T H E M O N T H LY
#ISSUE 10
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JUNE 2019
A NOTE FROM COLE: CREATING LUCK We’ve all been there... Thinking that others got to where they are because they had some luck on their side. I’m here to tell you that while there are some exceptions, most often, that “luck” was the result of that person taking action and setting themselves up for their “lucky break”. I know this is true for myself. For every single thing that has worked well for me, it is the result from taking the first step and “going for it”. Even though, “going for it” really doesn’t have to be that big and scary. For you, it might just be proclaiming to the world (your network on Facebook) that you are a
photographer and are actively booking clients. Wouldn’t it be crazy if you could actually create luck? You can, if you actually put yourself out there! One thing is for sure, success is available for anyone who wants it. Success doesn’t discriminate. Put your plan together and get started and then think how different your life could be in just 1 year from now. When it is, others might call you lucky - but you will know that you created your own luck! Cole
WHAT’S WORKING: COMMUNITY BRAINSTORM RECAP B Y K AT E G U E R T I N
NETWORKING THAT WORKS! This month our very own Cole shared a really great post by CC Pro long time friend and guest mentor and creator of our Flash Photography 101 course, Walter Scott Wilson, revealing his secret for booking 57+ weddings per year! Was it paid ads, facebook, instagram, SEO? Nope! It was good ol’ word of mouth networking! If you haven’t caught that post, check it out here! That really got me thinking...networking SOUNDS easy, just gotta chat up a few connected friends right? But it’s not that easy for many of us, so I polled our members to find the best, easy forms of networking that are working for you! Here’s your top 5 anecdotes about real life networking for beginners to inspire!
1. GET ON ANOTHER TOG’S “GO-TO” LIST FOR BACKUP REFERRALS! Sometimes other photographers in the area will receive inquiries they are just too booked to take! In these cases, they often have a list of backup photographers they can refer the client to, so that their “no” is still helpful and strategic for client retention and they know the client will be satisfied! (Interested in more ways to say “no” to a client gracefully? Check out my recent article here)! Getting in good with some local photographers and getting on those list can bring new work, income and opportunities AND fosters community over competition!
2. SNAP A PIC, TAG THE BUSINESS! Our very own mentor Betsy Davis wrote about this one last year, it’s easy, fun and definitely works! You’re a photographer, share that with your community! When you’re out and about and on the town bring your camera along. Get artistic and snap a few photos of a local cafe’s treats or store’s products or atmosphere in a way they may not have seen/thought of before. When you post them, tag the business! You can even email them a few watermarked social media sized images! They’ll be thrilled at the free marketing
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T H E M O N T H LY S N A P S H O T
PRODUCT CREDIT WINNERS: R OY L E I N E W E I R BELLA SMITH
material and sure to want to come back for more and your post appearing on their business page (due to the tag) and to their clients will give you a whole new lots of potential client eyes on you and your work! Want to read more about how Betsy herself implements this? Click here!
3. BEAT THE STREETS! LITERALLY! So this one might not be in everyone’s comfort zone but many new photographers have benefitted from hanging out in popular local hot spots with their camera! Think of the Disney theme park photographers who hang around the most “kodak worthy” spot in the park. Channel that mentality and if you ever see couples or a family trying to snap a cell phone selfie, step up and offer to take a great professional photo for them for free! Have business cards with your “try before you buy” gallery link printed on them that you can hand out after you snap a couple of photos and let them know that in 24 hours, they can go to this link to view, download (1) complimentary watermarked image or purchase full resolution copies and prints of the photos you snapped! You might not make a fortune just off of one photo but you very well might gain some new clients coming back for more! Sports parent? This also works well with other parents at school sporting events. If your little Johnny plays football and you spend every weekend at the games anyhow, might be a great time to work up some cards and share the awesome snaps you got of the other kids with their family and friends who just may want a copy (and maybe some future senior portraits!)
5. DONATE!
4. NEED A COOL NEW MINI SESSION IDEA? A NEW LOCATION TO SHOOT? Link up with a local business and turn their venue into a cool theme! A local snow cone shop would make an adorable place to host summer mini sessions! A local apple orchard would be an amazing spot for fall sessions! Ask them if they’d be willing to let you shoot some sessions at their business in exchange for you promoting them and maybe a few new photos for their website. Many businesses, especially newer or smaller family run businesses will love this arrangement and not charge you to shoot on their property! I chose to shoot my spring apple blossom mini sessions at a new, small family farm this year instead of paying to shoot in one of the larger tourist-ridden orchards around us. It meant not having to share the space with a thousand other photographers and fight to compose my shots around large crowds, pay fees to shoot or fight for parking and on top of it, my clients loved being shown a new hidden gem they didn’t even know was in the next town over. They all raved about the location and said they’d be bringing their kids in the fall for pumpkin and apple picking which the farm was so happy about. Fifteen of my clients chatting up the farm to all their family and friends and sharing their images on Facebook could really help get the word out for the farm and in return, I know they’ll do the same for me! Interested in learning more about mini sessions? Click here to take my Mastering Mini Sessions breakout!
