What is Pinterest?

Chances are good that you’ve heard of Pinterest. You may be active on it already or you may just be beginning your own boards. If you don’t know what it is, from the Pinterest site’s about page: “Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.” Pinterest is a social media and social networking platform – a mix between Facebook and Flickr, even though it’s really its own new thing.

You can ‘pin’ pictures from anywhere on the web to ‘boards’ you make for certain subjects. Right now there is no way to hide boards or block users, so be careful what you pin. If you’re brand new to Pinterest, check their help page for information on how to pin, repin or even install pinning buttons into your browser toolbar.

I myself have both personal boards and boards for professional use. My personal boards include boards for planning my wedding, what I want my wedding photos to look like, photos that I just love, clothes and style.. etc. I follow people on pinterest who use their boards for recipes, kids’ crafts, home decor.. even workout routines!

Pinterest for Photographers

Professionally, I’m using pinterest to not only gather ideas for other photos I want to shoot for my clients, but I also use it for pinning my own photos to put into the pinterest world.

My boards full of other people’s photos are for shot inspiration, product ideas to offer my clients, and prop ideas for things I want to buy or use in shots in the future. Then for marketing my own work, I have a personal favorites board I pin my own favorite photos, and a bragging board to repin my own photos that have been pinned by other users. I even follow someone who uses her boards to show off her wonderful packaging and another photographer who uses pinterest for picking out clothes for her clients and ‘styling’ their sessions for them. If you want to find your own photos being pinned, go to http://pinterest.com/source/yourdomain.com (replace yourdomain.com with your actual domain info). You can also add a ‘pin it’ button to your website so pinners can get to your photos easily.

Make sure to “pin” some of your favorite MCP Posts. If you’d like to add a ‘pin it’ button, the instructions are here. Note: If you have a wordpress blog, you need to edit the theme files and put that code where you need it in the Main Index template. This can break your site if don’t wrong, so be sure you know what you’re doing beforehand!

What to do with all that information?

1. Make pin boards for shoots you want to do. Want a Harry Potter styled session that could be the envy of Style Me Pretty if it were a wedding? Pin anything you find from around the web to bring it all together in one place where you can see what doesn’t ‘fit’ before you buy it.
2. Make a bragging board for everything people have pinned from your website. Not only can your followers see what you’ve shot, but this gives you the opportunity to put up a monthly blog bragging post linking the photos that people have pinned. Clients will love seeing their kids are so popular.  You could even host a photo session giveaway and allow people to enter via pinning a certain photo from your website.
3. Make a board for products you offer with prices. Clients could add this to their boards around the holidays for things they’re wishing for.
4. Create a coupon picture, then pin that and publish to facebook while you’re doing it. Your clients can use that coupon as well as share it by repining it.
5. Make a how-to board for pinning photos or videos of your own shoots. You can talk about what inspired the shot, how you lit it, how you set it up.. etc. I’m waiting to do this until Pinterest makes a user-blocking feature so I can keep other local photographers from knowing all of what I do.
6. Market your own photos by pinning things from your own site. Make sure you include your domain URL in the description. Most people do not change the majority if pin descriptions when repinning, so your website will go far! If you’re a wedding or pet photographer, this is doubly important because those photos really get repined a LOT.

This article was written by Heather Lickliter of Stylized Portraiture and Fairyography – Heather lives in Athens, GA with her fiance’ (John) and manx cat (Stumpy).

Enter the MCP Actions 2012 “Snag a Canon or Nikon Camera Giveaway,” sponsored by PunchTab, the world’s first instant online loyalty and rewards platform!

The winner picks between a Canon 5D MKII + 85 1.8 lens OR a Nikon D700 (Body Only).

Entering is easy!

1. Just sign up, in the entry box, with your email address and join the giveaway. This is the only step you need to do to qualify. Double check that there are no typos as this is how we will contact the winner too.
2. Earn additional entries for tweeting, sharing and liking MCP Actions. Just follow the steps in the box to earn more chances!
3. Continue to spread the word for the duration of the giveaway, on social networking sites, forums and your Blog because you’ll receive one entry for every person who clicks on the links you’ve shared,and five entries if they join the giveaway. The “punchtab.com url” or “bit.ly link” shown is unique to you. Save it for the full month and use it whenever you want to increase your chances.

