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2011 Spring Print Promotion

I’ve had a lot of firsts since transitioning to freelance last May. This has been one of the most satisfying to accomplish thus far. My spring print promotion, one of three for 2011.

Last spring, to create a new portfolio better suited to my personal style and the freelance market – after eight years as a newspaper staff photographer, I worked on re-editing through my entire archive of the last decade, looking at literally every image I have shot personally and professionally.  After many rounds of edits and developing the concept of pairing my images as diptychs, came the re-brand and new web site creation. I thought all the design and site development would take 6-10 weeks. That was my first lesson that good design and thorough projects always take longer, several times longer, than expected. It took six months, however, the end result created by Greg Lutze of Must Warn Others was 100% what I wanted.

Phase two came last fall, developing a marketing campaign to introduce myself to a wide range of new potential editorial clients, ad agencies and design firms. By referral from a few friends and colleagues, I contacted Jasmine Defoore, a photographer marketing consultant. Jasmine had the background and experience to help advise and collaborate with me on developing a series of self-promos to kick off the next phase of my career as a freelancer. She was a perfect fit and was on-board with my goals, budget and over-all approach to relaunching myself.

Jasmine and I developed ideas for the concept of my self-promo and with a solid project proposal began researching designers and agencies whose work we were each impressed with or curious about. I searched design annuals by PDN and Communication Arts looking for any variety of design that resonated with me and explored links and followed tweet threads from designers I liked, and on and on. We made a list of 24 designers/firms between the two of us and then narrowed that down to seven who we contacted to see if they’d be interested in working with us on the project, and were available. We requested estimates, proposals and timelines.

We had an aggressive timeline we wanted to start by so it was just under three weeks from initial researching to when I contracted with the talented Giorgio Baravalle of de.MO to create this year’s promo magic.

The thing I have learned most is that these things, like the re-brand, always take waaay longer than expected. I decided to hand address all 1400 labels. THAT took way longer than expected too. But alas, this first of three mailers for 2011 is out! I’ll blog more on the creative process behind my re-brand and new site design last year with Greg, as well as the last six months of my work with Giorgio and Jasmine to create this piece. An coordinated e-promo will follow this mailing in a few weeks, and then the schedule of consistent marketing continues from here forward. That’s what all the surveys and experts say, consistent, quality communication is what works. Here’s hoping!

Below are a few glimpses of the finished piece. The promo is a series of six cards printed on 130# Chorus Art Silk Cover, designed around a boarding pass theme, playing off the fact that Vegas is such a travel destination. The cards are packaged in a zip-close silver transparent envelope showing the index card on one side and the opposite side addressed with a branded mailing label and recycle themed stamps.

The top index card is perforated so the contact information on the right can be kept, separate from the large card, if desired.

We used a QR code on every card that links to a special spring promo page on my web site for an accompanying print giveaway promotion. Recipients of the print mailer can sign-up to receive a signed, limited-edition print.

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Welcome to the New Site!

Woo hoo. It almost seemed like this day would never come. This has been a project of much collaboration and hard work. High-fives and cold beer toasts go to designer Greg Lutze and developer Chris Molitor for creating this site with me.

Greg is responsible for my new brand, logo and web site design. He designed every detail of this site and my new look, and he was awesome to work with. Chris is responsible for bringing Greg’s beautiful site designs to life.

All three of us really wanted to create a non-Flash site that would still allow full screen and scaling images for my main portfolio. There were a few moments there we weren’t sure it was going to work, but alas, Chris made it happen. He took care of every last tiny detail that Greg and I threw at him and cranked it all out in break-neck speed.

My new portfolio is made up of work from my nearly eight years as a newspaper staff photographer, from editorial and commercial freelance work, personal projects, and from all the days in between with my family and friends. This work is a mix of images that I’ve shot for myself and those that people have paid me to make. I’ve loved all of it and I’m super excited to finally share it with you.

Maren Levinson of Redeye Reps and photo editor Mike Davis played big roles in helping me re-edit all of my work and develop the approach for this initial new portfolio as I redirect my business, now as a freelancer. They are both radical editors, and even better people. Marketing consultant Jasmine Defoore has also contributed a great deal to what you’re seeing here. Jasmine and I are now working on my 2011 self-promotion campaign to launch after the New Year.

This is all hot of the press so please get in touch and let me know what you think. I’ll be making tweeks along the way but this is the New T.Brown, Version 1.0. Thanks for checking out the new digs and I can’t wait to share everything from here forward. Please follow and like me and sign up for updates. I promise to only send you things when it’s worth it.  XO from Vegas…Tiffany