This is the Artist Showcase for Preston Smith. Preston Smith is the owner of Preston Smith Photography. He is an award winning purebred cat Photographer who has been a long time member, here at NWPPhotoForum.com. His work has been featured in Cat Fancy, Cats USA, Kittens USA, various books and textbooks, Cats 101 (on the Animal Planet), and the Martha Stewart show. This article was initially published in 2010, but was lost during our forum migration.

Part I: About Preston Smith:

JM: Would you be willing to tell us a bit about yourself?
PS: Well, I grew up in small family in a small town in the Piedmont of North Carolina. I was the youngest of three children. I have a brother and a sister. Although I grew up in the South, we later moved to North Dakota where I completed high school. I earned a BS degree in Business Administration from Western Carolina University with a concentration in Economics. In my first career I worked for a large international conglomerate, starting out in Information Technology and then moving into Business Strategy and Development.

JM: Can you tell us a little about what life was like when you were growing up?
PS: Frugal, but happy. My Dad worked and my Mom stayed home to take care of the kids. It was a typical 1960’s family growing up in a small Southern textile mill town. We all had chores to do like washing the dishes, tending to the garden, or mowing the lawn. I learned the difference between right and wrong, and was taught to treat others the way I would like to be treated. We had dinner (my parents call it supper) and discussion together around the table almost every night. Growing up, we always had pets. I can’t remember not having a dog to play with and care for and clean up after. There were also hamsters and rabbits and iguanas around the house throughout my childhood.

JM: Do you have a family of your own?
PS: My wife, Carol, and I have been married for nearly 25 years.. We have two rescue cats and a large extended family here in Kansas. There are 40-50 of us here when we have a family get together.

JM: When and how did you first begin to photograph?
PS: When I was 10 or 11 years old I bought a used Yashica twin lens reflex with several months of saved allowances. At 13 or 14 I built a black and white dark room in the attic. I could develop film and make prints after dark if there wasn’t a full moon. That was cheaper than taking it to a lab. In high school I got a Minolta SRT-100 which I used to shoot assignments for the high school yearbook. Due to the cost of printing, all of my personal photographs were shot on slide film. Not only did that lower the cost of my hobby, but it also taught me to really think about composition and exposure of each shot before I pressed the shutter.

JM: Who were your photographic influences?
PS: I’ve had several. Growing up I was probably the only person in town that subscribed to Popular Photography Magazine, and I still subscribe to it to this day. Then in high school my biggest influences were the Editors of the Yearbooks, and the town Photographer with whom I interned.

I was in my forties when I decided to return to school to study Photography. That is when I met Tom Tarnowski, a Photographer and head of the Photography program at the local junior college. Taking formal classes with him was invaluable. During that time I did an internship with David Morris of Studio 2131 in Kansas City. David is a nationally acclaimed food photographer. I learned a lot about the photography business watching how David planned his photo shoots, ran his business, and interacted with his clients.

In the field of Cat Photography, my greatest influences have been Helmi and Ken Flick. Creating images as beautiful and compelling and flattering to the animal as Helmi does has been a goal of mine. Both Ken and Helmi have been very generous of their time and knowledge in helping me learn the ins and outs of cat photography, and I really can’t thank them enough for that. At this point that mentoring relationship has evolved into a close friendship and an occasional collaboration.

JM: What sorts of things were you photographing?
PS: Family, pets, Christmas trees, friends.  I remember playing a lot with double exposures.  Nothing serious, and not much of any merit.

 JM: Do you ever have the opportunity to go look at older slides that you took?
PS: The first work on 120 film that I did in black and white is long gone.  I don’t know what happened to it all.  I still have the slides from high school.  That was a time when the family had moved to North Dakota and most of the photos are about the new things I was exposed to in my new environment:  flocks of snow geese, sunflower fields, sunsets, flooding, the International Peace Gardens, trips up into Canada, sand greens at the golf course, Curling, snowmobiling, snow, and more snow.

JM: What formats (eg. Medium, digital, 35mm, etc). do you use for your current work?
PS: I shoot digital exclusively. Professionally, I am shooting with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon 50D.

JM: Is photography a first career for you?
PS: No. I have hopped cars, waited tables, worked in a cotton mill, moved furniture, and maintained landscapes (watered and mowed lawns). I have also been a COBOL programmer, systems analyst, HP3000 guru, IT trainer, computer help desk manager, business analyst, head of a corporate business intelligence unit, and strategic planning manager.