Here is an example of where to find the link for number 3:

You can come back to our blog post any time to see how many entries you have accumulated.

Bonus Prize: Enter to win a $100.00 Amazon Gift Certificate.

• To sweeten the deal even more, we have this second prize for those who share on Pinterest, Stumble Upon, or in Blog post.    Spread the word on one of those two social networking sites or your blog, then come back and add a comment on our blog post telling us which of the three you did.  This entry does not enter you in or increase your chances of winning the camera giveaway, so make sure to do 1-3 as well

By entering via email, MCP Actions may use this address to contact you in the future through our mailing list and… Hopefully to say “you’re the winner!” But don’t worry, we’re anti-spam and won’t share your address with anyone else.

It’s that easy! This giveaway ends February 19 and the winner will be announced on February 21 on the MCP Blog.

While you’re visiting MCP, please check out our Photoshop Actions, Lightroom Presets, and our photo inspiration challenge: MCP Project 12.

If you are directly on the blog and do not see the “entry box” it just means too many are entering at the same time or Punchtab’s server is busy. Just check back in a few hours – the contest runs until 2/19.

During the contest duration grab your “unique URL for sharing.” It will start with a bit.ly or punchtab URL. If you do not see it, re-enter your email.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: To check the number of entries you have, re-enter your name and email address. This will NOT re-enter you so no worries. If you have any issues, contact angela@punchtab.com.

TROUBLESHOOTING: If you have questions about entering or need troubleshooting, please email angela@punchtab.com and reference the “MCP Actions Camera Giveaway.” Make sure to give her details and screen shots so she can assist you.

Thank you and GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

We love seeing your photos editing with MCP’s Photoshop actions and Lightroom presets.  After you edit your photos with MCP products, please share some of your favorite images on the MCP Facebook Wall.  With the updated Facebook Fix actions, this task is easier than ever. After preparing and watermarking your photo or before and after images, visit likemcp.com.

Follow the easy steps listed below to display your work.  We would love you to list what MCP actions or presets were used on your photos. We are excited to see more of your work – you are welcome to post images edited with any of our free or paid products.

Introducing our 2nd Version of FACEBOOK FIX. Still free but better than ever!

Facebook seems to constantly makes changes. The last update affected photographers. Facebook changed the photo dimensions and added heavy compression to uploaded images. We’ve heard from hundreds of you begging for an easy way to make your photos look better on Facebook, while protecting them from theft.

We have your solution: The updated MCP Facebook Fix.

MCP Facebook Fix prepares your images for the Web through professionally tested actions.

We include easy-to-use actions for:

• Resizing your images
• Sharpening your images
• Inserting your logo
• Adding a copyright watermark
• Showing photos side-by-side

Sharing your before and after edits and displaying your work just got easier.

What’s the catch?

You need Photoshop CS2+ or Elements 5+ to use our free gift. We don’t require for anything in return. We do hope you will start sharing your edited images on the MCP Facebook Wall more frequently.  And we would appreciate you “sharing” the news about Facebook Fix with your friends.  Remember, friends don’t let other friends upload poor quality images to Facebook!

<<< Download Facebook Fix from Our Website >>>

Facebook is changing all the time, and it’s hard to keep up.  A week ago, they made some drastic changes to the way items are displayed in news feeds.  While on the surface, the changes were to personal profiles, it actually impacted business pages negatively.  Facebook wants to deliver the most relative content to you based on their algorithms. Unfortunately, computer code doesn’t always know what’s of interest.

The MCP Fan Page noticed a drastic reduction in the number of interactions with our content.  Since this change, questions posted to create dialog between photographers barely had responses and our photography and post processing resources page was nearly silent. Other business owners noticed the same.

Posts by business pages are shown significantly less to fans on the “new Facebook.”  We discovered the reason: news feeds.  After Facebook added the “live ticker,” our posts no longer showed consistently in news feeds. If you own a business page through Facebook, the same is true for you.

