Little Chimper
Posted on June 21, 2011
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This is the youngest bean in the group I refer to as Little Bff & Co., or according to Little BFF’s mom, THE LAST BABY I’M GOING TO HAVE (yeah right!); I call her Ladda. You may remember her from this picture, or from my recent complaints about how she has no idea who I am. This kid loves to have her picture taken, so every time she sees a camera, she sits down so you can get a shot. Problem is, she’ll only be still for a fraction of a second before she runs over to you wanting to see the picture you just took. She’s such a Little Chimper, you guys, and the only reason I’m not thoroughly annoyed by her excessive chimping is because she has THAT FACE.
Won’t remove freckles
Posted on June 20, 2011
Filed Under Photos |
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The Boss snapped this picture of me from (believe it or not) behind a screen door early one morning when we went downstairs to do laundry. But before I go on, I have a question for the world: Why do people always do what I’m doing in this picture? You know, someone points a camera in your direction, and then you do that over-exaggerated, showing-you-all-my-teeth smile that could easily have been a normal “happy face,” but you’re being a little jokester so you just do THIS FACE INSTEAD.
So remember when you were little, and you’d meet a relative after a year, and they’d be all, “Oh my! You’re so big now!” My initial reaction to that would almost always be, “Yeah, it’s ALL THE CHEESE,” until I realized the relative actually meant I looked taller.
I’ve seen myself every day since I was a kid, but it wasn’t until I was in high school (I think) that someone pointed out that I have freckles. I spent the next few days closely examining my face; all this time I just thought they were blackheads that needed to be removed. I’d buy the Bioré face strips, paste them on and wait for the white to go from much to Paper-mâché. After it dried, I’d peel it off as a single tear rolled out of each one of my eyes. Then I’d press my nose to the mirror and be all, UH! THESE DON’T EVEN WORK!
I guess I must have missed the fine print that probably said: WON’T REMOVE FRECKLES.
Working for free: Where do you draw the line?
Posted on June 14, 2011
Filed Under Lexia Frank, Photos |
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Should you work for free? Sometimes? Never? All the time? I struggle with these questions a lot, and I know many other people do too. It seems that when you start your own business (especially when it’s a service oriented business versus a product oriented business), people ask you to do things for free, and sometimes, you feel obligated to. But where do you draw the line? I LOVE this diagram. It’s witty, and really does put things into perspective. To be truthful, sometimes I really do have to consult this graph when deciding if I should shoot for free.
If anyone knew how much work I really did for free, most people would be astounded. Granted, most of that (now) is handpicked and for causes that I feel are genuinely important, like the fundraiser I did for my friend who is battling brain cancer, or the one wedding I shoot for free every single year. But when I was starting out, it was a different matter entirely. I charged sometimes, and then other times not, and it was always awkward.
When you start a business, most of your first clients are your friends, and (at least for me) it was always awkward to discuss payment terms with them. Sometimes I would just wish money had nothing to do with photography (I still do. Can my bills just magically get paid?) It was so awkward to charge one person $1,000, and another person $300, and another person nothing. I needed the work; I had to be flexible and I needed images to build my portfolio.
But then my photography started taking (serious amounts of) time away from my babies’ lives, and all of a sudden I put a screeching halt to my free work. This was no longer my time that I was using – it was their time.
Here’s another perspective I love:
(Image source: Behance.net)
I love this because it reminds us to value ourselves, or no one else will. But, there is a caveat. (Isn’t there always?) When you’re first starting out, I think you should work for free all the time. I know, it sounds contradictory (since here I am telling you to value yourself!) but if there is ever a time you should work for free, it’s when you’re building your portfolio. After talking with many other photography business owners I’ve come to the conclusion that I did it all wrong. I have some regrets of how I wish I had started, so in order to help you avoid making the same mistakes I did, I’ve outlined a plan to help you build your business, while still maintaining the integrity of your time and your product. I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) to Value yourself. Value your time. Value your family.
1. Buy less and be patient
After buying minimal equipment with money you have SAVED (not on credit): one camera body, 2 or 3 good professional lenses like a 50mm f1.4, a wide angle, and a telephoto, and minimal lighting equipment like a flash (you can also rent equipment from a site like Borrow Lenses.com), and then start contacting people YOU want to photograph. Note that I haven’t mentioned starting a website or a blog or anything else. That comes later. Right now, you should be concerned with getting equipment and building a portfolio, not displaying it.
