{"id":1028,"date":"2013-04-02T20:18:31","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T00:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=1028"},"modified":"2015-07-22T14:45:12","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T18:45:12","slug":"willie-sutton-bank-robber-as-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/?p=1028","title":{"rendered":"Willie Sutton- Bank Robber as Photographer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The famed bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks?\u00a0 <\/em>He is oft quoted as answering, “Because that’s where the money is<\/em>“.\u00a0Simple enough, but profound enough that in the medical industry it\u2019s known as \u201cSutton\u2019s Law\u201d<\/a>. It states that when diagnosing, one should first consider the obvious. Easy enough, but many photographers simply don\u2019t think to follow this simple bank robber\u2019s mantra. Here are some suggestions from us as to where\u00a0Mr. Sutton would look for money today if he was a photographer, rather than a bank robber.<\/p>\n

With so many photographers looking for clients and jobs there is simply\u00a0no more “low hanging fruit” out there. You know, jobs that are just sitting there waiting to be picked off. Not gonna happen. Photographers (and their agents) in their search for income sources all too frequently stay\u00a0concentrated\u00a0on the\u00a0traditional sources of clients with budgets.\u00a0They look for the \u201csame old\u201d in the same old places. They often fail to read the Wall Street Journal, Barrons and similar reliable sources of business\u00a0news. The\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average\u00a0is currently at record highs, in fact it hit a new high just today. \u00a0Many businesses\u00a0simply can’t claim\u00a0(with a straight face) that money for advertising and\u00a0promotion is not available. While companies are generally not hiring employees at anywhere near the rates that their reported profits would seem to suggest, they are also not just putting their money into mattresses. They are smart enough to put their money into advertising and promotion.<\/p>\n

While there is plenty of bad news in the photo world, photographers are actually optimistic for the coming year, as shown by Photoshelter\u2019s recent photographer\u2019s survey<\/a>. It says 73% of the photographers responding think the coming year will be better than last year. More telling is that 98% (that\u2019s like everyone) say that they are pursuing secondary areas beyond their primary niche.\u00a0 The fact is that there are now more platforms, venues and places\u00a0for the use of professional photography than ever before.\u00a0\u00a0The industries, businesses and sectors which are\u00a0now thriving, and those that\u00a0are predicted by the business pundits to boom over the next few years, deserve your attention.\u00a0Otherwise join the 27% that walk around in a circle and repeating the mantra \u201cwoe is me, woe is me\u201d. \u00a0Better to expand your view and join the 73% that see a brighter future.<\/p>\n

Below is a list derived from\u00a0a compilation of articles and references appearing in over a dozen business publications,\u00a0newspapers and general circulation magazines.\u00a0 The industries\/sectors are listed in no particular order and each was referenced by at least two<\/em> mainstream publications.<\/p>\n

Internet publishing and broadcasting (up 33% since 2001), generic pharmaceuticals, elder care, retirement planning services, Hispanic foods and\u00a0condiments, large general merchandise\u00a0stores which sell basic foods and necessities at low prices, employment services, for profit colleges and technical schools, sales and installation of\u00a0“green” building materials including solar panels, video gaming and business consultation services of all kinds.<\/p>\n

As stated, these are not low hanging fruit, but rather opportunities if you look close and sometimes out of the box. As example:
\nCarnival Cruises has taken yet another PR hit (if you\u2019ve been hiding under a rock the last few months, do a Google search for Carnival Cruise disasters), yet\u00a0over the last few decades the cruise industry has\u00a0built and\u00a0put into service several hundred ships with capacities ranging up to 5,000 passengers per ship.\u00a0Cruising is now\u00a0a 40 billion dollar industry in the US alone. About 13 million Americans took a cruise in 2012 and the industry directly supports 320,000 jobs in\u00a0just the\u00a0United States. We know photographers that are in the \u201coptimist\u201d column because of the cruise lines they have as clients.<\/p>\n

Almost every\u00a0cruise ship features a casino, which segues to another industry, the gaming industry (Ed\u2019s personal favorite). \u00a0Today there are 450 casinos\u00a0in the U.S. alone.\u00a0(Add to that figure over 100\u00a0horse racing tracks). The several hundred cruise ships, race tracks\u00a0and casinos\u00a0share some common traits which ought be of interest to all photographers looking for clients and new fertile fields.<\/p>\n

Casinos, race tracks and cruise ships all\u00a0contain restaurants, fast food outlets, retail stores of every description and price point, related leisure\/recreational facilities (golf, skiing, spas) and rooms for guests.\u00a0 Casinos and cruise ships are constantly<\/em> remodeling and are heavily competing with their rivals for every dollar.\u00a0 This means frequent\u00a0renovations and makeovers\u00a0to restaurants, room decors and ambiance.\u00a0These businesses must relentlessly promote, stay “fresh”\u00a0or\u00a0be eaten by their competition.<\/p>\n

What does this mean to you?\u00a0Simply that stock photography cannot be employed to illustrate the unique features of a given casino, hotel, race track\u00a0or cruise ship.<\/p>\n

There are\u00a0thousands of guest\u00a0rooms and common areas that\u00a0require wall art or photography. These industries simply cannot advertise or promote themselves without current\u00a0imagery regardless of platform.<\/p>\n

These are just two industries and sectors as an example. You ought to make the effort to research these and others to add more of them to your current client list.\u00a0According to the numbers, the money is there. Good luck…seriously, good luck.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The famed bank robber Willie Sutton was asked why he robbed banks?\u00a0 He is oft quoted as answering, “Because that’s where the money is“.\u00a0Simple enough, but profound enough that in the medical industry it\u2019s known as \u201cSutton\u2019s Law\u201d. It states that when diagnosing, one should first consider the obvious. Easy enough, but many photographers simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151,100,21,20],"tags":[177,178,173,176,174,175,179,172],"class_list":["post-1028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-be-aware","category-in-the-news","category-stock-photography","category-stuff-you-should-know","tag-carnival-cruises","tag-casinos","tag-low-hanging-fruit","tag-photographers-survey","tag-photography-clients","tag-photoshelter","tag-racetracks","tag-willie-sutton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1028"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1500,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028\/revisions\/1500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecopyrightzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}