Though Facebook could change again any moment, we want to educate you on how to see our content on the “new Facebook” and how you can teach others to see your information too.  Currently, the easiest way to see posts you want is to create a list on your profile.  It is easy to check instead of, or in addition to, what Facebook thinks you should read.

I will also start posting more to my personal wall, Jodi Friedman, as a result of a new addition to Facebook called “subscribers.”  I hit the cap on friends, 5,000, two years ago, and haven’t been able to approve thousands of requests.  Now you can subscribe to my posts without actually being a “friend.”  While it sounds impersonal, it is another way you can get our updates and I hope you will consider it.

To get MCP business updates, or to learn how others can get yours, here is a quick step by step guide to setting up lists.  It just takes a minute and allows you to control the content you receive!

Step 1:

Click on the Facebook logo.

Step 2:

Click “more” next to “lists.”

Step 3:

Click on the “create a list” button.

Step 4:

Name your list. In the “list name” box, type the name you want for the list. In my example, I wrote “photography.” You could call it “resources” or “favorites” or “MCP Actions” or anything you wish.

 Step 5:

Click “add friends.”

Step 6 and 7:

You can add friends or pages. To add a page, such as MCP, drop down and go to “Pages.” All the pages you like will populate. Click on the ones you want to add to this list.

Step 8:

Once selected , click “done.”

Once you have lists created, they become your new, customized “new feeds.” It does take more work than before, but this way you won’t miss the news and posts from companies and friends that are important for you. Just remember to click periodically on your lists to see what’s new. I hope this helps you and your business. Please share this posts with your fans so they can add you to their lists too.

I know most of you are photographers, and you don’t want to be writers. The truth is, though, that you need to write to run your business, especially if you maintain a blog as part of your marketing strategy. This post will provide some tips on how to keep up your writing strength.

 “Either marry your work — take it seriously and do it every day — or date it —write only when you feel like it — but know which you are doing and the repercussions of both.”
Anonymous.

I must come clean at this point: I do not blog every day.

I blame my life. It gets in the way so very often, and I must admit that there is little time left for writing after I have completed the ‘have to’ list each day. So my blog and I are definitely just dating.

But that’s OK. At this point in my life, I choose to spend more time with my young children than my blog, and I am comfortable with that choice. Things will change once my youngest is in school. But for now, things are as they are…(which is usually covered in finger paint).

So what right do I have to talk to you about writing? Well, before I had children, writing was a big part of my life, and I learned a lot during that time about writing, about how I do it, and how others approach the task. I’d like to pass on some tips that might save you some time, some effort, and some angst.

Read. Read a lot.

Great writers read a lot, and they read widely. Part of what we’re doing when we read picture books to very young children is exposing them to the rhythms of well-constructed language. We’re filling them up with vocabulary, sounds, ideas, rhythms, rhymes, all of which they will draw upon when it comes time for them to be writers themselves. (And that, dear reader, is why it is imperative that we read high quality texts to our youngest, newest readers, and not books of the ‘Dan can fan the man’ ilk!)

So as a writer, make it your habit to read. Lots. Read great fiction, great non-fiction. Look for fabulous examples of the type of writing you need to do. So if, for example, you’re working on your ‘about me’ page on your blog, you might find inspiration here.

Be deeply interested in life

“Writing is a lot easier if you have something to say.”
Sholem Asch.

I write much better if I feel passionate about my topic. Just like we ‘fill up’ our little ones when we read to them, so too we need to fill ourselves up. Live your life well. Be interested in the world. Truly connect with your clients, and you’ll always have something to say. And that something doesn’t have to be a screed of text to be great. Here’s a fabulous photography blog that is full of emotion and passion with just a few words, all expertly crafted.

Find a medium and a place that work for you.

When I was working on my PhD dissertation, I discovered that I worked best on ‘reflective’ pieces of writing when I could be ‘alone in a crowd’, so I would pack up my things and head out to a local café to write. The background noise and the brief social exchanges with staff helped me write. I enjoyed their unobtrusive company.

For analytical writing, though, I needed my home office where I could spread academic journals and text books in a fan shape around me, covering my desk, shelves and even most of the floor. I could write, read, write some more, think, and write some more without interruption.

