Photography Job Opportunity Tuesday

I'd like to make some more money at documentary photography. A documentary photographer takes photographs that reflect the realism of a situation and that communicate emotions of human or animal struggles in their environment. The photographer may have to work in a war zone or in a poor inner city neighborhood.

I just read that the best way to make money in documentary photography is to write a proposal for a grant.

What do you need to do in order to get a documentary photography grant? There's some great information here.

Letter to Ask for Book Review

Here's a letter I sent to the book reviewer at the SF Chronicle asking for him to review my book, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco.

Hi John,

I'm Matt Bamberg, author of 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco. With all of the shutterbugs in the Bay Area, I think a book about both digital photography and San Francisco would be a draw for readers of the San Francisco Chronicle.

With that said and done, I writing to you to inquire about a review of my book in the SF Chronicle.

In the 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco readers learn where to find and shoot the breathtaking views, offbeat street scenes and stunning architecture of the city. All the research, location scouting (there are Muni directions for every photo op), and planning have been done so that readers can concentrate on the technicalities of the picture from shutter speed to aperture. Equal parts photo essay and how-to, the book is meant to complement traditional city guidebooks.

The book is for locals and visitors alike. There are sample photos, each with a full set of camera settings to emulate the photo. Whether readers want to develop their photography skills or just want to go to different locations to take some good shots, this book details everything you want to know about photographing San Francisco.

Thanks for taking the time to read my pitch. I can have a book sent to you ASAP if you're interested.

Best regards,

Matt Bamberg
Author, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco
Author, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs

University Photographer Job

Just found the following job on Twitter: http://ow.ly/1ngX

Photography Job Opportunity Tuesday

It's Tuesday! Today I offer some advice for wedding photographers. Making money as a wedding photographer means managing your time well from preparing for a shoot to postprocessing. Here are some other keys to wedding photography success:

1. Offer low prices.
2. Create a well-timed presentation to clients.
3. Use narrative in your photos.
4. Create ez pricing.
5. Create quick photo-art albums of wedding photos.
6. Use the Internet to market your business.
7. Don't participate in bridal shows.
8. Don't spend much time postprocessing your photos.

There's a DVD you can buy that goes further into how to make a lot of money as a wedding photographer.

How to Get a Book Signing in a Major Bookstore

It's been a busy day in making-money-with-photography land. I finally got to arranging for my first book signing. I called the Rancho Mirage, CA Barnes and Nobel and asked if they could host a signing for my two books, 50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco and 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs. Since I'm teaching a class at UCR in photography in May and need as many students as I can get, I told the Costumer Relations Manager (CRM) at the store about it.

Here's the email I sent him:

Hi Dan,

Thanks for talking with me this afternoon about book signings for my two books, "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco, " which came out in January and "101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs," which comes out April 9th.

The "Quick and Easy" book is the first of a series of books.

I'd like to have both books available for purchase at a book signing that, if possible, takes place in late April. I can do a photography seminar if you want, or just counsel people about their cameras.

I'll be teaching a photography class at UCR that starts in May. The class is listed at https://onlinereg.extension.ucr.edu/unexreg/OR_Classschedule.CourseDescription?pSessionID=09DE28E6E8E6B4CE489D2EACEFB9E6A40000000010649728&pCourseID=320

I used to write for the Desert Sun and know an editor there who I have spoken to regarding a story about the book series, my class and the book signing.

The article will be published before the book signing.

I'd like to get the books signings in before the class starts.

Thanks for looking into this.

Best regards,

Matt Bamberg
Author, http://www.delmarlearning.com/browse_product_detail.aspx?catid=32628&isbn=1598639021&cat1ID=MAD&cat2ID=MPH
Author, http://www.delmarlearning.com/browse_product_detail.aspx?catid=31953&isbn=1598638009&cat1ID=MAD&cat2ID=MPH

It's much easier to get a book signing for a book with an ISBN number, or a book published by a major publisher. Sometimes they do self-published books, but my guess is that they only do them if they're selling well elsewhere.

Now, book signings aren't the best way to sell a lot of books, but they can help. Of course, it helps to be famous (say, like Joan Rivers). They can be somewhat successful if you have an online presence (so people can find you on the Internet and buy your book when they hear about it) and, if you can get the local press to back you up (write stories about you or have you on a local TV/radio show).

Please comment on any experiences you've had at book signings, whether you've been to one or have had one. Do you think you can sell hundreds of books this way?

What Kind of Images SELL?

Not a day goes by without me thinking of art. What sells? What can I do to sell my photography books? What can I photograph today that documents something fascinating? Where can I go for a good landscape photograph? What new things can I find on the street? And, yes, should I start photographing nudes!?

These are a couple of the questions that run through my mind periodically throughout the day.

I could answer each and every question listed here, but the space is too limited and people who are reading on the Internet are usually not interested in reading a lot of information at one time.

What I can do is tell you what kind of photography sells. That's not a hard question to answer.

I found the easy answer not in a book, but in a painting at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art).