Look out for local organizations raising funds for good causes, or a local family fundraising for their child’s once in a lifetime trip to the Great Wall of China or for a relative battling cancer, etc. Offer to donate your services and watermarked images (and ask for photo credit too!) for free! Not only will you be helping a great cause which will make you feel amazing, but it’s quite likely your images will be used on the fundraising page and materials the organization or family is using to spread the word! That exposure could put you in front of lots of other families who may be looking for a photographer and will connect with you over a mutual good cause, a bond that could really put you in the lead next time they think, “It’s been a while since we’ve had photos done!”
6. GET YOUR CLIENTS TALKING! Referral programs, we preach their worth here in Cole’s Classroom! Offer your current clients a discount on a future session, free print or product, a free mini session or even CASH when they refer family and friends who mention their name and book! Get them chatting with all their friends. It’s very likely that your ideal client knows more of your ideal client and already has a “like, know, trust” relationship with some other great potential clients that you can just piggyback on! Remember, sometimes it’s not about another dollar spent, another ad run, but getting out there and creating relationships. Fall back on that human factor, and take a step back from anonymous impersonal ads for a moment to really explore where in your personal world, there might be opportunity trying to find someone just like you!
T H E M O N T H LY S N A P S H O T
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3 TIPS FOR RELAXED & NATURAL POSES B Y B E T S Y D AV I S
Have you ever wondered how to make your posing better? Are you looking for natural and relaxed photos, but always seem to end up with clients who look stiff? We all want to be able to pose our clients in a way that gives us the photos we imagine, the photos we see all over the internet… We study posing guides and Pinterest shots, and go into our sessions feeling ready, but sometimes, it all falls apart. Something happens and for some reason, we just can’t translate what we have in our minds onto camera for our clients. It feels like good posing is definitely easier said than done. I’ve been there. But, stress no more. I have found three reliable ways to taking your photos beyond “posing” to getting those relaxed and natural photos you are after. It took some trial and error, but after photographing hundreds of families, I can say without a doubt that these keys are nearly fail proof.
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CONNECTION The first key to making your photos look more natural is connection. Nothing screams “awkward family photo!” like family members who look like their afraid of getting cooties. Encourage your clients to get in tight and close, more than what may feel natural to them. Look for small details like making sure there are no gaps between their bodies, and having them lean in towards each other. Even having them lean their heads in towards one another can convey a feeling of closeness that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Take a look at this example below. In the second photo, I asked them to lean their heads towards each other. Just this one small change helped them look less stiff and more connected.
MOVEMENT One of my favorite ways to take the stiffness out of a posed shot is to incorporate some sort of movement. Sure, there are the obvious “movement shots” like walking:
If your clients are too stiff and rigid, it will show in their photos. These small movements put the body in a natural state of motion that causes their bodies to relax.
GET YOUR CLIENTS ON BOARD When your clients are on board with a more relaxed style, it opens up so much freedom for your session. When they are expecting the traditional, posed and stiff photos, that is what they feel like they “must do” for you. Communicate to your clients that you love to capture natural and relaxed photos. You can do this by:
1) Showing them the style you want to shoot
But don’t stop there! Some of the best ways I have gotten my clients to relax into a pose is by requesting small movements that force their bodies to relax. Movement is so natural for the human body, that even the smallest, most familiar of movements can go a long way towards relaxing your clients. Things about things like having them take in a deep breath and then let it out, or asking them to hold the side of their dress and gently sway the dress back and forth. In this photo, I wanted the daughter to relax into the moment with her parents, so I just asked her to take a breath and then give dad a gentle hug on his arm.
Do the photos on your website and social media show relaxed and natural photos that you are proud of? If not, it’s time to replace them. What you show your clients will be what they come to expect from you, so make sure you are using your online presence to display the types of photos you want to take MORE of!!
2) Preparing them ahead of time for what to expect. Give your clients a Session Guide that tells them what to expect during a session with you! Whether this is something you physically mail them, something you send via email, or a page linked to your website, go out of your way to communicate your desire and intention to help them relax and be themselves so that you can capture them as they really are. When you are at the session, always start by giving an overview of what you anticipate the session looking like, and let them know that it’s ok to relax and be themselves, and maybe not even look at you all the time. Most people are unsure of what to do at a photo session, so give permission to not look at the camera! When you prepare your clients ahead of time, ensure they are connected and even incorporate small but natural movements into your photos, you will see a huge difference! My photos are so much more relaxed and authentic than they used to be, simply from implementing these three things. We stress about posing and get lost in the details, but ultimately the things that make the biggest difference really aren’t that hard to incorporate at all.