As for the medium, most people I know prefer to type. I much prefer paper and pencil. In fact my entire dissertation — all 100,000 words of it — was written by hand in pencil on the back of scrap paper. I then actually physically cut paragraphs from one place and moved them to another, stapling them in where they needed to go.

Of course mine were the only eyes that saw my work in that state. By the time I handed in my typed and printed ‘first draft’ to my supervisor, it was actually about the second or third draft.

Allow yourself to write a really bad first draft.

A first draft is more about getting your ideas out of your head and onto paper. When you’re writing something for the first time, don’t worry about editing yourself. Just write. Allow the ideas to come freely and quickly. You might write four pages of ho-hum prose before you get to that one brilliant paragraph, which might later become the opening paragraph of your best-selling novel.

Or you might just write four pages of drivel.

Either way, it’s OK. Just write. It doesn’t have to be perfect in the first draft.

Don’t publish your work until it’s ready.

One of my favourite children’s authors, Mem Fox, took two years to write Koala Lou, and it’s only 487 words long. That’s just over four and a half words a day! Why did it take so long? Because she worked on it until she had exactly the right words in exactly the right places. And that takes time. Now I’m not suggesting that you have two years to spend on each blog post. Of course not! But I am suggesting that a little extra time up your sleeve between writing and clicking on ‘publish’ can be beneficial.

Join writing groups

A great way to pep up your writing is to join a writing group. A writing group is a safe place to post early drafts and receive feedback from people who are also writing (which means they know how naked you can feel sometimes when you share your work). Writing groups can be great places to get helpful comments and suggestions that will serve to make your writing stronger and more effective. Some groups offer a weekly or monthly ‘gig’. Others are a one-off retreat. Here’s one that I stumbled upon as I was browsing this morning.

There may be groups in your local area where you can meet with real live people every week to share your work, or you can join on-line writing groups. I reckon without ‘googling’ too hard you could even find some that are geared specifically towards helping you with your business and blog writing.

And what about when you’re just plain stuck?

Sometimes it happens. You just don’t have any ideas that light you up. You sit to write and nothing comes out. That’s when you start to doubt yourself as a writer.

My best advice for times like this is to stop writing. Go for a walk. Take a shower. Put on some music and dance. Clean out the fridge. Mop the floor. Watch a movie. Meet a friend for coffee. Take a break and do anything but write. Hopefully you’ll return to your work refreshed and ready to go.

Happy writing!

Jennifer Taylor is a Sydney child and family photographer who also holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education specialising in literacy development and bilingualism. When she’s not taking photos, spending time with her family or teaching yoga, she can be found standing outside real estate agents’ windows, red pen in hand.

So you’ve written a draft. You’ve revised and edited, rephrased and re-ordered. You’re pleased with your work. You want the world to read it and then start sending loads of love your direction. You’re ready to click “publish”.

But is it really ready to go?

Below are some tips on what to look for in that one last check before you post to your blog or have thousands of copies printed at Color Inc. You might be surprised what you find.

Wait

First of all, wait. If you have some time, put your writing aside for a day, or a week if you can. There’s no scientific reasoning behind this suggested length of time (in case you’re wondering.) It’s not really important exactly how much time you leave, but rather that you leave it long enough that when you return to your writing, it’s like reading something new. It’s easier to pick up errors in a piece of writing when you read it with fresh eyes. When you read your own work you often “read” what you intended to write, not what is actually on the page. That’s why it’s easier to find mistakes in other people’s writing, and why having someone else proofread your work is so helpful.

Read aloud

Read your work out loud, even if it’s a piece of writing that is not intended for speech. Listen for places where the words “catch” in your ear. You’ll be amazed at how many improvements you’ll make to your writing this way. You’re aiming for “euphony”, which just means that your writing sounds good. In the process you’ll be making your writing clearer and easier to understand.

