Photo Tip of the Week

As photographers, we are creative people. We have ideas. To move forward on them, I've enclosed a quote from the late great, Jim Rohn.

"So the first step is to imagine what is possible, the second is to have the faith to believe that what is possible is possible for you. And now the third step is that you go to work to make it real. You go to work to make it a hotel. You go to work to make it an enterprise. You go to work and make it good health. You go to work and make it an association. You go to work and make it a good marriage. You go to work and make it a movement. You make it tangible. You make it viable. You breathe life into it and then you construct it. That is such a unique and powerful ability for all of us human beings. Put this to work and start the miracle process today!"

Think about it, with the images we capture, we create miracles every day. It's just a matter of putting them into the proper vehicle that will take us where we want to go. 

Photographic Model Release Forms: When You Need Them, When You Don't

Photographic Model Release Forms: When You Need Them, When You Don't

Wedding Photography Tip of the Day

To be competitive in the wedding photography market it takes a lot of creativity by the photographer. Not all photographers naturally are creative. Most are, but it's also something that can be learned. Create you own pose book by cutting out poses you like from wedding magazines or website screen prints. This will go a long ways towards helping you build your creative mind and come up with poses when you need them in the field. Also make sure you leave yourself enough time to get the shots you want. When you have your pre-wedding meeting with the bride and groom, negotiate for every bit of time you can get. Creativity takes time and in the hustle and bustle of a wedding day, time is your greatest enemy. Be creative but stick to the schedule and do the best you can with what time you have.

Theatrical Photography Busy Season

Sorry gang but March and April are very busy times of the year for me. It is right in the middle of the spring high school theatre season. With my company Show Biz Photo, I'm out and about photographing musical shows for high schools. I've also been busy working on my two books. One is a "how-to" educational book on how to make money with theatrical photography called, "Break a Leg with Theatrical Photography."  The other is a photo book of  "The Best of Show Biz Photo" The book, "Break a Leg" highlights exactly how it all works for me as I introduce people to the "Show Biz Photo System." More information will be coming on my books soon but here's one of the covers. Until then, enjoy some of my most recent photos.

Photography business quote of the year...

Disneyland (Photo credit: andy castro)This is from a friend of mine, Michael Campbell and it is so appropriate. In the world of event photography, way too many photographers choose to place their photos online only.  It's usually a big mistake. Michael says it best...

"PEOPLE ONLY BUY THE MICKEY MOUSE EARS AT DISNEYLAND. They don't go home and buy them online, they don't buy them in Walmart or Target."       -Michael Campbell

That's right folks, if you expect to make money in event photography you have to plan for the here and now, not the maybe next time. I would be rich if everyone who has said they would go home and buy their photos online, actually did. Sadly, only a small percentage ever do.

So what do you do to get your product in front of your potential buyers? You basically have three options.  1. You can print up everything you can as soon as you can and sell actual product at your sales table.  2. You can print everything up on demand by using viewing stations and high speed printers. 3. You can have the customer view the photos at computer viewing stations, they place and pay for the order and you send it out in the mail to them.

The disadvantage to printing everything up is you are speculating and paying for everything up front.  However, if your wholesale price is small enough, it doesn't take long to make a profit even if you only sell 30 percent of what you print up, providing you have it priced right in the first place. This works best with a multiple day event.

The disadvantage to printing on site is if the technical end of it doesn't go correctly, you will have a mess on your hands really quickly Plus you have the expense of the equipment and hiring an IT guy. You will have less of a problem if you just don't try and print on site but use the viewing stations as an ordering station only.  It will take a lot of the pressure off having to produce a product immediately. You will still have much higher expenses with all the equipment. But for a large scale event, this is really the best way to show the product.

Top 5 Little or No Cost Photography Marketing Tools

1. Free blog page at Blogspot.com or WordPress.org
2. 250 Free Business Cards at VistaPrint.com
3.  Free Facebook Business Page
4. Cheap Domain Name at:  go-danny.com
5. Business Networking Events

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Top 10 Undeniable Photography Truths

Image by www.robertorey.es via Flickr10. The more beautiful the subject, the harder they will be to please.
 9.  Photographers are like gamblers, they overstate their earnings and understate their losses.
  8. You don't have to take perfect photos to make money in photography.
  7. If the baby doesn't smile for the photo, mom will not be happy.
  6. In the family photo, mom needs to look the best for it to be a successful sale.
  5. Senior citizens will always show up 30 to 45 minutes early for their photo session.
  4. Regardless of the photographer, posed rock band photos always look the same.
  3. Wrestlers will never smile for their photos.
  2. If you need assistance with team photos, always go to the "team mom."
  1. The two things needed to be a successful wedding photographer are a good assistant and a sturdy step stool.