2. Hand pick your clients
This will be the only time in your future career that you will be able to do this. I can pick my clients now, sort of. I have no problem telling a bridezilla that we will not be a good fit because of personality differences, but I can’t very well do that for every client, or I would be broke! So, hand-pick your clients while you can. Photograph them the way YOU want them to be photographed, and don’t worry if they will like the images or not because these images are for you; the clients are just helping you out. If you don’t like the Smile at the camera, 1…2…3! type of photography DON’T photograph that even if that is what your model would normally prefer. What you put in your portfolio is going to be what attracts other clients. Not to mention, if you DO photograph (even just one!) Smile at the camera 1…2…3! photograph and they show that to someone else (which they will) that’s going to breed more Smile at the camera 1…2…3! clients.
So, DON’T SNAP THE SHUTTER, OK?!
For right now (and only right now) YOU are the one that is truly in control of what you put out into the universe. Choose carefully. Do research. Get on a site like Pinterest.com and start finding images that you feel connected to. They don’t even have to be in the same genre that you want to photograph, just find your style. For example, although I photograph weddings and portraits and rarely do any commercial or editorial work, guess what is all over my pinterest boards? Commercial and editorial photography! Why? Because I pull inspiration from other genres so I’m not recycling the same wedding photography over and over and over. So figure out what you’re drawn to and how you like to work, then mess around with it.
Remember, you don’t have to charge for your work right now because you SAVED the money to buy your equipment. You don’t have bills coming up that you have to somehow come up with the money for. This is seriously to your advantage, and we’ll talk about why in a moment.
3. Never, ever, ever charge session fees for your handpicked clients
Explain to them they will be “models” for you, and that you are in the portfolio building stages of your business and would like to offer them a photography session. Explain to them YOUR concept for the session (to make clear that this portfolio building session is really for you and your business, and not for them, though they will indirectly benefit from it), and see if they are interested. DO tell them that in about a year, these types of sessions will be valued at $300 (or whatever price your market will bare), but you’ll be happy to photograph them for free under the premise of building your portfolio. It is also a great time to tell your client to spread the word about your work, and write a testimonial based on what you’ve produced.
Another caveat.
The session is free, but prints and high-resolution images are ABSOLUTELY.NOT. This means that the time you take to shoot your client will be free of charge, but PRINTS AND HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES WILL BE FULL PRICE.
And not just full price, but full, professional price. I.e. the price that you are going to charge for your prints three years down the road as a professional photographer. Even though you are a beginning photographer, your print can be roughly the same amount as an experienced professional. Why? Because it is a PRINT of professional quality. You can negotiate the session fee depending on your level of experience, but a professional print is a professional print regardless of who shot the image. This article will help you understand how you should price your work.
The reason you’re charging full price for prints is because prints are a real, professional product. You need to create value in your final product, or no one else will. Remember, the people you are hand picking to photograph right now are under no obligation whatsoever to purchase anything from you, and what’s more, they didn’t even approach you about it in the first place. You aren’t asking them to spend $50 on an 8×10 print, but if they would like to order something from you, they are welcome to. The same holds true for high-resolution images (the digital files), actually, even more so. If you start giving away your high-resolution images for free right now, people are not going to value your fine art prints. They are going to get them printed at Walgreens, and you’re going to be out a couple hundred dollars. And, if in three years, you DO want to charge for your high-resolution images (which, is a whole different topic but YES, YOU SHOULD BE CHARGING FOR THEM), you’re going to be making a lot of clients mad when you switch from FREE! to NOT FREE. So charge right now. It’s a whole lot easier to give something away for free, or offer a discount, later. And remember, the money you make off your prints can be re-invested into your business; you can buy more equipment and eventually build a professional-grade Web site.
4. Decline clients (I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but it will pay off down the road)
So now you’ve photographed a bunch of people that you have hand-picked, probably because you like their style and you want to photograph more people (or things) just like them. If other people approach you regarding photography sessions kindly say something like, “Thank you so much! I am so flattered that you would want to hire me as your photographer. Unfortunately, right now I am in the portfolio building stages of my career, and will not be offering sessions to the public until [pick a date]. But I’ll be sure to save your contact information and let you know when I’ll be available for commissioned work.”
BAM! Do you know what you just did right there? First, you just built some exclusivity. You’re telling interested parties that although you’re offering some clients free sessions, you’re not just handing them out willy nilly; you’ve created value for yourself and your work. Next, you are also building up a lead list of people to contact when you go public. You WANT to be getting those emails from people (remember, you asked your models to spread the word) so you can save them for later.
This is a crucial time. It’s the time most people break down because they get excited that someone wants to PAY them to do photography. And an extra $100 sounds like a lot of cash, especially when there is another lens you REALLY, REALLY want. But stop, think, and don’t fall for it. If you do, you’ll get sucked into a trap of doing things for other people that you don’t really want to do like, building a different portfolio than the one you had originally imagined, and getting clients who are going to pay you tiny little sums of money for a HUGE amount of work. If you get caught up in this, it’s a cycle that is very, very, very hard to break.
