October 2009 Archives

October 29, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. has totally re-designed their website which they are calling DOUGLASPhotoInc.com 3.0.  After a year long review of visitors, their marketing strategy and the deliberation of a top designer the new clean and animated DOUGLASPhotoInc.com 3.0 was born.

"As much as I like the new look to the new site I must admit I have some concerns," Douglas Konkol, commercial photographer and owner of DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. said.  "In many ways this new site defies the normal website success theories.  No buttons to take you to other pages and virtually no text.  I like it though.  It's clean and there's no BS.  Actually this is more my style.  Time will tell."

DOUGLAS is a commercial photographer based in Cleveland, Ohio with clients nationally and internationally.

Cleveland Commercial Photography  |  DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. 

 DOUGLAS Commercial Photography™

Advertising Image Services™  |   DOUGLAS Art Prints®

October 20, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - Having the ability to have quality product photos when you need them and not having them cost prohibitive is maybe more important now than ever.  This truly can be a question of cost -vs- quality.

No one is spending money before they have to.  Today it just makes sense.  Today it's a matter of survival. That makes things like product photography, now more often than not, a choice, a decision.  Do you use the same old photos or do you get new ones to update your marketing?  If you decide on new photos can you have them done as fast as you need them or will this cause a delay in your marketing program?  Then there is the question of having to pay rush charges because you need them in a hurry.  Then there is just having Bill do new photos.  He has a nice camera and I mean how tough can it be?  He can do them right away and it won't cost anything.

Service means doing things that are more than expected.  As a commercial photographer I know as well as anyone that with budgets and less staff things happen faster now than they used to.  They have to.  I guess more companies needing things faster could be a good thing for me.  I make more for rush jobs, or I could.  I could choose to not take advantage and do things for a client that they need yesterday and not charge extra.  I'm more interested in gaining a long term client than a short term profit.  I don't charge extra for rush jobs.

The other fast thing that is required is getting the images where they need to be when they need to be there.  I don't email images.  That's a receipt for trouble.  You get a damaged image and as far as you know that's what I provided.  I have invested in my own server that allows me to provide my clients with password protected FTP service for downloading their images, anywhere in the world.  I also gives me the ability to make the images available from my server often in hours at no additional cost to my clients.

Many professional commercial photographers rates are based on either a half day or a full day.  What if you don't need that many photos?  What if what you need really only will take an hour or two to photograph?  I could never quite understand charging a client for my time spent doing nothing for them so I don't.  If I can get it done in an hour or two that's what you pay for.

Experience has also taught me that less than perfect products or product that has been damaged in delivery to me causes delay.  That's fine if your not on a short deadline but if you are.  My solutions to this challenge is, if possible, I pick up the products for the photo shoot so I can examine them or I set up a location studio and do the shoot at my clients facility where the convenience and access to "another one" is seconds away.

I hope you will allow me the opportunity to prove what I can do for you.

Douglas

Cleveland Commercial Photography  |  DOUGLAS Photography, Inc.  |  DOUGLAS Commercial Photography™

Advertising Image Services™  |   DOUGLAS Art Prints®

October 13, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - Yesterday, October 12, I announced my intention to harshly edit my catalog of contemporary art prints as well as my wanting to combine the "Main" print catalog with the "Nude Prints" catalog.  It is done.

My plan was to have this project done for 2010, by January 1.  I wanted to have it done by November 1.  As things happen last night I had trouble falling asleep so I sat down and decide to maybe get a piece of this project done.  I couldn't stop.  Just one more phase and a couple of hours later my catalog revision was complete.

Because of editing and deletions I now have just under 200 contemporary art prints but I am pleased with my new selection.  Unlike before where I included things I really wasn't that fond of to appease a broader customer base now the work is all Douglas.  I also decided not to worry about offending people with my nude prints by having them in a separate catalog.  I am truly even more pleased with the selection now that they are all together.

The DOUGLAS Art Prints® contemporary art prints were always, for years, not much more than a hobby.  Something I devoted time to usually when I had a new print to ad and had the time away from my commercial photography.  I decided I had to devote some time to better organize and present my contemporary art and my enthusiasm got it completed long before I originally planned.

I take great pride in my contemporary prints knowing my fondness for stark, bold black and white with little detail isn't everyone's "cup of tea".  All of my prints are 100% total archival quality.  I produce the prints only when ordered and I hand sign each one.

Cleveland Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. - DOUGLAS Commercial Photography™

Advertising Image Services™ -  DOUGLAS Art Prints®

October 12, 2009 Cleveland, Ohio - "the dormer" is my newest contemporary art print in my much preferred stark black and white.  This print is of a dormer surrounded by a classic tile roof.  Almost Hitchcockian.

This is another example of my finding a subject for one of my attempts at contemporary art while working on a commercial photography assignment.  Actually the home itself was surrounded with trees and shrubs almost obscuring it from sight even from the sidewalk but it was this dormer that caught my attention.  

