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also be the makeup person/stylist," or "No, you can't just do anything you want with the photos" can often be what changes the direction of the negotiations. Sometimes the client is just trying to see what they can get out of you, and sometimes it's a legitimate need they have to stay within a budget that might work in smaller Midwest towns but couldn't work in a major metropolis. Being polite during the "No, I can't" process is important. Be certain that during the conversation, you say something like, "But I'd be interested in working with you in the future on an assignment; please consider me then. Further, if the photographer you do end up with doesn't meet your expectations, I am happy to see whether we can accommodate a last-minute assignment for you."

A final point about "no." As Dick Weisgrau, the former Executive Director of the American Society of Media Photographers, once said during the first ASMP "Strictly Business" traveling program that I attended early in my career, "No photographer went out of business after saying 'no' to a bad deal, but many have done so by saying 'yes' to the bad deals." Weisgrau has written an extensive and well thought-out book, The Photographer's Guide to Negotiating, which is a must-read for a thorough examination of photographer-specific techniques and strategies for achieving success in negotiations.

Predicting the Future?

A wise philosopher once said, "You can never predict the future, only your responses to it."

Indeed.

I consider that one of my axioms. Every time the phone rings, I can see my responses to every question and follow-up question that will take place. I am not predicting the future, per se, but rather all the potential responses to what the future holds. I am almost never surprised by an inquiry. Rather, like the branches of a tree, I've travelled from trunk to branch to limb to twig to leaf so many times, along all the possible paths, that I am prepared. Some are short stumps of a limb, such as, "We want your copyright...," at which point the branch ends abruptly. We instead must tread in reverse to another branch that is more suitable, such as, "I will extend a license to use the work in all media for the life of the product." And we then trek farther down the branch that is sturdier and that is well worn by repeated visits. We arrive at a mutually beneficial agreement.

With a complicated travel plan from, say, New York City to San Francisco, a map is your answer book. So, too, should you map out how you'll respond to varied questions and inquiries. At first, you'll need to consult the map. After a dozen trips from NY to SF, you won't need the map. Then again, you'll need it part of the way from NY to LA. Then again, from NY to DC.

Prepare your responses. When you get stumped, don't cave. Ask the client whether you can call them back if you have to. Write down how you'll handle it. Perhaps instead you can say, "I think I have a solution. Let me put it in writing and e-mail it to you," and do just that. Get out of the hot seat and cool off; consider what they want and how you can give it to them reasonably and in a way that you are comfortable with. Then, memorialize it in writing and send it off.

This results in another of my axioms: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."

Studying the Aftermath of a Lost Assignment

On one occasion, six or seven years ago, I got a call from the premier association of physicians in the US for press-conference coverage on Capitol Hill. They'd regularly used a photographer who was not available, and the work bounced from him to two friends and then finally to me. I quoted my normal event rate, which for a press conference ran into my minimum rate of around $650, including expenses, with a normal two-day turnaround of the proofs. Consistent with the Associated Press' charge of $100 to scan and transmit an image for someone who walked in off the street, I, too, would charge that rate upon request of a scan, and this was outlined in my contract. Further, my rate for same-day delivery of the proofs