Check for agreement

Make sure that the noun and verb in the sentence “agree”. They must match in number and in person (e.g. first person “I”, third person “she”, etc.). Some examples will help here:

There are a few things Jodi can teach you about using Photoshop. Have a look at the great articles on her blog.
(A few things is plural, so the verb must be “are”. It is incorrect to say “There’s a few things…”)

A collection of magnificent photos has been published on the Flickr stream. Have a look and be inspired!
(Even though there are many photos, ‘a collection’ is singular, so it must be ‘has been published’. It is incorrect to say “A collection of photos have been published…”)

Cut out as many extra words as you can. Remove unnecessary words.

Every word must add to your writing. If not, out it goes! For example:

Photoshop actions can save you a lot of time when editing your photos.
Photoshop actions cut editing time.

Sydney Harbour is a beautiful place.
Sydney Harbour is beautiful.

Sydney Harbour is a great place to take photos.
Sydney Harbour makes a great backdrop.

Watch out for “qualifiers”

Qualifiers are words like ‘seem’, ‘sort of’, ‘quite’, ‘rather’, and ‘a little’. They make your writing sound weak. Delete them and your writing will have authority. Look at these examples:

It can be rather annoying to find a stray hair across someone’s face when you pick up your large canvas print from the lab.
It is annoying when you find a stray hair across someone’s face when you pick up your large canvas print from the lab.

Mismatched socks are kind of cute.
Mismatched socks are cute.

Avoid the word ‘very’

‘Very’ is a qualifier used by writers to bolster weak adjectives. A better approach is to replace both words with one strong adjective. See below:

The photographer was very embarrassed when she realised she had forgotten her spare battery.
The photographer was mortified when she realised she had forgotten her spare battery.

There was a very cold wind blowing.
The wind was icy.

I had the pleasure of photographing this very beautiful family today.
I had the pleasure of photographing this gorgeous family today.

Check your punctuation and grammar

Have you used apostrophes correctly? Is your punctuation correct, and does it help make your meaning clear?

Read backwards.

That’s right. Backwards. Obviously this technique won’t work if you’re writing a novel, but for a short blog post or promotional piece reading from the end to the beginning can help you find typos and spelling errors. Why? Well, because reading backwards stops your mind doing that ‘predicting thing’ where you read what you think is on the page. Predicting is a useful skill in real life reading. It helps us read fluently. When checking for typos, though, reading fluently can cause us to skip over mistakes. When you read backwards, your reading is stilted and you focus on each and every word. Give it a try.

Have someone else read your work before you publish

Once you’ve checked through your work yourself, ask a trusted friend to read it through one last time. Like many of you, my writing time is late at night, after the kids are in bed, the dishes are done, lunches packed, and benches wiped over, so I realise it’s not always feasible to have someone else read your work before you hit ‘publish’. When we write late at night, though, there’s a higher risk than usual of missing simple errors. If you can find people who will proofread for you, use them. Maybe you could team up with another blog writer and reciprocate. I know wordpress now has a way to put a draft out for review by other wordpress writers. That’s a big pool of writing talent just begging to be used!

Having another set of eyes read your work is especially important if you think people might misread the intention behind your piece. I had a close friend read through a post on my experience as a new school mum because although I thought it was funny I was concerned it might sound too whiney to other mums from school.

Most people will forgive the odd typo on your blog or your facebook page (after all, who would have ever thought ‘gr8’ would be an acceptable spelling of ‘great’?). It is vital, though, to have someone read through anything that you are having press printed, such as price menus, what-to-wear guides and the like. I have a friend who refuses to eat in a restaurant if it has errors in its menu. “How careful will they be with my food,” she wonders, “if they can’t bother to get their menu right?” I would hate you to miss out on an opportunity to work with a great client simply because there was an apostrophe out of place on your promo pieces.

Remember, “there is no great writing, only great rewriting” (Justice Brandeis). May your blogs, websites, and newsletters sparkle so much that your readers click “share” as much as you click “publish”. Happy writing!

Jennifer Taylor is a Sydney child and family photographer who also holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education specialising in literacy development and bilingualism. When she’s not taking photos, spending time with her family or teaching yoga, she can be found standing outside real estate agents’ windows, red pen in hand.

Almost everyone has a blog these days. They’re an effective way to communicate with our audiences. They offer us a way of sharing our work, our creativity, and even some of our personality with potential clients. In a way, they’re our shop fronts, without a hefty rent! Photography blogs are usually heavy on images, light on words. We’re photographers after all. We’re paid for our images, not our words. I get it. Yet something still bothers me.