The painting was made up of text in capital letters on a manila background. It detailed what kind of paintings sell. I believe the same rules follow for photography.

Here are the rules in brief:

1. Photographs containing a lot of light color in the frame sell better than photographs containing darker ones.

2. Landscapes, photographs of flowers, nudes, photographs of the sea, abstract photography and surrealism sell. (I'd like to add retro-themed photographs also sell well.)

3. Photographs of bulls and roosters sell better than those with cows and hens.

I'm sure there are other types of photography that sell well.

Please comment and let me know if the work of art at LACMA is a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Also, write what photographs of yours have sold well. If you've never sold photographs, write what kind of photography you would buy.

Signing Contracts

After working with my agent for several months to iron out a series proposal, I finished three proposals. (Actually, when you write a book series proposal you write a separate proposal for each book in the series.) Two of the proposals were accepted, and I received the contracts this morning.

While ironing out the aforementioned proposals, I was writing the first book of the Quick and Easy series, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs. It's finished and the cover art work has been chosen. Go ahead and treat yourself to a copy when it comes out hot off the press. Any day now you'll be able to see the Buddhist-themed cover on Amazon. I can't wait; it's dynamite, luring you to gaze at it for a long period of time. I believe it's comparable to the image of the South Asian girl of National Geographic fame.

Check Out My New Book!

Speaking of making money with photography, I have a new book, "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco."

The first question everyone asks is how long does it take to write a book like this. It took me about 6 months to put together the photography (I took every shot in the book) and write the text.

So what are the best photo ops in San Francisco? Read the book to find out not only that, but also how to shoot at each spot.

The best part of the book is the sample photos. When you're out in the field photographing, you won't have to worry about framing your image, the book already does it for you!

Get the book HERE!

Job Opportunity Tuesday

CRUISE SHIP LECTURER JOBS

Last summer I worked on the Norwegian Jewel as a digital photography lecturer. I traveled the Baltic and not only had the opportunity to teach cruise ship passengers, but I also got to take pictures for my new book 101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs.

I spoke 4 times on the 12-day cruise. The speaking days were the days we were at sea. The lectures included such topics as Your Camera--Making the Connection. The topics had to be catchy because they were listed in the cruise ship daily bulletin.

There were some 100 passengers who attended my seminars. I worked with the assistant cruise director to set up the room for my equipment so I could show PowerPoint slide shows. The classes required a tremendous amount of planning, but who can complain as I worked making PowerPoint slide shows on the deck with peaceful ocean views.

For info about how to become a cruise ship lecturer go here.

Book Promotion for Beginners

If your an average Web user and you want to promote your new book so you can make some money with it; you'll appreciate the efforts I'm making (and writing about) to promote my photography books.

Here's an update on my book promotion efforts:

Amazon--Well, I sent out my letter to a couple of Amazon reviewers (see yesterday's post) to review my book "50 Greatest Photo Opportunities in San Francisco." I heard back from one of them so I was glad. I immediately emailed the marketing person at Cengage Learning (my publisher) to send a book out to this person.

GoDaddy.com--In a constant search for a hosting company I looked over Godaddy.com and I'm considering going with them to get a domain name and to use their Web page building utilities. I liked their sample Web pages.

Google Site Builder--I know for sure that I'm not going to make a Google page, because I don't like their samples and the URLs that they give you are tedious. Google Site Builder is here.

Wordpress--I'm finding much happiness, though, in my new Wordpress blog, 101 Quick and Easy Secrets. I got 5 comments on my latest post--all spam--and Wordpress took them out automatically and put them in a spam folder. Plus, their graphics and text are dynamite! Wordpress is here.

Promote Your Book for Free!

For me today is promotion day. I've got Steve Weber's Plug Your Book in hand and am ready for my first blitz. I've gone through the book and circled some of the things I can do to promote my photography books easily on the Internet.

Here's what I've come up with thus far. All of the following is free:

1. Get more Amazon reviews for my San Francisco book. To do this I'll contact people who have written reviews for similar books and offer them a complimentary copy of my book for a review. I'll use Amazon friends to send a message.

2. I'll contact old media outlets such as Library Journal asking them to write a review of my book.

3. I'll build a blog for my new upcoming series 101 Quick and Easy Secrets.

4. I'll create a Web site for 101 Quick and Easy Secrets on Google sites.

Job Opportunity Tuesday

Every Tuesday on this blog, I'll be looking at one job that's recently been listed on the Internet.

This Tuesday's job is selling photography at SportsTop25.com. This job was posted on March 3 over at getphotographyjobs.com

To get the job, your photographs have to be approved by SportsTop25.com. Once approved you get 80 percent of the profits when your photographs sell. You can apply online here.

New Book Published

After I sorted through thousands of pictures from all over the world that I've taken over the past 10 years, I managed to get a book published with over 100 of them in it.

The book, "101 Quick and Easy Secrets to Create Winning Photographs," hits the shelves in April. Not only does it take readers on a journey around the world, but it also gives photo tips on the way. The book is partially based on my Digital Traveler blog.

After that come two more books due out later this year.