10 Smart Questions to Ask Yourself About that next lens purchase

OHHHH!!!! A New Lens! I REALLY NEED A new one!

Now, I know that each and every single one of us have seen the new lens that Tamron and Sigma are talking about and that are hitting the market currently and we are all drooling over them. I am sure that there are several of us out there that have already emptied our pockets to get our hands on some of these lens. I know that if I was able to I would in a heart beat. However as luck would have it..... the pocketbook is currently empty and I cannot just run out and purchase any lens that I wish. 

I have learned that with the inability to purchase lens whenever I feel the need to do so that I must really question myself before I do it. I have to be able to prove to myself that the lens is going to do more then make me feel good, or be more then a bragging piece in my bag of gear. It has to be something that is going to be essential and that I am going to use on the regular and that it is going to earn its keep once I have purchased it. So there are 10 questions that I ask myself before I purchase a lens and if I can answer properly to all 10 then the lens will end up coming home!

1. Is this lens something I want or something that I actually need? 

When I first started out I had a kit lens and I wanted every lens known to man. So it was there on my wish list and I was trying to find a way to get all of them. However as I have grown over time certain lens I have learned are slow, or redundant, or are not going to help me. I have learned to research my lens now and I realize not all of them are not for me and therefore I do not need every single piece of glass that every single pro recommends.

2. How often am I really going to use this lens?

I do not want to spend $1,000 or more on something that is going to do nothing more then sit and collect dust in my bag, or on my shelf at home. That is a pointless endeavor. I am not trying to purchase a paperweight. I need lens that are going to help me grow and help me become better. Therefore if the lens is not going to do that, there is no reason for the purchase.

3. Do I have another lens currently that can accomplish the same thing already? 

This question tends to be when it comes to upgrading a lens. For example Sigma has the new 24-70 F 2.8 Art that is rumored to be releasing this year according to Petapixel. I already have a Sigma 24-70 F 2.8. Do I need a new one because it is an Art lens?  I really don't think so. At this point from what I can see the speed of the lens holds out to be the same, and even though it is an Art lens I just can not justify a possible $1,700 on a lens that I basically already own.

4. Is the lens really worth the price? 

In most cases this can be a hard question to answer. I guess this is something that is going to be of a personal choice for you. A month ago I had to send my Sigma 70-200mm in for repair, however before I did I took to Facebook asking for suggestions on quick fixes with an issue I was having. I did not want to be without  one of my favorite lens if I didn't have too. In one of the groups a gentleman informed me that the problem I was having was the reason that he switched to only purchasing brand name lens like Canon and Nikor, he was tired of the compatibility issues and a few other things that he mentioned. So to him the higher price for the name brand was now worth it.

5. Is the lens durable? 

I need a lens that is durable. I am not saying one that I can throw on the ground and stomp on, but one that is not going to break at the first sign of abuse.

6. How heavy is the lens?

I want a great lens as much as the next photographer, however I also want to save my back. If a lens is heavy it is going to be one that I am not going to want to carry on a regular basis this could cause it to become a rather expensive paper weight.

7. Is the lens weather sealed?

This may or may not be a question that you ask yourself. I shoot outdoors a lot and there are a number of times that I have been caught out in the rain. I want to know that even if I am caught in the rain that my gear is going to be ok. So I need to know that the lens has some sort of weather sealing to it. Now, if you plan on shooting indoors all the time, then this may be something that you do not need to consider.

8, Do I really NEED this lens?

This is a question I think I struggle the most with. Do I really need the lens to make my life easier, and make better images, or is this another item, another want, that maybe I just really don't NEED to have. Another way to look at this is can I live without it?

9. Should this be a now purchase or a later purchase? 

There are times that a lens has to be a now purchase based upon what is going on in your business. At other times this is something that can wait. I also like to look at this is a sort of cooling off period. It gives you a chance to re evaluate your answers to all of these questions, make sure that you are not manipulating yourself for new gear, and gives you the chance to ensure that this is going to be a solid purchase for you and your business.

10. Does this lens offer everything that I need?

Seems odd to have to think about this, but believe it or not you should. You don't want to buy a lens and then realize that it does not have everything that you need. Do you need things like auto focus and image stabilization? If so you need to make sure that the lens that you are looking at has these features. If it doesn't then there is no reason for you to even consider the purchase any further.

What questions do you ask yourself before you purchase a lens, or any equipment for that matter? What questions would you add to this list? What would you take out of this list? Leave your comments below. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

What is a business Avatar and to you really need one?

