Pro Photo Business Forum

I have a saying, “100% of the photographs I do not take, will not sell.” So it stands to say that the more photographs I take the more opportunity I give myself. Wedding photographers have always known this to be true, which is why over time we’ve seen an evolution of what we offer our clients as final products.

Today I’m going to share with you a radical idea.

Honeymoon photography. I know at first it sounds like a crazy idea, but why not take a few minutes and read a bit further.

I don’t know who the first wedding photographer was, but you can bet that his or her first photographs were of the ceremony. And one can easily assume that wedding photographers soon after expanded their services to include the reception as well. From there came the Bridal session, and then the engagement The session.

One would think that with the natural progression of things, after adding first the reception then both the bridal and engagement portraits, that adding honeymoon photography would be next. But it would seem that this is not the case.

As it turns out, the industry of wedding photography skipped the natural progression and invented a completely new product, which is spread through most of the country. The day after sessions and trash the dress sessions have become an overnight fad. And why is this? My guess is that the mere thought of offering honeymoon photography to our clients seems so utterly impossible to sell that we had to add a completely new product so we can create more images to sell tour clients.

So I say now is the time to start offering honeymoon photography tour clients. It’s the final frontier for wedding photographers. It’s the next step. It’s the next thing we can offer that will allow us to take more photographs of our clients to provide us with more opportunity to sell additional images.

Join the Pro Photo Business Forum and lets discuss how to make this happen for your photography studio.

Examples of my honeymoon photography can be found on my site at http://www.solarisstudios.com 90% of the images that you see which are destination images were taken on my client’s honeymoons.

Two years ago now I had the idea of creating this forum. Today it’s a reality. For so long now I have been pushing in one direction; production of the site. Like an oil tanker, slowly moving in one direction as an unstoppable force. However, now that the site is built I feel that I can breathe a bit, but I am also realizing that I now need to change directions. I need to promote.

An oil tanker doesn’t just stop and turn on a dime though. Switching from production mode to promotion mode is going to take a bit of doing. I actually need to learn how to promote the site, as I have no idea on how to do that effectively. So, I’ve decided to no longer be an oil tanker. Instead, I’m going to think more like a humming bird.

The forum is not a free site, and while the cost of access is minimal, that cost is still going to make things much harder for this site to really thrive. The cost is a necessary evil for a site like this. I know I need to promote the site in order for it to work, and I am also aware that I know very little about large scale product promotion. The Oil Tanker in me would hunker down and start reading books and get seriously educated on the subject, and I still may do just that. However, I know it would take months, and perhaps even a year or more for me alone to really get the ball rolling, and I don’t have that kind of time. Nor do the members of the site.

The humming bird can stop on a dime and change directions. It thinks three dimensionally. Because I want to get things rolling fast, I have hired a PR Firm to promote the PPBF! This will allow me to stop on a dime and change my momentum immediately! This PR frim has surely already made all the mistakes that I am sure to make if I had decided to promote the site myself. I think it’s a smart move, and I’m glad I am investing in the idea.

I owe it to the paying members of the site to make this community all it can be, and I’m committed to doing just that. The PPBF is a place where portrait and wedding photographers can better themselves, and I want to see that grow.

We’ve set goals, and they start next week. I am so excited! Change is good, and I’m ready for it.

Wedding and portrait photographers, join the PPBF today!

Do I really need a contract before I shoot a wedding?
by Bryan Lindsey
BCL Photography

Well, what is the purpose of a contract? On a principled level, it spells out the expectations between two parties – party A agrees to do THIS if party B agrees to do THAT. It avoids confusion and misguided expectations. On a legal level, it is the basis for lawsuits, arbitration, and all sorts of stuff that lawyers get big bucks to dispute. Will YOU ever need a contract on the legal level? As a photographer, will you ever need to produce a document in court as part of a legal dispute with one of your customers? Probably not (hopefully not!). So the benefits of a contract are really in principle – the contract preempts future disputes by spelling out what services the photographer will provide and what price the customer will pay. Personally, if a customer is not able to easily sign and return a contract or if I book something at the last minute, I often require just an email stating that they have read and agree to my standard contract. I want agreement in principle, not necessarily a legally binding document. Some other photographers will contend that point, but again, I value the clarity and principled agreement that the contract provides over its legal value.

What should be included in the contract? At the VERY least the contract should include the agreed upon date and time that shooting will commence, the duration of shooting, and the price to be paid. Also to be included are the deliverables – the number of prints, an album, a DVD of images, etc. There should be no confusion as to when the contract is fulfilled. It is when payment is made, and the deliverables are delivered. Residual sales items (prints, albums, etc.) will often not be part of the contract (since the customer wants to see what you shoot before they commit, which is understandable), although it doesn’t hurt to have your price list and lead times for these items included in your contract. This will help prevent future confusion/discussion/negotiation for those items.

What else? A complete contract also includes language that limits your liability. Is there a retainer required? What if the wedding is cancelled? What if things are running late? What if you are told to go left by one person and then told to go right by another person? What if your camera spontaneously combusts? What if, what if, what if?!? The more scenarios that you can cover in your contract, the better off you’ll be IF those scenarios arise. I often tell the customer that the reason these items are covered is because they have come up before, perhaps not with ME, but they have caused a problem for someone in the past and have resulted in a dispute. The contract is for the protection of both parties, and the customer should welcome the fact that these things are down in writing. If they don’t value the contract or try to put it off or wiggle out of signing, WATCH OUT. Many photographers will not book a date without a signed contract and paid retainer – there are logical reasons for this. If you are looking for ideas for contracts, just Google “photographer contract” and several templates come up in the search results ranging from simple to complex contract templates. Use protection – protect yourself and your business. Save yourself a bunch of hassle. You really need a contract before shooting a wedding.

Join The Pro Photo Business Forum.

Whose Pond Is It Anyway?

Writen by: Scott Villalobos

In the wedding and portrait photography business, sooner rather then later you are going to have to ask yourself this question, “Why am I competing with Uncle Bob?” Perhaps the real question we need to ask ourselves is, “Why am I attracting people that would rather hire uncle Bob as opposed to me?”

In the words of wedding photojournalist great, Denis Reggie, “If your fishing in a pond with little fish in it, don’t be surprised if all you catch is little fish. If you want to catch big fish, fish in the pond that has the big fish. This often means changing ponds.”

Many people just starting out get stuck in this exact situation. They charged low, low prices to attract business and build their portfolios. Then the brides friends start calling wanting the same deal their friend got one or even two years later. The problem is now your more confident, have gained experience, have a decent portfolio, and you’ve finally figured out that you weren’t making any money so you decided to raise your prices. That’s great, but is your clientele willing to pay the extra? Not if you haven’t gotten new clientele and I’m not talking about new faces but different clientele. So as Denis says, “It’s time to move to a new pond.”

If you are just starting out how can you gain valuable experience without getting stuck in the low-end market? There are many ways to gain experience and build your portfolio without having to slit your wrist for your clients.

One of the best ways is to learn by proxy. This means working for other photographers either as an assistant and working your way into a second shooter roll, or if you’ve already cut your teeth on a few weddings and want to shoot your own, look for a studio that uses associates. No you’re not going to get rich this way, but you will gain experience without having all the responsibility of being in business for yourself. You will also be able to create relationships with other vendors. Why is this important? Because other vendors may be able to help you drop your lures in the big pond, so treat them well, they are like fish finders.

One thing that I’ve noticed in the last three or four years is that many people think they can follow in the steps of the Bella Pictures of the world. The business model is volume driven and nationwide service. This means they use alot of local photographers especially in the bigger cities. While there is a market for this type of service, there is an even greater opportunity for new photographers to gain experience and knowledge of the industry by going to work for one of them. However, this can also be a double edged sword as you may find them to be your greatest competition in later years, and these guys work cheap and create albums cheap. But if you think you can handle your own weddings and want to perfect your style and technical savvy this might be the way to go. You won’t get rich, you may not even make enough to pay the rent, but you can make a name for yourself and if your good get referrals for future jobs.

But let’s look at the problem. You keep hearing that your competing for business with either a family member, a photography student or a relative who is an avid enthusiast. What do you do then?

