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When you’ve been in business for more than 10 or 20 or 30 years, you need to reassess your marketing and/or your brand. Our company went through this process this past year and did a total redesign – logo, copy, website etc. Our business had totally changed but our branding didn’t reflect those changes. While we had always been two photographers shooting both independently and as a team, our branding was never clear that there were two of us. Many thought  Kelly   Mooney  was one person. We hired a graphic designer to come up with a logo that not only reflected the partnership but also reflected that fact that our business was more than just still photography. We were no longer two photographers shooting still imagery, but a  small production company  offering integrated still and  motion  solutions for buyers with multi media needs. Do start by asking yourself the following questions: Has your business changed? How? Do...

It’s February 29th and that means we all get an extra day this year. Let’s celebrate leap year by taking action to leap forward – not just today, but every day this year and every year. Finish something you started. This could be anything from an online course, a book you put down, a personal project etc. I always tell myself that a start is a start to nowhere if you don’t finish it. Identify one thing that you’ve talked yourself out of (for all the right reasons) and take action on it. This could lead to the start of something. After you’ve faced your fear or resistance and have overcome your inertia – follow up with a plan for completion. Toss out one bad habit . It’s easy to fall into a rut with bad habits. Identify one bad habit and change it. Start easy. If you find yourself starting your day in an unproductive manner change it. If you begin your day by checking your emails and then letting it consume your entire morning then start y...

It’s a Business – You may catch some lucky breaks in your career or you may be an incredibly gifted photographer – but if you want to make a living taking pictures and sustain yourself financially, you will need to manage your art and your career as a business. That means find a way to make a profit in pursuing your craft. It’s Not Personal – Keep emotions out of your business decisions. This is a tough thing to manage because it’s usually at odds with the passion that energizes the creative side of you. I think my best work is very personal but I try to avoid the pitfalls of letting my emotions cloud my business decisions that are in my best interests. That could mean walking away from a job or a bad contract. You’re Selling Value – If want to make money and stay in business, you need to understand your value or your photography’s value in the marketplace. Are you unique, have special skills or access to places other don’t...

I don’t think of my self as old, except at times when a part of my body doesn’t act or react the way it used to. But, I would say that many of my colleagues would call me old, chronologically speaking. The premature deaths of Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Natalie Cole and Alan Rickman – all in the span of a few weeks and all in their late ‘60’s, has given me pause to look at my own mortality. It has also given me resolve to make the most of each day. The fact is there is nothing we can do about our age. Gail Mooney with James Michener, Chesapeake Bay Photo © Thomas Kelly Unlike other things in life that we can change, we can’t change our age. But we don’t need to allow a youth-obsessed culture, define our value. I’ve grown weary of the dismissive attitude our culture has about aging. It’s especially frustrating for me as a photographer, filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur . Creativity comes from the spirit within. Our spirit never a...

Be optimistic – I’m going to start with the hardest one of all, because it’s really difficult to be optimistic these days.  But I find that if I can maintain a positive attitude and turn my thoughts to what is possible, I actually open myself up to more opportunities in my life, instead of creating more roadblocks. Be open to possibilities . – Be more flexible in how you perceive things and who you are. Change is always happening, but it’s usually gradual.  Most people don’t take notice until “change” forces their hand to act.  It’s always better to be proactive than reactive so embrace “change” as an ever-present fact of life that creates opportunities for those who are open to seeing them. Collaborate – Photographers are very independent creatures and collaboration is not part of their norm. As the “photography” business continues to change, photographers will find that collaborating...

This time of year we try to spend more time with our families and loved ones. It’s also a time of year when we reflect on the people who are no longer with us. For the most part, we rely on our memories and some scattered photographs or home movies and videos. Some of my fondest memories are of my mother, father and grandparents sitting around the dinner table, long after the holiday meal was over and telling or retelling the family stories. Of course, everyone would recall the same story in an entirely different way – the way they remembered it. Every family has stories – mine certainly does and I have started to Mooney Family, Chicago, IL   collect information, photographs and even recordings of family members while they are still around to tell them. It’s such an easy thing to do with the tools that technology has provided – easy to use cameras, audio recorders,  and of course, phones that shoot photos and video. I often think that as photog...

When I started out as a commercial photographer more than three decades ago, it was a very different profession than it is today. It wasn’t just different in terms of technology – it was different culturally. When I went out into the workforce in 1977, it was definitely a man’s profession. I never really thought of myself as a female photographer, just – a photographer . I didn’t think the additional gender adjective needed to be part of the conversation – yet it was at that time. Sometimes it surfaced in social settings. One time, an art director who I worked for, introduced me to a very famous photographer who shook my hand and said, “You don’t look like a photographer!” And I thought to myself, “what does a photographer look like?” It was worse when the gender bias surfaced in the workplace. I’m not sure if having a male business partner made the situation better or worse. I do know that the assumption was alwa...

For as long as I can remember, in my professional life as a photographer, I’ve always had a personal project that I was working on. I’d either be thinking about an idea that I wanted to explore or I’d be actively producing and shooting something. I never felt that I had to do personal projects . I did them because I wanted to. Taking/making photographs has never been just a job for me. It’s not something that I look forward to retiring from. It’s something that makes me feel like I am “on purpose” and living the life I am meant to live. It’s also how I communicate and connect with people. That brings me joy especially when my imagery creates awareness or provokes thought. One summer, early in our careers, my husband/partner and I decided to photograph the Jersey Shore. Wildwood, NJ   ©Kelly/Mooney We shot every weekend that summer, from the perspective of a bicycle, as we peddled our way through different towns ...

