In 2009, we shared with you a series of behind-the-scenes videos leading up to the historical inauguration of President Barack Obama. The video - Inaugural 'Pre-Game' Behind-The-Scenes Video - showed the different angles available to those covering the event. In 1992 we found ourselves on the North Riser, and every inauguration since we have been on the south riser. This year, we opted for the Ballustrade - a change up to be certain - something new.

Below is a video which illustrates from start to finish the set up we used to capture the swearing in ceremony - once which lasts for approximately 60 seconds. The set up and configurations, a bit longer. IF you're getting this in a feed, click here for the link.

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TIPS60 - Using music in your videos, shoot sessions, website - should you?

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here a few thoughts on using music in your photography business. I'm John Harrington. You need to be very careful about using music in your photography business because even if you're using the music to entertain a subject when you're doing a portrait session doing so in that commercial environment requires a license from ASCAP or BMI. Those are the two major ones. You want to make sure you have permission to do that if you have music playing in a studio that you have a brick and mortar facility. Having that music play actually requires permission. When it's on a website, when it's in a video you delivered to a client, you need to have a separate and specific license for that use as well. Generally speaking you shouldn't be using any music on a website because brides and grooms if they're looking for you or a couples are looking for a family portrait photographer, corporate commercial clients don't want to see music coming up when they are trying to sit in their cubical searching for a photographer for whatever reason when their at work. So just don't use music in general.

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WHAT WE USE - Wimberley Tripod Head

We took the Wimberley tripod head to the Presidential inauguration to see how it handled. Here's a video illustrating it's use. Quick Link - HERE To learn more about the heads, visit www.TripodHead.com .

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TIPS60 - A few tips on handling the late-paying client

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on dealing with late paying clients. I'm John Harrington. Dealing with late paying clients is the bane of every photographer's existence. Heck, I'm sure it's the bane of most businesses existence, especially those that deal with people who provide services and then pay at a later date. In the end ultimately you do need to get paid and the first thing you need to do is if that particular person you're dealing with is not in the accounting department reach out to the accounting department in that company. Talk to them, ask the invoice is in their system. Ask if it has been approved and set to pay. Once you learn these things, if it's not in the system, provide the accounting department with a copy of the invoice and your W-9, letting them know that you anticipate being paid soon. Also provide them with the contact information for the person who originally secured your services. If you're dealing with a particular client that's an individual or a family, make certain that you're dealing with them directly not providing the finished product until you've been paid, will minimize the likelihood that you're going to get paid late by any individual client.

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TIPS60 - The importance of having a website - For Staff Photographers!

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here a few thoughts on, if you're a staff photographer, what you might need to be thinking about as far as the possibility that you might go freelance. I'm John Harrington. When you're a staff photographer, you think everything is all set you're going to end up retiring from the company that you're working at and that will be that. You'll have your retirement, your 401k, and you can ride off into the sunset. The reality is, it's nowhere near the case. Most staff photographers are being transitioned into contract or the company has just decided to use freelancers. So it's really not a matter of if, it's just a matter of when you go from staff to freelance and you really need to be prepared for that. One of the steps and one of the things you really should always have at the ready is a great website. A website that showcases your work, shows that you're a talented and skilled photographer, and really gets your work out there. Not necessarily for side freelance work, although that's a great fringe benefit to having a website, but so that when you are ready to go, unexpectedly, and no one is really ever ready to go, you'll have a website that showcases your work and really lets people know that you're a capable and skilled photographer. So if you're a staffer you have got to have a website.

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TIPS60 - Weddings - why take a deposit and when to collect the balance

Here is another of our videos offering tips and inisights into the business of photography. a transcript of the video is included after the jump.

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TRANSCRIPT:Here are a few thoughts on wedding photography deposits and the balance due. I'm John Harrington. We do weddings and we require a deposit when we do that work for that client. That deposit upon the moment when they sign the contract locks in our time and means that we're not committing that time to any other wedding client on that day. In addition, you're taking your balance and collecting your balance due. Oftentimes deposit is fifty percent with balance due at fifty percent some photographers will do twenty five, seventy five. We strongly encourage you to make sure that you are collecting your balance due a week before the wedding. Why a week? You don't want to be turning up the day the wedding with your hand out saying I need my balance due. That money should have been collected it also makes certain that you can make sure that the check is cleared by the time the wedding actually occurs. You want to make sure you have all of your money before the bride and groom head off to their honeymoon because who knows how that money will be spent after that point and you want to make sure you've been paid.

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