As Wonderful Machine’s Partnerships Manager, it’s my job to build relationships with all sorts of blogs, publications, podcasts, associations, equipment manufacturers, and other organizations in our industry. Our Partnership efforts have two components: sharing industry information and publicizing our member photographers. Often we can accomplish both as we source from our extensive database of photographers to serve as experts in the articles that we republish.
March was a successful month for our strategic partnerships as we had several articles circulate through the online photography world, two presentations, and an introductory call with a nationally recognized photography association.
At the end of February, Wonderful Machine executive producer Craig Oppenheimer and marketing specialist Marianne Lee sat down with Cinnicinati-Ohio, based food and beverage photographer Teri Campbell to talk about how he’s been incorporating AI into his commercial work. The hour-long interview was published on our YouTube page with over 100 views, and we also wrote up an accompanying article, featuring several clips from the interview.
As AI is such a hot topic — both in and beyond the photography industry — a number of other platforms responded positively to the article and immediately republished it on their websites.
Our article about Teri also got the attention of the Professional Photographers of America. With over 35,000 members, PPA is one of the biggest photographer associations in the world and a large portion of its members are commercial photographers. We had a call with their director of strategic alliances to discuss how we might collaborate in the future.
Many of our staff members have years of experience in the photo industry, and are often asked to speak at events where they can share their wealth of knowledge. Senior Producer Bryan Sheffield recently made a trip to Fall’s Church, Virginia to give a presentation on Pricing & Negotiating for NPPA’s Northern Short Course 2023.
Bryan had this to say about attending the event:
The chair of the Northern Short Course reached out to me and Wonderful Machine about speaking at their annual Northern Short Course. This year the conference was to be held at the Westin Tyson’s Corner hotel in Falls Church, VA just outside of DC. I gave an hour long presentation on Pricing & Negotiating for Commercial & Editorial Photography and had some great questions afterwards for about 30 minutes that continued into the hotel hallways and lounge. The attendees, mostly early and mid-career photographers, had plenty of questions regarding appropriate fees, how to manage licenses, copyrights, as well as marketing themselves to larger clients.
Last month, our producer Andrew Souders had the opportunity to meet with photographer and professor Tom Sanders and his Photo Business class at The Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD) over Zoom.
Andrew put together a slideshow covering Wonderful Machine’s origin story, how we help photographers and clients, and a tour of our blog, including our Case Study and Expert Advice blog articles. Andrew also covered some best business practices to keep in mind as they grow their careers. He had this to say about the presentation:
The students and Professor Sanders had some excellent questions during and after the presentation, and it was clear that the class was inquisitive and hungry for knowledge to help them in their futures after SCAD. In addition to the presentation, we provided Tom and his students with free access to all of our Premium Data, giving them an edge as they continue their studies and begin to research clients, resources, agents, production crew, and other professional photographers.
For over last ten years now, we’ve been lucky to have a partnership with the photography blog aPhotoEditor. Every month they republish a Pricing & Negotiating article, contributed by one of our producers. We break down an estimate negotiated between the photographer and a client (redacting all the names), and help explain how the two parties reached a successful agreement.
One type of content we’re always excited to share is our Expert Advice articles, where we cover important topics of interest to photographers. In March, our CEO Bill Cramer’s article Wealth Management and Financial Literacy for Photographers was featured in AI-PI‘s blog, Pro Photo Daily.
Pro Photo Daily also shared one of our recent Photographer Spotlight articles about Vancouver-based Kyrani Kanavaros, whose work on a campaign supporting healthcare workers in Canada was written about on our Published blog by publicist Sankha Wanigasekara.
DIYphotography is a great place for photographers at all levels to source information to help with their business and craft, and this month they shared our Exeprt Advice article aimed at helping photographers enter photo contests and receive grants.
Further Reading
Revolutionizing Photography: Teri Campbell Experiments with AI
Pricing & Negotiating: Marketing Materials for a Medical Device/Software Manufacturer
Expert Advice: Wealth Managment and Financial Literacy for Photographers
A Public Plea: Kyrani Kanavaros for Canada’s Premiers
Expert Advice: A Guide to Photo Contests and Grants
Have questions about how we promote our photographers? Check out our Membership page. Want to know how you can get the most out of your Wonderful Machine membership? Check out our Jumpstart page or just reach out!