The other night, Maggie Doyne  of Blink Now ,  became the CNN 2015 Hero of the Year. Maggie is a 29 year-old American woman, who has 50 kids and lives in Nepal! Erin and I with Maggie Doyne and her children, Kopila Valley Children’s Home, Surkhet, Nepal Maggie’s story and the path she decided to take early on in life, has touched the hearts of people around the globe and changed the lives of hundreds of Nepalese women and children. Maggie was a high school classmate of my daughter, Erin. After graduation, Maggie decided to take a gap year and travel before heading off to college. Eventually, she ended up in Nepal and saw a country devastated by 10 years of civil war and thousands of orphaned children left in its wake. She used her babysitting savings to buy property and build a home for herself and orphaned children – she was 19 years old. Maggie has 50 children now, has built a primary school for 250 kids and is currently building a high school. When Maggie...

People who have been to my home/office in Brookside, NJ: Are surprised they are in New Jersey They think they’ve gone back in time Can’t believe they are only 38 miles from New York City I live in a small semi-rural town in Morris County, NJ. There were more people living there in the 18 th century than there are now. We don’t get mail delivery, but we (about 120 homes/addresses) have our own zip code, 07926 . Our big event of the year is our 4 th of July parade. On a good day, I’m 40 minutes to EWR and 75 minutes from Manhattan. If it weren’t so expensive to live in New Jersey, I’d be here forever. I came across an old blog I wrote in 2006 about my town. Written July 5, 2006 I live in Brookside, New Jersey 07926. Brookside is a small town of about 1100 people located approximately 35 miles due west of New York City – or as some may say “the greater New York area”. But when you’re in my town, you not only feel like you’...

I’m an organized person. I need to be organized otherwise I feel that my life is in chaos. I’ve always been able to define an end goal and break down the tasks that need to be completed in order to attain that goal. I am able to prioritize tasks and assign deadline dates. I’ve always been pretty good at getting things done. I have to be – I’m an independent entrepreneur. My business is visual communications . I create storytelling images and films for corporations and non-profits. I market myself to buyers who commission still photography and video production for that market. These buyers work for ad agencies, in-house corporate agencies, non-profits or publishing companies. My business has changed dramatically since I opened shop over 3 decades ago. The possibilities and tools that are available to small independent entrepreneurs to use in their marketing strategies are endless. The problem is the vast amounts of opportunities ends up being a double-e...

It had been far too long since we did a redesign of our website – more than 5 years. Not only the industry (visual communications) has changed in the past 5 years, but so has our business. More and more, clients are asking us to provide visual solutions in mixed mediums for a variety of uses – print, the web and social media. That’s been true especially with our editorial and corporate clients. It’s rare when a client comes to us for just one photograph for one usage. With that said, we wanted a new website that would demonstrate the scope of our business. The first thing I did was to define the look and functionality of the website as well as what I wanted the website to communicate to potential buyers. We knew that a template site with just our still images no longer represented our business. We also knew that we wanted a website that would speak to our client’s needs and the services we provide that meet those needs. My list of must haves for our webs...

How can I possibly sum up a 5 day trip to Cuba, a country that up until recently was the “forbidden fruit” for US citizens. That in and of itself is what made me want to go there. My childhood impressions of Cuba came from seeing Ricky Ricardo on the “I Love Lucy” show and watching the Cuban Missile   Crisis play out in my living room on our TV set. What I saw as a child, was enticing with its music and its passion , and threatening, all at the same time. I had an opportunity to join a group of travel writers who were traveling to Cuba, on a “people to people” program. The purpose of the trip was to make cultural connections with the people of the country through various planned interactions. As a “people shooter” and a photographer who is drawn to capturing the spirit of a place” through my visuals, I knew I had to go to Cuba at a time when the country was on the brink of change. We had a lot of interesting experiences as a ...

The journey is over and the memories have begun to fade.  But the legacy lives on in the film my daughter and I created, when we set out some 3 years ago seeking individuals who were making our world a better place. And indeed, we found many people – ordinary people who were doing extraordinary things. And every one of these people had one thing in common – they had found their purpose in helping others.  The more they gave – the more they got back in return.  But none of them “gave” with the idea of getting something in return. It wasn’t about getting money, favors, recognition, or other ego related pursuits, it was about caring for their “fellow man”. I think that the biggest reward for me in making this film, was sharing that experience with my daughter.  She was fortunate to have been born and raised in a beautiful and privileged part of the world and I wanted her to have a greater global perspective.  It...

I never really thought of myself as a “bon vivant” until a friend told me that he admired my  “bon vivant” lifestyle. Then another friend commented, “You have such joie de vivre”. My French boils down to what little I remember from high school but I remember enough to know that my friends see me as one who not only enjoys good food and wine but is living a full and joyful life. I realized it’s true. I am a bon vivant and that’s exactly what I set out to be decades ago when I decided to become a photographer. My cameras have provided a means to that end – the end being choosing a career that gave me access to a life full of diverse experiences and journeys. It hasn’t always been easy and has had its own challenges and pitfalls, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. For those of you who may want to pursue a similar lifestyle, here are some thoughts and considerations about t...

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost 50 years since I took these pictures off of our TV screen.  I remember that night like it was yesterday, in vivid detail. The Beatles had just come to America for the first time, and I was counting down the days until they were scheduled to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show .  I had been soaking up every bit of news about the Beatles all week. In those days that meant listening to the radio as DJ’s gave a blow-by-blow account of what those “crazy lads from Liverpool” were doing. My family and I were living in Rochester, NY at the time.  I was not quite a teenager, and it was the very first time I fell in love. First with Paul, because he was the cutest and non-threatening.  Later with John, because he was a bit rebellious and he appealed to the adventurous part of me that was emerging. The day the Beatles were to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show just dragged by.  Dinner was particularly excruciatin...