Some time in the mid 90s I began toying with the idea of publishing a magazine much like the arts and culture section of a newspaper, without all the other, uninteresting stuff. Throughout the years, I have filled many a notebook page with different ways to approach this idea. At one point I researched the cost of a small print run, and quickly decided the web was the way to go.

Finally, in January 2010 I fired up a blog — Another Passion.

Since day one I have run Another Passion magazine style, with lots of interviews combined with portrait photography, and editorial posts, all of it somehow relating to the life and work of artists and creative professionals. Along the way I have met many talented and kind people, and gotten to see things I otherwise wouldn’t have. But as a lone wolf I can only do so much, and a one-man show was never what I had envisioned.

Early on I gave the blog 3 years to grow and with the Fox/Tribune syndication deal, I was off to a good start. In late May of 2011, well into the site’s second year, I started seriously working on ways to grow Another Passion. It was that or shut it down and incorporate the content into this, my personal blog (for which I have no other goals than to share whatever I feel like).

In late June, I hinted that changes were coming. At that point, I had a couple of possible outlines and scattered notes but had kept it all pretty much to myself. Putting it into words made it real and no doubt sped up the process. I was shooting off more e-mails than I had in years, asking help and advice from friends with any related experience or talent. That was just a few weeks ago, though it seems like a lot longer.

Three writers were quick to rally under Another Passion’s banner. So far, only one has been published, but that’s one more than before. All are talented people I know can help boost the rate of publication while also raising the content quality.

Based on advice and research, I set up memberships and sponsorships/ads to at least make it possible for revenue to start coming in, and I wrote my first ever manifesto – a surprisingly fun and inspiring exercise, by the way. The first 2 members signed up within minutes, essentially paying for nothing, since I had no exclusive content yet. These people gave me a vote of confidence, and for that I thank you. A few more have since joined, enough that I’m feeling a bit of pressure from it, which is good.

A big part of my renewed focus has to do with my mother’s passing in early May. Her death made me re-evaluate my own life. I’ve been fueling a lot of that energy into Another Passion. She was a big fan of the project, and she would be proud to see it grow. And so I do it in her honor. I’ve spent weeks of 10+ hour days and more money than is probably wise, hoping to give Another Passion the boost it needs. I am far from done, but I could not have done any of it without the support of Kelly Cline. She has been a rock, an anchor and the best friend I could have ever wished for in my greatest time of need.

I do believe that steady flowing, high quality content will carry the site to (some form of) greatness, but only if I can get it off the ground. Three writers is good, but I need at least twice as many before I am really happy. And though I have started producing members only content, there is little time to promote memberships and advertising. Content is king and until it starts flowing, my focus is there.

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When I sold my apartment in Copenhagen it left me in a position to make some investments for the future of my business. Which, in case you were wondering, is the business of telling stories. I chose to invest in video.

I have been wanting to do video on a more serious level for a long time, but I didn’t have the setup to recreate the visuals in my head. Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer in the whole it’s-not-the-gear-but-how-you-use-it thing, but if you have specific ideas that your current setup just can’t do, it might be time to upgrade. So, I’m moving from iMovie to Final Cut Studio, from camcorder to DSLR and from built-in mics to a wireless system.

Up until now, I have just fooled around with video. Over the next few months I will dive into the more technical bits and study, practice and practice some more. But it doesn’t start with editing, special effects or even filming. Software and hardware does not a great film make. So I have gone back to the beginning.

In my mind filmmaking of any kind starts with good writing. That is where I have begun. I am reading about scriptwriting of all kinds, from documentary and music videos to feature films. And I am experimenting and doing exercises in writing for visuals as I go. Warming up before a few bigger test-projects involving other people and actual filming.

It’s a huge investment in terms of both time and money. Am I nervous about it? Absolutely! I think any important decision should make you a little nervous, just so you’ll take it seriously. But mostly I am excited to learn and dive deeper into something that has always interested and attracted me, but that I have only ever scratched the surface of.

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Magtens Korridorer is a Danish band I've photographed for years. It's been fun following their path to success. The free beer was cool too!