For me, in order to break this cycle, I had to move across country and start my business over. Another photographer friend of mine had to endure a few unhappy past clients who wanted to hire her again, but found that her prices had doubled. Just wait. Be patient. Learn more about yourself as a photographer, learn your equipment, and your style, and give it a little time.
5. Build an online presence to display your work
After about a year of portfolio building, mentoring under other photographers, second shooting for other photographers, ASSISTING, and holding bags for other photographers, start looking for a good Web site and a way to showcase your solid portfolio. After a year, you’ll probably look back on your portfolio, and feel the stuff you did even just six months ago is total trash and you’ll be so happy that you didn’t have that up on a website with your name attached to it. And, with the benefit of volunteer assisting other professional photographers (we’re always looking for someone to hold our bags, change out our lenses, clean our lenses, hold lighting and reflectors), you’ll have seen how professionals handle their clients and sticky location and/or lighting issues. You wont be sweating it out alone.
Once you launch your Web site, open the doors to the public. Start contacting that lead list you’ve been building up over the last year. Find a cause that you really feel passionate about and photograph it for free.
Yep, I just said it. Photograph it for free.
You’ll be doing something that makes you feel all warm and gooey inside, it will get the message out there that you are a professional photographer, and you may even make other contacts by doing so. Plus, you’re creative side will feel all energized by doing something good for the world and giving back.
But how do you decide who gets your services for free? Here are some bullet point to help you out:
- Your sister’s family? YES.
Dude… she’s your sister.
-Your best friend’s wedding? NO.
You can’t photograph your best friends wedding because she is your BEST FRIEND. You’ll most likely be in her wedding. And because she’s your best friend you will want her to have an experienced photographer who’s been in this business a long time.
-Your best friend’s friend’s wedding? NO.
Maybe you hung out that one time at the park last year, but just because she knows someone who knows someone doesn’t mean that she gets free photography. It probably doesn’t even mean that she gets a discount. THIS is where you need to value yourself and your photography and your time. If she doesn’t want to hire you at full price, that’s OK, someone else will. Exceptions might be made if this wedding could really, I mean REALLY help you. Like, if it is a wedding that you are dying to have in your portfolio and might even have the chance of being published. But let it be known that it is under the premise of portfolio building, and clearly outline what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do. Your may be able to give your time away, but not prints, albums, or anything else that may actually cost YOU money.
With this plan of attack you are creating exclusivity for yourself, valuing yourself, not making anyone mad, making people feel jazzed that THEY got hand-picked to be someone in your portfolio, creating a serious buzz about you and when you’re going to finally open to the public, while never having to explain to clients why your price has suddenly doubled in the past 6 months, or why you’re now charging for high-resolution images when you didn’t 3 months ago.
And if you run into situations where you don’t know whether or not to give photography away for free, refer to the diagram I linked to earlier in this post. If it’s still a tricky situation, then offer a discount (maybe 10 percent off a session fee, or an extra two hours of coverage) on time or services. But never on products that would diminish their value or possibly even cost you money in the long run. Sometimes I’ll even do photography on a trade basis, (you do design for me, I’ll do photography for you) which I absolutely love. But remember to draw clear outlines so no one feels taken advantage of.
And finally, if the style of photography that catches your eye is wedding-type stuff, then ask yourself one question: DO I HAVE TWO OF EVERYTHING? If you answered no, STOP RIGHT NOW. You are going to have a serious lawsuit on your hands if you go into a wedding and ANY of your equipment malfunctions. Refer to the first point I made in my post, which is to be patient. You will build your portfolio and business with time, and no matter how quickly you do it, or how long it takes, the most important thing is to do it right.
Happy shooting!
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Lexia Frank is owner of SugarLeaf Photography, and blogs at Kissing Tree.org.
Getting closer
Posted on June 13, 2011
Filed Under Photos |
1 Comment
Erlier this year, I was thrilled to receive their Save the Date, and now this: The official wedding invitation to Matt and Lesley’s wedding. I often forget that we’ve been out of school for more than a handful of years now. It seems like it was just this week that we were lounging around on the couches at our apartment, killing roaches with air freshener, and applying to our first post-collegiate jobs. Ah, MEMORIES.
Celebrate
Posted on June 6, 2011
Filed Under Photos |
4 Comments
Over the weekend, BIL graduated from medical school so his sister and her family had a small party at her house in New Jersey; the confetti on the doormat was courtesy of BIL’s nieces and nephew. It was an intimate gathering of only a few close family and friends since BIL isn’t much of a show boat (Lord knows if I dun graduated from medical school I would have preformed an autopsy in front of everyone instead of cutting a cake!) but I think we were all happy that he even allowed for a small gathering. It gave all of us the opportunity to acknowledge his hard work, determination, and spiritual steadfastness that brought him to where he his now.
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