If you had a real piece of real estate as your shopfront, would you leave bits and pieces of this and that just lying around? Would you put promotional signage up that you’d just scrawled on a piece of paper with a Sharpie? No, I don’t think so. You would put a lot of care and effort into getting that window display just right, and you’d probably hire a professional sign writer to make all your signage.

So why not put as much care and effort into your blog? It is, after all, your modern-day shop window. People come, look at the pretty pictures and, if you’re lucky, they get interested enough to stop a while and read the content.

Imagine how disappointed they are when they read this:

“I just adore getting a peek into peoples lives.”

Or this:

“Heres a small portion of this lovely families gallery.”

Or this:

“Heres a sneak peek from todays session.”

If they’re anything like me, they gasp in horror and reach for the nearest red pen. Okay, so perhaps not all your readers are as prone as I am to hyperventilating at the sight of a gaping hole where an apostrophe should be. Maybe they’ve learned to let go… Or perhaps they’re just too polite to say anything. So I’ll do it for them: Learn to punctuate!

One of my favourite authors, Mem Fox, usually writes like this:

“Here is the blue sheep. Here is the red sheep. Here is the bath sheep. Here is the bed sheep. But where is the green sheep?”

Fox, M. & Horacek, J (2004) Where is the green sheep? Camberwell, Vic.: Penguin Group/Viking

But occasionally she writes like this:

“All apostrophes are tricky but apostrophes of possession are the trickiest of all. In students’ (and photographers’) writing they are used wrongly so often that it’s now a welcome surprise to see them used correctly. Getting them right will earn you a great deal of extra respect from your readers (potential clients) — they’ll sit up and take notice. They’ll beam. And they’ll be much more likely to view your writing (and your photography) positively. It’s classy — and essential — to be able to put the apostrophe of possession in the right place.”

[Words in parentheses added by me.]

Fox, M. & Wilkinson, L. (1993) English Essentials: The wouldn’t-be-without-it guide to writing well. South Melbourne: MacMillan Education Australia.

Types of apostrophes:

Most of the time, it’s not that hard to get apostrophes right if you just learn the rules. So how do you get it right? What are the rules for apostrophes? There are two types of apostrophes: the apostrophe of possession and the apostrophe of contraction. Let’s deal with the apostrophe of contraction first, because it’s the simpler of the two. (There were two of them in that last sentence. Did you see them?)

Contractions:

Here is the rule:

Use an apostrophe of omission when something is left out. Simple? You betcha!

So, let’s look at the sentence above with two apostrophes of contraction: “Let’s” is actually an abbreviation of “let us”, where the /u/ has been omitted, so you put an apostrophe in its place, and “it’s” is short for “it is” (where the /i/ has been omitted, and replaced with an apostrophe. Here are some other examples:

Can’t, short for “can not”

Won’t, short for “will not”

Shan’t, short for “shall not”

Here’s, short for “here is”

Tricks and traps:

Be warned, though, that there are  tricky things that look like they should have an apostrophe of omission, but actually don’t need one. “Its” is a case in point. There is a difference between “It is”, which contracts to “it’s” and “its” the possessive pronoun. So how do you tell the difference? Easy: Just try to expand what looks like a contraction and see if it makes sense. For example:

“It’s raining today” can be expanded to “It is raining today” and still make sense. “The dog wagged its tail” doesn’t make any sense if you try to expand it: The dog wagged it is tail.” Hunh? No apostrophe needed. The ‘its’ in this sentence is the possessive pronoun. (Compare “his”, “her”, “my”.)

Apostrophes of possession:

And what of apostrophes of possession? Well, you just need to learn to ask the right question: To whom, or to what, does the noun belong? Then write down the answer to that question, add an apostrophe and an /s/ (unless the noun is plural, then no need to add an /s/). Let’s look at some examples. Following the convention in English Essentials only the sentences in bold type are correctly punctuated.