The people I photograph for free are almost always artists of some sort. I grew up around painters, musicians, architects and what-have-you, and almost all of these talented people could have used a good picture or three for marketing themselves and their work, and for the same reasons they would need a photo, they also couldn’t afford to hire a professional to shoot a series for them.

There are thousands of struggling artists in the world, but naturally I can’t afford to give away my photos all the time.

I extend the offer to people I really like. The people behind the work are more important than the work itself. I am a storyteller, and those always have their root in people. It ties into combining Kindness and Hard Work as well. The people I help are genuinely grateful, and they tend to remember me later. In the past this has led to referrals, more work (some of it still for free), friendships and collaborations. And with each and every shoot comes inspiration and learning, and that’s the real pay-off.

A couple of people I have photographed have later gone on to have some success, which hasn’t made me rich (nor would I dream of taking credit for their success, which had everything to do with their own hard work) but it’s gotten me lots of really cool, fun experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Giving away my work also gives me a sense of applying my talent where it matters. That’s a very direct and fulfilling thing. I’ve met naysayers who claim one of two things: it’s undermining “the industry”, and you’re killing yourself for nothing. To those I say, you don’t get it. I’m not doing this for business – not directly anyway. I’m doing it because it’s who I am, how I was raised and it’s what I love doing.

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This is inspired by a post on Black Star Rising, about two recent job-posting for photographers. The short version: one job offered no compensation other than credit (this posted by a PR-firm on behalf of a “high-profile” client). After having written three paragraphs for a comment, I decided instead to post my thoughts here.

It is of course preposterous for a company to “hire” any type of creative talent for credit only. If you’re small fry and have no budget but can do some trade, that’s one thing. That happens all the time, especially among small businesses, and it can be mutually beneficial. I’m talking about clients that until some time in the last decade, would never have thought twice about paying full price, but who now expect your work for little to no compensation.

Say no to clients like that. Refer them to microstock, where they will have a better time finding photos that fit that kind of budget. Don’t slave for clients. If you’re going to slave for anyone, do it for yourself – build your own stock photography portfolio, or whatever tickles your creative fancy. As long as you do it well.

It’s about confidence, professionalism and having the know-how to back it all up.

There IS a market for photographers with the skills listed above, a niche and the ability to tell a good client from a bad one. But, you still have to be willing to work hard – at times for nothing – to get to the point where you can afford to be picky. It’s like that in all creative industries from acting and writing to graphic design and photography. With the increased availability of inexpensive technology, amateurs flood the market with mediocre products, driving down the price on low to mid-range projects. The freelancers and small studios are the first to feel this crunch, as their clients start using amateur prices as bargaining points.

This is where, if you consider yourself a professional, you have to show the client that you are worth paying for. Show them what the difference is between you and the amateur. It’s like the web designer who must convince her small business client to pick her over the client’s nephew, who – using a downloaded copy of Dreamweaver – will “do the same work for a fraction of the price”. But it’s not the same work, and the designer has to be able to show that or lose the bid. Photographers have to show, that their work is not the same as that of someone’s uncle who happens to have an expensive DSLR with a big lens.

There will always be people willing to work for free and clients who won’t pay what the work is worth. It’s pointless to complain about. Instead it should motivate you to get focused and set yourself apart. Adapt or be destroyed, that’s how it is in any business. For decades, photographers had it good, but now that the mystery of “creating a photograph” is all but gone, the nature of the industry has changed.

You have to specialize and build a reputation in just a couple of areas (eg. weddings and seniors, architecture and landscapes, fashion and glamour). Pick the one you love the most, because you’ll be competing against others who love it too, and that will show in the work. If you half-ass it, that’s what you will end up as. Some niches are harder to compete in than others, so research is required. I’m not telling you to give up on your dreams if they happen to be in a field that is highly competitive. Just be realistic about it and plan accordingly.

As I see it, the value is not so much in the work itself, as in the ideas and personality behind it. Anyone can take a photo, but only you can make it look like one of your photos. So, make your clients want you. If they want you, they will pay. If they just want some schmuck with a camera, tell them to go to hell. Work for free if it’s for a cause you want to support, but never work purely for the promise of future opportunity. Getting paid is so much more fun.

