Throughout the year, we’ve been proud to partner with some incredible creatives–photographers, mentors, and industry experts–for a series of informative webinars on a range of topics from business and marketing to storytelling in sports photography, live portfolio reviews, and more.

We want to share with you some of the most important tips and insights from the virtual discussions. Our guest speakers have continued to provide valuable insight to our passionate and curious photo community.

Get inspired by these key takeaways and be motivated to continue to move forward in 2023.

Calculating your Cost of Doing business

Have you heard of NPPA’s Cost of Doing Business Calculator? This tool is designed to help photographers and photojournalists track and accurately calculate their business expenses.

We were joined by Greg Smith at the start of the year. He is a member of ASMP Colorado as well as a former member of the national board of the NPPA. Greg shared his vast knowledge of photography and the costs involved in running a freelance business.

His presentation included a detailed overview of this tool that we have come to rely on over the years. This calculator has a variety of benefits.

• This feature allows photographers to track and monitor their business expenses easily, helping them to better manage their finances.
• Understanding the costs of running a business can help photographers to set realistic prices and budgets and make informed choices about their future.

Documenting Action and Emotion in Sports Photography Like a Professional

Sports photography is a community of talented, passionate and supportive creatives. Jean Fruth has been a legend in the sports photography industry for many years. We’ll be taking every opportunity to learn from and hear her wisdom.

Jean describes in this webinar highlights how sports photography can be so much more than just freezing a moment of excitement as it happens. The art of storytelling is a key component in connecting fans, followers, and athletes with sports culture on a local or global level. It’s also easy and seamless with the latest technology and photo gear.

“Good photos don’t require captions; they tell the whole story.”

Abbie Parr, Staff Photographer at the Associated Press, spoke to us about the advantages of networking with other sports photographers and getting acquainted with the community.

Abbie’s advice was to embrace the chance to shake hands and answer questions. Knowledge sharing can open up new job opportunities and help develop a community and sense of support in the industry.

A network of contacts can provide endless opportunities for photographers to learn about the latest trends and technologies. This network helps to establish and maintain professional relationships that are crucial to building a career in a highly competitive field.

How to find your way as a photographer on social media

We hosted the first-ever live discussion in Twitter Spaces this year! This is not a traditional webinar, but it’s still a highlight.

Polly Irungu is the Photo Editor of Vice President Kamala Harris and the founder of Black Women Photographers. She joined us for a discussion on how to find and build community in social media. This can be a rewarding and challenging experience for photographers.

One part of the discussion we found particularly interesting was the idea of taking some time off social media and disconnecting from the constant stream of notifications.

It is important to take time away from social media in order to reduce distractions, improve focus and allow photographers more time for their creative work. This also limits the competition and comparison with other creatives and photographers, which can cause stress and anxiety.

Polly left us this gem when she chimed in:

Brayden Williams, Indiana-based Photographer/Videographer for the Purdue for Life Foundation, also joined us on Twitter Spaces and shared his advice for making the most impact on social media.

He is a very community-oriented person, sharing creative prompts with photographers. Then he retweets their work to the world. Learn about his daily Twitter threads by checking out his feed.

This (previously live) portfolio review with Chris Parkes was conducted by the award-winning visual storytelling expert and PhotoShelter Mentor. He spent an hour going through several photo submissions and discussing the importance of objective criticism.

In the highlighted section below, he offers insight into what makes an image successful and how you can improve your portrait by using proper posing and composition, lighting, and your surroundings.

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PhotoShelter & Photo Mechanic Work Together to Streamline Your Workflow

You’re a professional photographer, and you may not know about Photo Mechanic. Get ready to change the way you work. We spoke with Mick Orlosky, Director of Marketing at Camera Bits, to find out more about the application.

Photo Mechanic’s code replacements tool is one of its key features. It allows photographers to add metadata tags quickly and easily to their photos. This allows photographers to streamline their workflow by organizing their photos according to specific tags.

Code Replacements can be used by a photographer to add a caption to their photo that includes the date, the location, or, if applicable, identifies a specific subject. This makes it easier for them to find and organize photos in the future.

Code Replacements makes it easy for you to add captions and metadata quickly. This is particularly useful for people who work in a large team or are involved in collaborative projects.

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Carl Jones, II, a freelance photographer and PhotoShelter Member, also loves Photo Mechanic. In the same session, he walked through his workflow for transferring images from Photo Mechanic to PhotoShelter. He also showed us how he collaborates with clients using these tools.

Carl can organize and upload his photos in a PhotoShelter Gallery, send them via Clientproofing, and add keywords to Photo Mechanic before delivering the work.