Every so often, I post over at the blog of my agent, Black Star. My most recent post is - "In Both the Craft and Business of Photography, Practice Makes Perfect". I come across so many photographers who seem to think good things should just happen to them — and if they don’t, it’s their “bad luck.”
To that, I counter with one of my favorite sayings, by the Roman philosopher Seneca: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Even the Declaration of Independence doesn’t promise you happiness. It only says you have a right to pursue happiness. That’s very different; it puts the responsibility on you to make it happen.
When it comes to your photography business, that means professional success and fulfillment are up to you.
Continue reading at Black Star Rising.
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In Sunday's Washington Post, and I'm sure many other papers across the country, A photograph of the President making his weekly radio address ran. It was credited to the Associated Press. Others, no doubt, were credited Reuters, AFP, Getty, and numerous others. Yet, none of these media outlets were there to cover the President making his remarks, they were not invited, and requests to cover this weekly Presidential event are denied. Why? 
So, a couple of days ago I found myself in a somewhat unusual place (for me), in a studio listening to a Megadeth concert and interview. I was somewhat familiar with Dave Mustane, and was duly impressed with his business accumen.
What do you do when you've been disgraced from your job altering 79 photographs (revealed so far), and are fired? Turn to what was your hobby - Storm Chasing. So was the path that disgraced Toledo Blade staff photographer Allan Detrich followed as he, the phoenix, temporarily rose from the ashes when he found himself in the middle of the aftermath of the Kansas tornado disaster. (oh, and note the "Courtesy of" photo credit that appeared on the front page of CNN.com)
Reuters has put forth it’s 
More than one person was kind enough to alert me to an interesting article about microstock and Corbis and their soon to be new CEO. In today’s New York Times article by Katie Hafner, 
Brochure? Sales Sheet? What’s the Difference?
One of the things I have long held in high regard is my relationship with my agency - Black Star. They are a true photo agency, looking out for the best interests of their photographers, as opposed to those of Wall Street investors. Fair rates are secured, rights packages are licensed, and so on. They have had a blog running for awhile, Black Star Rising, and they've asked me to contribute to it (and I've created my own graphic to illustrate that). So, from time to time, I'll be posting over there, and encourage you to hop on over to the article that I wrote there instead of perusing it here. There are a bunch of other interesting articles to read there as well. The link for the article on the importance of marking up one's costs is: