Forgiveness is asked for the lack of blog updates, but the last month has been a busy one!
As many of you now know, my website is now up and active, and my Facebook page gets the lion's share of attention and updating, and after spending the morning with the delightful State of Wisconsin's Business Registration system, I'm bordering on being completely and utterly official!
I'm so happy with the website, thanks to all those who gave me great feedback on putting it together. I still need to piece some things and polish them, but it up...it was like an Amish Barn-raising. It may not be the hearts and flowers that other photographer's websites are with bouncy country music, but it is what I was shooting for..simple, sophisticated and elegant.
Thanks to everyone who has supported me through this process. I can now sit back and relax a little bit! The beauty of starting this business is that it can chug along on it's own, and I feel no pressure whatsoever now. I want to let it evolve in it's own time, and can hopefully avoid the stress of relying on it to let me live my life; with that approach, I can concentrate solely on it being what it is meant to be: about the photography & the images.
Amongst all of the terribly dull aspects of the launch, I have had time for more shoots. I find myself finding that shot every time I run a session now. That Shot is the one that makes me think I want to print it...like 5ft by 4ft and frame it over my bed I love it so much! It's a good feeling to have that so often. My recent one was this delicious shot:
Most of the streamlining for presenting the work is done now. After a fight with Facebook over the movie slideshows, I moved to hosting with Vimeo, who have been great. One of my favourite features of my product is putting those slideshows together. Here's the latest one from a shoot with a co-worker Angie:
So after the FB campaign launched, I was inundated with requests. It was a nice feeling, and I was really happy to try and accommodate all of the people looking to help me out. I could have spaced them out evenly, but I knew with the Holidays approaching, I would need to work quickly if the shoots were to be of use.
With that in mind, I decided to see exactly what I could handle in terms of scheduling shoots as well as managing my workflow for processing. Last weekend I was hit up for four sessions, and managed to complete all of the post-work by Sunday night, and still feel like I'd produced results.
I really had a blast spending a weekend doing it, and the fatigue is just setting in today after the 5th shoot. Hence resurrecting the blog, (as I forbade myself from editing this evening), and so waste my time rolling my eyes at the Biggest Loser. As I said though, I had a great time and really enjoyed the rash of work. The suspiciously warm weather was a great help and the families I worked with were especially wondeful.
I enjoyed it so much, I'm extending my stress test to this weekend, with another four shoots. A year from now I'll likely be blogging from a hospital bed babbling about a 12-month stress test, but thats neither here nor there as I continue to surf a wave of enjoyment...
So, if you havent seen the new work from this past weekend, hit up the FB fanpage, as photos and the awesome new video-slideshows are up and done. Video-slideshows you say? Why yes, Video-slideshows. You see, as I edit pictures, rather than get hung up on small details, I work in drafts, and revisit a slideshow after the initial edits. I noticed that if I do this to music, the pictures are much more emotive. As I pondered over how best to use this, I worked on producing short movies featuring highlights of a shoot set to music, and thats the first thing a client will see from the session, as a way of accentuating the impact of their pictures. I feel it was one of my better decisions.
So what else is on the cards for this happy little venture of mine? Well, upcoming sessions include not only family sessions, but some commercial work also, which will be interesting. As we hit December, I'm also launching on the FB page my 'A for Advent Project'.
Projects are common tools for photographers. You generally decide on a theme, be it a 365 (taking one picture a day for a year), drainpipes (admittedly probably not a common theme) etc, and commit yourself to following through on the assignment. The purpose is to force yourself to be creative and force yourself to shoot with a purpose each and every day.
So, with Christmas just around the corner, and 26 letters in the alphabet, I've plumped for an Advent calendar style done in alphabetical order. Will it be as dull as it sounds? Hopefully not. I intend to have some fun with it, and produce some solid shots. It could be dull however. You were forewarned.
Anything else? Well, the business side is pretty much wrapped up now. I know what I want to offer, and have it all designed. Its all boring. However, administration seems to creep into everything as I'm sure you all know. I'll endeavor not to let it creep into the blog...
Though one idea I do have and want to get it in print early is the concept of Legacy Pricing.
