Branding

The above brands are the Batterton family brands from Tucson, AZ.  The one on the left is the W Diamond.  Suzann, my wife, just got this photo from a long lost relative in Tuscon.  Her grandfather Batterton was a rancher and cowboy from back in the day...the real day...Family history is so interesting sometimes.  Several years ago, we discovered the W Diamond and had the brand registered in Indiana so we could use it on our Texas Longhorns on our farm in Greensburg.  We had no idea the actual historic branding iron was still in existence but here it is.  We actually have a photo of the cowboys branding some longhorns on the ranch in AZ.  Someday we've got to go back to Tucson and find where the ranch was located...somewhere near the Catalina Mts, Oracle...

I get an image of cowboys riding around in the Saguaro Cactus', octotillo, rocks, rattlesnakes....the old west as it once was.

Branding is a term used frequently these days in marketing.  I think the McCoy's Image Studio has a good brand.  Thirty plus years is long enough to get established.  Most photographers will go out of business in 5 years...looks like we made it over the hump...but still, with all the changes in the industry we still have to be on our toes.  In fact, I would venture to say that we have to work harder now than we did when we started out.  

Everybody thinks they can be a photographer these days...get a good automatic camera and a computer and you are in business...but is it really good professional photography.  You know what they say...you can put a monkey in front of a keyboard and eventually they will type out Shakespeare...same thing with photographers.  With the expense of film and processing being eliminated... photographers can shoot hundreds or thousands of images and get a few good ones.  The test of a true professional is to do the same in a few images and get it right the first time.  There simply is no replacement for good solid professional photography.  Sure you can get by cheaper by using someone with no experience, but have you really done yourself a favor?  I don't think so.  Most newcomers have no idea of what it is to properly pose, light and expose and image.  Not to mention the timing necessary to capture just the right expression at just the right moment...this only comes from years of experience.  Shooters these days that call themselves professionals rely on high speed cameras to do the job for them...hit the button...rip out a dozen images and pray the camera caught the right expression...not a good way to go for a true professional....  Now maybe if you shooting sports it might be the way to go...but not portraits.

A good brand needs to stand for something.  It is showing the world who you are.  A name can stand for a lot of things and a good brand has value.  The value of an image that has been thoughtfully and professionally created is priceless.  The value of an image that just happened to be captured because of happenstance is just plain luck and nothing more.  The real professional can deliver the goods consistently and over a long period of time.  Luck may happen just once in a while...

You know, I am pretty good with a knife or a scalpel...I have skinned a lot deer but would you want me to do brain surgery?...I think not.  I could crack that skull open but I surely wouldn't know what to do with it...Now, it seems to me there are a whole lot of hacks out there claiming to be photographers but you might want to consider if they really know what they need to know to get the job done.  Having a good sharp knife does not make you a brain surgeon.  Have good camera and computer does not make you a professional photographer...nuff said.