Trying to dig out of that horrible rut

I have noticed over the last few weeks that I have lost myself. I have not created a fun image in months, and I am honestly struggling to figure out my next move. It has been enough to make me wonder from time to time if I am just stuck temporarily or is this going to be something I can never get out of. I love my photography and I love to see the excitement from my clients, or even my own family when I create images.However I have not had the chance to feel that enjoyment lately. I seem to struggle with making something that I am happy with and proud enough to show my family. With this in mind I realize that I must do something because I am stuck in a rut, which I am not happy about.

I am a big fan of the Improved Photography LLC. This group of photographers spend a number of hours creating podcasts, articles and training material for us to use at either a very low cost or no cost at all. With this thought in mind this was my first stop. I went to the Improved Photography website and went through the articles that are available and ran across one in particular that is entitled "In a Photography Rut? Project Workshop!"  The article is written by Rowland Jones and is part of a series of articles that have been written. However at this point this is the only one that I have read. This article covers the basic history of portrait photography and how time consuming it was in the beginning stages. It also talked about how photographers began to change how things were done by creating new and different portraits that showed the emotion of the person that they were photographing versus just a stony face and a very stiff postured subject. The suggestion is made at the end of the article to create and schedule a formal portrait session. This includes finding a model, doing some research on a location and preparing for the shoot. There were also some suggestions about putting your subject at ease and discussion about post processing. If you would like to read this particular article in full here is the link:
http://improvephotography.com/30488/photography-rut-project-workshop/

After reading the article this has given me some perspective and to some extent has gotten the juices flowing about what I could do with a session. However this is something that I want to be personal and from my heart. I also want my personal project to tell a story through the photos that I take. This is something of a challenge because I have no idea how to tell this story. I have learned that unlike dancing, which can tall a story though movement, photography is something completely different. I have attempted this idea and failed several times. Each time I feel as though the photo needs an explanation or a thought bubble so that the viewer of the photo understands the story that I am trying to portray.

So as I sit here I am trying to figure out several things.

1. What is the topic, or title of my project?
2. What is the story that I want to portray?
3. Is this something that I am only doing for myself or is this something that I want to release to the public eventually?
4. What type of project can I do that is something that I can complete, and not become discouraged and quit?

I found an article about some of this at The digital Photography School. In the article it talked about why a personal project is important. There are actually several other reasons, besides getting yourself out of a rut. Personal projects can help to expand your portfolio, get you to step out of your comfort zone and get you out into your community. Which I believe these are all great ideas that may be very helpful.

If you would like to read the full article for further explanation here is the link.

http://digital-photography-school.com/importance-personal-projects-professional-photographers/

As I continued my research I found another article on the Fstoppers site that helped to define things a bit more. It talked about not letting your projects die and how to stay motivated which is something that I NEEDED more than I realized. This really brought things into prospective for me. This article broke down how to come up with ideas, and how to keep track of them and to expand on them to make the project specific and not quite so over whelming at the very beginning. As I said this is something that I needed to see as I believe that being over whelmed from the very beginning is a very huge issue for me as a photographer. I also found it reassuring to know that I am not the only one that struggles with the actual execution of the project, which in my case is the reason why it dies, and the ideas that were given to prevent this is great. I have come to realize that I need a time line for the project and it is not something that has to be a year. It can be as short as a few days to as long as I want it to be. However there need to be end dates and there need to be bench marks with dates in order to keep myself on track. Also one of the biggest take always from the article for me is that it is ok to fail. You can always go back and re-shoot. Which brings a lot of weight off of my shoulders.

If you would like to read this article as well please follow the link.
https://fstoppers.com/business/how-not-let-your-personal-photography-project-ideas-be-forgotten-83648

What are your thoughts? Do you have any suggestions for me? Would you like to see the project as I work through it?

I would love to know what you think and if this is something of interest to you. Please leave your feed back in the comments and give me an idea of what you are interested in.

As always thank you so much for taking the time to read my thoughts and give feedback. I hope that it is helping you as much as it helps me as we grow with our photography.

Advertisement, the struggle is real

As I have stated in a previous post this is a topic that I have struggled with since going full time as a photographer. It seems like there is a trick, or maybe it is an art to advertising yourself. This is something that I struggle with.

The first reason that I struggle with this so much is because it is hard to promote myself. It is easy for me to promote others and how great they are but when it comes to promoting myself I become self conscious about the situation. To an extent I feel like I am bragging about myself and throwing myself out there to get the attention of everyone around and it is just something that I am not comfortable with at all. I am not one that likes to brag or boast about myself. I have spent my entire life allowing my work and my work performance speak for itself. I never had the need to boast or promote myself in a manner to attract attention because my work ethic and values did that for me. However I am learning that is not the case with photography and it has been a fight for me to put myself out there and say "Look at me! You know you want to work with me!" It is very odd, and in a number of ways it is very unsettling for me.

When I first started out I was only doing this full time, and honestly it was more for fun, and for my kids than anything else. Due to one picture that a friend saw word of mouth took off and I was able to shoot my first event, a family reunion. It went well and I was able to get repeat clients from this particular event. The family enjoyed working with me, and they loved the product that I was able to give them. Which was great for me. It was quite easy for me to get sessions and I really did not have to work that hard to get them.

Everything changed a few years ago when I had to move. This meant that I had to start over with my client base. I went back to my old ways, photos just for fun, my kids and just enjoying taking photos. There has been a few that have put out there that I am a photographer and I have had a few sessions, however nothing like before. Now that I am full time I realize that I need to up my game.