I have decided that this year is going to be a year of growth, and understanding for me and for my business. Business is something that is not my strong suite. I have no idea how to really market myself, other then through my children and their school activities, and of course the occasional Thumbtack request, and I honestly up until this point have had no idea what I want to shoot. In order to function more effectively in business I have realized that many people have suggested creating client avatars. Well that is great, but why should and I and what the heck is an avatar?

First a business avatar. This is a person, an ideal client if you will that you create. The person that you want to market too. This is the one that you want in front of your camera daily. Is this a real person? Technically no, it is someone that you have made up with all of the ideal qualities that you are looking for in a client. Rachel Brenke from the Business Bytes Podcast discusses this in episode 12 of her podcast. She has even named her avatar! As she describes it her avatar is very real, and not in a crazy way this is how she figures how how to go about marketing to her avatar as she is her ideal client. Jamie from the Modern Tog recommends that you know these things about your avatar:

• Who are they?
• What are their demographics? 
• What are their interests?
• What are their beliefs?
• What are their hobbies?
• Where do they hang out? 
• Why do they want to have photos done?

The more that you know about your business avatar, the more you will understand your ideal client and have the chance to make that ideal client be more comfortable and be more willing to book with you because it is you versus anyone else that they may have talked to before you.

Do you really need a business avatar? I will be perfectly honest with you, I have no idea. However, from the outside looking in it seems that having an avatar would make things so much easier when it comes to marketing. It helps to narrow things down, it helps you to focus on what you really want to do. You are able to start thinking about where you need to focus your energy regarding how to reach your clients when you are trying to market. I can see where this will reduce the amount of time that you are spinning your wheels trying to figure out where to find those much needed clients, while in the mean time shooting clients that you are just not interested in. I also think that this could help you find more clients purely because it is going to make you focus on your work. Your work is going to be tailored to that ideal client, and instead of just having everything from pets to weddings they are going to see you as someone that knows your stuff in a particular genre of photography.

I have sat down and taken the time to make my avatar. I want to see if this is something that is going to work for me. My avatar at the moment is not super tailored, however I do believe that as I move forward that this will continue to evolve to some point. I will talk you through my avatar, and I will explain some of my sticking points as I go through.



My Business Avatar Donna

Donna is a female that is between the ages of 18 and 50. She is your typical country girl with the boots and the wrangler jeans and the great summer tan. She may or may not be married, with or with out kids. (This is one of my huge sticking points)

She enjoys the outdoors, sports, hiking, going to the lake, beach, traveling etc.

Her hobbies consist of animals and sports

Regarding beliefs she has an open opinion about things, strong family values, and the need to close to her family.

She likes the idea of having photos done, but for occasions, such as graduation, engagements, weddings and family sessions. She is also a big supporter of action shots during sporting events. (This is my other sticking point)



As you can see I have a few points that I am not sure are very defined for my avatar. The first is the swing in age. The reason I have left this swing is because I love shooting senior photos, however I need to be able to market not only to the mother but to the senior as well. I also need to be able to market to the newly engaged, and the sporty individual that wants action shots of either herself or maybe her children when they are playing. Which makes the other sticking point of is she married with or without kids hard because of the swing from one end of the dynamic to the other. My second sticking point is that I want to shoot the highlights of life. Graduation, engagements, the occasional wedding, and family sessions along with the heart stopping action of sports. This leaves me in a very open field. I guess more of an artsy documentary of life. But these are the areas of life that I love and that I enjoy shooting. So somehow I have to find a way to market to someone that fits in this platform, however I am a little nervous that there may not be anyone that fits into this particular platform.

Do you have a business avatar? What does yours look like? What suggestions do you have for mine? Please leave comments below or if you would like to have private conversations please contact me using the contact me information box on the right side of your screen. I look forward to having great discussions with all of you!

*Disclaimer* The links that are in this blog post ARE NOT affiliate links. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. These two ladies have helped to open my eyes in this area and if you are interested in what they can do for you I highly recommend that you follow the links and see what they can help you with!

Are you happy?

What am I doing wrong?

Why is this not working?

Why can't I make this work?

Where are all the clients?

Why are my clients being SO DIFFICULT with me?

Are these some thoughts that you have run through your mind? Are these thoughts that are currently an everyday pattern for you? Do you wake up and go to bed thinking about these kind of things? If the answer to all of these questions is yes then it is time to 

STOP!

If these are the thoughts that are running through your head on a regular basis I am assuming that it is because you are struggling somewhere within your business. Something is just not going your way. If everything was going your way I am pretty sure that you would not be here right now trying to figure out if you are happy or not. So lets talk about this just a little bit.

