Tag: Photography

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Business Making Pictures Marketing Photography Richard Kelly Experience

Use it or lose it

This Pandemic year has been like no other. We are all navigating whatever it means to get back to “normal.” I am not sure I want to go back, but I do know that no one really knows what moving forward will be like either. Over the past fourteen months, I have been on numerous zoom meetings, private phone calls, and text messages with colleagues, clients, business experts, and we agree that moving forward will be different than where we have been. I like it- “the unknown,” which is all opportunity and fewer “that’s always how we have done it.”

One of the upsides to 2020 we tested all of our fears and overcame them, “battle-tested and mother-approved.” Every aspect of our businesses (and life) is being evaluated and reconsidered. Recently I have had several calls from marketing executives in non-profits and medium-sized companies – we talk about how everything, including their mission, is being looked at with fresh eyes. Then the conversation turns to money; many of them face budget reviews, including spending money before their fiscal ends (“use it or lose it”) and planning for next fiscal year’s budget now.

One of their many challenges is how they tell their story and create assets with photographs and videos when employees are working from home. Or when their crucial mission activities occur in spaces that are currently empty. They wonder how they can create messaging about this “new normal” that is yet to be defined? And do that both responsibly and on a budget?

One of the positive outcomes of these conversations is that they are relieved to learn that I know how to translate complex marketing messages into story-driven visual experiences and produce work within a reasonable budget.

If you would like to schedule a conversation about your marketing challenges and how your organization will enter this next phase of this “new normal.” Email or text me (are you on Signal yet?) – everyone else does, so we can chat about visualizing your messages and evaluating short-term communication goals. We can discuss workable budget allocations for creating photography and short-form video storytelling to continue your organization’s mission-driven work.

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ASMP Business Curiosity Origin Story Richard Kelly Experience

Always be Reinventing

Plotting my career in the early ’80s, I never imagined my photography career today. Photography industry insider Stephen Mayes describes my current lifestyle as having a “portfolio career,” one that includes multiple income streams from various services over a range of industry sectors. What my mother calls having “a lot of irons in different fires.” Although not what I envisioned, my portfolio career is right for me.

My single most valuable character trait is my curiosity; it has fueled all aspects of my creative life and continues to lead me to new opportunities for creative expression and commercial exploitation.

Just the other day, a longtime client and friend from my New York City days introduced me as one of the most interesting people she knows. She mentioned that I was someone who is always reinventing his work and life.

I learned in that conversation that all my work has a common core, which is storytelling. In essence, I like to learn, I want to experience things, and then I share my enthusiasm. My activities vary from day to day. I read, I write; I make pictures, I do interviews, I capture video, I splice images together, I teach a class, I consult with a client, maybe moderate a panel discussion, watch a classic film with my teenage daughter, I push a few buttons, just another day in my life.

A few years ago, I learned I needed to rethink my business. This process included a fair amount of self-evaluation. Reworking my brand – the promise to my clients. To some degree, I need to rephrase how I described myself to others—ultimately changing the perception of what I am selling. A colleague last evening over dinner said you are no longer a “photographer,” sure you take photographs. Still, you bring more to the marketing and board room – you build a vision and a strategy a visual experience for organizations. 

I continue to fuel my insatiable curiosity. I learn something new every day. I have tons of new experiences and stories to share. Best of all I get to illustrate them all with pictures – some moving and some still. I live in a state of ‘always be reinventing.’

Updated and adapted from The ASMP Strictly Business Blog , June 25, 2015

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Curiosity Making Pictures Origin Story Richard Kelly Experience

Artifacts

I miss random conversations with strangers. With masks, no one seems that approachable. Personal encounters are challenging. Even with people I know.
My wife and I did meet a new couple just before the pandemic; my daughter introduced us. They are new to the city, smart, fun, and socially available. Over this past weekend, we met up with them for drinks overlooking the skyline at sunset. One of the great things about conversations with new friends is asking questions that allow you to see yourself through a new set of eyes. I learned that the “real fruits of my labor” as a photographer were not the photograph, but rather the conversations with the subjects I coveted. The picture was an artifact that helped me to remember that interaction.
My wife, in a variation of this concept, referred to me once as a people collector. I even toyed with the idea as a title for a book and often used it as a hashtag (#Peoplecollector) for the smartphone portraits I capture of people I encounter daily. “My product” is the moment, the engagement, the conversation: the photograph, just the excuse to being there.
One of my interns keeps a running journal of people she meets through our daily interactions, during a walk down the street, waiting for the elevator, or on a photo assignment. Until she started keeping score, I never saw these interactions as my thing. Or maybe I did, perhaps subconsciously these Richard Kelly Experiences, as she calls them, are my fuel, my purpose, my creative accelerant that keeps me on my quest for the next new person to add to the people collection.
The pandemic hits. I have no interactions, no new artifacts. There are no new experiences. I am on a pause. `