I have been photographing kids for close to 7 years now. With each year that passes, my love for photographing children grows stronger. Believe me, when I first started though, my photoshoots with children felt completely out of control and I felt totally worn out because the kiddos were literally running circles around me. I couldn’t even get them to sit still for one quick shot, let alone get them to have a sweet natural smile towards the camera. Well… that all changed once I learned to work “with” the little ones and find techniques to get them to do what I wanted them to do without them even realizing it! Below are some things you can do to make your shoot go smoother. First
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Your Wedding Photography Business with The Youngrens
In this video shot at WPPI, San Diego PUG Leaders Jeff and Erin Youngren share their background as a photography business, their tips and tricks of a wedding day, and how their love for people has impacted their business and Pictage User Group.
SEO with Wade Holloway
This next WPPI video features SEO expert Wade Holloway as he explains the basics of SEO. He also talks about some common misconceptions that photographers have when trying to implement SEO tactics on their blogs and websites. Thank you Wade for being such a great guest! SEO with Wade Holloway from Pictage Films on Vimeo.
Have You Thought About Your Business Cards Lately?
So I wanted to take a quick moment to address something fundamental …. yet WPPI proved how many miss it, your business card. Your business card is an extension of your brand and should reflect your style and preferences. But more importantly, it needs to give all of your contact information. It needs to have your website, so people can look at your work. It needs to have your phone number AND email, so they can contact you however they feel. And, most importantly, it needs to have YOUR NAME. Remember, you’re selling yourself as a professional photographer. During my presentation and throughout WPPI, I collected business cards of the photographers I would meet. And so, we did a little tally down here afterwards. During
How I am Making the Transition from Shoot and Burn
“That means I’m a photographer right?” Let’s go through the check list… Camera – check Artistic flare – (so they tell me) check Love of photography – check Desire to capture memories, moments and freeze love in time so it can be revisited again and again – check and check That means I’m a photographer right? Sure, if by photographer you mean, a person that sometimes holds a camera and presses the button on the right. But not necessarily in the business of being a photographer. And therein lies the difference. When you get to this point, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep going, nor does it mean that you haven’t got a chance, or that you are audacious for assuming you can start out.
Photography business chat with Mike Adrian
We’re so happy with and thankful for the video content that we got while at WPPI this past week and can’t wait to share them all with you! This first interview is with Mike Adrian, Hawaii based Wedding Photographer and Hawaii PUG Leader. In this interview he talks about how he has grown his business so fast and shares tips for new and developing photographers. Please note: Some of our WPPI videos were recorded live and run from about 10-20 minutes, but have some great tips and tricks to help photographers. We suggest you take a seat, relax, and enjoy!
Your Clients Don’t Care About What You Care About
They care about: their wedding, their future, their first home, their first child, paying for dinner for 200 people, whether their dress will fit, whether the cake will look like they imagined it would. They care about whether people will like the centerpieces, if they’re going to cry when they see each other. They care about how they will look in a bathing suit on the honeymoon. They care about getting tan for the wedding. They care about whether the escort cards look right, and who should sit with who at the wedding. They care about how they can afford everything they want. They care about what people will think of their wedding. They care about themselves. They don’t care about: your website, your blog,
3 Tips for Building Your Business
1. Shoot For Free. No, not forever. But free work DOES always lead to paid work, in one way or another. Shooting for free in the beginning of my career eventually led down the referral line to help me book weddings over $10,000 for their photography collections. You have to start somewhere. Shooting for free gives you the time and experience to build a portfolio and gain the confidence in your shooting to ask for the right price. Also, shooting for free starts with offering to second shoot for others. Start networking with others like at your local Pictage User Group or in online forums, and you’ll discover photographers who need additional shooters for their weddings. This is the best time to watch and work
Senior Portraits For Your Photography Business
I absolutely love senior sessions, or what we like to call “Graduate Sessions”. I seize the opportunity to work with young, fashionable high school seniors and implement some of my more creative/crazy ideas with them. Most of all, because I know they want to be set apart. At this age they want their photos to be different-maybe even a tad better than their friends. So we find that seniors seek us out to accomplish this for them. Not only that, but they want products that are different and creative. This is very exciting for me, because I love coming up with new product lines to offer to our graduate clients! I approach each one of my photography sessions as an opportunity to build trust with
Is Your Pricing a Secret?
From a photographer’s website I came across recently – under their “pricing” link: “You’re wedding is different than any other I’ve ever shot, so it would be impossible for me to simply list a bunch of prices without us talking. I need to know more about you – and your wedding – before I can create a custom quote that fits your needs specifically. Please contact me today, so we can talk more about your wedding – and how I might be able to serve you.” I’ve noticed, more and more, that a lot of photographers – for whatever reason – are requiring clients to contact them before they will give any kind of pricing information. And based on what I hear photographers say, it