A short recap from a week of panels, mixers and conversations from @CEPICDublin at the CEPIC New Media Conference and Congress.

The view from the front, CEPIC, Dublin, Ireland

Some didn’t have high hopes for CEPIC this year.

But I did. I was excited about the opportunity to meet a lot of industry professionals that I know only by name, email address or avatar. I was excited to participate in a panel about “The Future of Stock Photography”, led by Ellen Boughn, along with Shannon Fagan, Dittmar Frohmann and Cathy Yeulet. I was excited about our mixer “Before the Future”, hosted by Ellen, Shannon, Lee Torrens and I to bring together a diverse set of thinkers in the photography industry and create thoughtful and valuable conversations and connections between people driving the future of the photography industry (thank you to our sponsor Jonathan Ross and Spaces Images). And of course, I was excited about enjoying the good times that comes when you bring quality, creative, leading professionals together.

And that’s what happened, largely. Along the way, I learned that photographers prefer talking about photography than economics (I shouldn’t have been surprised by that). I learned that comparing quality stock photography to manufacturing is a little controversial, even if it’s the truth that nobody will admit, and even if it’s meant as a praise to the innovators in the industry. I met a lot of people trying to push along using traditional stock photography industry business practices, but I also met many innovative, forward-thinking people that really want to be the change the industry needs.

During my part on “The Future of Stock Photography” panel, I brought up five main points for conversation that I truly believe stock agencies need to consider when planning for the future:

• How can agencies aggregate and curate the crowd?
• How can niche agencies thrive?
• Can agencies use social media to attract contributors and sell images?
• Can agencies reach and make money from non-traditional stock buyers?
• What core value does an agency create and deliver?

Although we didn’t solve any of these questions, I hope that the discussion that ensued is one that will continue on in people’s minds and decisions as they plan for their future in the industry.

Also, view my slides on Slideshare, embedded below.

But beside that, like all conferences, CEPIC was time to mingle, engage, say hello to new and old friends, and enjoy a bit of space from our day-to-day business issues and focus on bigger issues. And enjoy a pint of Guinness or two :)

CEPIC Congress, Dublin, Ireland

CEPIC, Dublin, Ireland

Jerome Lacrosniere of Imaginechina and Shannon Fagan at “Before the Future”, CEPIC, Dublin, Ireland

More from CEPIC and Dublin:

• Ellen Boughn, To Russia With Love*…from CEPIC, with links to many other notes and photos from CEPIC.
• My photos on Flickr, of CEPIC, Dublin, and the Before the Future mixer.

JP Rangaswami, musing about social objects and why social objects are created by our stories, lives and shared experiences, not the content.

If you’ve ready anything I’ve written about the photography business, or marketing through experiences, or the value of context, you’ll understand why JP Rangaswami’s thoughts resonate so deeply with me.

JP, Thinking about social objects and limbo dancing:

You know what makes an object “social”? We do. Without us there is no “social”, even if we use objects to extend and enhance that socialness.

Photographs are social objects, which is why it would come as no surprise if Facebook now had more photographs than Flickr. Films are social objects. Songs are social objects. Books. Sporting events. TV programs. Concerts. They’re all social objects.

When we see lists like that, we can start believing that all social objects are “content”, which gets the “rightsholders” of content salivating up the wazoo. Perish the thought.

Content is not what makes an object social. We do.

Again, we do. Back to JP,

There was a time when “content” was created by a tiny minority of people, largely because the tools for making that content were elitist in nature. Scarce, expensive, needing specialist skills. To make matters worse, the techniques for distributing and sharing that “content” were also elitist in nature. So people who “owned” that “content” felt like kings.

Now things have changed. There’s been some limbo-dancing. The barriers to entry for creating, publishing and distributing “content” are getting lower by the minute. Which means that the content kings are all dressed up with nowhere to go. And so the only option they think they have is to try and recreate the barriers they used to enjoy, in paradigms where they are technically and economically difficult to recreate.

This is why incumbents make unbased arguments like crowdsourcing is “ripping off artists”.

Back to JP,

People who used to “own” “content” still have roles to play. While digital content will continue to trend towards free, there are many ways to make money because of that content rather than with that content, the “because effect”. Time-based premia. Analog sales. Authenticity. Merchandising. All the “better than free” ideas that Kevin Kelly tells us about.