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One of the most inspiring things to me, is to connect to other creative people. It doesn’t matter which kind of creativity, really. It’s about the need to make things, tell stories and doing what you love. Another Passion is my latest ongoing project. It’s a collection of mostly interviews with diversely talented people who are each following their own passion. The blog officially launched in January 2010 with an interview with Tracy Record, who runs a very successful hyperlocal news site.

My plan is to use Another Passion as a muse and motivator, as well as a way of networking locally.

Each interview I write for Another Passion is accompanied by a few portraits. I have made it a rule for myself that all the featured photography must be shot specifically for the content. As much as I love to write, I am also a photographer after all and showcasing my work is important. Also, to take photos I have to meet people face to face, in an age where it would be easier to do the entire interview through e-mail or IM.

The offline aspect adds much more than just the photos, of course. A real handshake and being able to read facial expressions and body language takes it to another level, both in terms of the interview and the networking value. I am much more likely to keep up with people I have had a face-to-face conversation with, next to someone I only know through the web.

Has it generated direct photography business for me? No, not yet. But the blog is still new and I’m confident that it will lead to the occasional client referral down the road. I’ll be happy to settle for the inspiration and satisfaction of simply running Another Passion though, and I don’t use the interviews to pitch my photography services. That has to come organically.

I hope you’ll enjoy Another Passion and find some inspiration through the stories of other creatives. There is also a separate Twitter account for this project. Follow @anotherpassion.

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The headshot event was a success. That’s the most important thing, I have to say about it, so I’ll say it first. In one day, I happily serviced about 50 people, taking their portrait, so they could use it on LinkedIn, Facebook, with their acting agent or where ever a headshot might come in handy. It took me a while to write this final post about it, simply because I wanted to finish it first. Which I have. All the photos have been retouched and e-mailed out to the participants.

I originally offered 100 free headshots and later raised that number to 120, but I was happy to see that on the day of, there were no enormous lines, no chaos and thus, no catastrophes. Instead, there was a small initial rush of people who had been waiting around, followed by a slow trickle. Much more along the lines of what I had originally imagined, rather than the craziness I had feared, after news of the event had been on television.

I brought two assistants with me, Kelly handled sign-up, answered people’s questions and was my representative, while I was busy shooting. Justin took care of herding people, ran communication between me and Kelly, and stood by to jump in where ever needed. Once the initial rush was over, I could have probably done it with one helper, but again, I had no idea how many would come, and I was happy to be covered.

I set up two monolights and a fold-out muslin background on a tiny stage at the coffee shop. Behind the muslin were two windows, which we covered in paper, and to shield the shooting station from prying eyes, we also set up a roll of seamless paper as a wall along the side. By positioning the key light opposite of the white paper wall, that also doubled as a reflector.

I decided to handle the process of the photos like this: Each subject got 5-10 frames. I did not give people the option to pick their own photo, simply because the logistics of that would be overwhelming, and I would end up spending way too much time on the project. So, I picked what I deemed the best shot in each case. Photoshopping began with a rough RAW-processing, which I copied from one image to all of them. Then came the painstaking task of finalizing each image.

After tweaking the copy/pasted RAW adjustments, I then softened lines and deep wrinkles, particularly on the women, several of whom told me straight up, that they were worried about this. I also boosted the contrast using a pulled-back overlay layer, tweaked colors further to match the individual skin tones, and removed blemishes, zits and skin flakes. What I did not do, was to drastically alter the look of the person in front of the camera. If the hair was all over the place, I did not try to fix it. If there was a mole on the cheek, I did not remove it (though I did make sure it cast no harsh shadows). In other words, I cleaned up without changing anything. It took me two full days to process all the photos.

All in all, the charity headshot event cost me about a week’s worth of work and a few hundred bucks. Money was primarily spent on the muslin background and various signs, prints and accessories. Kelly deserves huge credit here, taking care of all the signage, including a customized ticket system with a print release on the back, and everything needed to keep the event organized.

I want to make it painfully clear, that I did not do this to get media attention. In fact, I never sent out a single press release. The only media I contacted directly was West Seattle Blog, who helped me pinpoint the venue for the event. However, my reasons for doing the headshots were not entirely selfless.