When I left the corporate world and went back to school to study photography I discovered that Johnson County Community College has one of the best programs in the area. I met students there from Kansas University and Kansas State who came to JCCC to get specialized photography classes that their schools did not offer. I also went into intensive Photoshop training. Online Photoshop training did not work for me, I needed to have a live instructor with whom to interact.

And as I mentioned earlier, I interned with David Morris, a nationally acclaimed food photographer (  HYPERLINK "http://www.DavidMorrisPhoto.com/"
www.DavidMorrisPhoto.com ) at Studio 2131 in Kansas City. Although you are never behind the camera in an internship, if you watch and listen you can learn an amazing amount about running your own business.

JM: How did your family adjust from the corporate world to photography?  I cannot imagine that the incomes were even close.....
 PS: That is correct.  We are very frugal now.  I like to tell people that we live our own lives now.  We used to pay people to cook a meal, clean our house, mow our yard…now we eat in (I am a pretty good cook), I tend to our yard, and we clean up after ourselves.  I shop sales. I buy groceries at Aldi’s and Costco and Big Lots…no more Dean & Deluca.  When I travel I shop hard for the best rates and use every discount I can.  CheckINN, PPA, NAPP discounts can cut hotel costs by as much as 50%.
 
JM: What caused this decision to switch careers?
 PS: After a change of ownership and some management changes at the company I worked for, I found that I no longer enjoyed working there…in fact, the exact opposite was true.

JM: What is it that you feel draws you to pet photography versus other professional ventures?
PS: I love cats, and pets of almost all types, although I do not seek out spider or snake clients.

JM: Are you doing other paid portrait/professional work?
PS: I do some other work, such as weddings, Seniors, human portraiture. I also photograph animals other than cats. Cat photography done well is more difficult than shooting people. When I have the time I enjoy nature photography, although I’m not currently well equipped for it.

JM: What is it that gave you the confidence to go pro?
PS: Well, the alternative was to go back to the corporate grind. I came to a point in my life where I wanted to start enjoying the ‘journey’ of life instead of spending every day just looking forward to the weekend or for retirement. I love what I am doing now.

JM: What motivates you in the work that you do?
PS: I love doing it. I enjoy the cats that I meet, and people who love their cats enough to hire me are just my kind of people.

JM: Why cats? It seems that your business is very focused around felines... (LOL, why not cats??)
PS: First of all, I love cats and they like me. I speak cat. So it seemed to be a good fit.

When I first came to Kansas, I went to several cat shows which I really enjoyed. At that time there were a couple of photographers that were working the shows in the Midwest, but often I would go to a show and there would be no photographer there. I saw an opportunity to do something I liked that people would appreciate and value, so I started looking at it as a business opportunity.

Tom Tarnowski, whom I mentioned earlier, once told me that the only way to be really successful in a photography career was to find a niche or a style and become the best in the world at it. That is what I have tried to do. I want to be the best there is. I do see cat photography as a way to achieve that goal.

Purebred cat photography is very much a niche market. It is not large enough for many players, and there are entry barriers that make the market much harder to enter than other photography markets such as Weddings or Seniors. It is a lot of very hard work without excessive financial rewards, which diminishes the attractiveness of the market. It is not a fast growing market, if it were it would attract more competition.

Part II: The Business Aspect of Photography

JM: What do you feel that the key pieces for running a successful Photography business? How does your website play into this, if at all?
PS: There are several success factors:

Knowing your market and your customers
Identifying your goals
Learning as you go, and not repeating mistakes
Measuring your progress
Accounting for your costs and keeping them down
Creating great images
WOW packaging
Delighting your customers
Quick response, and timely deliveries
Selling, selling, selling

I have just completed an update to my web site at  HYPERLINK "http://www.PrestonSmithPhoto.com" www.PrestonSmithPhoto.com. People come to my site mostly to find out my shooting schedule. I am also active on Facebook and use it to reach out to my customers and let them know what I’m up to. Web sites are really important so that people can find me and contact me. It is also a place to show new clients examples of my work and explain what services and products I offer.