As the cost of producing content drops, as the cost of distributing content drops, as the process of creating the content gets more and more democratised, something new happens. We start having too much content. Which means the role of curators increases in importance. Curation is about access, about trust, about relationships, about expertise, about context. So the content rightsholders of old have an opportunity to excel, since they have the inside track to providing these. We used to go to them for content they generated. Now we can go to them for content we generate. That is, if they stop their paywall tomfoolery. We pay for service, not for content.

Curation is a valuable service. The question: how will curators (individuals and companies) combine algorithms and people to curate content? How will we create layers of curation, creating different curatorial efforts for speed, efficiency, delivery methods, personalization, etc., all different and valuable ways to add contextual value to content.

Creating value through curating content and adding context isn’t new. But when the equations that have defined how we create and consume content and context change, we’re forced to create new systems, and the transition creates a lot of debate between the old and the new, between technology and business, between “laws on the books” and economic realities, between culture and tradition.

These are the debates that journalists, photographers, artists, writers et. al. all face. Choose your side of the debate wisely.

(Read JP’s full post for more thoughts, background and links to related posts by him, Hugh, and others. It’s worth it, as always.)

@ADBASE recently published an article called “Will Tweet for Food” about how Twitter can help commercial artists make money, featuring insights from Rosh Sillars (@newmediaphoto), Mati Rose McDonough (@MatiRose), Jessica Swift (@jessicagswift) and me.

Can using Twitter help commercial artists with their bottom line? If you’re read anything I’ve written or said over the years, you’ll probably know that my answer is “yes, as long as…”. In short, “Start with the why. Then figure out the how.”

Here’s my contribution to the ADBASE article Will Tweet for Food written by Tiffany Meyers:

I started tweeting in August 2007. Twitter was different then; this was before its applicability for business development or personal promotion was truly understood. It was fun, loose– a way for me to tap into a community I didn’t see every day. Now, it’s a part of my daily life and business.

You get out of Twitter what you put into it. Photographers are told to “shoot what you want to be shooting,” meaning that your portfolio should show what you want to shoot as much as what you’ve historically shot. Similarly, you should “tweet what you want to get out of tweeting.” If you only tweet about what you eat, then you’ll probably only connect with people who do the same.

I have definitely gotten new business from tweeting, although not from a direct “I tweeted this, and I got this bit of business.” Business comes from the relationships we create and maintain by participating in this kind of public communication. At the end of the day, people are the engines behind businesses, and Twitter is about people connecting to people.

People should also remember that there is no overnight success in social media. It takes a long time for your investments in social media to pay off. We all understand it takes time and experience to be a great photographer: The same goes for social media.

But there’s more than just anecdotes and general advice: want some data about how photographers use social media and how it has impacted their bottom line? Check out the results of the Social Media Photography Survey 2009 run by friend and photographer Jim Goldstein and I in the fall of 2009.

I’m participating in a panel about “The Future of the Stock Photography” at the CEPIC New Media Conference June 9th in Dublin, Ireland. Yes, I’m excited. And if you’re there, I’d love to meet.

*The Future of Stock Photography*
Ellen Boughn asked me to contribute to a panel at the CEPIC New Media Conference where I’ll be joining Shannon Fagan, Kelly Thompson and Cathy Yeulet to discuss “The Future of Stock Photography”. Ellen has brought together an interesting mix of professionals from the photography industry to hash out some big issues faced by professionals in the stock photography industry (and by parallel, the larger stock media business).

Our panel is at the end of a day of talks and panel discussions about microstock, photo metadata, new media tools and stock video from a variety of respected industry professionals and analysts.

I’m looking forward to it, but that’s just a small part of what I’ll be doing in Dublin.

“Before the Future”, June 8th
Ellen, Shannon, Lee Torrens and I will be hosting an invite-only social mixer called “Before the Future” on the night of June 8th before the New Media Conference kicks off the next day. Our goal is to bring together a diverse set of thinkers in the photography industry and create thoughtful and valuable conversations and connections between people driving the future of the photography industry. And, well, have a good time.

Thank you to Jonathan Ross and Spaces Images for sponsoring the mixer; contact me if you’re interested in joining the mixer as a sponsor.

CEPIC Congress, June 10 to 13
The New Media Conference is the kickoff to the CEPIC Congress, a larger three-day conference and trade show for the image industry which runs from June 10 to the 13th. I’ll be attending the conference and enjoying the range of people and conversations that conferences like CEPIC help create. I’d love to meet you if you’re there; best way to make sure we’ll meet is to schedule a short introductory meeting during the Congress.

