In 2006 the PPA (Professional Photographers of America) released the 2005 Studio Financial Benchmark Survey Analysis, it was a survey of photo studios across the country, it included photographers that had retail locations or home studios. It was not good news, on average studios where not performing well. It was a glimpse into the industry that we face today. If you didn’t read it, here are the results

Now please bear with me as we go through some math. In 2005 the average sales from a retail photo studio were $238,689. and for a home based studio it was $129,394. Looks pretty good, right? Not by a mile. After expenses are factored in this left a net profit and salary of $46,036 for the retail store photographer, and $32,977 for the home based photographer. The average median income per household in 2005 was $46,326. So the Retail Photog made slightly less than the average, the home based Photog made $14,000 less.

PPA’s suggested benchmark is that photographers should be able to take home 35% of the sales, and yet the overwhelming majority of studios were not able to reach this standard. Retail photogs average 19.3% of gross sales, and the home based studios took home 25%. Bottom line, retails stores saw more sales, but the costs ate into more of the profit than with home based studios. On average studios are not run close to the level that the PPA thinks they should be.

A few things to take into account. The PPA may have an unrealistic goal for photographers, maybe photographers should expect to only take home 20-25% of sales. Ok maybe that is the case. But the real kicker here about the 2005 study is this. The survey was done when the economy was good. Where are we now, where are we today? It is safe to assume that the prospects have gotten worse.

Lets look at some new math here. Lets assume that you are a home based studio, and you are able to take home 25% of your sales. And lets say that you want to make $150,000. in sales. Assuming that you work 5 days a week, 50 weeks out of the year, that is 250 working days. That means that every day you work you have to bring in $600 in sales. Your profit for all of your hard work at the end of the year is $37,500. That is less than a retail store manager or an elementary school teacher . The average salary for someone with one year experience in their career is $41,647 So the business major one year out of college makes more than the average home studio photog, and close to what the retail store photog.

The simple truth is you cant afford to be average.You have to be better. So how can you insure that you are not average? First you need an understanding of what average is. In photography it means paying attention to the PPA, they are the only ones I know who compile this information. The results of the latest survey will be out in December, they are releasing it in book form, along with a slew of articles to help you make sense of it all and profit from the knowledge. When it comes out, get a copy of it, In my opinion it is vital to your success. Keep your eye on PPA.com for more information. If you are not a member, join up. (Its worth it just for the indemnification insurance alone, but there are many many benefits.) www.ppa.com

The next step is that you have to be smarter than your competition. I don’t even recommend you try to work harder than your competition. for the reason that most photographers work incredibly hard. Can you really take that 60-80 hours a week you work now and work more? That is just not sustainable. You have to work smarter. You will have to discover for yourself what exactly that means, but for me it is a commitment to being a lifelong learner, your formal education was just the beginning. The majority of Americans never complete a book after they leave school, that is the average, that is what you have to beat. Read a book, go to a convention, start learning more about business and photography than your competitor.

If you want to beat the averages, I can offer no better advice than listening to Skip Cohen of Marketing Essentials International. Skip was the president of Rangefinder, and the driving force behind WPPI. I have known Skip for years, but last year was the first time I saw him speak. He was entertaining and more important he offered killer advice for the photographer, I still look at my notes from that lecture to remind me of the things I need to focus on. This last summer Skip put together Skip’s Summer school, an event geared to educate the photographer about their business and where this industry is going. Trust me when I say you should listen to what Skip says and watch what he does. Check out the MEI website, and become a fan on Facebook, you will thank me.

Most of us became photographers because it was our passion. We had a vision that was best expressed in images. Our business don’t fail because we don’t have enough passion, they fail because we don’t have enough knowledge. Making money as a photographer, means learning how to make money, and that is straight business education. This bad economy wont last forever, but the results of bad business practices can. Take the time now to educate yourself because when the dust settles you don’t want to be left in it.

Jack Dunn, Joan Blondell, George S. Kaufman

During world war II my grandfather was in charge of recruiting in Baltimore for the WACs the Woman’s Army Corps. Part of that was doing a radio show called “This Woman’s Army” I am not sure how but my grandfather was able to get all of the big stars of the day to come on the show.  I had heard the stories, but I was young at the time, so they were just old stories, finding the the photographs years later helped bring them to life.

The name George S. Kaufman may not be a well known name today, unless you are an English major like I was, to me he is a rock star. A member of the famed Alqounquin round table, he would trade quips and barbs with the likes of Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley,  Alexander Woolcot, and Harold Ross (the founder of the New Yorker). These were New York intellectuals, and if I could go back in time to one place, I would choose to have lunch at the round table.

So why was Kaufmann so special?  Kaufman at one time was both a successful playwright and the New York Times theatre critic, at the same time. He wrote the classic, “Dinner at Eight”,” The Man who came to dinner” and “Stage Door”, writing with greats such as Moss Hart, Edna Ferber and others. … He gave up his job at the times during the depression, with so many people out of work, he didn’t think ti was fair for one man to have two jobs. He also wrote the stage play (and the move) “The Cocoanuts”,  It was responsible for breaking out the career of the Marx Brothers. He also wrote their movie “A Night at the Opera”. An astonishing fact (Thank you wikipedia) That between the years of 1921 to 1958 there was a Kaufman written or directed play on Broadway.

