I write for photographers and digital artists who have created meaningful personal work, but are unsure how to turn it into art people can buy, collect, and live with. Each week, The Artist Sketchbook offers practical guidance on creative direction, pricing, artist statements, sellable offers, marketing, and building confidence as a fine art creator.
🥯| A Personal Update and a New Direction
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Hello Reader, I want to share a personal update with you. After almost 40 years as a professional photographer, educator, and business owner, I’m making an important shift in my work. For many years, I’ve supported portrait, branding, headshot, and family photographers as they built stronger businesses. I’ve loved that work. I’ve learned from it, grown through it, and had the privilege of helping many photographers think differently about pricing, marketing, confidence, and sustainability. But I’ve also reached a point in my own creative journey where I know it’s time for something new. Some may say I'm heading into semi-retirement. I say a new pursuit - with greater passion. I’m no longer going to pursue client session work in the same way. Headshots, family portraits, and branding photography have been a meaningful part of my life and career, but I feel called now to spend more time building my own fine art photography and digital artistry business. This next chapter is about creating original art, exploring Photoshop and digital artistry more deeply, and helping other fine art photographers and digital artists turn their creative work into sellable art, stronger offers, and more sustainable businesses. So The Business Bagel is changing too. Instead of a daily email focused mainly on the business of portrait and branding photography, it will become a weekly newsletter called: The Artist Sketchbook: Weekly guidance on creativity, Photoshop, pricing, marketing, and selling original art. My goal is to send the first issue by the middle of June. If you’ve been reading Business Bagel each day, thank you. I truly appreciate the time, attention, and trust you’ve given me. Your support has meant more than you may realize. I hope you’ll stay with me for this new journey. The heart of the work remains the same: helping creative people build businesses with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose. The direction is simply shifting toward fine art photography, digital artistry, creative reinvention, and the business side of selling original art. I’ll be sharing what I’m learning, what I’m creating, and what I believe can help photographers and digital artists move from making images to building bodies of work that people can understand, connect with, and buy. And if you’d like to follow my own art journey, you can visit my website here: ​https://www.artistrybymattice.com​ Thank you again for being part of this community. If you have any questions or comments, please reply to this email. I’m grateful for where we’ve been, and I’m excited about where we’re going next. I will see you on the other side! Doug Mattice Photographer • Educator • Business Strategist "Helping Photographers Build a Business That Pays Consistently" ​www.dougmattice.com​ FREE GUIDE FOR PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHERS...Stop guessing at your numbers and start running a more profitable photography business!Download this free guide and get a simple monthly financial scoreboard that helps you understand your numbers, spot profit leaks, and make better business decisions, without the accounting jargon.WHAT YOU'LL FIND INSIDE:
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The Artist Sketchbook
I write for photographers and digital artists who have created meaningful personal work, but are unsure how to turn it into art people can buy, collect, and live with. Each week, The Artist Sketchbook offers practical guidance on creative direction, pricing, artist statements, sellable offers, marketing, and building confidence as a fine art creator.
Hello Reader, Last week, I attended a 5-day conference at Longwood Gardens put on by Out of Chicago. I immersed myself in Longwood Gardens' 1100 acres with a wide range of flower gardens, woodlands, meadows, conservatories, and fountains, including the all-new West Conservatory and Waterlily Court, part of Longwood Reimagined. There were 13 instructors and over a hundred photographers experiencing a beautiful (but hot) week. I highly recommend the Out of Chicago team. They put on a fabulous...
Hello Reader, This is a Very Special Week: I am attending the Out of Longwood 2026 Flower & Garden Conference this week. I will be in the gardens photographing flowers alongside a team of thirteen nationally known flower and garden photographers. I can't wait to share what I've learned. How to Sell Art Prints: Start With the Offer, Not the Printer If you've ever stared at a finished photograph, composite, or digital piece and thought, this is good enough to sell — so why isn't it selling?,...
Hello Reader, Sell Your Art Even When It Feels Tough... Here's a shift I've watched play out in my own life, and in the lives of many photographers I've mentored over the years: the identity change is often harder than the business change. Most of us built our careers being hired. Someone had a wedding, a headshot or portrait need — they came to us, we delivered, they paid. As long as we could get people in front of our camera lens, our business grew. Selling something you make for yourself...