I struggle with this thought process all the time. Part of the reason that I struggle is because I am a perfectionist. I always have been. I want to be at the top of my game, I want everyone in the area to know who I am and that I am good at whatever it is I am doing at the time. I want them to want to be my client. This is a great way to be, but it also bites me in the rear on a regular basis, and here is why. I SUCK at marketing myself. I want my work to speak for itself and I want the word of mouth just to do the work for me, however I have come to realize that word of mouth needs a little bit of help from time to time. Especially in an area where the market is very saturated and it can be a struggle to stand out from others. 

So like you I was trapped in the mind set that I just laid out above. I really believed that there was something that was just not right with me. The sad part is that I was letting this take over and affect me in more ways then one. I was beginning to resent the idea of having a business, I was not touching my camera. In fact I would tuck it away so that I wasn't able to see my bag and that way I could walk by it and "forget" it when we were going places that I should have had it with me. I was coming to the point that I just wanted nothing to do with photography. When I realized this I became very sad.

I was sad and I was disappointed with myself. I had allowed the business end of things to suck all of the joy and happiness out of photography and ruin it for me. I had allowed what I thought was failure and who knows what else to take away from what I was accomplishing. I was providing an amazing gift to the people that I had photographed. Memories of graduations, sporting events and weddings. Things that they would not have had if I had not been there per their request. I did not give myself enough credit for the little wins that I had with my business. 

I realized that I needed to stop and figure out what gives me the greatest joy when it comes to my business and photography as a whole. If I couldn't figure that part out then there would be no reason for me to continue forward and fight to maintain something that was floundering at best in a sea full of photographers that are just as qualified as myself to push that shutter button.

What does give me the greatest joy with photography? The smiles and heart warming thank yous at the completion of a session, especially with the seniors that I shoot. I love being able to give them images that they thought were not attainable, and encourage them and get them to realize that they look great, even when they do not believe it themselves. I take great joy in being able to break the negative thought processes for young ladies, and even if it is only for a moment get them to understand that they are beautiful, despite what is said by anyone around them. I love seeing the sports players get on Instagram and Facebook and show off their photos and talk about how great they are in a sport, and how they proudly show off a photo. (My sports photos are typically action shots or if I do the posed, I try to make them more interesting then the traditional shots). With a lot of words I guess you could say very easily that I get my greats joy from others happiness with themselves. 

Now that you have had time to stop and think about it, and regroup, are you happy with your photography, and with your business? 

What gives you the greatest joy with photography? 

I would love to discuss your answers in the comments below or via email if you are uncomfortable with placing it in the comments below.  I look forward to hearing from you all soon! Take care and have a great week!

If failure truly failure?

"Failure doesn't mean you are a failure. It just means you haven't succeeded yet"

-Robert Schuller

Over the last few months I have been struggling to meet the goals that I have set for my business for the year. They are small goals. Things like: Increase profit to $1,000 this year. Increase followers on Facebook and Twitter. Develop a strong business and marketing plan and stick to it. Increase clients by ten.  It all seems simple, however the more that I am diving into it, and wanting to make this work, the more that I am realizing that it is not as simple as I thought that it was going to be. 

I will admit that I am a bit stressed about the whole thing, and I have fallen into the trap of feeling as though I am failing. I have set goals for my business and for my blog, and for whatever reason I am just not meeting them like I should be. I blame myself for not being knowledgeable enough in business and blogging, and this leads to believing that I am failing. However, am I really failing? 

I am slowly growing my knowledge as my photographer, and as I grow I make sure that I am sharing that knowledge here with you. What does that do for me? Well it does two things, one it helps me to cement what I am doing in my head and helps me to remember it. When I was in the military we were taught with one method. It was the "See one, do one, teach one" method. he way that it works is that you have something demonstrated to you, then you perform the action, once you have performed it successfully you must teach it to the next person. This was something that I did not think would work when I was first introduced to it, however I have now realized that I am learning and maintaining more knowledge when I practice this method. The second thing that it is doing for me is it is helping me accomplish the goal of 8 blog posts a month for me here. If I am learning or improving on something at least 8 times a month that means that I am also sharing it here with you. Two birds with one stone. So, is this really failing? (as long as I am consistent)

I struggle with the idea that my business is more of a hobby then it is a business. However after watching a few videos from the The ModernTog I have come to realize that this is something that I need to shift my mindset on. Once I start treating it like a business and not a hobby I am sure things will begin to change. I have also learned from The Business Bytes Podcast that is run by Rachel Brenke at the Law Tog that I need a client avatar. Sounds weird, but believe it or not it has helped me move from treating my business as a hobby to a business. I am now trying to find ways to appeal to that person/avatar, and find ways to reach them and get them to want to book with me. So, I am not exactly succeeding yet, but am I really failing?