Part of it was to promote the 12 Seattleites project, which I have picked up again, now that the headshots are done. I needed to get the word out about this project to attract more volunteer subjects, and though I have yet to determine the degree of success with that, it did attract a few new names to my pool of potentials. And if the headshot event ends up attracting me a few paying clients too, I’m certainly not going to turn them away.

As a sidenote, it was kind of funny that three networks showed up to cover the event. Total overkill, considering its smallness, but if the news-reports can inspire others to give a little back as well, then it will have been worth it (see the report from Q13 Fox below). And on a related note, check out the Help Portrait project, launched right after I finished the headshots. The two are not related, except in spirit.

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The recession has meant that a large number of people have lost their jobs, and it occurred to me that many of these new job seekers would probably like to have a nice head shot of themselves to attach to linkedin profiles and similar. However, being unemployed also means not having a ton of cash to spend on frivolous things like photographers. So, I decided to give it away.

I found an ally in a local coffee shop, C & P Coffee Co., big enough to let me set up a small shooting station without laying claim to the entire café. The same venue already hosted a support group of people helping each other find new jobs, so throwing my charity project into the mix was a perfect fit.

When I’ve presented this project to others, most have been nothing but supportive and encouraging. The most common question I’ve received goes along the lines of: What’s in it for you?

Besides the feeling of having done some good for my local community, I’ll also be talking to a lot of people during the shooting, passing out as many business cards as I can. Basically, I’m advertising my services as a photographer, but of course, I will also be mentioning my other local project, the 12 Seattleites series, for which I still need more, good subjects.

Another question I’ve gotten a few times is: How do you know people won’t just come for a free headshot even if they are not unemployed? The answer is that I don’t know. I rely on people’s decency not to abuse my donated time, but at the same time, I actually encourage people to use the free portrait on social media sites etc. After all, I know people who have gotten jobs that way, so why not?

With so many people supporting the idea, it was very easy to set it up. If the session is a hit, I might consider doing it again. At this point, I want to thank C & P Coffee Co., West Seattle Blog, Nick Finck and Venkat Balasubramani for their help.

The Charity Head Shot Session is scheduled for August 25th at 11am. For this first-time trial run, I am limiting my sign-up sheet to 100 names. First come, first serve and all must be 18 years or older.

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One of the greatest dangers of working alone, is that you are working alone. There is no one there to crack the whip or hold the carrot, so it is up to you to find your own motivation and inspiration.

There are many tools and websites to help you with this. You can use GTD, project management, celebratory trips to the local [insert frivolous business of your choice], social networking and more, to keep yourself going. All have their pros and cons, but in my experience, none are as rewarding as having an actual real life creative partner.

By partner, I don’t necessarily mean someone that you work with directly. Working side by side with another creative professional, can be just as (if not more) inspiring. Not only is it someone to bounce your ideas off of (after all, a facial expression says more than any direct tweet ever could), but simply observing your partner will get your own creative juices flowing.

I am lucky, that I live with food photographer and stylist, Kelly Cline, who not only is a culinary mastermind, but also a person with a mind that never rests. Sure, I have to listen to all her recipe ideas, gardening plans, baking experiments and none of it really interests me per se. But her passion does. It spills over into her photography, and it makes me listen and watch, until it it rubs off in the form of inspiration and motivation. I think this is actually strengthened by the fact, that though we both share a love of photography, our respective niches and approaches are completely different.

If you work in a creative environment, surrounded by others who are experts in their field, you are lucky. It has a completely different effect than meeting up after work over a drink, because when working, you will be in your element, just like your partner will be in hers. That generates a different kind of understanding, not only of the people involved, but of the projects they are working on. And this is where you might strike gold.

I realize that not everyone is as lucky as I am, when it comes to having a live-in genius/muse by your side. However, there are other ways to cultivate a creative partnership. Some people work in communal spaces, so they get the feeling of having co-workers (plus it’s great for networking). Others set up sessions at their own homes, offices or studios, arrange photo walks and so on. There are plenty of ways to go about it, and there really is no substitute.

So turn off your Twitter, look your personal muse in the eye and ask: ‘What are you working on these days?’. You might be surprised.

Photo credit: Kelly Cline

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