I haven’t made a post in the structure category of this blog for quite awhile. It is the category where I like to share any kind of business knowledge that I have picked up along they way. I try to look past all those mistakes that I cry about daily and help you to at least make the correct ones from the start. Like they say in Jackass, “If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough.” Today we are going to discuss your look. No, I am not talking about that medusa bed-head hairstyle that you are trying to get rid of after waking–for as short as my hair is it looks like a porcupine on LSD most mornings. I am not even talking about your image style and vision as a photographer. This about business right? And in business what is the first thing that you do when you meet a potential client? I am talking about meeting someone on the street, in a park, in a restaurant, where ever. Reality, in-person, not that cyberspace bullshit you spew on Twitter and Facebook, people. Business.

You hand them your business card. Well again in a perfect timeline this isn’t the first thing. There are hand shakes, I am so and so, etc., etc. The business card handout is the first time in a new business relationship where your potential client gets to see who you are (in China this is a serious deal, not taken lightly). And it is in this first swap of info, that you want to make a better and not a worse impression. Before you can even get to actually owning a business card, you need to create a logo, it could be nothing more than your name in your favorite font, but it needs to be thought out. You don’t want to just plaster stuff in a rectangle. You want to design your look. You don’t wear those pajamas to work do you? Well, most of you probably don’t. You design your photos don’t you? Sit down and put some thought into your logo. This is truly not a simple task. I know personally. I have redesigned my logo so many times, my wife thinks I am crazy, but the latest incarnation is going to stick for a long time.

Last spring I sat down and began outlining where I wanted to take my brand. Hopefully this doesn’t open a whole new can of worms, because I don’t want this post to become a book. Yet. Your brand is different than your logo. Your logo is part of your brand, but your brand encompasses everything. Got it? Think Coke and Pepsi. Those are brands of sodas. Now substitute the word photographer for soda and your business name for Coke or Pepsi. And we are walking…My look or logo needed revamping in my own mind to better symbolize where I was headed with my work. To do that across the Jay Goodrich brand, I needed to re-design everything. My letterhead, my business card, envelopes, portfolios, post cards, promo pieces, newsletters, websites, blogs, t-shirts, hats, even my photography. My style is modern. I live clean, ride clean, ski clean, and now design and photograph clean. I want that to be portrayed to even the slacker that I meet at the park, who introduces himself when all I want to do is sip on my fine glass of tequila, while my kids make each other cry. You never know who will be friends with who though–six degrees of separation does exist. This transformation took me almost a year.

Like I said, your look will travel a long way throughout your brand, thus it needs to be consistent thought out. I have the luxury of owning a degree in architecture which gives me knowledge in design. If you don’t think you can design your logo graphically definitely hire a designer. There are many options available to you for producing a logo and a graphic designer knows how to utilize them all. There is the paper, the ink, the color, the layout, the printing, the size, etc., it can quickly become overwhelming. You will lose less sleep and the design will have more impact when you hand over your card, if a designer helps you create it.

When I went for the redesign of my current logo I created it with reason. The four circled “j’s” represent adventure, nature, architecture and writing, the four focuses of my current business. I interlocked and rotated them because there was a fifth and additional important focus coming–film. I picked Helvetica Neue for the font and chose to letter press the word “photographer” and the logo. Letterpress is a technique that inks the paper while pressing an indentation it. Very similar to an old school typewriter. I chose two colors, more and you are asking for your design to look like shit. I used a silver ink because it is a little shiny and I like its tonality and a green that represents my love for nature and because it is my favorite color. I wanted my logo front and center without distraction so I decided to create a double-sided card. All of the contact info then resides on the back. My card is also half as wide as a standard business card. For two reasons I think it is cool and it saves paper. Why kill trees if you don’t have too? Also, the paper is 100% recycled, again, yeah for the environment. The rectangle around the word “photographer” has meaning also. I added it as a highlight to what I do and to add the thought of composition to who I am.

There you have it, one thousand words on why my business card is the way it is. Reasons for each piece of the puzzle. Now you have just a little taste of why it took a year to complete each aspect of upgrading my business. There are companies out there who can help you get a look that represents who you are. Lost Luggage in Seattle does amazing work for a ton of different photographers for really reasonable prices. In addition I use Gran Farnum Printing in Glenwood Springs, Colorado-ask for Stacey and tell her I sent you. They produce a high-end product a very reasonable cost and have a designer on staff. And if you need more advice just ask, I am more than happy helping you tame that medusa rat’s nest that is spiraling out of control on your head.

