Posted August 12th, 2011 by Guest Blogger
Please welcome Angela Mateus, our first guest blogger. She’s a subject matter expert with over 14 years experience who’s offered to share some of her wisdom with us. Learn more about Angela.
Have you ever wondered where to buy the book “How to Price Commercial Photography Jobs”? Yeah, me too. After years in the commercial photography business, and countless bids under my belt, only one-thing remains constant…no two bid requests are alike. Putting a bid together for a client can be a taxing process. So before going into the details of a winning photography bid there are a few things to consider that can help the process along.
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Posted July 26th, 2011 by Lou
Occasionally we get emails from folks that want to convert to Blinkbid from another photography business application (such as Fotobiz or InView). But, they can’t justify the additional expense of yet another software purchase.
Today we’re making it easy to make the move to Blinkbid. Now through September 28th if you email us proof of purchase of another bidding and invoicing solution, we’ll give you a 50% discount off of the retail price of Blinkbid.
That’s only a 114 bucks to get the software that is the gateway to a growing network of Blinkbid users. Creative professionals that you can collaborate with seamlessly to bring your production to fruition.
At 50% off why wait? Contact us now and get your discount code. Download Blinkbid estimating and invoicing software now–no billing information required–and get started today. Because being a creative genius is good, but a well paid creative genius is awesome.
Posted July 21st, 2011 by Lou
The first commercial I ever directed was low, low budget. It was a public service announcement for breast cancer awareness that became my vehicle for breaking into directing. If it wasn’t for the extraordinary generosity of the crew and the talent, as well as the amazing ability of my line producer to stretch every penny to its absolute maximum, the spot would have never made it to television.
In addition to the practical experience of going through the process of creating a commercial, I also learned a little bit about the hyper efficiency of the line producer. They live in a world of numbers that are constantly juggling. One department may have too much money and another department is in the red. Moving the funds around is how the producers, the unsung heroes of photography production, pull off the miracles time and time again.
Our new Blinkbid production module is based on how line producers work managing photography or commercial productions. And as much as it is a tool targeted directly at producers, non producers will benefit from the feature as well to increase the profits of their jobs. With budgets getting tighter, efficient money management is a big part of putting more money in your pocket, and it is also a big part of getting paid more quickly because your production numbers and support is organized.
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Posted June 10th, 2011 by Lou
I’m thrilled to have been asked by the Central Virginia Chapter of the ASMP to talk about how to get your head around the process of bidding. Crunching numbers is not something creative people do naturally, yet, surprisingly, once your get started you can move pretty quickly. It’s just that initial hurdle of getting to the starting line that stumps most of us when we’re asked to bid a job. Much of it has to do with the insecurity of throwing out the wrong numbers. However, there are a few things you can do to get over that insecurity, and that’s what I’ll be talking about in Virginia.
Come by on June 23 if you can. All the details are here.
Posted June 1st, 2011 by Lou
Sharing Blinkbid jobs with producers, agents and collaborators is one of our most popular features. So we set out to make it even easier. With our next release, you’ll be able to email the share code right from Blinkbid.
Posted May 23rd, 2011 by Robin
This month our spotlight shines bright on New England photographer Doug Levy. Doug’s portfolio is split between weddings, portraits and corporate photography, a pretty common profile for Blinkbid users. Doug’s been a professional photographer since 2007, after realizing that being a professional baseball umpire was no longer his life’s dream.
It all started at Syracuse University where Doug studied finance and journalism. After graduating he continued working at the daily paper there. But his education took an unusual turn; Doug enrolled in professional umpiring school and graduated at the top of his class. During the season, Doug worked full time behind the plate in the Gulf Coast League and went on to ump games in a variety of other leagues on the East Coast. He even got to call three major league games at spring training.
When, in 2009, Doug was hit in the face with a bat and ended up with a fractured cheek and concussion, he started to think, “Maybe I don’t want to spend 200+ days a year on the road for the rest of my life.”
Despite the fact that Doug was on his way up the ladder and offered a stop as a AAA umpire, he started to think about the next phase of his career. Which, came without much soul searching as he’d already been working as a photographer doing weddings and some freelance writing and photos for the local paper.
Doug and I swapped emails and here’s the “interview”…
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Posted May 12th, 2011 by Lou
One of the questions we get a lot here at Blinkbid is about using the Quantity and Time fields in a particular line item. Blinkbid’s display algorithm knows what to do with whatever you give it. When filling out the Quantity or Time fields, you can use them both, or you can use one or the other or none at all. Blinkbid will display your choice correctly.
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Posted May 9th, 2011 by Lou
The best way to move Blinkbid to a new computer is to copy your backup data file from your old computer to a flash drive, and then transfer it to the Blinkbid back up location on your new computer. Then download a new copy of Blinkbid from our website and install the fresh copy of Blinkbid on your new computer.
Here are the specific instructions for Mac and PC.
- On the NEW computer in the Documents folder create a new folder and name it Blinkbid.
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Posted April 29th, 2011 by Lou
We released version 6.02 this morning at 12:30 AM PDT. This is a free update for version 6x users and includes some fixes as well as the inclusion of some requested features. Have a look at the list below.
Also we’ll be posting instructions on our revamped way of utilizing contact groups. The new method is much more intuitive and easier to use and add some functionality that makes it easier to wrangle you contact address book.
Download version 6.02 here.
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Posted April 19th, 2011 by Robin
This is the first, in what we hope to be a regular series, highlighting the many different types of people who make Blinkbid part of their creative business workflow. This month we shine our spotlight on Nanette Martin and her nonprofit Shelter-Me Photography.
Shelter-Me Co-Founders Sonja Andréasson-Martin (left) and Nanette Martin with their family
Nanette takes pictures of dogs and cats available for adoption in shelters primarily in Denver and New Orleans. But these aren’t your typical “mug” shots. Nanette has a special connection with the animals and brings out the best in them. If you’ve ever been to an animal shelter, you know that the animals are stressed out and aren’t feeling their best.
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