The importance of marketing

[Jonbar18]

So, this all started when google+ recommended Jared Polin to me. Aside from watching a few of his videos on Youtube, I knew very little about who his is, his work, etc etc. So I decided to explore and found two of his sites-one where he recommended and reviewed gear, a couple technical things, and a whole lot of mumbo jumbo. The other was his music photography site, which had a small portfolio, with typical photos of people on stage. Off to Flickr, where he has a large photostream. a quick look over the first two pages and a couple sets reveals more "good" photos. Not really much special, which is weird, since he is a very popular photographer.
Then I went to Ken Rockwell's site. No matter how controversial you may find him, there is no doubt he is quite famous, as far as photographers go. Off to his gallery, where once again, I see a whole bunch of "good" photographs, and couple "great" photographs, but still, very little to call amazing.

I just found it interesting how to very famous photographers don't actually create a lot of outstanding pictures (or don't share them, which is even worse). Certainly not enough to get them that level of popularity, so they must have some damn good marketing skills. Just goes to show that photography isn't the only important aspect of photography.

Anyways, just a thought I had that I felt like sharing, but while we're at it, anyone have any similar stories (or tips) to share?

[NathanFranke]

That photographer who just sold the World's Most Expensive Photograph (TM)--anyone ever hear of him before last week?

Also, mediocre photograph. Hmm...you may be on to something here.

[Liz Caldwell]

Just goes to show, the more you shoot, the more amazing shots you'll produce. Not everything has to be a gem, but if you keep at it, one of them is bound to be.

[nickbedford]

I followed Jared Polin's videos when I was starting out and thought he was so cool and all that but now I kinda realise that his work is not that spectacular. It's a good site to learn the basics from but, that's probably it.

He's a great photographer, and has a lot of character and can take a mean photo but I think I've sorta moved on and found inspiration with more creative/conceptual photographers who work with lighting and such. His Fro Knows Photo stuff is probably more aimed for people starting out anyway.

Ken Rockwell is lolworthy.

Some of the photographers I follow are Joe McNally, Joey L, Jeremy Cowart and Aaron Nace. They do a lot of lit portraits and composition/creative/commercial portraits which is where I'm steering towards.

[Jonbar18]

Originally Posted by nickbedford

I followed Jared Polin's videos when I was starting out and thought he was so cool and all that but now I kinda realise that his work is not that spectacular. It's a good site to learn the basics from but, that's probably it.

He's a great photographer, and has a lot of character but I think I've sorta moved on and found inspiration with more creative/conceptual photographers who work with lighting and such. His Fro Knows Photo stuff is probably more aimed for people starting out anyway.

Ken Rockwell is lolworthy.

Some of the photographers I follow are Joe McNally, Joey L, Jeremy Cowart and Aaron Nace. They do a lot of lit portraits and composition/creative/commercial portraits which is where I'm steering towards.

He's [Jared] a good photographer, and a good resource when starting about, but if you really think about it, his actual work isn't anything special.
Ken Rockwell is DEFINITELY lolworthy, but he must be doing something right, if he's that famous (any publicity is goo publicity, right)
Rehotographers--my point exactly. They're all GREAT photographers, but I've never heard of them till now (well actually Inkista linked to Joey L yesterday so...). It's not enough just to be good. I''m more into landscapes, so I follow Colby Brown, Patrick Di Fruscia, Dylan Toh, Craig Ferguson, and a few others. All great, but I doubt most of them (Colby Brown is pretty popular) are virtually unknown.

[thegarageblog]

My photo mentor was considered one of the world's top Formula 1 shooters in the 70's and 80's. He is very quick to point out that he was never more than an average photographer. More importantly, he know how to market himself to potential clients. That and he had a great eye for the human side of racing.

I didn't start shooting until about 4 years ago and I'm 44 now. I consider myself very lucky to be earning a good chunk of my living from my photos, considering that technically I am probably not even an average shooter. Even more than marketing, I feel it is all about relationship building.

[KongeTorsk]

Originally Posted by nickbedford

Ken Rockwell is lolworthy.

Never heard of him until now.

My first thoughts were, "What am I even looking at?"

He can't even do the "You could have taken that shot but you didn't," argument because I did like 2+ years ago and then trashed it when I got home.

[kelleyrie]

Well the tons of 'photographers' I see on facebook with really bad photos and hundreds of 'likes' and a new contest every week definitely prove that marketing has its place in the business world

[Peach]

I had no idea who Ken Rockwell was - but I have been to his site before for reviews of lenses and whatnot. Didn't realize he was like "famous."

[milosh]

I see that happening online every day, mediocre photographers advertise themselves and get extra attention while some great ones get little.

Some of the landscape photographers I find inspiring are Guy Tal, Seung Kye Lee, Geoff Schmid, Chip Philips, Koveh Tavakkol, and Miles Morgan.

Some of the others are Leslie Thomson, Ky Shobert, Kalie Garrett, and so on...