State of the Union – From the Photographer’s Perspective

Very cool video over on John Harrington’s blog where he interviews the different photographers that shot the State of the Union.

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Green Wedding Sites

and

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Image of the Day

Susan Stripling made this beautiful image in St. John, US Virgin Islands. Get over and check out some of her excellent portraiture work!

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Workshops

Master Your Craft Workshop
with Bob Davis and Mike Colon

Join Bob Davis and Mike Colon, as they join together for the first time, in this unique workshop.Experience their passion for photography as they share top tips that have shaped their success and can help your business too.

Visit www.masteryourcraft.net to register and learn more.
Workshops starting February 4th and visiting 9 cities until February 29th.

Roots Workshop
A Photojournalism Retreat on Cape Cod

While living under the same roof, a select group of wedding photographers will experience a career-enhancing week working as news photographers under the guidance of several of the nation’s best photographers and photo editors.

Visit www.rootsworkshop.com to register and learn more.
Workshop July 13th-17th.

Elevate 3
Learn to Differentiate Yourself

Learn how to elevate yourself ahead of the pack. Be a trendsetter. Influence your market and attract a clientele that dares to be different.Elevate your clients and elevate yourself.

For more information email: info@garrettnudd.com.
Workshop April 22-23rd.

Foundation Workshop 6
Enhance your Photojournalist Skills

FW6 participants will explore and develop their photojournalistic skills though the process of shooting and editing a complete photo story of real-life subjects.

Each day of the workshop will involve shooting along with guidance and input from industry leaders gathered specifically for this event.

Visit www.fworkshop5.com for a complete list of photographers.
Workshop February 25-28th.

The Business of Story Telling
Learn the Importance of Branding & Marketing

Join the acclaimed LaCour Team for an intensive two-day learning experience specifically designed to help revolutionize your business.LaCour has created a new workshop focused exclusively on branding and marketing. Limited to an intimate group of 10 photographers, this workshop will empower you to craft an unforgettable brand and convey a singular marketing message.

Visit www.lacourphoto.net/workshops to register and learn more.
Workshop August 19-20, 2008.
Mention liveBooks and save $200 off the tuition.

Call me for a FREE website Consultation

800.253.2085 ext 8423

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Image of the Day

This image come from the Royal Palms Hotel in AZ, which I recently had lunch and a look around the grounds. Em really likes this place and has spent time there with her Grandma when in town. Jefferson Todd grabbed this image of the bride walking away to see her new husband for the first time.

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Image of the Day

Beautiful emotion in this image…get in close to tell the story!  This image was made by Collins Metu of Texas…get over and check out his site.

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Seitz 160 MP Camera

Seitz has created a monster. This 160-megapixel 6 x 17 inch camera might be slightly, well who are we kidding, MUCH bigger than your average point and shoot, but at 160 MP, it could create prints the size of Mars. The camera itself looks like it takes an effort to lift. You have to figure it must be pretty heavy.

One full res image taken with this Seitz camera will take up 900 MB of storage! That means that the memory for this camera needs the help of an entire Mac Mini, just to provide some room for the giant size. And even that can hold a pretty limited amount of photos. The high-end model of the Seitz camera costs a whopping $44,414. Be prepared to sell any small countries you own if you want it. — Andrew Dobrow

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Image of the Day

The color in this image is terrific…Nicole Wickens grabbed this shot when the bride was headed to the ceremony in Bandol, France.

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Raising Your Prices

Every business wants to make more money and raising your prices is one way to do that. I have spoken with many photographers over the years and while there is not a single way that this should happen…there are a couple of good practices.

*Setting a goal for how many weddings you want to shoot will allow you to know when it is good to start to think about how to get to the next level.

*Be consistent with your pricing. Make sure you are not giving in on what you are charging, you are worth it and if you stick to your pricing that you feel you are worth…you will get the client’s that appreciate you. This is not for someone in their first two years of business, you need to book as many weddings as you can to build a referral base.

*Have 3 packages. The middle one should be your target package and the top one your goal. The top package should be priced well above the other two.

*Build value into your packages and products. Make sure you have albums in your packages that you can up sell, so provide 20 sided albums then sell them 20-40 more on the backend. This will allow you to pay for your album from the proceeds after the wedding..

So when is it a good time to raise your prices?

When you have booked 3/4 of the weddings that you want to shoot for the year. If you are wanting to shoot 20 weddings in 2008 and you have already booked 15…this is a great time to raise your prices. You will establish your new pricing and get referrals from the last 5 weddings you are booking at your new prices…this will help you book at that level in 2009!

How to raise your prices?

You can sometimes keep your prices the same and still make more money. Take the album out of your packages, that can create a $1200-1600 swing. Now you are not giving the album away in your packages, so you will be saving on the cost of the album and then making money on it after the wedding.