As I stated in my previous blog entries, I want to become a family's "go-to guy" for their photography. Legacy Pricing is one of my commitments to that goal. In a nutshell what it means is that the first time you deal with me, well, that's the price you'll pay for the rest of our relationship. I'm sure that the cost of doing business, and also my prices will rise, but if you were in with me from the start, that's what you'll pay regardless. The cost of those Senior Portraits for your child at age 18 will be the same price they were when I did their baby pictures...
OK, Biggest Loser is done and Leno is on. Time to accelerate the eye-rolling. Or I could just watch the local news and see how many people were shot in Milwaukee today. Either way, check out the new stuff, and let me know if you need anything..
I thought that the second post would be easier than the first to start. I was sadly mistaken, however, If I put my head down and write, something should fall out of my mouth. So in true Joe Biden style, here I go!
I suppose I wanted to touch on the 'why' behind my decision to do this; After all, I'm sure it came as a bit of a surprise to people who know me. Kind of like when your dad sits down at the dinner table and announces between the main course and dessert that that weekend the family will be moving to New Zealand. Again, it never happened, but I secretly hoped it would.
Admittedly Exercise Physiologist to Photographer as a career move is right up there with exotic dancer to 3rd grade teacher (if not quite so salacious), but the bottom line it's serving to fill a void for me. While I enjoy what I do and have seen great success, there's a creative element that just isn't fulfilled with coaching and training. The greatest moments of my life have been in helping people to reach their own goals and succeed, but aside form the training process I've missed creating something amazing just for its own sake. I've found that photography can do that for me.
We all see things in life that captivate us, even if it is just for a second, for truly those moments usually are fleeting. However, being able to capture that setting, mood, vision is a truly priceless ability. Though not everyone will always find beauty, peace or untold emotions in the same image, its the variance that attracts me. Then again not many over here in the US agree with me when I say Baked Beans on Toast is truly an amazing culinary combination. I don't hold that against them. I feel that what I can create is something worth sharing with others however.
So why the title of 'socialist photographer'? Well, it's a nod to one of my clients, who in a very tongue in cheek way used it to describe one of my soap box tirades. As I investigated and researched professional photographers, I was outwardly stunned by the cost associated with it. While much more reading and researching has educated me on why the industry prices itself so, and I can see their point of view, I still find myself thinking that especially in times such as these, something as precious as photography, especially when it comes to family and loved ones, should not be out of reach in a way I imagine it is for so many.
Don't get me wrong, I'm no social crusader and am not given to philanthropy, but I do know the value of my dollar, and that is what is guiding me. I believe there's a niche not for cheap photography (there are plenty of Walmart's for that), but for a service that provides excellent and professional quality in a value package. Something does not need to be cheap to be of value.
Having extensively researched the business, I believe I can provide not only a high quality but also the extras such as included print packages and CD/DVD copies of the images to clients at the same time. No hidden or extra costs for prints or digital files. I will not be holding images you pay me to capture hostage until you foot the bill for my next vacation.
Therefore, if I can meet my creative needs, be rewarded for my time and provide a service to other people that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives, well, who can really wonder why I'm making the choice to make this move?
If you made it through to the end of this post, well congratulations! You earned a cookie. That doesn't apply to my training clients btw. You need to go run another 5 miles and lift heavy things.
Seemingly a 'blog' is where it's at, so now I have one. Unlike most spur of the moment acquisitions however, I hope not to get bored of the new shiny and will keep this regularly updated.
As I'm sure some my training clients will attest to, the launching of the Fan Page on Facebook was a strangely difficult thing for me to do. I'm not sure why, and though I reveled in the psychological introspection that ensued, I went ahead and did it, and was quite amazed at the support and response from everyone. It was the kind of pleasant surprise you get when you find $10 in your jeans pocket, or suddenly find ninja skills as you react to the guy trying to rob the gas station. OK, so the latter hasn't happened, but I always secretly hope it will.
However, I digress, and as Shakespeare wrote, "Brevity is the Soul of Wit", so I'll get the point. This blog will serve to not only as shameless self-promotion, but also to engage my friends and supporters as I develop the business. I'll use it to display work, but also to garner advice and opinions on decisions I have to make as I go along; how I build the website..templates, music etc, ideas for promotion and offers, as well as give an insight into how my life, and this specific aspect is progressing.
