Cameras

Photography: Grace Chon

Sometimes, the secret of building a successful photography business ? even a part-time gig squeezed around a full-time job ? isn?t hard to figure out.

Take good pictures. Treat your clients well. Understand that nothing is more important than making your buyers happy? and they?ll do the rest.

?I?m quite fortunate that I don?t look for clients ? my clients find me!? Grace Chon, an art director and part-time photographer told us. ?[I]f they?re really happy with you and their photos they?ll naturally tell their friends about their experience. And there?s nothing as valuable as great word-of-mouth referrals.?

For Grace, that?s true even though she does her photography work in one of the most competitive of fields ? one that every camera-owner thinks they can do themselves.

Dogs that Tell Stories

She takes pictures of pets. Putting in around 30 hours a week in addition to her job with a Los Angeles advertising agency, Grace shoots what she calls ?modern pet photography,? advertising her services through her site ShinePetPhotos.com. Rather than photographing pets in a studio with artificial lights and blank backgrounds, Grace shoots them in their own environment, surrounded by their own toys and in a context which, she says, tells their story.

?Shooting in a studio seems a bit sterile ? it strips away so much of this story-telling opportunity.?

The result is great images that capture the pet?s personality, portray character and, most importantly, satisfy the client. Grace has had an image appear on a magazine cover, was invited to be a juror at LA County Fair?s dog photography competition ? and has been shooting professionally for less than a year.

Some of that swift success may be due to Grace?s background. It might be easier to develop a photographic eye and understand the need to please buyers when you spend all day as an art director, putting together designs for clients like Wendy?s, Chandon, and yes, Pets Unlimited too. But there are a couple of other ingredients that have contributed to Grace?s success at turning what began as a hobby with a point-and-shoot camera aimed at a roommate?s two pets into a profitable passion.

The first, of course, is technical ability. Grace says that the best advice she can offer anyone thinking becoming a pet photographer is to ?practice, practice and then practice some more.? Learning the basics will help you to understand the rules before you break them, and focusing, she says, is essential for good portraiture.

Animals are Incredible ?Energy Readers?

But no less important is the fact that Grace loves what she does and the subjects she shoots, something that?s clearly essential when you?re doing it before starting work in the morning, after knocking off in the evening and instead of playing with friends at the weekends. Even before she took up pet photography, Grace had worked at the Philadelphia Zoo, interned at the University of Pennsylvania?s Emergency Animal Hospital, and had studied biology with the aim of going to veterinary school.

?I absolutely believe you have to love animals to be a successful pet photographer,? she says. ?Animals are incredible ?energy readers? and know immediately when people like (or dislike) them.?

Her understanding of animals helps too. Unlike human subjects, pets can?t tell the photographer when they?re nervous, tired or just having a bad day. A pet photographer has to be able to read their emotions and know when to give a dog a break, she warns.

But even for an animal-lover with an understanding of both pets and what it takes to please their owners, taking pictures of furry friends can be difficult. When Grace started shooting professionally, she was shocked at how tiring it was to run after a dog, change positions quickly and spend time building trust. She often felt sore for days after a shoot.

And then there are the jobs that break your heart. Asked about the toughest shoot she had to do, Grace described a client who had called her in tears after discovering that her dog, Ella, had a terminal illness and had to be put to sleep.

?I normally book about two months in advance, but my client asked me to come over the next day,? Grace recalled. ?Ella couldn?t move, so she was laid out on a blanket in the backyard. The family members were in tears throughout the shoot and it was really hard for me to remain composed while I photographed this beautiful dog. I was successful at not crying in front of the family ? but the minute the shoot was over and I left their yard I kind of lost it.?

Ella was put to sleep the next day. Her pictures, shot by Grace, are still available for viewing here.

Photography: Brex

Think of aerial photography and you might imagine someone leaning out of a helicopter shooting migrating wildebeest for National Geographic. That could be fun but those jobs don?t come along very often and fortunately, it?s not the only way to take pictures from the air.

Hanging your camera from a balloon might be a lot less romantic that hanging over the African savanna but you?ll not only cut the cost of the image dramatically, you?ll also be able to fill a demand for the sort of aerial shots needed for a wide range of different clients.

Jack Fisher of EagleAerialImages.com told us that he has

?taken pictures for developers who wanted to know in advance what views each apartment in a projected complex would have, appraisers who want photographs of parcels of land, attorneys who need needed photographs in legal cases, homeowners who just wanted pictures of their homes, real estate companies who wanted to make their listings stand out from the crowd, social clubs, sporting event organizers, schools, golf courses, etc.?

While those shots could have been taken by hiring a plane or a helicopter, Jack uses equipment supplied by SouthernBalloonWorks.com, a supplier of blimps for both advertising and photography. Balloons, he says, are often the best solution for shots taken at altitude, beating even remote controlled model aircraft.

?Shooting from full size aircraft and helicopters is very expensive,? he explained. ?Invariably the photographer with a balloon can quote a price at well under their rates. Using radio-controlled models is always going to be a two-person job. One to accurately fly the model, the second to actually shoot the pictures. ? [I]n crowded city environments, where projected elevation shots are required at very specific heights, a full size aircraft or helicopter is out of the question. Likewise the use of a radio controlled models cannot only be difficult but also dangerous. Imagine attempting to use an RC aircraft or helicopter in downtown Manhattan to shoot pictures 400 ft in the air. A tethered balloon is far safer.?

Safer but not necessarily easy. Location, wind strength, local ordinances and permits, and even the effect on helium of different altitudes all have to be considered when photographing from a balloon. And then there?s the fear that the camera could fall or the wind could blow it away. SouthernBalloonWorks, for example, sells an emergency valve that releases the helium if the tether breaks so that photographers can get their camera back.

Photo courtesy SouthernBalloonWorks.com

Nor is the equipment cheap. Although it costs a lot less than buying a helicopter ? or even renting one a few times ? a complete balloon photography system ranges from just under $3,500 to around $5,000 (not including the emergency valve).

Add in the cost of helium and the usual expenses of travel to the location and time on the job, and the minimum price for an aerial photography job can be steep ? or at least seem that way to the buyer. Jack?s own rates have ranged from a very reasonable $200 for a single-family home shoot that was close to home and took an hour to complete, to thousands of dollars for a complex city center project.

Not surprisingly, the biggest impact on price though is supply and demand.

?Are you the only aerial photographer in the area? Will the client be able to shop around and compare prices? How quickly does the client need the job done? [For] a recent shoot I quoted for? the variation on prices quoted was from $6,000 to $60,000 for the exact same job,? says Jack.

Location and marketing then are everything. So if you?re in an area with little competition and plenty of potential demand, balloon photography could be an opportunity worth considering.

Take a look at Flickr?s Abstract Aerial Photography group and tell us what you think