Do I want to do this photograph? This is very important to me. If it is something that I think could be a great piece in my portfolio, then it gets consideration. Have other photographers been paid for this same shot? If so, then why are they not wanting to pay me?...

There is an old saying: "I'll believe it when I see it." That's a problem, you see. Because if you don't believe it, you will never see it. It is out of your field of vision. You cannot focus on what you cannot see. And our brains want to make damn sure we...

I was sitting in a local pub listening to a photographer explain why they were upset at the way their business was starting out. He was pouring out about how there was no work in his town and how impossible to get anyone to look at his book. When I asked...

ON GETTING A DEPOSIT… Do it. Or risk more than just the time you have given to the gig already. Back in the day, I got fed up working with the advertising agencies in my city. They started making a habit of 60 - 90 - 180 payment schedules for photographers...

Is Curiosity a Vital Element for Photography? I think it is. The incredibly important book "The Americans" was created out of Robert Frank's curiosity about America and what the Americans were up to at that point in time. What many of us took for granted,...

WHAT TO DO AFTER A NEGATIVE PORTFOLIO REVIEW Hey, it happens. It happens to all of us at some point. We are not going to please all the people all of the time. Ever. So we will have negative reviews and portfolio showings. It may go something like this....

ARNOLD'S "SECRETS" TO SUCCESS. First of all, there are no secrets. There are only rules. Some are societal, some are biological, some are physical but they exist. There are pathways to success that are so time-tested, and often proven that they become...