Written by Ed Monahan of Eastman Kodak It’s no secret. Printing has substantially declined in recent years. With a glut of devices that take pictures – digital cameras, smart phones, iTouch and handheld video devices – consumers capture more images than ever before, while at the same time, print fewer. Rather than focus strictly on the numbers of prints being made (or in this case, not made), I try to understand the reasons behind the numbers – why do consumers increasingly opt out of printed images and more importantly, how do we bring them back? In recent years, everyone, from high-end professional labs to online consumer services, has introduced some kind of photo book offering, Kodak included. Yet, with all of these offerings, we have
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How to Bring out the Best in Your Boudoir Client, Part 2: Planning = Success!
Written by Christa Meola NYC Photographer. Join Christa at PartnerCon this November for her talk “The Anatomy of a Successful Portrait Business.” In Part 1 of How to Bring out the Best in Your Boudoir Client: Overcoming Fears and Doubts, we talked about letting your client know what to expect and making sure she feels you understand her fears and doubts even better then she does. Now on to the juicy stuff! Bringing out the best in a non-model, ie. an everyday woman (who is most likely nervous to do a boudoir shoot) entails setting up your shoot for success during the planning stage. Let’s take a peek at how to plan a successful shoot so it runs smooth like buttah. Make it a Collaboration
Why Clients Need Fact, Not Fiction
We came across this article on Kevin’s blog and couldn’t wait to share it, because it challenges photographers to ask important questions about why we run our business the way we do. Join in the conversation of this post in the comments section and join in person at PartnerCon! Over the past few years, wedding photography has become a fashionable way to make a living, thanks to the ease of digital cameras, computers and software. At the same time, wedding photographers market themselves as “experts” to other wedding photographers through workshops, lectures, gadgets, software and actions. Photographers don’t just compete against each another, photographers now market to other photographers in order to gain popularity, money, and status. With twelve years of photojournalism experience, and ten
Four Ways to Bring Your Clients Into the Creative Process
Communication Getting your clients to be creative with you starts with good old fashion communication. Communication of today’s world such as email, Facebook and Twitter are no substitute for face-to-face communication. If an in person meeting is not possible, picking up a phone or making a Skype call is the next best thing. When you talk to your clients, ask questions about what their interests are such as their favorite music, favorite movies and art, magazines they read, clothing styles they like, the stores they shop in, and even the type of architecture they are drawn to. I also like to ask what other photographers’ work they admire. Getting to know your clients on a personal level will shed more light into the creative process.
People Without People
The tiniest things tell us the most about people. A locket on a bride’s bouquet contains a black-and-white photograph of her grandparents, a hand-stitched handkerchief is embroidered with a groom’s monogram, ornate hats are testaments to traditional British wedding culture. Seasoned photojournalist Alan Berner calls these details “people without people.” He explains, “For me it is the sense of people without them being there. It’s the part representing the whole. It’s the significant detail giving instant insight into the person, organization, the culture.” Sounds strange, but it’s a powerful concept. Details reveal key traits about people without actually showing them. These photographs are often tight, close-up shots that give our eyes a chance to linger longer on objects. As photographers, we have a responsibility to
The Value of an Image
“Photojournalism isn’t just an invitation to sit on the front row of global history, it’s also an invitation to sit on the front row of family history.” -Rachel LaCour Niesen, Intimate Invitations: The Photo that Changed My Career In the three weeks that I’ve been married, I’ve had the opportunity to remember our wedding ceremony through many conversations with family and friends. Without fail, in each and every one of those conversations I have been asked about my favorite part. While I loved each and every part of our wedding day (weekend really), there was one piece in particular that stood apart from the rest. We called it our “Unity Ceremony,” a time during our wedding where the communities that raised us came forward and
What’s Love Got to Do With It?
I think by now most of us realize that business in general, and the wedding industry in particular, is very relational. Simply put, we are happier, do better work, get burned out less, and have more job & life satisfaction overall when we work with people we actually like. People we have strong relationships with. The kinds of couples that we would want to be friends with anyway had we met them in any other walk of life. And the kinds of couples that we would gladly spend time with, even if it wasn’t part of our job. These are the kinds of couples we have affectionately deemed our “Clients-Turned-Friends.” The question then becomes: Ok, so how do you find couples like that? How do you
The Magic Bullet of Successful Wedding Photography
“Boy, I never knew I could look so good.” – Lisa Binder, Washington DC If you were to create a list of the various components for building a successful wedding photography business, you would most likely include things like great customer service, personality marketing, understanding your ideal client, great photography, recognizable style, and unique product offerings. Yet, there is one component—arguably the most important component—that probably wouldn’t make your list. It’s what I consider to be the “magic bullet” of wedding photography and the one thing that leads to more bookings, more sales, and more happy clients than anything else. Ironically, it’s also the trait that I find to be almost a lost art in today’s highly competitive wedding photography market! So what is it?
What Your Email Auto Responder Says About You (We’re Ready for a Debate!)
I’ve been a photographer since 2004, and I’ve walked more than a mile in a photographer’s shoes. Now that I find myself regularly working with photographers, I’m able to see things from a different perspective while still being able to empathize with the day in, day out challenges that photographers face. And it’s from that perspective, that I invite you to consider the following. I’m not sure how, why or when. But, somewhere along the lines, photographers—lots of them—decided that it was a good idea to set up email auto responders to automatically reply to each and every email that they receive. These automatic responses look something like this: “Due to the large volume of emails I receive, it may take me awhile to respond
Your Photography Business is Not About You
Your photography business is not about you. That’s not something we hear very much these days. In fact, I feel sometimes that one of the strongest messages we hear during this rapid growth of the industry is the exact opposite. We hear that it’s all about us. That we need to market ourselves in order to stand apart from the crowds. That it’s not about the photography, it’s about the photographer. That it’s about our unique personality, our particular eye, and our ability to make photographic art that nobody else can create. It’s YOU that defines your brand and separates your business from everyone else in the market. I would agree 100% with those statements. But I still submit to you guys that your business