126: The Biggest Lessons I Learned This Year

Its winter! Here in the states its getting cold, we are doing
less sessions, taking less photos.
 Perfect time to reflect on the past year figure out what
worked best, what didn't work so you can do more of the stuff
that worked at future sessions.


My biggest lessons I learned this year were....


Don't assume what people can pay for your work. -
 kinda business-y. We assume that since photography is a
"luxury" the people who can truly afford is must be well off.
Upper middle class. But this year I found that a couples economic
status does not mean they will value your work any more or less
than someone with lower economic status. I had a couple this year
who seemed perfect! A Dr and a Lawyer, came from a history of
past professional family members, super nice and thoughtful,
getting married at a beautiful venue, had one of the cities top
planners to make sure everything was just as they wanted it, but
they were just hiring a wedding photographer because they knew
they needed a wedding photographer at their wedding. The booked
my base package and just went that into it on the day. Again
super nice couple, I truly enjoyed my time but their personal
value of photography was low.


And just few weeks later I shot a wedding where the bride told me
at our meeting that her photo budget was less than half of my
base package but she was going to "make it work somehow" because
she loved my photos and could see herself in every one of the
images on my website. she booked my middle package which is
almost $1000 more than my base package and they were totally
involved in the photography. So don't just assume when you get
that email or FB stalk them. Give everyone the best experience
possible.



 The power of the long lens.
 Ive always be drawn in towards ultra wides but I felt I
couldn't get the same amount of context that I loved so much. So
I started using a longer lens a bit more at the beginning of the
year and this year have fell in love with it. I start the day
with it now. Ive said this forever but Photos just have so much
more emotion when you can get close to people! Whatever emotion
they are going through is dialed up an extra notch.


Its ok to take the same shots as everyone else.
 When I graduated from film school I had this huge invisible
weight on me that I should be able to create something really
unique and at the drop of a hat. But that is just not me. Some
people can do it but even then it comes from a lot of practice.
Its ok to walk in and get the "easy shots" if anything it will
help you be MORE creative. When you allow yourself to get the
easy shot first, its easier for your brain to be on the look out
for more creative shots. If you tell yourself you have to get the
most creative shot ever, right away, your brain will blow a fuse.


Lastly that photography is a really bad business model.
 At first you think about how cool it would be to make $100
in an hour at a session to do something you love! Then when you
have to make the business legal and file taxes you realize you
can't survive charging $100 per session. You do the math and
figure you would have to shoot 1000 sessions per year just to
make what your day job pays. Thats almost 3 a day every day, no
weekends, no holi


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Thanks for listening & keep shooting!