One of the reasons I like to remove much of the detail and use stark black and white is because I like to leave much of what one sees in my prints to their imagination.  To me it's what you don't see that I like.  In this print of the dormer I couldn't help but wonder what the view would be like from that small roof level window.

October 12, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - Maybe it is because I am involved in advertising.  When it comes to commercial photography specifically for advertising I have learned that perfect isn't always the best nor does it always sell products the best.  The flaws of reality can be and often are better and more effective.

One day I was amazed after visiting the studio of a commercial photographer friend.  He was getting paid to grow grass.  His client was a major retailer who was paying him to grow grass to be used in an ad image.  Some time after that I had a client that needed grass in one of her ad images.  I bought some sod.  I learned something of great value.  The sod cost my client just a few bucks.  It wasn't as perfect as the carefully grown "studio" grass but it was real.  When it was done my clients product looked great as did the total image but there was something more to that image.  There was reality.  You could see it.  Maybe you didn't "see" it but the reality was there.  Some might say the $20.00 piece of sod was more effective than the grass that cost $1000 or more for the photographer to grow in his studio.  I'm sure the retailers ad agency wouldn't agree.

There is a great value to reality that is most often overlooked by advertising executives.  Often days or even weeks and $ thousands are spent building the perfect set for the background.  Everything has to be exactly the perfect color and the prefect size.  Then days can be invested in getting the lighting just perfect.  I've been there and done that and in the end there were many beautiful ad images.  Maybe it was just me.  No I don't expect my cheese Whopper to look like it does on TV when I pull it out of the bag and I don't believe Burger King would sell a lot of Whoppers if they used a photo of the one I pulled from the bag in their ads but...  there is a real value in reality more than manufactured perfection.  

October 9, 2009 Cleveland, Ohio - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. has launched another new web site, ClevelandCommercialPhotography.com, and this new blog, Cleveland Commercial Photography News. This new web site and blog will be focused directly on marketing to our home market of Cleveland, Ohio.

While we have had good success with our primary web site DOUGLASPhotoInc.com and our DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. News blog I wanted to expand my marketing effort directly to better promote our services directly to the Cleveland, Ohio market.  Where DOUGLASPhotoInc.com focuses on DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. and refers to our being located in and serving Cleveland this new web site and blog focuses on Cleveland as the focus of our services.

We also just launched DOUGLASCommercialPhotography.com and DOUGLAS Commercial Photography News to focus on marketing "DOUGLAS" as a brand itself.  A brand that includes DOUGLAS Art Prints® contemporary art and fine art photography.

Watch for more news about DOUGLAS here in the near future.

Cleveland Commercial Photography - DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. - DOUGLAS Commercial Photography™

Advertising Image Services™ -  DOUGLAS Art Prints®

October 9, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - One of my premier clients advised they are nearing completion of a total package redesign.  As is almost always the case once a client is ready to roll they need it yesterday.  I'm making sure everything is ready when the call comes.

I have been aware this was coming for weeks and now it's almost here.  Multiple shots of each and every product in it's new packaging.  The challenge now will be more than just shooting the products.  This is a coordinated effort to make sure I get the products as soon as they are available.  To insure the products are in top condition for the photos I will personally oversee picking them up from my client so there's no risk of things being damaged in shipping, even a little.  Then there is the coordination of making sure we get all of the necessary shots of all of the products.  This requires advanced planning with the clients marketing team to insure they will get all of the shots they need.

Making things easier will be my investment in a larger server months back when the economy didn't justify the investment.  My client is international and their folks here and overseas will have access to these images the same day they're shot.  I have the server to handle this volume and more.

It is exciting indeed to have such a major project especially in this recession and this is one of two big projects I'll be shooting this month.  My secret?  I'm cost effective. I don't even charge overtime.  When it comes to service when a client needs images the rest of my world fades away.  To my client they are the only client in the world and I am here do do what ever is necessary to get them what they need, when they need it and where they need it even if it's half way around the world.

Quality commercial photography means more than just taking quality photographs.  It means doing whatever is necessary to get the job done even if it means doing some things for free.

    

October 9, 2009 - Cleveland, Ohio - We are working on a new YouTube video showing a large series of photos using kids in advertising.  This photo shoot was actually done with my location studio on site in a day care center while it was open and full of kids. 

This shoot was done earlier this year and I posted the original series of photos in a video form as one of our 8 video portfolios on the DOUGLAS Photography, Inc. web site DOUGLASPhotoInc.com.

I am especially pleased with this shoot for several reasons.  First was my ability to quickly get the kids relaxed and focused on the dolls and accessories instead of me and the powerful studio flashes constantly going off.  Another success was being able to set up the backgrounds and studio lighting with so many other children near by and of course there was the working with a multitude of distractions.

This afternoon it finally struck me that this would make a cute YouTube video and the balance of the evening was invested in producing it in the YouTube format.  I'm about half way through and hope to have it posted in the next day or so.  You can see the original portfolio video, Kids in Advertising.

Quality commercial photography requires more than the ability to take quality photos.  It requires people skills and adaptability to serve clients needs.  It could even mean working with children in the middle of a day care.