The Business of Photography

October 13, 2010

Creative Commons In Practice

While it can be a powerful tool for getting your work noticed, Creative Commons presents problems for unwary photographers

By Samuel Lewis
Imagine you’re a photographer trying to get your work noticed. You’ve heard that Getty Images and some publishers are utilizing the photo-sharing website Flickr as a way of locating stock images, so you open a Flickr account and upload images. And since Flickr makes it easy to apply a Creative Commons license to your images, you select one... Read more
October 13, 2010

The Photography Classroom

Amid changing technology and an increasingly difficult business environment, schools and teachers who are training tomorrow’s pros have their work cut out for them as they struggle to push forward while creating a foundation built upon the past

By Amanda Quintenz-Fiedler
Photographers have seen an enormous shift over the past two decades in the way they approach their business. The arsenal of a Hasselblad, a quiver with a range of lenses, a Polaroid back and several film backs that would last for years has become a rarity rather than the norm. Now, a professional must have loyalty to a brand of DSLR camera body and... Read more
October 4, 2010

Vision To Visuals: Coming Up For Air

For Lane Coder, dramatic life changes brought him to a deeply personal new project

By Baldev Duggal
Lane Coder embodies everything that I love about the new generation of avant-garde photographers. Refusing to be boxed into a single genre of photography, Coder’s work blurs boundaries across fashion, landscape, aerial, portrait and fine-art photography. Equally comfortable with creating stunning fashion spreads for clients like Vogue along with... Read more
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August 23, 2010

5 Tips For Avoiding The Rights Grab

Get exposure for your work without losing ownership of it

By Samuel Lewis
Read the terms and conditions of just about any contract, website and even some venues, and it’s almost inevitable that you’ll find some form of the "rights grab." Even doing something as seemingly innocuous as posting images on social media can result in a "rights grab." What Is The "Rights Grab"? At a fundamental... Read more
August 9, 2010

Vision To Visuals: Feed The Models!

Jane Gennaro’s extraordinary project to highlight the bizarre and troubling state of today’s fashion models

By Baldev Duggal
I want to love models. I want to feed them and take care of them and make them better… These opening lines from “Feed the Models!” a monologue performed on NPR’s “All Things Considered” by artist Jane Gennaro, are the genesis of her solo exhibition that Duggal helped launch at the World Monuments Fund Gallery in... Read more
June 7, 2010

Trademark Yourself Part II

Picking up where our May/June article left off, DPP delves into acquiring, registering and protecting your business trademark

By Samuel Lewis
In the first part of this article, we addressed some of the key reasons why a photographer should make use of trademarks and how to use and clear that trademark. In this conclusion, we’ll go over how to acquire your trademark and the registration process. Acquiring Trademark Rights And Deciding Whether To Register Trademark law varies from... Read more
June 4, 2010

Vision To Visuals: Preserving Image Quality

Staying true to the originals through successive generations or reproduction

By Baldev Duggal
I’ve written a fair amount in this column about the rich experience of working with artists who donate their works for charities. We’re so frequently involved in such projects that we’ve become quite adept at navigating the maze of stakeholders who make these artists’ exhibitions possible, namely the sponsors, collectors, exhibitors and the... Read more
April 5, 2010

Trademark Yourself: Part 1 – Trademark Law & Photography

The key to protecting business goodwill

By Samuel Lewis
Ask just about any photographer what area of law protects his or her business, and the answer you’re likely to hear is “copyright.” However, copyright law only protects a photographer’s work product and doesn’t prevent a competing business from attempting to capitalize on the goodwill that the photographer has built with... Read more
March 31, 2010

Vision To Visuals: Artistry And Philanthropy

Artist Elizabeth Jordan and sustainable fundraising

By Baldev Duggal
Among some of the most powerful ideas that are shaping the zeitgeist of today, social responsibility, conscious capitalism, social entrepreneurship and global citizenship are at the top. In this decade, I’ve observed a significant shift away from the traditional philanthropy model of invisible charity and toward a more conscious engagement between... Read more
February 22, 2010

What Do You Really Know About Copyright Law?

Legal issues about your photography can be confusing, but becoming knowledgeable in the area is part of being a professional in the 21st century

By Samuel Lewis
Ask a fellow photographer what the first thing he or she learned about copyright law was, and you’re likely to come up with a variety of responses that have little to do with the reason copyright law exists, what it seeks to protect or even what rights it confers upon owners. Yet, it’s these concepts that help photographers secure and enjoy... Read more