So, who better to give advice to Erin and other photographers who are wanting to know how to get the most out of the best show in the industry? The interview below is the product of Erin’s questions and Skip’s answers and advice. This is the first of a series between Skip’s blog and ours featuring Skip and Erin as they go through the WPPI process together. Don’t forget to comment below with any questions or advice. Enjoy! We look forward to seeing you at WPPI. Erin Saldana: What sort of atmosphere, characteristics (and really anything else) can I expect from an experience at WPPI this year? Skip Cohen: Year after year WPPI is about energy and that’s probably what will hit you first. It
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Running Your Photography Business & Having a Day Job
Running my own photography business is a dream job. But it’s not the only one I have. I have a regular, 40+ hour/week job in a completely unrelated field. Sound familiar? At some point, many photographers find themselves working 2 jobs – either they are building up their photography business (and bank account) for the day when they can leave the day job behind or they’ve chosen to do both simultaneously for a variety of reasons. The trick is not being able to do both – the trick is being able to do both, stay sane, get a normal amount of sleep each night, and enjoy yourself (that includes having a personal life!). I started out like a lot of photographers – working my day
5 Tips to Becoming a Successful Photographer (Tip #4)
4. Consistency is Key Make sure you are striving to deliver a complete high quality body of work for each and every one of your clients; not just shooting for one or two “money shots.” Think about it from the bride’s perspective; chances are that your clients have looked through featured galleries on your website of your favorite work; maybe they’ve met you in person and have seen a couple of albums that are the best ones you’ve put together. This is how they view you and your work and this is what they hired you for. They probably aren’t thinking about the 99% of your work they haven’t seen, and how that might not measure up to what you’ve featured. What happens when you
5 Tips to Becoming A Successful Photographer (Tip #3)
3. Networking with Other Vendors The truth is that ads no longer work like they used to. We’re inundated with them. For real success, you need to be building relationships. And the best part is, the more you help other people, the more they will help you. I realize that everyone is saying “network” right now, and I feel like the word “networking” has gotten somewhat of a bad feeling attached to it. I think that one of the reasons for this is people are just going through the motions because someone told them to. Often times they don’t really care about making real connections or really helping someone, it’s just about passing out as many business cards as you possibly can. Have you been
Be the Photographer You Want To Be
Our friends and family love us, they want us to succeed, and they are the first to tell a little white lie to make us feel good about our passion. This may be hard to hear, it’s even difficult to type, because it’s a lesson I had to learn in the beginning and wish I’d had someone to tell me otherwise. The truth is, we all do certain types of photography well in the beginning, but not everything we do is brilliant. If I were you, the first thing I’d do is get away from your family and get new friends…just kidding… When I first started shooting professionally, my friends had given me a little too much positive feedback that, in a way, worked against
The Price is Right: Are You Priced For Your Market?
Supply and Demand.I posted this on Twitter on Saturday. By this morning, I had 2 dozen emails asking me to elaborate on what I really mean – and how to fix the problem with inquiries. So I thought I’d spend a few minutes and talk a little more about it. My post came as a result of hearing a lot of photographers who ask about whether they are charging the right thing for their market. They either just raised their prices, or relocated to a new market, and aren’t experiencing the same “results” as they had previously. There is a level of panic associated with the question “am I charging too much?!” In our minds, we play out a scenario where, if we keep our
5 Tips to Becoming a Successful Wedding Photographer (Tip #1)
1. It’s not easy. Make sure you love it. It all starts with the foundation. Let’s back up and start at the beginning. Possibly, let’s back up to before you even get started—or maybe you’ve already started, but you’re not full time and are considering taking your business to the next level. It seems simple, right? I have a digital camera and a computer, so I can be a wedding photographer. Think again. I can’t tell you how many photographers have started out this way, only to be in tears a year or two later because they are being crushed by the mountain of work that’s on top of them. If you love wedding photography, be sure to take steps to prevent yourself from ever
Mike Larson Rocks San Diego PUG
Betsy and I have recently been named as the replacement leaders of the San Diego Pictage User Group for the next few months as our great friends Jeff and Erin Youngren will be traveling all over the world for awhile. For our first meeting we were fortunate to play host to Mike Larson, a highly-respected and talented photographer from the central coast. We’ve seen Mike speak before, so we already knew that he was going to deliver a great presentation to our friends at PUG. I’ll admit that we were a little bit nervous introducing Mike as it was our first time for this group, but Jeff and Erin gave us a very heartfelt intro, so we felt a LOT more at ease. Mike was
Starting Out Right: OneDay Intensive (Worthy Workshops)
STARTING OUT RIGHT: ONE-DAY INTENSIVE 4 SPOTS LEFT!!! This is not a typical workshop. It’s not a seminar. If you’re looking for a day of learning more about your camera and shooting pretty models – this isn’t for you. On the other hand, if you’re ready to go deep – and get serious about your photography business, you can’t afford to miss this. You can’t afford to NOT start out right. Unlike most photography “workshops,” this isn’t about photography. It’s based on business principles to help you grow your business. Jason brings a background in management and marketing from working at as an executive at a Fortune 100 company, and the experience of starting – and building a successful boutique studio based in the midwest.
Open Forum: Small business resource?
(editor’s note: Partner Conference New Orleans recap post coming soon. In the meantime…) Open Forum- What is it? Are you on it? Why? Why not? “OPEN Forum, is an online resource and networking site for small business owners. The site is designed to forge meaningful business connections and provide practical, actionable information and insights from influential bloggers, industry leaders, and savvy entrepreneurs. In addition, the site will aggregate relevant online small business conversations from Twitter.” -American Express Press Release 2009 When I was introduced to the Open Forum I immediately questioned whether or not it had the potential to be a resource for Pictage users as small business owners. The Open Forum is much like the Pictage forums in that it is a community of small