Graffiti Venice Beach, California © Jay Goodrich

Many photographers head out regularly to photograph. They keep an open mind and create images based on their surroundings. The subject matter could be all over the map, depending on the photographer and how they work and think. This way of creating is great if you have no real priorities as a photographer, and/or no real direction. The images can be technically perfect and still not very useful. I know many may be disagreeing based on the stand point that it is really hard to head out and shoot with a preconceived idea. The light, the weather, even the subject may not cooperate, leaving you returning with few, if any, images. But, what if you created a concept or a basis for your jaunts out in the field? Instead of going to Moab and photographing Delicate Arch, which has been photographed a billion times prior, you headed out with a concept of photographing lines? Or textures? Or the variety of plant life, or the different rock shapes found in the desert? What if you took it further?

What if you came up with the idea of photographing the impact that 4 wheel drive vehicles have on a desert eco-system in regards to erosion control? Now you have a story, you have direction, you have a sustainable concept, and what I call a project. Instead of shooting something that takes a day and delivers only a handful of images, you have something that will create a portfolio of images. It is a project because you will need some time to capture the whole idea. In the process you will likely come up with other projects that off shoot from the original. This story can then progress into a magazine article, book, movie, or whatever else you can dream up. Think about the above concept. It could lead you into creating everything from dramatic landscapes to intimate macros, wildlife images, portraits of people (on both sides of the fence), mountain bikers, skiers, hikers, and etc. The list can go on and on and on.

The project can quickly become a means to you becoming a successful and well known photographer. The hard cold reality of a project is that it doesn’t have to happen in Moab or any other well known place, it can be something that you strongly believe in, that is happening in your own backyard. You could head out every evening after dinner and work on it. It is a simple lesson in building a cohesive body of work. Something, that in the end you can be proud of and announce to the world. Your energy over the project will show through to those you are wanting to listen and in turn you could actually change a little piece of the world. That is truly the value of a project.

Remember though, don’t let the cat out of the bag before it is time. Not even to those you trust the most. Well maybe those people, but no one else. The project announcement needs to be a bombshell, leak it only when you are almost at the completion of it.

And, by the way, the Moab story idea is not a leak, it’s just an example that I came up with while writing this post. Steal it if you like, but I will need to write the intro to the book if you do.

Sunset Reflection along Martha's Beach, Washington © Jay Goodrich

Do you ever shoot in your backyard? Along the road by your house? In the park that is very close to your house? I hope so. I do. OFTEN. You cannot become a skilled photographer by just packing up your gear and heading to some remote, stunningly beautiful, international location and expect to come home with award winning images. There is no way it can happen. Great photographers all have one thing in common. They shoot–a lot. Maybe not everyday, but every week, even if they are not working for someone. Why? Because practice makes perfect. It takes time to learn how to use your camera. It takes time to learn how to see things that many may overlook. It could be Kansas, New York City, or Yosemite there is something that every photographer of every discipline can photograph. It is all about finding out where your preferred subject matter is–usually in a theatre near you.

Many workshop students tell me that it is easy for me. I live where the beauty lies. Yes that is true, but I am always looking for photographs. I don’t care if I am downtown L.A., I will find something that catches my eye. This comes from the fact that I shoot as much as I can. I shoot with friends, alone, with family, even with just the dog. And I shoot a wide variety of subject matter. I have reached a point in my career where every thing has a rectangular frame around it, everything, even my naked wife. Sorry honey, it’s not porn.

Whenever I am home, I head out for walks with camera in hand to shoot pretty much everything and anything that catches my eye. I take those shots home, edit them, and then learn from them. Then my knowledge base continues to build daily and I take that with me whenever I travel or shoot for commercial clients. One thing that I learned early was that all of the ideals of photography are interchangeable. By this I mean that any composition principle, any lighting technique, any subject matter can be taken from one photography discipline to another. I often use techniques that I learned while shooting landscapes to capture architecture images and in turn have done the same while shooting adventure. This is how you broaden your focus of subjects to photograph. And a diversified photographer can follow the economy’s twists and turns to keep paying the bills. The catch is that you have to be good and have a strong understanding of why one shot works and another doesn’t. It all comes with the ability to practice locally to see success globally.

The more you shoot the more you will see this interconnectivity. So next time you get home before dark and have a minute to sit on the couch, don’t. Grab your camera and take a walk around your neighborhood. Who knows you may discover the beauty of the sunset reflecting in some puddles in a pile of rocks.

