The Business of Photography

October 16, 2012

Arbitration Friend or Foe?

As a professional photographer, should you beware of alternative dispute resolution

By Samuel Lewis
If there’s one aspect of contracts frequently misunderstood or rarely given due consideration, it’s provisions relating to dispute resolution, and specifically, the increasingly common use of the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures of mediation and arbitration. Those who fail to fully appreciate the relative advantages and disadvantages... Read more
October 4, 2012

Social Media & ­­­­­Copyright

Navigating the potential pitfalls of having your work circulating in social media

By Jim Goldstein
In the past several years, social-media websites and their everyday use have been rapidly evolving. Through it all, copyright protection has been a constant concern for creatives of all types, but particularly photographers. In my prior article "Social-Media Marketing Essentials," I covered a variety of topics surrounding social-media marketing,... Read more
August 21, 2012

The Pinterest Conundrum

Photographers struggle to determine whether Pinterest is a marketing savior or a copyright nightmare

By William Sawalich
Like so many commercial photographers, I’m always looking for new ways to market my work. We’re browbeaten constantly by the knowledge that we must use whatever technological advantages we can to reach out to new customers and engage with an audience that may be interested in paying for our work. New methods for marketing spring up like... Read more
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August 10, 2012

Vision To Visuals: Wakhan Journeys

An ethereal version of Afghanistan

By Baldev Duggal
Shut your eyes for a moment and imagine Afghanistan. What do you see? There’s a high probability that you picture a rough mountain terrain, Taliban fighters with guns, military bases or explosions. Our brains form these subliminal visual associations through the onslaught of aggressive imagery that accompanies news headlines that have unfortunately... Read more
August 8, 2012

Social-Media Marketing Essentials

How you can balance the need to be on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and other social media to build your business without letting them take over your life

By Jim Goldstein
Odds are, the last time you spoke with a fellow photographer, it came up. Not photography itself, business finances or gear, but marketing—social-media marketing, to be specific. Whether you call it by this term or not, it’s what you were discussing, and it more than likely centered around the topics of using Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and/or... Read more
June 12, 2012

Stealing Inspiration

Where’s the line between inspiration, plagiarism and copyright infringement?

By Samuel Lewis
Every now and again, I find myself explaining photographic techniques to younger photographers. Recently, one of these conversations prompted me to recall a few of the photographers who helped me gain an understanding of those techniques and even the context in which I learned them. Often, those skills were learned as a result of seeing how other photographers... Read more
June 1, 2012

Vision To Visuals: Full Circle

Serendipity brought William John Kennedy’s 50-year-old images back to Duggal

By Baldev Duggal
In the 50 years since founding Duggal, there are very few business decisions I regret, save for one: As a young entrepreneur in the early ’60s, when my photo lab was just starting to become popular with artists, I provided photo capture and enlargement services to Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol, among other artists. At one point, Andy Warhol’s... Read more
April 19, 2012

Laws In Collision

Artistic freedom versus licensing rights—the law is in need of a course correction before it runs afoul of itself and takes photographers into a black hole of uncertainty

By Samuel Lewis
What do an artist, the University of Alabama, a host of trademark law professors and members of the major collegiate athletic conferences have in common? As absurd as the question may seem, the answer is rather sobering: All are participants, to varying degrees, in a legal showdown that pits copyright law and constitutional considerations against trademark... Read more
April 10, 2012

Vision To Visuals: Keeping It Real

Rachel Hovnanian challenges perceptions of female beauty

By Baldev Duggal
Imagine experiencing a parallel reality of our world that serves as an antidote to our pervasive media culture, which undermines women’s sense of self-image and confidence through its artificial constructs of beauty. With social media becoming the de rigueur method of keeping connected with “friends,” women being marketed, constructed... Read more
February 23, 2012

Vision To Visuals: Change The World

Russell James, Nomad Two Worlds and making a difference

By Baldev Duggal
It was more than 10 years ago when we first worked with acclaimed photographer Russell James. He had been commissioned by Hermès to create a site-specific installation at the Academy of Art in Tribeca. James, already pushing his fashion photography into an experimental fine-art genre, was exploring the theme of the “nomad” in his photography... Read more