Pull the DVD of images out of your packages! You should not need to include the DVD of images in your offerings after the first two years in a market. You will be getting referrals and those are golden–no more giving away of your images. This is something you can now charge for after the wedding. A good time for this is on their first anniversary or when the their album is complete.

Make sure that your top package is priced well above the others. As you start booking it more than the middle package, make that price your middle package and raise the top packages price.

While these ideas might not be for everyone, they certainly should help in giving you ideas on how to get to the next level!

The next tip will be on Marketing– advertising vs viral.

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Image of the Day

This is the last day in AZ, so today’s image is from a AZ photographer operation…Sloan Photographers. I really like both of these images, so decided to just post two. Great to see you this week Matt

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Pheonix Tonight Update

Great to see everyone at Melissa’s last night.  Matt Sloan and Rachel Priddy came out to say hello and network.  There was some fun people there and Zach definitely has me pumped to be taking the workshop tomorrow, should be a terrific day of learning.

Here is an image of the group last night listening to Zach tell his story.  Image thanks of Melissa Jill!  Much thanks to Melissa for opening her home to all of us!

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Image of the Day

Emotions are a big part of the wedding day, Shelly Valentine grabbed this shot of a groom expressing some

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Pheonix Tonight

Tonight we will be at Melissa Jill’s studio for a mixer and kickoff of the One Light Workshop here.  If you are in the area you should stop by

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Image of the Day

 Terrific capture by Michael Hooks of Hooked on Photography.

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Roots Workshop

Photojournalism is a buzz word in the industry… everyone thinks they are a photojournalist just because they take pictures in a story-telling style. The truth is, the roots of photojournalism are in news photography. Roots Workshop is designed to mimic a newspaper experience. The participants will be taught by industry professionals how to cover and shoot a news story, all in an intimate setting in Cape Cod for a week next summer. Take a peek at the website for more information. I’ll be attending as a student!

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Cutest Puppy Award

OK…so just created this “Award” when I stopped by Brooke and Eric’s blog — {be} creative. Being a big dog lover, this has to be one of the cutest puppies I have seen. I am sure shaggy Maggie will bring them tons of laughter and joy. They note that they watch The Dog Whisperer on TV and have to confess that is one of our fav’s too!

What a fun mascot!

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Image of the Day

Beautiful ceremony image shot by Brandy J and Sticky at a New Year’s wedding!  Love how the sister’s straightening the veil appear as apparitions…keeping the bride looking good.  Our friends Chris and Katie Torres shot this wedding  with them and it looks like they had a great time!

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Ed Kashi and Julie Winokur

I found this over on MediaStorm and wanted to pass it on…if you are around you should certainly check it out!

Ed Kashi and Julie Winokur Presentation on January 30

Over the years, Ed Kashi and Julie Winokur have worked together on books, exhibitions and photography assignments which have taken them around the world. Their work together has also moved beyond the still image — into video and other new interactive media. Their discussions will center around new media and the opportunities it creates for telling stories visually, as well as the implications of our brave new media landscape for the photo industry.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008
6:00 pm -8:30 pm

Laura Parsons Pratt Conference Center
281 Park Ave South at 22nd Street, New York City

Admission: ASPP Members $10.00, Guests $15.00, Light food and beverages will be served.

Space is limited. Please RSVP by Jan 28.

For more information, contact aspp_ny@yahoo.com, http://www.aspp.com

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New Skis!

Anyone that knows me well…knows that I am a snow skis freak! I spent a winter in Telluride, doing an internship for their marketing department that I designed. That’s were the bug hit…skiing 100 straight days while doing on mountain “market research”! Later I found my photo bug, while living in Tahoe for 5 years…can’t say enough about Squaw Valley

Today I received one of the best birthday gifts ever! A new pair of Nordica Hot Rods…!! Thanks SO much to Em and her family for not only the gift, but for welcoming me into their family out here on the east coast! You guys are great…and I am not just saying that because you got me skis

Where’s the helicopter

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Creating Referral Networks

“Brides come and go, but the industry will always be there.”

I have said this numerous times over the past years, probably too many to count.  The idea is if you are marketing to go after brides, then you are continually marketing to get the attention of the next crop of newly engaged ladies.  The concept is to network and foster great relationships in the industry to grow your business much faster…as the industry will always be there.  Form a network of photographers in your area that refer one another on leads that you get when booked…of course align yourself with photographers that are at a similar pricing level and that you respect.  Possibly even start a Google calendar, so you know when others in your network are booked.

There are even a few networks of photographers out there that even market themselves together.  Check out the site below to see an example of that. I bet that they all shoot a full schedule of weddings!

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