Unfortunately the green sheeps clothing did not fit the wolf.
To whom does the clothing belong?
The green sheep.
Add apostrophe, then the /s/: the green sheep’s
Unfortunately the green sheep’s clothing did not fit the wolf.

 

The dogs pitiful wails could be heard all over the neighbourhood whenever he was left at home alone.
To whom or what do the pitiful wails belong?
The dog.
Add apostrophe /s/: The dog’s
The dog’s pitiful wails could be heard all over the neighbourhood whenever he was left at home alone.

 

The dogs pitiful wails could be heard all over the neighbourhood whenever they were left at home alone.
To whom do the pitiful wails belong?
The dogs.
Add apostrophe (and no /s/ in this case, because ‘dogs’ is plural): The dogs’
The dogs’ pitiful wails could be heard all over the neighbourhood whenever they were left at home alone.

 

(You’ll notice that I’ve used the British spelling “neighbourhood”. I’m from Australia!)

Tricks and traps:

There are some possessives that are really quite difficult to recognize, and they’re to do with time:

Today’s shoot was so much fun!
Last week’s portrait session was postponed because Suzie had measles.
I’m really looking forward to next week’s proofing session. You’re going to love your images!

In the above examples time is the owner. So, “today” owns the shoot, “last week” owns the portrait session and “next week” owns the proofing session. Weird, hunh? I know. You’re just going to have to trust me with this one.

There are also some words that look like they should be possessives, but actually are not. They are in fact descriptions. Take “childrens photography” for example. The photography doesn’t belong to the children. The word “childrens” describes the photography. (Compare pet photography, portrait photography, landscape photography). Ladies toilet, teachers college, and childrens literature are other examples in this category.

Does that make sense now? I hope so. So let’s return to the incorrect sentences that I read on real blogs that prompted me to write this post in the first place:

I just adore getting a peek into peoples lives and how they decorate, and love, should read: I just adore getting a peek into people’s lives…..

Heres a small portion of this lovely families gallery, should read: Here’s a small portion of this lovely family’s gallery because “Here’s” is a contraction of “here is” and who owns the gallery? The family. It’s just one family, a family that deserves an apostrophe /s/ (and should not be written in the plural form as that blog’s author chose to do).

And one more for the record:

It’s “photos” not “photo’s” for the plural of photo. I know from comments one of Jodi’s previous posts that the question of an apostrophe in “photos” is a bone of contention amongst her readers. While it can be argued that “photo’s” is correct because it’s a contraction of “photographs” (and thus requires an apostrophe of contraction), the word “photo” has now been accepted into the English language as a word in its own right. It has its own separate entry in my dictionary, with the plural given as “photos”. That’s good enough for me.

Jennifer Taylor is a Sydney child and family photographer who also holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education specializing in literacy development and bilingualism. When she’s not taking photos, spending time with her family or teaching yoga, she can be found standing outside real estate agents’ windows, red pen in hand.

Once I was in a room with Kate Grenville, an unconventionally beautiful woman with thick-rimmed glasses and wildly curly hair. She read to me from a draft of the novel she was working on at the time. She held me captive with each word. I was there with her characters as she described where they lived, what they wore, who they loved, what they were thinking, how they felt. Her words were alive in my imagination. I. Was. Mesmerized.

She looked up from her work. “I don’t like that piece at all,” she said, “and it won’t make it into my book.”

The spell was broken. There was a collective gasp from the approximately 199 other people who were also in the room with Kate and me that day. We were shocked that such a beautiful piece of writing could be discarded so easily. It was Sydney Writers festival, and Kate Grenville and a few other authors were talking to us about the art, and the hard work, of writing.

Writing is hard work. Just like you have to learn to compose photos well, how to manipulate light, how read histograms, how to build rapport with your clients, so too, do you have to learn how to write. Think of your favourite novel. Do you think the author sat down at his or her desk one day, put pen to paper and produced a brilliant piece of work in one go? Nope!

Writing is not something that only those with ‘the gift’ can do well. Even great writers need to hone their craft. They need to write, review, re-write, and review and re-write again and again until they are satisfied with their work. And then they hand it over to someone else to review. And so it goes, around and around. Sometimes it feels like the drafts and re-writes will never end.