The Key to Task Mastering © Jay Goodrich

The past two weeks of my life have been so ridiculously hectic that I wasn’t sure if I could make it through the time span in one piece. I worked until 1am almost every night and even managed to pull an all-nighter. I haven’t done that since college. I am not complaining, busy means that I have work and work is a good thing. When stretched so thin, it is extremely important to have an idea on how to accomplish the tasks at hand. I have yet to find a single successful person out there, photographer or not, who has not been a huge list maker. The list is the pipeline to becoming a Task Master.

Creating a list is a lot like a workflow solution in today’s world of digital photography. It is a very personal element. My list tends to be about three pages, although recently, it is hovering in the neighborhood of five. I organize my list by priority. If it needs to be done now, it is on the top of the list. From there I break the list down to things I still need to do, but I also include things that I want to do. I leave very little to chance. Marketing ideas, equipment and supplies needed, blog posts, article ideas, images to create, software to learn, even image folders that might still need keywording and titling, get added to the list. I also add some of the most absurd ideas, anything that comes to me in the shower or just before I fall asleep. These ideas may never end up going anywhere, but they are still in my list.

My list is type written as an Apple Pages document. I typically reprint and adjust the list once a month–that is usually the time it takes me to scribble, add notes, and sketches to the point in which you can barely see the white background of the paper it is printed on. I have an alias to the original document sitting on my desktop just below my hard drive icons for easy access, and the file is also uploaded to my iDisk so that I can access it anywhere with my laptop and a Wi-Fi connection.

The concept is simple–finish something, cross it off. Then add, edit, adjust, reprint, and start all over again.

Sometimes I will add a bright colored hand-written sticky to the list. This is the extreme emergency list. If the items on the sticky list are not taken care of immediately, I will spontaneously combust. Well not really, but it will probably cost me more money. I can tell you from experience that crossing items off the list is one of the most satisfying things I do. It is the time that I feel like I am actually accomplishing something. My list is the only reason I can function when times get so frenzied that I need to work late nights to accomplish everything that is jumping out at me. The list–a workflow that is necessary for any photographer today and a key building block to my structure. Now that I have finished this post, I can cross it off of the list and move on to my next thing. Blog–Structure post–Task Master.

Portrait, Baker Snoqualamie NF, © Jay Goodrich

I have been thinking about my photography lately. My style, my vision, my technique. How I create. What I create. What I want to create next. Photography is truly a never ending learning experience. If you want to be successful and I mean really successful, not like me–I am still too young, you need to have staying power. And to achieve that staying power you need to really know photography inside and out. This post is the beginning of a new category on this blog entitled “Structure”. Why is it called Structure? Because I am going to write about those little building blocks that I have discovered along the way to help hold the house of photography up for me. Hopefully, in the long run, helping you to do the same.

Structure is posts, beams, walls, concrete, steel, wood. Today’s structure is the portrait. I am not talking about being the next Richard Avedon. I am talking about creating a portrait of anyone that has something more to it than a simple snapshot. This is something that every photographer regardless of descipline should be able to do. Someone in the park hands you their point and shoot and asks if you can take a picture of them? Can you? It is important. If you say I shoot birds not people, I am not looking to do that, you have failed. Why? Because you are not thinking outside of your box, and if you are not thinking outside of your box, you are not growing, and growth is important to creativity. I know some of you are thinking that I am completely off of my rocker right now but think about it. No matter what you photograph, does it not contain a strong subject? Does it not contain powerful light? Does it not contain a meticulously organinzed subject? Now if you took these three ingredients and applied them to any photograph, regardless of subject, would you not be able to create a strong image? I believe that you would.

The portrait is really hard. It is not a gimme. You have your subject given to you, now you have take that subject and give it to your viewer in a way that they say, “Hold on here, I need to figure this out.” It needs to highlight your subject’s soul. Make your viewer connect with the person in your portrait. “Win the crowd and you win your freedom.” or something like that.

Now back to that park scenario. Inevitably it is going to come at you in the middle of the day, high noon. Time for a gunslinger fight not a photo, right? The people asking you are not photographers, you however are. What can you do? Take those people into the shade for heaven’s sake. What no shade? How about some fill flash? Maybe a little wide angle to capture the surroundings. Wide angle lenses also expand your exposure latitude. Come on you are not saying that the point and shoot has no wide angle? Step back a little. Are there buildings near by with a shady side? And don’t just blast a mugshot. Give them something that they can react to and ask how did you do that? Talk to them for a few minutes. Get their details. Ask them questions. This is a gunfight that is won by being the last to shoot.

And then if they like the image, give them your card. You just promoted the fact that you are a photographer and you are decent, if nothing else. Who knows, maybe one of them will come to you for some instruction some day.