Over the last several years, a whole transition has been underway in my work, about how I see and present myself as a pro. With a heavy newspaper background, I have struggled to truly redefine myself in the larger world as it became clear that newspaper work was destined for my rearview.
Surrounding me are people who specialize in many things, things that I thought I would have to start doing in order to get a piece of the pie. Things that just do not inspire me as a visual artist or a journalist.
I pressed forward dabbling in this and that, only sometimes feeling like what I worked with resonated with my inner creative.
Along the way, I learned to teach photography and improved my skills with architecture and artificial lighting. I was finding ways to continue growing.
And then, one day it became clear.
It took a couple clients with the right kind of job to help me see it.
I realized, I do not have to completely relearn what I do and throw out the thing I love most, telling stories about people with photographs. It is what I have spent my career learning to do well and what I had continued to do for several clients.
Everyone has a story to tell, individuals, organizations and businesses, and they need their stories told visually by someone who has honed that discipline with passion, artistry and effectiveness.
I never needed to change what I do, only needed to recognize another vast market.
This realization came with some others. J-school taught nothing about business or marketing (we were all going to work at NP’s and magazines, who needed these other skills??). Many of us artists have had to put in our own efforts to correct this shortcoming.
When it comes to marketing, presentation is as important as the work. If you do not reach potential clients with the initial presentation of who you are, they will not see the great work you bring to the table.
It may not be fair, but if potential clients do not move past the landing page of your website, “fair,” will only be the place where you go to eat cotton candy and corndogs then get on that ride that spins until you feel sick.
I suspected this may be a problem in my business, an older, clunky website that is hard to use, and does not do enough to truly showcase my best work.
As if to confirm this suspicion, a few months back, a friend and client referred another potential client to my old .net site. After taking a look, the potential client told this friend, “ I am so glad that you recommended I look, otherwise I would not have made the effort to see that his work is great. The site is so hard to use.”
And so, as I approach my 20th anniversary as a professional, (Aug 29th to be exact) and begin to truly emerge from a crucible of change in my career, I am today presenting the new face of my business, D’Elia Photographic at www.deliaphotographic.com.
You will find a mix of my familiar and new international and local work, in portraiture and storytelling with great light and moving moments. You will see work that is effective and versatile for many types of commercial and editorial projects.
You will note that these are not purely people. During this transition and even before, my skills, inspirations and clients have never been limited to that of photographing just people and this collection represents more of what I bring to the table as a professional.
One thing that at the moment you will not see is the fourth portfolio. I encourage return visits to the site as I have reserved this space for recent projects such as new overseas work and for other images I love that I want to share.
I am more pleased than ever with that which represents my work and business on the web, and hope that it inspires you whether you are a friend, colleague or client to go out and make a nice image or better yet ask me to do it for you!
Surrounding me are people who specialize in many things, things that I thought I would have to start doing in order to get a piece of the pie. Things that just do not inspire me as a visual artist or a journalist.I pressed forward dabbling in this and that, only sometimes feeling like what I worked with resonated with my inner creative.
Along the way, I learned to teach photography and improved my skills with architecture and artificial lighting. I was finding ways to continue growing.
And then, one day it became clear.
It took a couple clients with the right kind of job to help me see it.
I realized, I do not have to completely relearn what I do and throw out the thing I love most, telling stories about people with photographs. It is what I have spent my career learning to do well and what I had continued to do for several clients.
Everyone has a story to tell, individuals, organizations and businesses, and they need their stories told visually by someone who has honed that discipline with passion, artistry and effectiveness.
I never needed to change what I do, only needed to recognize another vast market.
This realization came with some others. J-school taught nothing about business or marketing (we were all going to work at NP’s and magazines, who needed these other skills??). Many of us artists have had to put in our own efforts to correct this shortcoming.
When it comes to marketing, presentation is as important as the work. If you do not reach potential clients with the initial presentation of who you are, they will not see the great work you bring to the table.
It may not be fair, but if potential clients do not move past the landing page of your website, “fair,” will only be the place where you go to eat cotton candy and corndogs then get on that ride that spins until you feel sick.
I suspected this may be a problem in my business, an older, clunky website that is hard to use, and does not do enough to truly showcase my best work.
As if to confirm this suspicion, a few months back, a friend and client referred another potential client to my old .net site. After taking a look, the potential client told this friend, “ I am so glad that you recommended I look, otherwise I would not have made the effort to see that his work is great. The site is so hard to use.”
And so, as I approach my 20th anniversary as a professional, (Aug 29th to be exact) and begin to truly emerge from a crucible of change in my career, I am today presenting the new face of my business, D’Elia Photographic at www.deliaphotographic.com.
You will find a mix of my familiar and new international and local work, in portraiture and storytelling with great light and moving moments. You will see work that is effective and versatile for many types of commercial and editorial projects.
You will note that these are not purely people. During this transition and even before, my skills, inspirations and clients have never been limited to that of photographing just people and this collection represents more of what I bring to the table as a professional.
One thing that at the moment you will not see is the fourth portfolio. I encourage return visits to the site as I have reserved this space for recent projects such as new overseas work and for other images I love that I want to share.
I am more pleased than ever with that which represents my work and business on the web, and hope that it inspires you whether you are a friend, colleague or client to go out and make a nice image or better yet ask me to do it for you!
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