Eventually that process does end, though, and you’re left with a great piece of writing that is ready to be published.

Okay, so you and I are not writing novels. Well, I know I’m not. Are you? I am assuming most of the people reading this post are photographers. Mostly we just write short blog posts. We also write price menus, product guides and promotional pieces for our businesses. These all need to be well presented and well-written if they are to win the attention of our audiences (prospective clients).

What makes good writing?

• Good writing is effective. It is writing that achieves its purpose. What that purpose is will vary from one piece of writing to the next. When you were at school, your purpose in writing was probably to get a good grade. (And that’s a shame. Why can’t students be given writing tasks with real-world outcomes? They’d care a whole lot more about that ‘letter to the editor assignment’ if they actually had to send it to the editor!) Your purpose now is probably to engage with your clients, to build relationships with them and ultimately for them to hire you as a photographer.

• Good writing has a clear audience and keeps that audience in mind. How do you find your audience? Probably it’s the same as your target market, and there are loads of places where you can find help defining that. (Try here, here and here.) It doesn’t matter who your audience is, as long as you have them in mind when you’re writing. Why? Well, because if you write the same way to a 16-year-old girl who loves to chat with her friends on Skype, post pictures of her cat on Facebook and surf at the local beach as you do to a 37-year-old mother of two who reads Agatha Christie novels, grows her own organic fruit and veg, and loves to knit, someone’s either going to be offended or bored, neither of which is good.

• Good writing has no room for extraneous words. Nor does it need long words just for the heck of it, like ‘extraneous’.

• Good writing engages its audience, and keeps the reader entertained while it achieves its goals. Good writing has been drafted, reviewed, proofed and polished until it gleams.

So that’s what good writing is, but how do you produce it? What do good writers do? The next three posts will cover some of the practices that help real writers write. Stay tuned!

Jennifer Taylor is a Sydney child and family photographer who also holds a PhD in Early Childhood Education specialising in literacy development and bilingualism. When she’s not taking photos, spending time with her family or teaching yoga, she can be found standing outside real estate agents’ windows, red pen in hand.

Facebook Friday:

This is our third installment of Facebook Friday – a post design to bring you the best of conversations from the MCP Facebook Page, Wall or Newsfeed. Since topics move fast in the social networking world, we are indexing them every month or two so you can read what photographers have to say on a variety of topics from pricing, to photography, gear to editing software. Feel free to add your own thoughts to the threads or here in the comments as well.

Facebook Friday was born as a way to catalog important, informative and “hot” posts! If you have a question you want me to post on Facebook, submit it to me through our comment page on our blog. I will select some to ask on the MCP Wall. Due to quantity I may not be able to get to all questions.

Here are some of recent hot topics and interesting threads:

(just click each topic of interest to read the discussions – add your own thoughts to the blog post or individual threads). If it takes you to a blank page with ONLY a Facebook LOGO, click the logo and it should take you to the thread. Thank you.

Photoshop and Editing Software:

• When it comes to Photoshop, do you consider yourself beginner, intermediate or advanced?
• Thank you to Laci Davis for including MCP Actions on KSL-TV today. Watch the TV Segment here!
• What are 3 things you want to learn more about in Photoshop?

Photography:

• Question for Pro Photographers: Do you have a time frame or deadline on initial prints orders for customers? If yes, how long?
• Are you being copied in your photography business?  If so, how do you deal with it?
• What are your favorite tips for shooting in the summer?
• Shooting gymnasts in a dark gymnasium – what would you do challenge?
• What would you do if your photo was lifted without permission and used to promote another photographer’s workshop at a library?
• In portrait photography, do you style your sessions, using props, certain clothing and accessories, create a setting, etc? If yes, share your best tips for a styled photo shoot.
• Which describes you most as it relates to being a photographer: likes change, likes things to stay the same, a little of both?

Technology:

• If you could only have one iPhone, iPad or Droid app, what would it be?

Social Media:

• Do you prefer the MCP Facebook Page be all business (photography/photoshop talk) or a mix of personal too?

Check out past Facebook Friday posts here.  And remember if you enjoy these conversations to like MCP and follow our Facebook Page in your news feed to interact in real time!