I will also have time to schedule a few select paid hour-long consults in Dublin. As usual, I’ll be helping people and companies:

• Redefine their business models in the challenging economic climate and competitive photography industry
• Get started in and better leverage blogging, social media and online tools for their businesses
• Develop a comprehensive strategy to integrate “social” into their businesses

Contact me at taylor@narratively.com or via my website to set up appointments. I’m looking forward to helping.

My last post was about how doing good is good business. Here’s how I can work with you to help you “do and share good” as a “photographer for good”.

A lot of the work I do today is about digital business design for the technology and creative media industries. Often, that simply means integrated online marketing (web and social media) strategy and execution for photographers and companies in the photography industry.

Lately, I’ve talked about the need to companies to create context for their content, using examples of how photographers and photography-service companies have succeeded by building communities, bringing people together and injecting a bit of personality, humanity and meaning into their work.

Meanwhile, I’ve had many conversations lately with friends and colleagues about the businesses they’ve built and want to build that are draw on “meaning”. I’ve told many close confidants why “meaning” is important to me, and how I want to work on things that matter.

Many of the routes I’ve tried over time have been unsuccessful. Most of you have no idea how many times I’ve failed lately.

But one route that has always worked is photography. At the end of the day, I’m a photographer. I’m not a traditional commercial, stock or editorial photographer, but I’m a photographer. I’m not a full-time photographer, but I’m still a photographer.

And at the same time, I’m a photographer, business strategist, blogger, marketer, speaker and writer. I’m a photographer who cares too much about everything around the image to let my life, career and impact be just about the images.

I want what I shoot, the stories they tell, the messages they deliver, to have meaning. I want to work with companies that have meaning.

So here’s my pitch. For companies and individuals that are doing “social good”, building businesses and supporting things “too meaningful to ignore”, I’m here to take those photos, help you tell those stories and connect with people through imagery and stories.

For photographers and photography companies, I’m here to work with you to build “meaning” into your business to redefine your strategy, marketing, operations and finances to build a strategically and economically sustainable business.

I’m here. Let’s talk.

A sequel to Shawn Bueche‘s first remix of a post of mine about the photography business. Again, an example of how to present the same essential content in a different format, medium and communication style.

You’ll probably watch the video below first, but you can also read the five lessons series starting with this post: Five Lessons: How Photographers can Create New Business Models. The video, by Shawn Bueche:

5 Steps Remixed from Shawn Bueche on Vimeo.

As Shawn explains:

Today, the photography industry is weakened by the surge of amateur photographers breaking into market share. These new photographers have caused an economic downturn for professional photographers, stealing business and lowering the qualifications for ‘good’ photography. This has led inevitably to a growing trend among existing photographers to develop new business models and to become specialized in photographic areas. As for the cause of this surge, we point to new camera technology, increased image mobility (sharing), and the democratization of the industry in general––enabling accessibility through the price of equipment, expansion of knowledge, and reduced processing time. I focus specifically on the loss of business for professional photographers. Evidence for this problem is inherent in the economic downturn for the industry, the Flickr+Getty collaboration, and the testament of professional photographers themselves, including Taylor Davidson.

The solution to the above problem is to increase business for professional photographers by emphasizing the opportunities created by the problem and by amplifying the need for fresh business models among professional photographers. My personal effort to reach the solution is with this video which examines the current opportunities in the photography industry and pushes the audience to participate in growing the industry by supporting amateur photographers, not by ignoring them. This is an attempt to maintain a personal perspective while shifting to a social viewpoint on the issue.

Content sources for the video:

• Davidson, Taylor. “Five Lessons: How Photographers can Create New Business Models.” Taylor Davidson. 30 Sep. 2008.
• Engh, Rohn. “Are We All Amateur Photographers Today?” Black Star Rising. 29 Sep. 2009.
• Newbury, Darren. “Talking about Practice: Photography Students, Photographic Culture and Professional Identities.” British Journal of Sociology of Education. 18.3 (1997): 421-434. Print.
• Price, Jeff. Hypebot, Sep 2008. Interview by Ethan Bauley. Sep. 2008.

Liked this post? Subscribe to this blog by RSS or email, check out more about my consulting services for photographers at Narratively, and follow me at @tdavidson and @narratively on Twitter.