The answer is not necessarily saying that I’m a pro-photographer with years of experience. I was at the Bridal Extravaganza back in July and one of the best photographers in Houston ($10K+) came up to me and said, “There sure is alot of great photography here.” Many of these photographers are in their first couple of years in the business and the truth is they were darn good at their craft. There are alot of uncle Bob’s that are also darn good at their craft even though they are not professionals. How will you convince a bride and groom or even worse, the brides mother to lay down 3 to 7K with you?

To answer this question you need to know that being a professional means alot more then charging to photograph wedding or portraits or whatever. It means being a businessperson, a marketer, customer service oriented and good with people. If your not good with people you won’t get very far in this business. People have to like you. When people can make a connection with you they will be drawn to you and your services. You have to give the customer a professional experience. You need to show professional products in a professional way. You need to have a polished presentation & pricelist. You need to offer products that stand out. You need to let your customers know that you are not just a shoot and dump photographer, but that you actually care about them and their finished products. (I’ll get more into detail about this aspect in a later post.)

Ultimately if your choosing to compete with uncle Bob you will find that your not going to get anywhere fast. On the other hand, if you choose to compete with professionals, be a professional. However you choose to do it, if your starting from scratch and you find that your greatest competition is a guy named uncle Bob, you may consider changing ponds.

Some have said that the written word is the most powerful force in our universe.  I have been, and always will be, searching for the right language to use when replying to people who contact me about my wedding photography services.

The first words you use to reply to a prospect will communicate volumes to the reader/listener.  Immediately they will instill trust and confidence in you, or they won’t.  Indeed, the words you choose will be pivotal on your success.  Your words can produce a sale, or leave you dumbfounded, thinking to yourself “why did I say that?”  Your words can leave you questioning yourself for days to come, wondering what it was you said that caused your prospect never to call you back, or caused them to reserve your services.

I often ask myself what the sequence of words are that I can use which will cause a prospect to book my services right then and there?  I believe those words exist.  I also believe that those words are different for each and every prospect that comes through my door.

Trying to find the right words to illicit a response is not trickery.  The people that take the time to contact or visit with me want to spend their money on the services I offer.  It is up to me to educate the prospect as to why they should spend their money with me, as opposed to a fictitious photographer who has a business next door and charges the same price that I charge.  It is my responsibility to sell my services to the best of my ability, without being misleading or obnoxious.

As photographers, we are extremely lucky, because our images can speak for us.  There are times when I find that talking less is more, and letting my images talk for me can say volumes.

I will forever continue my education on the use of language.  It’s one of my favorite things.

As a wedding photographer, I like to have what I call wow products to show my potential clients when they come into the studio for a consultation.

When a potential client visits my show room, everything is in its place. Things look, smell and feel right. The stage is set for a presentation.

At the end of the presentation, I present my clients with my wow products, the first of which is Honeymoon Photography. In order to make the presentation of this wow product more memorable, this product is displayed in some of the most unique wedding albums I can find.

By presenting the product in this manner I accomplish many different goals.

1. When the prospect leaves they are sure to remember my studio and their experience.
2. The most important accomplishment is the fact that I have given myself an opportunity to sell my largest product. You can’t sell it if you don’t show it.
3. Even if the client doesn’t invest in the option for honeymoon photography, they still know that there is an upper level of wedding albums available to them.
4. A higher end of wedding albums makes the rest of my wedding albums look that much more affordable.

Wow products are so important when you a wedding photographer. It’s coming up with the idea of what those wow products should be that is so difficult.

I often get asked what the difference is between advertising and sales.  For some, it can be a blurry line, however there is a really simple way to classify your actions as one or the other.

Anytime you are in direct communication with a prospect, inquiry or client you are in an act of sales.  Yes, a magazine ad communicates, but to the masses.  When you are replying to an initial email, or answer your phone, or meet face to face, from the first word you are selling.  Indeed, from the first second a prospect looks at you, you are selling.

If you noticed above I listed direct communication with clients as well as inquiries.  Through marketing and sales past clients can be converted into repeat clients.  Happy clients want to be converted into repeat clients.  To accomplish this, start a newsletter.  A newsletter acts as a marketing tool to convert past clients into repeat clients through its ability to start a new direct communication with a past client.