Kaufman was Jewish and during the war he received letters from many fellow jews asking for help to get out of Germany. Some would claim to be relatives, he knew they were not, he sent money anyway.  He was a decent man, and a comic genius, I can only imagine how much fun they must have had on the show. My grandfather loved telling jokes, and making people laugh, which he did. My grandfather never told me a dirty joke, but he told them to others, and they would get back to me. I used to think of my grandfather as the old man in the movie “Big Fish”. There were always these stories that seemed outrageous, but I know some of these things happened, I have photographic evidence.

See his work at www.lawrenceanderson.net

Ok , So this is really from a Kodak Christmas ad from 1959, Which would explain the little bit of color in Joe’s hair, but other wise pretty spot on.  It just proves that if you don’t know your photographic history you are doomed to repeat it.

This last sunday I bought another collection of old photos, nothing big, $20 for a box of about 100 photos. They ranged from the 1910’s to the 1950’s. When I buy that many photographs I always go through them together.

Occasionally you find other things amongst the photos, letters or other papers. Sometimes they give you insight into what peoples lives were like, sometimes they tell you stories. With this latest group I got a story, a tragedy.  I found the news article in a plain white envelope, and thought it was odd that someone would keep such a memory.  The story is of a 3 year old girl named Patricia Branson.

I started to go through the rest of the photographs looking for a connection. After a few minutes I found one group photo with some writing on the back “Grandma Branson”  I wondered if there was a link and then I saw her, that little face,  the face that is disturbing my thoughts tonight. Patricia was just like all of us, she just wanted to play for a few more minutes, but fate stepped in.

The Bransons must have thought there would be many photographs of Patricia throughout her life. Countless memories to capture, but some stories are short stories, and the closest we can get to the happiness of the past are the photographs that remain.

Dave Schaffer from Inkjetpaperplus.com schools us on the fine art of printing, turns out it is a scientific process and not alchemy after all. I have been wanting to interview Dave since the start, he gets it. He is so passionate about printing he had to start his own business, true story.

The Author at the Gates of Hell

Hell’s Kitchen is a guilty pleasure of mine. The drama of competition is engaging, and watching the chef’s try to function while Chef Ramsay rips into them with barbs and insults, always brings to me a smug sense of schadenfreude.  It is fascinating to me the dynamics of the show.  There is something about watching people compete and lose which makes us feel superior to the players involved. Maybe we feel our decision not to compete is the better one, maybe our fear of losing overwhelms our fear of trying. As much as I am a fan of taking risks, and putting yourself out there, there might be something to this concept of not competing.

Years ago I made my living as a magician. I remember a conversation I had with a magician I worked with about sleight of hand competitions.  He told me he never entered competitions, so I asked him why, his answer surprised me. ” I am a professional, this is how I make my living. If I win the competition what does that mean? I am still a professional, I still make my living by it, and what if I lose? If I lose I am still a professional. What if I lose to an amateur, does that make him better than me? It doesn’t but he will get to go around and legitimately say he is better then me.  I have nothing to gain by winning, but I do lose something by losing.”  I never thought of it that way before. For the hobbyist who loses there is little risk, for the professional it could be different.

Back into the heat of Hell’s Kitchen. Colleen Cleek was the 5th contestant eliminated, she runs a cooking school in Nebraska The classy gourmet, She cooks live on TV everyday on “Omaha Live”. She took a big risk by being on Hell’s Kitchen. On the show she was portrayed as inept, just couldn’t get it together, but is she? In her market of Omaha she is a Professional Chef. She was one of the town’s experts. Her national exposure did not serve her well. You have to wonder what the effect of such a public loss will be on her business. What will the loss be like for all but one of the contestants, what is the reality of all of this?

When Producers put together a show like this, how do they cast it? Do they pick the top 10 chefs they can find? NO of course not, they pick some good chefs, and then they pick some people who are there for entertainment value, ones who have no hope to win the show, but will provide drama. Anyone remember Puck from “The Real World” ? It was obvious that he was going to clash with everyone, remember how boring the show was when they kicked him out?  So out of the top 10 who knows how many are really good chefs, but I bet all of them are a million times more the chef than I am, or most of you. Let’s assume Colleen is one of the best Chef’s in Omaha,  what could she possibly gain from going on Hell’s Kitchen? The prize is getting to be the head chef at a restaurant in the Borgata hotel and casino. I have stayed at the Borgata, it is a nice hotel, it is the only nice hotel in Atlantic City (IMHO). As a native son of New Jersey, I can tell you Atlantic City is not that great of a town.  I would much rather run a cooking school and be on the TV in Omaha than a head chef in an Atlantic City casino. They only thing Colleen could gain from going on the show was notoriety, and she got it.  We will have to see if it pays off for her in the long run.

In 1986 Journalist Alfie Kohn wrote a book called “No Contest : The Case against Competition” In which he makes the argument that competition is not all that its cracked up to be. “We seem to have reached a point where doing our jobs, educating our children, and even relaxing on the weekends have to take place in the context of a struggle where some must lose” It is a fascinating read, and the definitive book on this topic and may just change your mind on how you think about competing.

So should professional photographers compete? Should you enter that print competition or juried show? I can’t answer for you, It’s up to you to balance the rewards of winning against the risks of losing. Contests can be fun, they can be a way for the beginning Photographer to get their work out.  But ask yourself this question, who do you consider to be the top photographers? And when was the last time you saw their name as the winner of a competition? Why is that?