I have watched other photographers and read a number of articles on line, and even dabbled with Thumbtack and there has just not been the success that I enjoyed before. I wonder if I am putting to much stress on myself or if I am to reliant on word of mouth. I have discovered that sites like Thumbtack are just not worth it to me, as I am having to pay to bid on clients, and most of the time I do not get the session and this is very disheartening and expensive.

I know that there are many ways to advertise, however, finding the most effective way has been a struggle. Like many photographers I have a Facebook page, and my website. This is just not enough.

I know that there are things that I currently need to do, for example build my SEO with Google. However beyond flyers I am just at a true loss for how to market.

What are some things that you do to market yourself in your local areas? Do you hold local events or participate in various small business events? What has been the most effective marketing strategy that you have been able to find or develop?

Please share your thoughts and comments to help us all learn and grow our individual businesses! You are all are great!

Mini Sessions, Are they really worth it?

Over the last year or so I have watched countless photographers advertise mini sessions. I am not always sure of the response or if they actually end up doing these mini sessions. With some I am positive that they do because I see the photos that they post on Facebook and they are constantly updating their clients until the day of the event and even after so that everyone knows when they are going to be getting their pictures. But every time I see it I wonder, is a minis session really worth it to the client.

For example I see some photographers who charge $275 for a 20 minute session and the client gets 5 digital images, and may or may not get the option to buy prints or at least print rights for an additional charge. However these same photographers charge $325 for a full one hour session and have multiple options for packages that are either prints or digital downloads or both. The difference in price and product in my opinion is just not enough. Let me explain.

Lets say this photographer is going to do a total of 8 hours for mini sessions. So that equals 24 sessions in the allotted time. Based upon the sitting fee alone that means that the photographer is going to make a total of $6,600 for that 8 hours. Now lets say a second photographer books 8 one hour sessions during the same time frame and at regular price of $325. Just in sitting fees alone this photographer is going to make $2600. Admittedly not near as much in sitting fees as a mini session. However this photographer processes their clients photos and holds an in person sales session with each client. The average for each session spent on product now jumps to $500. So for 8 sessions the photographer has now grossed $6,600. 

In both cases the photographer ends up making the same amount of income. However the first photographer has only 20 minutes to work with each client versus a full hour, and they end up working with a total of 24 clients. Where as the second photographer only works with 8 clients, and produces the same amount of income in the same amount of time. 

So where is the benefit of a mini session? The reason that I ask is because I am honestly not sure. From what I have noticed from other photographers is they put in the same amount of time editing the 5 images that they give the client of a mini as they would a normal session client. The only real difference that I have come across is that with a mini session there is less of a chance of an in person sale meeting. This seems to be negated because the client is only receiving 5 images and typically they are digital and it seems that once the digitals are delivered there is no longer contact with the client. 

In essence what I see is a loss of personal touch between the photographer and the client with a mini session. Please understand this is what I see from the outside, so if this is not the case I would love to hear some input. I know there are a number of people that use mini sessions with in their business models and I am sure that they work, but I just do not understand how. Are these sessions used to draw in new clients? Are they meant as a promotional action? Are they to keep clients coming back? What is the true purpose of a mini session? And the even bigger question is, are they really worth it to the photographer and to the client? 

I cannot wait to hear or see your answers about this particular topic! This is a very interesting and important topic for me. 

How to spend your free time?

As I have said in previous posts I have recently gone through some huge life changes. To say the least it is not something that has been easy. I thought that when this transition happened that I would be OK. Why? Well I have my camera, I have a client base and I held the belief that between my family, marketing, editing, and actual sessions that I would be one busy lady. Oh how wrong I was. 

First off I realized that over the years my family has learned how to function without me being there all the time. My children have grown up with the understanding that I have military obligations, and due to those obligations there are a lot of times that I will not be able to be there, and there is so much that I have missed. They grasped the concept and understood that I was doing that I had to do in order to take care of them and they in turn grew up much faster than I realized and now they function with, or without my presence, unless of course they need a ride somewhere. 

Thankfully my camera has not gone anywhere. It has stayed ready in my bag with a charged battery and ready to jump at the chance to shoot a sporting event, prom, graduation photos or just personal project photos when ever I am ready to grab it. These various events have given me the chance to work on my editing work flow which has cut my time down significantly. 

I have had sessions, however, not the number that I projected that I was going to have. Which has been disheartening. Some of this I attribute to the fact that the weather has been out of control this year and bouncing from one extreme to another, but I think that my biggest issue has been advertising/marketing. Prior to career changes I was not worried about the number of sessions that I did, and was more focused on personal projects in order to improve my skill as a photographer. However, the story has now changed.

Marketing/advertising has been a huge challenge for me. I have gone the traditional route and purchased business cards, and developed a web page, and I even created a Facebook business page. I also have started working through word of mouth for recommendations and even dabbled with bidding on the occasional session via Thumbtack.I have trolled Facebook, and watched how others have worked their marketing skills, which led to the addition of this very blog, and yet it all seems so ineffective. 

As I sit here typing this I wonder how the rest of you spend your free time. As I have pointed out marketing is my weakness at this current point and I am sure that I as I continue to study and learn that eventually this will change, however I still struggle with my free time. In my previous line of work there was never a moment to sit down and breath. I rarely took a lunch break, and I was lucky if I had the chance to even take a restroom break during a twelve hour shift. Now there is all of this free time. Something that I am not use too, and I feel as though I am wasting time that I could be using for something more important, rather than sitting in front of my computer or reading another article. 

What do you do with your free time? How do you continue to feel productive with your business even when you are currently not as productive as you need to be?