Category Archives: Op-Ed

Many years ago (1997) I started holding photography seminars in Phoenix AZ. It was just for fun. Got to meet people, learn some things and socialize. Little did I know what it would grow into over time. A couple of years later it grew into one of the first online forums where students could post…

The Future of Professional Photography - and how to survive it. This has been a wild roller coaster ride for me, and most likely yourself as well if you've been a pro photographer for very long. DSLR cameras, long the standard of the professional photographer have plummeted in sales. Many believe this is a direct…

Pro Photography will never be the same. Our industry, like hundreds of others has been turned on its head by technology and shifting consumer needs and wants. So change is required and if there was a new mission for Photography Schoolhouse would anybody care? So many people have left the profession simply because of their…

When I read W Chan Kim’s and Renee Mauborgne’s book “Blue Ocean Strategy” light bulbs went off in my head. They NAILED IT. This is a good read and you can get it at Amazon.com. They don’t talk about the photography business, but business in general. But believe me when I say as far as…

When professional photography is your primary source of income, we're always concerned about sales. Which is usually not the reason we got into photography to begin with. I think it's safe to say most photographers would rather be shooting than marketing. After all, we only make money when we shoot. If there was just a…

We're faced with many decisions when we run a business. Not a day goes by that you don't have to choose one thing or another. And none of us have a crystal ball so we're never entirely sure if we're making the right choice or not. Needless to say, our decision making process is more…

My workflow computer is my livelihood. I've always tried to keep it running as best I can with constant updates and so on. But after the upgrade to Windows 10 I definitely noticed a slow down. It got worse and worse and was driving me nuts. The big problem was boot time. Never mind a…

These past few years we've all struggled to deal with all the changes in the industry. And have there ever been a lot of casualties along the way. There's always been a churn rate to the professional photography business. Years ago, even when the industry was stable photographers came and went. Some got disillusioned, some retired,…

We all know that social marketing is king. But there's so much hype and mis-information from companies trying to get you to pay for their advice, it's not always clear on how to build your business page and following. About a year and a half ago I started a new "test" business so we could experiment…

Are you attracting the wrong kind of clients? When building our photography businesses, we often sell our work for very low prices with the idea of gaining market share and clients. There's a few obvious reasons why you don't want to do this. But what should we do instead? How do we find the "right" kind of clientele? And…