When it comes to owning your own business and doing what you love you have to define what failure really is. This is something that I believe only you can define, and that no one else can define for you because it is going to be different from person to person, and situation to situation. For example, for some people not being able to support their family and being full time is a failure. Not being  on page one of the google search is a failure. At this point in my business my belief is that if I drain the fun out of photography and I lose my love for it, that is when I have failed as a business. I am running my business for fun and to help my family, however I do not want it to consume my life and make it to where I no longer love going out and taking photos and making people feel amazing about themselves. When I lose that, that is when I will tell you that I have failed.

I am sure that there are a number of you out there that question your sanity and think that you are failing every single day, but are you really failing? Did you wake up this morning? Did you get out of bed? Did you accomplish your morning routine with your family? Now that you are sitting in front of your computer are you getting ready to work toward some goal? If you have gotten this far into this post, then trust me my friend you are not failing! You have already succeeded a lot already today! Take those successes and continue to apply them to the things that you need to get done for you and for your business. If that means that you have a full day of editing ahead of you, well I am sure that you have a coffee pot full and ready to go. If it is a day full of shooting, I am sure the batteries are charged and you are ready to go. These things are also successes. Never discount the small things. Always try to look for the wins, not the failures. A failure is nothing but a bump in the road to teach you something in order to grow. All you have to do is learn your lesson and move forward from that moment and apply what you have learned from that lesson. 

What are some wins for you? What are you struggling with? How do you view failure? Lets talk about it! Leave your comments in the comments below or if you would like to  discuss it personally please contact me via email. You can find the contact box on the right side of your screen. 

*Disclaimer* The links that are in this blog post ARE NOT affiliate links. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. These two ladies have helped to open my eyes in this area and if you are interested in what they can do for you I highly recommend that you follow the links and see what they can help you with!

What do you see?

I have a tendency to struggle with a lot of things when it comes to photography, and if you have been reading this blog for a while you are very well aware of the fact that I struggle. I am slow to learn, and I am slow to grasp and maintain an idea or a concept. I struggle a lot with this blog too. There are times that I wonder if I really help anyone with the things that I write, or if I am investing all of this time and effort and it is not helping anyone.

I have also realized that thought processes like this is a huge road block for me and has taken the fun out of photography. The last time that I touched a camera was a few weeks ago at my son's last basketball game. When I realized this I also realized that I was cheating myself, and I was losing the chance to practice.

I am not going to sit here and tell you that I take my DSLR and practice every day and that I take everywhere with me. However I do have a camera that I barely use that does travel with me everyday. So I thought about all the times that I could have used my camera that I have and chose not to because it was not my DSLR. What are the things that I have missed? Where could I have had the chance to learn and grow as a photographer and didn't take it because I felt that I didn't have a camera with me?

I have decided that is now time to stop making excuses and to start practicing when ever I have the chance to do so. Even if this means that I am going to be using my Iphone 7 Plus camera rather then my DSLR. In essence I am going to slow down and take time to stop and smell the roses.

Stopping and smelling the roses... Isn't that what photography is all about? It makes stop and take a moment to admire the beauty in something that catches our eye at that particular moment. I think sometimes we all need that a little more in our day to day lives.

Here is my first of photo of this. It caught my eye as I was out on my walk today.

What do you see? Where do you think I was? What camera did I use? And what did I use to edit this photo with?

So this is my challenge to you! Take a moment and "Stop and smell the roses!" And then come right back here and leave your "roses" for the rest of us to enjoy!

Please your answers to the questions in the comments below, and also if you have decided that it is time for you to show down and smell the roses, I would love to see your photos from that as well. Please leave a link or post them directly in the comments! I look forward to seeing everyone's answers and work!

Sigma customer service, my personal experience

Within this post are embedded affiliate links to Amazon. As a small reminder I only make a small commission from any sales from these links in order to maintain my blog. Thank you so much for your support in advance!