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PRO MEMBER SPOTLIGHT:
TASH THOMPSON WHERE I CALL HOME: Colac East, Victoria, Australia YEARS I’VE BEEN IN BUSINESS: Less than one! I officially launched November 2018 MY NICHE / WHAT I SPECIALIZE IN: Families and Personal Branding WHY I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY: The story! Gosh, I love the story of every family. You get to know them, their triumphs, their miseries – and you get to tell that story in a session. I love to show people their beauty, we all struggle in todays perfect society to see our own gorgeous self, it’s an absolute gift to be able to show others how the world sees them. I don’t know if others suffer the same problems with forgetting what seems like everything (hello babies!)– but photos are my lifeline to the past. They quickly foster the emotion of that time. My most precious possessions are my photographs. You never get that moment back, it’s why it is so important to me to get Mum in the picture! It’s like we don’t exist if we don’t make the time to have someone photograph us.
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ONE CHALLENGE IN MY BUSINESS THAT I’VE OVERCOME: Self doubt… I’m not sure I can say I’ve overcome it, it’s still something I have to keep in check every day. Having amazing support from friends and peers is so crucial; they help to show me where I’m kicking goals or where I might need to try a bit harder! Having the community at CC is so imperative, whilst people are kind, they also help push you to be better. I recently read Elizabeth Gilberts’ – Big Magic (after sitting on my bookshelf since it’s release!), and it was a total game changer. ‘You do you’, is a mantra I live by these days.
ONE THING I LOVE ABOUT COLE’S CLASSROOM IS: There is no silly question! I started my official photography journey with Coles Classroom, and it is the absolute foundation of my knowledge. Whilst I had a ‘good eye’, I didn’t know my way around a DSLR to save my life. It can be something as simple as ‘My focus point is stuck – help me!’, and you will have a community there in 2 seconds flat to help guide you on anything. Knowing that no matter the struggle you face, that you have mentors there from all different specialties who will lift you up is amazing. Community over competition is a huge aspect in CC.
3 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME:
1. I cry at the end of nearly every session I’m editing! I put together a slideshow for every family, and by the time I’m putting the finishing touches on, there are generally tears!! 2. I’m a big fan of the exclamation point! I speak quickly, and excitedly IRL, and the ol’ exclamation point comes out to play a lot in my written work to portray that excitable nature!! 3. One of my favourite places to visit is the Californian Redwood plantation in The Otways here, there is something just a bit magical, and so calming about that place!
FIND TASH ONLINE:
WEBSITE FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM T H E M O N T H LY S N A P S H O T
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PHOTO TIP OF THE MONTH A RT I C L E & I M AG E S BY E D E L C L A R K
SAVE A CUSTOM SETTING ONTO YOUR CAMERA DIAL TO EASILY SWITCH BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN VIDEO AND PHOTO MODES! So I LOVE to shoot video alongside taking photos during my sessions. But I don’t always want to take two cameras with me to do this! I much prefer switching back and forth on one camera. But… how in the world do we do both without wasting loads of time re-entering settings and possibly missing a shot as a result? (Yes I know SOME cameras automatically save settings when in video mode… but the majority don’t so if you fall in the majority, keep reading!)
The trick is to save settings in custom modes! In most higher end dslr cameras, you’ll see the usual program options on your camera dial - the auto modes of fully auto, aperture priority and shutter priority, as well as some other options such as sport, macro or night for example (depending on camera). And with some cameras, you’ll also see a programmable custom setting - on my Canon 5diii they are labelled C1, C2 and C3.
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T H E M O N T H LY S N A P S H O T
So the first thing you need to do, is dial your camera into a custom mode - C1 for example. Then - dial in your specific video settings. I know that in video mode, my camera will always have a shutter speed of 1/50th second - that never changes as it’s twice the frame rate of my camera. I tend to start with ISO 250, aperture 2.8 - BUT, the custom mode here will save the settings to whatever you had them at last while in that mode. Then, once your settings are inputted - go to menu - settings - custom shooting mode. Hit Set - Register Settings. And now your settings are automatically saved under that custom mode! Now all you need to do to switch back and forth is flick to video mode/custom mode, and then back to photo mode/manual mode!
I promise the more you practice shooting video and photos together, the more fluid it becomes. I found the best way to practice is to spend a whole day switching back and forth for that very purpose - by the end of the day, dealing with various lighting conditions, you’ll be a pro at switching effortlessly to both!
GEAR HIGHLIGHT B Y K E L LY A C S
IS THE CANON 35MM 1.4 II USM WORTH THE COST?
Everyone is always curious of the Canon 35mm is worth the hefty price tag, especially with the new Sigma 35mm 1.4 ART option on the market. Canon is incredibly fast, doesn’t have many focusing issues to mention and the distortion is pretty darn low for a wide lens (most portraits tend to be somewhat distorted). It is GREAT for indoor sessions, like lifestyle and newborns and you can even add a micro extension tube to make it a Macro lens! (Just make sure you get the right size for your particular lens)! With Canon’s price point almost double, a great option is the new Sigma Art 35mm 1.4! Be aware, however, the Sigma 35mm is known to have some focusing issues, so there may be some calibration needs in your future!
CANON 35MM 1.4 II USM
NIKKOR 35MM 1.4
SIGMA ART 35MM 1.4 FOR CANON
SIGMA ART 35MM 1.4 FOR NIKON
T H E M O N T H LY S N A P S H O T
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