I see. Not a fan of the big-picture stoke-your-curiosity talk. I understand. It definitely isn’t for everyone, but it has its magic.

In my world, if it’s sizzling, it had better be steak!

Later,

Kelly

If I don’t know she’s a photographer to start with, I’ll never get to the other stuff.

I’m just saying some people get too wrapped up in “Marketing” and forget the basics. As I said, nothing wrong with selling me the sizzle, giving me the nutritional information and all that. But tell me it’s chicken – don’t tell me it’s a grown up egg, a direct descendant of dinosaurs, or anything else that stops me from finding out what I want to order.

Tony Lawrence’s last blog post…Microsoft move stuns nation

Time to power up that “I am a nuclear engineer” phrasing so you’re the ––– nuclear engineer the next Factory has just got to have!

Tony,

Simplicity, is a fine thing. But how, out of the hundreds (thousands?) of professional photographers just in Massachusetts, do you know which one can do awesome beauty shots of your stainless-steel kitchen island to send to a magazine (playing with your island here as an example), if all they say to you is “I’m a photographer”?

Babies? Horses? Whale-watching expeditions? Product photography, fashion photography, interiors work… every one requires different skill sets and even special equipment, and “I’m a photographer” just doesn’t convey enough.

Then when you find the hundred photographers in Massachusetts who specialize in interiors work, how are you going to know which one is right for you? One mostly does quick shots for real-estate sales, one is all the way on the Cape and you bet he charges for travel, one’s just two towns over from you and has been getting her work placed in major mags for six years…

Aha. There’s the one you need, but if all she claims on her website, business card, introduction to you, or when you hear about her via word-of-mouth, is that she’s “a photographer,” you’ll never know and you’ll go for the kid Uncle Bernie says may have a good eye, because he took a neat shot of Dice-K at the Sox game last September. ( I know. Your Uncle Bernie can really pick talent. My Uncle Bernie, I don’t know.)

Make sense?

Until later,

Kelly

Your last name didn’t happen to be Soprano before, did it?

As for me, I don’t know what I do and my customers don’t either. Just a few hours earler a customer I’ve had for years asked “Just what is it you do, anyway?” I told him that’s a secret and he should just keep sending me money like he always has. He agreed that was probably a good idea.

Tony Lawrence’s last blog post…Microsoft move stuns nation

vs.

I am an underappreciated nuclear engineer, and my management does not seem to realize this. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time… like tears in rain… Time to die.

(sorry I got a little Blade Runner on you there)

But up to the end of the second sentence, it is true. I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.

You wouldn’t know it in my *paycheque*, however. The question is, who is the dummy, me for staying here for so long, or the company for not paying me more to prevent my inevitable exodus?

I see all sides of Experience Design (and never stop thinking about it, LOL) because I’ve been on all sides of it.

Beach bum? Now there’s one I’ve never tried. I’m not much for beaches, but in spite of the no boredom rule, there are days when being a bum could be appealing!

A smattering of my talents? Motorcycle mechanic, repo man, writer, salesman, warehouse manager, food inspector, beach bum.

Can’t ever say I lived a boring life. But most of your advice here is applicable to all these fields.

Eyeteaguy

Eyeteaguy’s last blog post…Shall we dance?

Agreed. You have a way with WoM. Quite surprising in a techie-type.

Graham,

Yep. Love your description of that sign. And my north-of-the-border friends have a milder version than the Brits, but their gentility is one of the things I love most about Canadians. Very much like buttoned-up New England, where I grew up.

Todd,

*rofl*

Later,

kelly

Todd Smith’s last blog post…Commercial Photography For My Sister