While branding might not be as sexy a topic as fashion or travel photography, it’s a critical element to making your photography business a success. Fortunately, we have a good group of educated and experienced photographers to help bring us up to date on what branding is, how to create it, mistakes to avoid, and why it’s so important to your business. Bottom line? Marketing your photography with a strong brand message will give you a competitive edge and get you paid what you are worth. I want to thank my patient contributors for sharing their knowledge and lessons with us: Casey Bevington, Matthew Dutile, Andrew Fingerman at PhotoShelter, Karen Hirsch, Giulio Sciorio, Beth Taubner at Mercurylab, and Daniel Waters at Get Pro Photo. They gave so many good ideas and tips that you will want to take notes!

This is one of my favorite topics: photographers doing good works by donating photography services to charities and other nonprofit organizations. In this column, I’ll look at how to make a living while making a difference. For starters, donating your photography to a good cause will help you develop business skills. It will also give you access to people and places for portfolio development and allow you to meet an amazing network of new friends. Organizations you can donate your photography to range from local to global and cover a variety of issues from healthcare and education to shelter animals. Sincere thanks to our contributors for their work: Luke Copping, Tim Courtney, Cathy Greenblat, and Isaac Howard (websites at end of column).

In this column we look at some of the business aspects of fine art photography: getting established, finding clients, looking for gallery representation, marketing techniques, and finding your style and direction. Special thanks to this month’s contributing photographers: Sean Bagshaw (Outdoor Exposure Photography, LLC), David Bowman, John Granata (John Granata Fine Art), Robin Hill, and Cheyenne L Rouse.