When you’re building your business, you may think that the photos you make are the most important aspect to focus on. Don’t get me wrong, your images are your brand and your integrity, but you might be overlooking a vital component that can help you become more successful: Creating and maintaining solid client relationships! As someone who has worked for the past decade to develop the relationships that have led me to book and work the gigs of my dreams, I’d like to share a few tips I’ve picked up over the years to help you do the same. 1. Be patient. There is nothing worse than waiting to hear back from a potential client. I know it’s awful to stare at your phone for
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A Simple Wedding Workflow Checklist
You’ve just finished shooting an amazing ten hour wedding. Two cameras, perhaps even a second shooter. Total clicks are in the range of 3k-5k. Even though you’re on such a high, in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “ugh this is going to be such a long edit!” Monday morning comes around and you start culling, but then your inbox starts filling up, Facebook is calling your name, and the dog is barking at you. What do you do? As professional photographers, we’ve all been in this situation before. You need help. That’s exactly why I created this wedding workflow checklist. Feel free to use any or all of it to help you stay streamlined. 1. Download cards – 1 hour I personally don’t cull as
Getting Goals – Divide and Conquer for Results
“Most have lists for their groceries. Few have lists for their lives” – Robin Sharma Something that often gets overlooked in our hectic world are our goals; the things we want and work hard for every day of our lives. We all have them in some way shape or form, but are we really utilizing the power of ones goals? Having done this myself at the time I transitioned into photography fulltime, I am a firm believer that successful goal setting can move your life forward in ways you might find hard to believe. So what’s the secret to successful goal setting? First, you have to divide your goals into all the categories of your life, not just one broad “life” category. Next you have
Lady Gaga, iHeartRadio and 9 Tips for Event Photography
This past September I had the privilege of photographing the iHeartRadio Music Festival at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Having shot music events of various sizes over the past few years, I quickly recognized that this wasn’t going to be a typical “concert” by any means. It was a 2-day event, packed with 10 “A list” artists each night, performing anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes each. Fast paced and on a large scale, I knew from the outset that in order to “capture” the event in a cohesive and artful way I’d have to draw from all facets of my shooting experience and documentary style. Given that I had virtually unrestricted access to run around the arena and get the shots I wanted, the
10 Things I Learned Shooting Corporate Events
I’ll never forget the day I shot my first corporate event. I rented a Nikon D2h and an 80-200 2.8 lens. An hour into the shoot my neck was already killing me and the client had already told me to stand in the back because my camera was “making too much noise.” It was there, at some Economist Conferences Event, that my life as an event photographer began. In a sense, I “cut my teeth” in wedding photography by shooting corporate events. Corporate functions such as a “lecture style” event can be very difficult to shoot because of the limited aesthetic range and the rigid situation. Finding an artful way of representing them with the camera can be a real challenge. By taking the time