OK, this is the fun part of the preparation process. I’ve put in a couple weeks thinking through my goals and what I want out of life. And while that process is never completely done, I’ve got a whole lot more clarity now about what I want to accomplish than I did at the start of the Big Project. Now it’s time to ponder the question: what are some of the jobs I’d kill for? Here’s a small handful.

* Note: what I’m showing here are scans of tears directly from magazines. I don’t feel the greatest about reproducing them here, but I’m linking both to the magazine and to the photographer. Please leave me a comment if you feel like more can/should be done, or if I’m totally overstepping boundaries here and should take them down.

Assignment 1
The New Yorker: Sheriff Joe, July 20, 2009
Photographer: Dan Winters

Why this: I love that this is more of a psychological profile than a literal image; the environment is used so effectively to portray a very specific side of the subject. The subject is something of a connoisseur of media coverage; he’s been photographed any number of times, but looking around online there just aren’t any photos of him remotely like this one. I love the quality of immediacy that it has, and I love the fact that this is a local story that has turned national. I love how well the image illustrates the text. And I love the access given. The story benefits from the photographic vision, and relationship built between photographer and subject.

Assignment 2
Wired UK: The Cable Guy, July 2009
Photographer: Neil Massey

Why this: In-depth coverage of a story at the intersection of technology, politics, and social justice. The chance to learn about an industry and see how a business is impacting people on the ground. It’s both a rich set of images, and I’m sure a rich set of experiences to gather them.

Assignment 3
Saveur: Reasons Why We Love Texas, July 2009
Photographer: Penny de los Santos

Why this: Again, I’m a fan of the depth (much more than I’ve got scanned here). I’m also a fan of how personal all the portraits are, and the predominantly natural light in the food photography. There’s a double truck shot I especially like of a group of women in a home kitchen – more people than you’d think could maneuver through the room – cooking a huge meal. Food photography becomes so much more interesting to me when it’s photographed in the context of someone’s life, and this piece captures that idea.

Assignment 4
Donna Hay Magazine: In the Forest, July 2009
Photographer: Con Poulos

Why this: I love that this is a fully styled and produced piece, but that that doesn’t make it feel inaccessible to people of modest means. It feels real, like an ideal autumn day. I’m drawn to the spontaneity of it, the nostalgia, and again, the depth of the story.

I probably need more examples, but this is my pile as of today. What do you think, y’all? Any surprises?

Next up in the Big Project, I’ve got introductory phone calls set up with a number of photo consultants. I’ll give you a sense of how those go in the days to come. Until then, think big!

I spent some time last week with Jenny and Seth Nelson, realtors and developers here in Minneapolis, collaborating on some portraits for their promotional materials. They wanted to add a little bit of edge to the shots to appeal to a younger crowd, and here’s a sampling of what we came up with.

Recently I had a chance to photograph some engagement portraits for a couple whose wedding I’m photographing next spring. I really enjoy the chance to shoot engagement sessions; it’s a great chance to build trust and rapport with a couple, and to show them what they’ll look like in photos that I take of them. Plus they’re just fun.

The evening Jackie and I had talked about shooting was sketchy weather-wise – threatening clouds all afternoon, severe thunderstorm warnings not too far away. We talked earlier in the day and decided to call it off. . . then we called it back on. . . when we finally got rolling dusk was falling, and the streetlights came on. Luckily we were in the park near the Bloomington Central Light Rail stop, and there are much cooler-than-average streetlights (and fountains). Perfect!

Thanks guys – looking forward to the wedding!

How cool is this: not only are you getting married, but you’re a sculptor, and you’re saying your vows underneath your very own artwork, in the middle of one of the biggest public art spaces in the Midwest? It’s pretty cool.

Rebecca, the bride, also constructed the cupcake stand and the gold flowers left on the chairs as gifts for the guests.

This was definitely one of the most personal weddings I’ve had the privilege of photographing, and it was really fun to see a day play out that Rebecca and Ben had clearly put a lot of themselves in to.

OK, once again I jumped the gun. To end the last post I said examples of my dream assignments would be the next step, but I was a little ahead of the plan. Making my way through Selina Maitreya’s book, there’s a little more exploration of goals necessary before making the jump from what exactly you want from your life to how that plays itself out in your portfolio.

Namely, now that you’ve got the lens of what success looks like for you, what are your personal, creative, professional, and financial goals, and how do they fit (or not fit) together? Here’s what I came up with:

Personal Goals

• To get outside of myself and contribute to the world in ways that encourage positive behavior. How does that relate to my photography? I create honest, direct images of people and organizations doing things to help the planet, and those images are used to tell their stories.
• To support my family and help create a nurturing home.
• To shape a career that allows me the flexibility to devote some time during the week to focus on my home and family if I need to.

Creative Goal – Short Term

• To create a new body of work that emphasizes my storytelling ability and displays a consistent vision with depth and breadth of subject matter.

Professional Goals – My Dream Business

• My clients view me as a trusted resource for vision, not just someone who you give image specs to at the end of the design process.
• I’ve got a constant mix of new and repeat clients.
• I work closely with clients and we communicate throughout the process of completing a project.
• In terms of my business practices, holding a hard line on copyright and usage isn’t as important to me as evolving with the industry and reaching a price on any project that is fair to both sides.

Financial Goals

I won’t get in to the exact amounts for my financial goals; I’ll just say that they include categories for my salary, equipment purchases to keep me competitive, and marketing budget. Once I wrote out all those line items, I figured the target billing levels I’ll need in order to reach those category goals. Then I broke those billings down in terms of how much I need to bill per month, and per project if I assume I can shoot two projects per week.

As boring as this all sounds, I’ve got to say that I don’t feel like I would feel as grounded in the reality of being a small business owner without it. As a creative, it’s so easy to focus entirely on the visuals, to the point where you forget that to continue being a creative, you need to understand how those visuals are connected to your deeper goals *and* to your financial goals. They all work together. And by taking the last week or so and really feeling all this out, I feel much better equipped to move on to my portfolio.

I think.

Another note: if the process of breaking in to the photo business is interesting to you, definitely check out this post on John Keatley’s blog. First, he just does great work. And he just wrapped up a seven month process of his own revamping his portfolio and promo materials. I hope that at the end of my Big Project I end up with stuff that’s as good lookin’ as what he’s accomplished.

One of the things that’s so cool about the photography world right now is photographers’ willingness to be open with their business practices and share what they’ve learned. Not only is John great at this kind of behind-the-scenes kind of thing, but I emailed him with some follow up questions and he called me back within 15 minutes and told me everything I wanted to know. In today’s world, that’s the kind of business person you want to be.