The Business of Photography

It is a rare quality to find a creative person who is also a great business person.  Most creative people do not like the business side of the art world.  However as we all know these two things cannot work without each other if you plan on making a living with your art and photography.
In this Guest post by Wayne Moran we can all get a few pointers on how to bridge that gap and actually start to enjoy the business side of the photography world.  Enter Wayne Moran:

Blending Art and Business

Have you ever met an artist who is incredibly creative yet has never sold anything? You know the type; the ones that completely blow your mind with both the amazing ability to thought provoking works of beauty and they produce so much incredible work that they must be working 24 hrs a day. Their work is of such high quality and has the ability to move you, yet the person has never really shown anyone their work and you are shocked to discover they are almost shy about their work. They may not believe that it is good enough to sell or they might even think there would be something wrong with selling their work.
I find this situation almost tragic in that I think we are given the gift of an artistic ability so that we can communicate to the world in a language that is far deeper than mere words. We communicate a message in the realm of the visual, the auditory and the emotional and this story needs to be communicated in order to move, to change and to inspire the world.
Frankly, it is this process of communication where the whole business aspect of the arts comes into play. Our work needs to be distributed to be able to communicate our message. In addition, it sure is nice to be paid for our efforts of creation.
But I hear these objections all the time from artists. I bet you have heard these lines also
· Business is dirty and it distorts what art is meant to be.
· I hate marketing.
· I am creating my art just for me.
So let me attempt to convince you and encourage you to have more of an appreciation and maybe even love and embrace business as much as you love your ability to create.

Business is dirty and it distorts what art is meant to be

I will make this bold statement, without business there is no great art. All of the great artists throughout history (that we can remember) had a sponsor for their work or each piece was actually commissioned so that the piece would be created in the first place. Then after the work was completed, the sponsor showed the work in very public places and the work became well known and finally the piece would be copied and broadly circulated. This is all because of the business process that got everything going in the first place. This business component does not reduce the quality of the original work of art or the message that it was communicating. On the contrary, business started the complete process.
I have a personal example of this. My most popular work today is the Minneapolis Stone Arch Bridge.

That work was commissioned by my brother because it had special meaning to him. Because I was commissioned to capture the piece, that business action caused me to take action and to do the work. In this case even though the work was commissioned, I maintained all ownership rights to the original work and I continue to sell that image over and over again. I am able to do this because I understand some simple concepts of business and marketing.

I Hate Marketing

This brings me to point #2 “Evil Marketing.” Why do so many artists hate the idea of marketing? Marketing is simply communicating the passion that you obviously have. The business of marketing is all about learning a few simple skills so that you can easily communicate to a broader audience your passion for creating and your specific message. It is really that simple.
I know spending the time to do the marketing takes away time from doing your splendid creations. That is indeed true, but there are ways to balance out that equation.
· The first way is to learn to do small pieces of marketing on a regular basis so that over time all of the steps you have taken have added up to a wonderful marketing journey.
· The second way to do it is to partner with an organization that specializes in and has a passion for doing that marketing communication. You can start this small at the beginning and build it over time.

I Am Creating My Art Just For Me

The third argument I hear is that some “creatives” are creating their art just for themselves. I guess they may be true but I would love to encourage you to think a little more broadly. I believe we were given the gift of creativity for a reason. That reason may be that we have one particular message to communicate. So if this is true, we are making the world that much poorer by not sharing the message we have been given. It is possible that there is a time to keep our work personal when we are perfecting our craft or if the work is so personal that it cannot be shared. That is all fine, but there may come a time when you are able share that work and that piece or collection of work may be a life saver for someone else. Sometimes we just do not know how we may affect others. So I urge you to share your work then the time is right.

In conclusion, our art is communication, expression and a message. It is actually business that allows us to distribute that message as broadly as possible and then we can use the proceeds of those business transactions to produce more art. It is a relationship I believe all artists can learn to embrace whole heartedly.

Wayne Moran is an artist stuck in a software engineer’s body. He recently founded OxRun LLC, (www.OxRun.com ) a firm that specializes in communicating the message via the internet using the magic of social media marketing. You can find him at:

Wayne Moran
waynemoran.com
wayne@waynemoran.com
twitter.com/waynemoran_inc