I did want to post up so advice that I’ve gotten from the collective wisdom of Google and the interwebs. When I started this photography business ten years ago, I started it with $450 and no real direction, so it was essential that learned how to buck up and make the few deadlines I did have as perfect as possible. As you freelancers and Sole Props know, when you’re the boss, you kind of have to be a jerk to yourself. Anyway, here are a few things that I do to stay on track.

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August 20th, 2010 by Kris

So, I saw this on my twitter feed this morning and I thought it was too good not to share. Thank you “Johnston on Photography!” Here’s a few of my favorites, link to the full article follows:

• Use either a very big camera, or a very small camera. People seldom feel threatened by a tiny camera the size of the Sigma DP-1 or Panasonic LX3, but they also don’t feel very threatened by a giant, clumsy view camera on a tripod (they are also seldom aware of “the moment it clicks” with a big view camera, since you’re not looking through the camera when you take the picture). I suspect that setting up a big camera makes you less of a threat because it immobilizes you; you can’t go sneaking about with one of those. You’re also given an opportunity to confidently pretend that you have every right to be doing what you’re doing. Of course, you’re subject to tripod restrictions in very public places such as crowded city sidewalks and tourist attractions, so do your homework ahead of time and be sure you have a permit if you need one.
• Carry a business card and give it away freely. If you’re stopped or threatened, a card goes a long way toward explaining who you are and implies that you have nothing to hide.
• Ask them for help. Asking someone for help changes your relationship to them. This works with potential thieves—you turn yourself from their prey into their beneficiary, and them from predators into good Samaritans—and it works with cops and guards too, whose job it often is to help people, after all. Have a question ready to go for when someone approaches you or hassles you.
• Work on your camera skills! Good shooters work fast. Cartier-Bresson could reportedly get his Leica to his eye and back almost literally faster than people could notice. If you want to avoid attracting attention, don’t stand there like a big dork futzing endlessly with your camera controls and staring through the viewfinder for minutes on end. Waist-level finders help with this too, because when you look through an eye-level finder, people feel like you’re looking at them, whereas when you look down at some device you’re apparently fiddling with, people assume you’re looking at the device and not at them.
• Adjust the camera while looking in a different direction. Then take the picture you want to take as though it were an afterthought, and do it quickly. A bored bouncer at a bar doesn’t have an excuse to stride across the street and hassle you if you’re pointing the camera down the street and not at his bar; and if you take one shot in his direction and then turn and leave, you remove his opportunity to challenge you.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Have a great Friday!!