The Cost of Doing Business

I had a conversation with Florida based commercial photographer and good friend Aaron Ansarov today. It had been far too long since we had last spoken and I wanted to do some catching up with my good friend and mentor. We of course discussed all the good things that are happening with the organization we are both affiliated with, ASMP. As well as the typical stuff most driving photographers talk about....PHOTOGRAPHY. But, besides that ,the main focus of our conversation was about the Cost Of Doing Business.

When I was in the military, there was no need to think about the cost of doing business because my salary was a given. I got paid on the 1st and the 15th every month like clock work no matter how little I did or how much I did, the pay was still the same. It wasn't until later on when I was almost out of the military that my eyes were opened on what I should charge for an assignment or what the differences were between Commercial, Editiorial and Retail assignments. (not to mention LICENCING OF IMAGES!!!) If there is any lesson I can pass on to photographers just starting out, it's know your cost of doing business, if you don't your CODB your business will fail. All the talent in the world can't help you if you aren't charging what you're worth.

If you want to know what you should be charging checkout the NPPA's Cost of Doing Business Calulator

Drive & Ambition

Recently I got to work with the guys over at Drive&Ambition Clothing, they asked me if I would shoot an ad campaign for them to help launch their new line of designer tee shirts. I was totally up for the task, plus I really like the designs of the tee shirts they were looking to market... they reminded me of the Marc Ecko tee shirts I used to get back in the late 90's . All the Ecko tee's had really fresh designs , plus they all came with dope underground mixtapes, which was an added bonus.

I shot all the still images with my Nikon D2Xs, but the day of the shoot I also decided to do something a little different. I brought along my Nikon D90 just in case the opportunity presented itself where I could shoot a little video to go along with the stills. Besides, my goal when I purchased the D90 was to push the camera video and still wise to see what the camera can really do. Along with that, I also wanted to push myself to see what ideas I could come up with on the fly. Well, I'm happy to say, I'm glad I decided to bring the D90 with me. The video I shot turned out to be a pretty cool commercial ad for the guys.

I guess the moral of this story is ALWAYS PUSH YOURSELF TO DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.