JM: What do you believe are common foibles?
PS: There are many:

Doing mediocre work, creating so-so images
Not knowing your market
Overestimating the financial potential
Not treating your business like a business
Not understanding your costs, and not counting all of your costs
Taking too long to deliver
Underestimating the effort and the financial investment that it takes to establish yourself
Not having the discipline to be your own boss, and get the work done

JM: What pieces do you feel are necessary for individuals to have before venturing into the waters for themselves?
PS: They need a solid business plan. I used to make a lot more money doing those for other people, but now I only work on my business plan and my photography business, and I love that. They have to be able to see light and to see colors. They must have the knowledge, talents, and skill set for creating images that sell. Then they have to possess the ability to sell themselves and sell their work.

During the age of film, I believed that you had to know your way around in the darkroom. In the digital age you have to master your computer, your image software, and your workflow.

JM: If you are 'business ignorant,' which I believe many photographers are, how do you go about developing a business plan? When do you go and hire a "Preston Smith" to develop your business plan?
PS: Take college level courses in Photography, get insights from your instructors. Then do an internship at a ‘real’ photographer’s business. Join the Professional Photographers Association (PPA) and use their resources to help develop a plan. Use local PPA chapters to network with other serious photographers.

JM: Also (assuming the person is competent), are they all [business plans] created equal? Do you need to see someone who specializes in your field (i.e. the arts, etc)?
PS: I think that almost any competent strategic consultant would help you do a market analysis, and then strongly discourage anyone from entering this field as a career.

To be clear about that: Barriers to entry are very low, anyone can purchase a competent camera at a low price point. So there is always the threat of new entrants and more competition. Substitutes for your work are readily available and inexpensive (clients can buy their own camera and shoot 10,000 shots until they get what they want) or call up an aunt or uncle with a camera to do the job. The level of competition is very intense – people retire and become photographers, people lose their jobs and start picking up gigs, kids start shooting just for the fun of it. Customers have enormous bargaining power due to the intense competition and availability of substitutes.

Therefore, a good consultant would likely steer you towards trying to make money off of wannabe photographers and do-it-yourself-ers; like the business models of Scott Kelby, Gary Fong, and Will Crockett.

Perhaps, a passionate and successful Photographer might be the best resource for getting good advice on how to succeed at Photography in today’s market.

JM: Do you have a health plan? (Pardon if that is REALLY basic...it is a recent obsession of mine)
PS: Yes, I am fortunate that my wife works for an employer that offers a reasonable plan under which I am covered.

JM: How do insurance issues fit into your running of your business?
PS: Having proper insurance to protect you, your business, and your family is just part of having good business discipline. You have to have it and account for it as a necessary cost. When some people start out, they price their services without rolling all of these ‘extra’ costs in. That is a mistake; it is a necessary cost especially when you work with unpredictable people and animals.

JM: In addition to health insurance and general liability for your photographic work, what other types of insurance would you consider?
PS: Equipment loss insurance. Your biggest single investment is probably in equipment, and if you travel with it then you need insurance.

It is not insurance per se, but the PPA Indemnification Trust is a great benefit of joining that organization.

If you can afford it, you should also buy a lot of Life Insurance since you are unlikely to build a big nest egg to leave your next of kin with your income as a Photographer.

JM: Have you found that the insurance companies actually stand by them?
PS: Luckily, I have not had to find out.

JM: Let's talk about contracts a bit....and let me premise that that neither you nor I are an attorney, and people who are very serious should look consult an attorney. :P Now, having said that, in what situations would you use a contract in your personal work?
PS: When people sign up for a session with me, they are signing a contract. It establishes the expectations of the shoot and defines the ownership of resulting images as well as what will be delivered and when. As a photographer you know that (in the US) you own the copyright of all your images, but it is also your duty to educate your clients about that too. I make it clear to my clients that they purchase prints of images, and I grant limited use licenses for image files, such as for non-commercial web site use. But it is clear that I retain the copyright and ownership over images that I create.

Contracts are also the backbone of the business I do with publishers and licensees.

JM: When you decided to enter the photography market professionally, how did it affect your standard of living?
PS: Most professions would have been a step down from what I used to do, photography is no different in that regard. I live a happier life, but with less money. I am also very lucky to have a wife who is supportive of my career direction and is willing to put up with my weekend travel and clients coming to my home studio.