As you look around your production room, you may find yourself all alone.  You may think of yourself as a one man show.

Believe it or not, you are not alone.   You are not a one man show.  You have a team.  You have a lab to print your portraits for you, and your lab is a member of your team.

If you are just starting out in the field of professional wedding photography, you want to take great care in picking your lab.  You need to consider a few other things than just price.  First and foremost is quality.

What is quality when it comes to portraiture?  Everyone’s answer to this question will be slightly different, but most photographers have a few things in common when it comes to the definition of quality.  These commonalities are based mostly on photographer complaints when receiving prints back from the lab.

• Bumps between the print and mounting material.
• Bad mounting
• Long turnaround times.
• Damaged corners.
• Bad color

This list has something in common.  These are real mistakes that your lab can make.  These mistakes can cause the delay of your product, which can make for an unhappy customer, which can delay your cash flow.

As a beginning photographer, cash flow is a real issue for some.  You may photograph a couple for their engagement portraits, but not have the money to immediately produce the portraits, which naturally causes delay in your production.  But be careful to not let it cause to much of a delay.  Your wedding clientele is on a strict time line.  You need to make sure that you have the portraits produced in time to have on display at the reception.

This is where your lab can really shine!  Make sure the lab you chose has the capability of having images delivered to you in 24 hours!  You need the ability to upload your artwork to your lab for printing, and your lab needs to have the ability to take a rush order and overnight the final product to your studio, or directly to your clients home.

Having a lab/team that can get a finished print to you extremely fast can get you out any number of different situations.  I talked earlier about someone just starting their career as a photographer and not having the cash flow needed to produce their product in a timely manner, but I know many can put themselves in the exact opposite situation.  Can you imagine being so busy that you forget to place an order to the lab, only to receive a phone call from a Bride To Be asking if her portrait is going to be ready for her wedding this weekend? Or, it may be the holiday season, and you must have your completed product to deliver to your client on time.

You may be sitting there by yourself producing your work, but you do have a team.  Your photo lab.

Chose wisely.

Don’t even get me started on framers!

Well, I am so excited right now!  The Pro Photo Business Forum went live yesterday, and I’m just on cloud nine.  At least the forum has gone live.  My fabulous web designer, Leanne, has been working very hard at converting my design instructions into a reality, and I’m so pleased with the results.

Today I wanted to share with you an idea that can last your entire career as a photographer.  If you are just starting out as a wedding or portrait photographer, I would like to suggest that you join a few professional photographic organizations.

As a wedding photographer, you should really attempt to find a local guild of professional photographers.  Most major metropolises will have one.  One of the main benefits of joining a local professional group is the fact that you will create resources that you can fall back on if you are ever unable to make it to a contracted wedding.

If it is the morning of a wedding and you wake up with a 102 fever, or something worse, it may be impossible for you to make it to the wedding.  But, if you have joined a local group of professional photographers, then you can contact the director of membership and have him/her send out a blast email to the entire group asking for emergency help.

Now, let me also say that you really need to have an “inner circle” as well.  This group would be the group of photographers that you would refer business to if you yourself were unable to photograph an event due to unavailability.  Your “inner circle”  should always be your first call in the case of an emergency.  Your professional organization is your fall back position.

Happy shooting.

As a wedding photographer, one of my most popular products that I sell is my time. What do you do when you are at an event, contracted for a start and end time of your services, your time runs out but the event isn’t over?

I photograph a clock. In this case, my iPhone.

Photographing a clock is proof that after that particular shot you were shooting on overtime for your clients and you can charge accordingly.

I never approach a client during an event to let them know that their time has run out, I simply ask if there are any additional images they would like me to create before I go. If you do not have the opportunity to talk to your clients, then you have a choice. You can leave as contracted, or you can stay and continue shooting.

If you stay and continue shooting then you give yourself opportunity for additional sales. You can show your clients the additional images, and perhaps they will want to purchase them. Your clients may also want to only purchase a portion of your extra images. My policy is to sell the first image equivalent to the amount of overtime I worked, and the rest are free.