Who am I as a photographer? What is my photographic genre of speciality? Who am I as I person? Who are my clients? How do I undeniably represent myself and my work in an intentional targeted pitch to a customer or in a microsecond during a chance passing?
More importantly, how do I get them each to remember me? How do I stand out from the crowd? Enter the staid ol’ standard: THE BUSINESS CARD. Like most of us out there, my business cards were of the self designed and unmemorable variety. Name, contact info, photo or graphic. Nothing wrong with this. They served the purpose of having something to exchange following a few seconds of conversation or during what I call the “Business Card Shuffle”. Having watched artists, promoters, editors, and publicists collect 10 to hundreds of these at any given moment I began thinking of what mine represented in terms of me as a photographer, me as a person, and me as a brand.
Two photographers and brands in the industry I highly respect have recently gave conflicting opinions on this subject.
Forget about branding - Zack Arias
A good brand is more than just a set of visual conventions. It’s a concerted effort to clearly say “This is who I am”. Done right, It resonates with the market you are working to connect with. A good brand builds confidence and honestly represents the company for which it stands. Its built around a story – who you are, what you do, why you do it, and for whom. It’s unambigous and differentiates you from the crowd – David duChemin
Both are correct. Zack speaks from the perspective of starting out as a photographer, David from the perspective of once becoming established. Not sure where I fall in that spectrum, but I do know that if I set out to do something, I tend to do it as over the top as possible. 
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The concept clicked with me one day in passing the photo pass wall of shame – a landing strip for the nights’ assignment credential. It then hit me. What better a representation of my photographic genre than the single most cherished item at any music performance – the tour laminate. This not only would provide for a standout business card. It would undeniably represent who I am and what I do. It would allow for the ability to always have them at the ready to handout via a handy bulldog clip on a lanyard I can wear while shooting. Now I just need to pull it off.
Over the next few months I reviewed a number of designers and printers while pondering the design concepts. Ultimately I found Taste Of Ink Studios who not only offered leading design and printing capabilities, they embraced and further encouraged the concept. A few design sessions later and the ultimate business card was born. While it is always interesting when creatives do business with one another 
– these fine folks hung in there with me and delivered one of the most outsanding designs and design experiences I’ve had to date. Major shout outs to David Stuebe, Heather S., and the fine staff at Taste Of Ink for helping make my vision a reality.
Having been handing these out the last few weeks, the response has been overwhelming. Conversations are started from first impressions, an increase in follow-up email inquiries, callbacks (like on the telephone), and site visits. Bottom line, they completely rock!
If you’re in the market for some truly baddass design and print services hit up the fine staff at Taste of Ink Studios who are offerring a 15% discount on printing services using promo code “allenthomas”.
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Allen, all I can say is that these business cards look amazing and I’m sure they’ll do great this for your business going forward. I’m not surprised they’ve gone down so well from the first few weeks of using them, they’re a great design and it’s a wonderful concept that you’ve come up with to stand out from the crowd. They’re CAKB as Mr Ken Toney would say
They’ll become an object of desire and a collectible I’m sure – must get over to the Atlanta area and get me one
Thank you David. We worked really hard on them and are very pleased with the final product. Come to Atlanta anytime, would love to see you.
-A
Great idea for your business cards, they are awesome! I recently made my own, printed out at home, on the cheap. I’ve only had a few chances to hand them out and have received some nice compliments, however, I can’t wait to afford some super quality business cards!
Hi Kelly -
Thank you. Lets see what you’ve got!
-A
Allen,
Your business cards look amazing and are a great concept. It shows the vision and imagination you show in your photography. Well done by all involved.
Hope things are going good with you.
Mark
RockEyez
Hi Mark -
Thanks for stopping by and for the compliments. Life as always is good and every shoot a blessing. Hope things are wonderful in your world as well.
-A
Awesome, creative, and right in line with an overall feel of your brand! I just read this post and feel I have a great idea of who you are! Keep on RocKin’ Allen!
Hi Heather -
Thank you for stopping by and for the compliment. Much appreciated. What is the genre you focus on yourself?
-A
Fantastic idea…..these look terrific. Will need to stop by and pick one up…lol.
Great concept, Allen and awesome design! Definitely not a card someone is going to immediately throw away and forget about, that’s for sure.
Thank you Phil!