JM: Would you share your experience with publishing?
PS: The publishing market, for me, is part of my business plan. I need to make a certain percentage of my income from publishing and licensing revenues…that is one of my targets that I use to gauge my success. Unfortunately it is a market in decline. The way that content is currently supplied to the internet is a real problem. Everyone now seems to expect to get content for free. So newspapers and magazines are suffering. As suppliers to those markets, photographers are sharing the pain.

The thing is, the internet is flooded with free or cheap, but mediocre images. That is not what I do. As the free content expands on the internet I see diminished quality in the images. So I believe there will be an emerging market for premium content, which is a market that interests me.

JM: How do you develop an emerging market for premium content when the price of images are dropping so drastically?
PS: By being patient and by building a portfolio of high quality and hard to get images. The quality of stock images is dropping almost as quickly as the prices. Also, I target a very, very narrow niche market. If a publisher needs a specific breed of cat in a certain color and pattern, I can provide it whereas not many stock sites can.

It seems to me that we are currently at a point in time where print content is not valued. Magazines and newspapers are suffering greatly as people go to their web sites for free content. But what happens when all the newspapers go away? Then there will be no more web sites, or there will be sites that charge a fee. To compare this to primetime TV, when all the content consists of reality shows and dance contests, where will people go for entertainment content? I am hoping that magazines and newspapers eventually emulate the HBO model and find a way to bring high quality content to those willing and able to pay for it.

JM: Do you have any advice about getting into the publishing market?
PS: Create eye catching, mind numbing, WOW Images. Create unique and hard to get images. If you are really good, the publishers will seek you out. Do not give away your work for the ‘honor’ of being published. If you do not put a value on your work, no one else will.

JM: What experience, if any, do you have selling stock photography, if any?
PS: I license my images directly. I do not use stock because I do not want to lose control over how my images are used. I do not allow my images to be used in ways that disrespects my clients or the animals I photograph. In general, I see stock as a commodity market that competes on the basis of price. That is just not where I want to direct my time and effort.

JM: What advice do you have for people who are trying to get into stock?
PS: Do not do it. Seriously, you could make more money picking up bottles and cans along the roads and selling them to a recycler, plus you would be helping the environment.

JM: You are not located in a typical urban landscape...yet, you have been able to make a business performing pet photography. How do you think geography has helped/hindered you in your work?
PS: Here in the Midwest, we love animals. And there are a lot of people in the middle of the country who raise purebred horses, dogs, cats, you name it. Unlike many of my competitors I drive to all the shows. I simply can’t fit my studio into two carry ons and a couple of pieces of luggage. I’m working on that though. So, distance has hindered me since it takes time and money to drive across the country. However, being in Kansas City puts a lot of the US within an 8 hour drive. I travel a lot in order to reach my customers.

Part III: The Shoot

JM: Where does most of your work occur, in your studio or on location?
PS: On location at cat shows.

JM: Would you please talk about your photographic set-up?
PS: I use four Alienbees. A main light with a softbox, a fill light with a softbox, a hairlight with a grid, and a heavily modified backlight. I also have a very specifically designed shooting deck. Immediately following a photo session I move the images to a viewing station where my clients can select and approve images for purchase.

JM: Typically, how do you look to use light in your work? Is it mostly done with studio light or natural?
PS: Lighting fur well is quite different than lighting flesh. I use studio lights at all of my cat portraiture sessions.

JM: How are you using natural light in your pet portraiture?
PS: There really isn’t any natural light in show halls. So I have to use my studio lights to do it all.

I do have a couple of creative projects that are in progress that deal with outdoor cats and ferals in which I’m using natural light exclusively.

JM: Do you work with a handler?
PS: Yes, I have been fortunate to have my father-in-law travel with me to many shows. He is very good with cats and he has great stories to tell on long drives to a shoot. My clients are also very involved in the photo session. I work some shows without a cat wrangler or assistant, but it is much more difficult and not nearly as much fun.

JM: How would you describe your work – specifically dealing with cats as being different from other forms of pet portraiture?
PS: I guess I would describe it as being entirely different altogether. To photograph purebred cats well, you need to know the breed standards of each Association that you shoot in (I work with three). You have to apply that knowledge to find the poses that most accentuates the best features in the animal and that deemphasize any weaknesses. And you need to know how to work with cats, which is not like working with any other animal that I know of. Most importantly, you have to know how to play with a cat with a purpose.