It Happens to Everyone

A few weeks ago I experienced what every photographer fears, a mechanical failure. I was at my son's basketball game, and I was clicking away trying to get some amazing action shots that will one day be printed and make it into his scrapbook when I realized that there was an issue. I was shooting with my Nikon D7100 and I had my Sigma 70-200mm. I  thought at first that I was imagining things, because this was me, and I am always so careful with my gear that there is no way that there was an issue, but I was wrong. Throughout the rest of the quarter I could not get the lens to lock on a focus, I couldn't even get it to manually focus. I thought that it was all very odd. So my first thought was that it had been working fine a few nights ago and my other son's wrestling tournament so it had to be me. I was missing something. The first thing I thought of was that the contact points were dirty. So I took the lens off and cleaned all the contact points the best that I could. Once this was completed, I replaced the lens, and magically it would focus again, but it lasted for exactly three shots. At this point I was very concerned that there was something very wrong with either the camera or my favorite lens. I removed the lens and placed my Sigma 24-70mm on the camera and it immediately focused and was ready to work. This let me know that it was the lens and not the camera that was the issue.

When I got home I took to Facebook and all of my reliable photography groups and explained what happened in hopes that there was something that I was missing, maybe I had accidentally changed a setting and didn't realize it, bumped something, anything that would fix the issue. After many suggestions and all of the simple fixes didn't correct the issue I knew there was no other option. I had to send my lens to Sigma. Thankfully it is still under warranty, however, this was not something that I wanted to do. I did not want to be without my lens for who knows how long.

Prepping to Send it Off

I will admit that I have never had to use the warranty or ever send my camera gear in for repair before so this was all a new experience for me. I first went to the Sigma website and signed up for a customer account which was super easy. After this was completed my husband discovered that you could file a warranty claim on line. So we went ahead and filed. The form was pretty basic. It asked about the type of lens the serial number, the dealer it was purchased from, the date it was purchased, the camera that the lens was being used on, and at the bottom it asked what was wrong with the lens. When I filled this part out I was very specific and described everything that was going on and everything that I had tried as well. Once it was completed we received an automated email from Sigma with the address to ship too and advice in regards to shipping. They recommend that we make sure that we ship the package with a tracking number and that it was insured. Once that was taken care of I pulled out the warranty form and read it. There was a sticker that was suppose to be filled out by the dealer, however my dealer had not done this. So I filled out the dealer information after contacting them and also placed all of my information on the form. The dealer also recommended that we send a copy of the sales receipt in case there was any question since this was something that was purchased online. Once this was all done I placed the lens back in the original box with as much packaging as I could find to protect it on its journey and took it to the local UPS store.

The Wait

This was the worst part of the whole ordeal, and honestly probably my only complaint with Sigma about dealing with them. I mailed my lens to them on the 21st of Feb, and it arrived to them on the 23rd of Feb. The only reason that I know that it got there is because I was tracking it. I never received contact from them that it had arrived. Once it was there it was radio silence until the 27th when I received another email, and all it contained was the statement of what was wrong, how they fixed it, that it was covered by warranty and a tracking number because it was already on the way back! I received it on the 1st of March. The reason that I say that this is a complaint is because I received no kind of contact with a real person, it was all automation. Not to mention I had to monitor when my lens arrived as they did not notify me that it had arrived or anything. I am a person that enjoys some kind of contact when dealing with things like this, and this was a tad difficult for me.

The Arrival

When my lens came back I was very anxious to open it up and see if they had been able to fix my issues with the lens. I was not expecting what I saw.

When I opened the box as you can see there was nothing but bubble wrap. This was impressive to me to see this, considering that when I received this initially at purchase this was not how I received the lens. After I removed the bubble wrap from around the original box I opened the original box to see this.

Inside the case there is even more bubble wrap! Something I was not expecting, as this was not how I got it at the time of purchase. I then pulled the lens out of its case to see this. 

The lens hood was placed in a separate bag, and placed over the bubble wrap to hold it in place, when I removed the bubble wrap the lens was even in a separate bag. I was very impressed! Sigma took the time to ensure that nothing was going to happen to my lens on its return trip. 

Once all of the packing was removed I immediately placed my lens on my Nikon D7100 and it began to function flawlessly! I could not be more relieved. 

So overall I must say that Sigma and their customer service is impressive. It was extremely easy to file a claim and have it processed in a timely manner, and I really did not have much down time without my lens. As I stated above my only issue with the customer support is that I never heard from a live person, however a number of things are going that way so I guess there is not much room to complain, and my lens was taken care of with little cost to me. 

I hope that if you are ever in this situation that this is helpful to you and that it eases your mind when you are shipping off your expensive gear to the manufacturer for repair, and just know that you will have a good experience with Sigma. 

Have you had experiences with Sigma that you would like to share? Please leave them in the comments below!