Liene Stevens, Emilie Sommer and Angela Adams…oh my!

Email photo (at) emilieinc.com to secure your seat!

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The Business of Being Creative

This is a blog that I want to bring to your attention, The Business of Being Creative by Sean Low.  Sean is the President of Preston Bailey Designs, Inc. and business consultant to those in the business of being creative(more on his bio here).  Emilie met him at Engage 08 and was immediately impressed.  I have been following his blog…his posts are always inciteful and certainly worth the few minutes it takes to read them!  Today’s post is about respecting the creative process, something that I think wedding photographers are always fighting with.  Embracing your creative side and letting that drive your business will take you much further than trying to please everyone that comes through the door.  As your business develops with this strategy, you will be getting booked by clients who appreciate your passion and eye…not for your price.

Sean Low

April 01, 2009

Respecting The Creative Process

Even after almost six years of working with creative businesses, it is still incredibly difficult for me to relate to an artist’s individual creative process.  Ever in my head, I try to put a rational timetable to something that is anything but rational.  Something like saying you will be done with this portion of your design by this date, this portion by that date, etc. so you will be done with the whole thing by so and so date.  Never works.  More than not, the design happens in fits and spurts and really according to the process of the individual artist.

What I see so often is that, as the business grows, the creative process gets compressed, pressured and standardized.  Almost as if the artist gives way to the business, which, of course, he/she has to in some respect.  However, when it goes too far (as it almost always does), the essence of the art is lost — the work becomes safer, repetitive and even boring.

Corporate types like me will always push for a defined process that we can sell and deliver to the market.  To be able to tell a client exactly what they can expect and when.  Almost as if the business was creating a widget.  A deadline for delivery is valuable and necessary, but an intermediate set of deadlines not so much.  The key is to understand your creative process and build around it.  The time it takes for you to design is the time it takes for you to design and should be sacrosanct.  Of course, it needs to be respectful of the larger business and the operations that follow the creative process — i.e., actually producing the invitation, lighting, cake, centerpiece, dance floor, furniture plot, etc. — but never subject to it.

It might mean that you do less or have to do it earlier, but that is okay if it is what you need.  At the end of the day, the market values the creative genius behind the art — even above the actual production of the art.  If your team understands and values the process behind the art and makes it part of the entire operation of the business, your business and your clients will be the constant source of support they ought to be.  Mostly though, they will never ask you to compromise the artist that you are.

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Laudholm Farm Wedding

One of the best venues in Southern Maine is Laudholm Farm.  We look forward to shooting there in 2009!

Laudholm Farm Wedding

There were some terrific vendors at this particular wedding:

church: The Church on the Cape Cape Porpoise, ME
reception: Laudholm Farm Wells, ME
caterer: Kitchen Chicks Catering Kennebunk, ME
florist: Fleurant Flowers & Design, Kennebunk
cake: Let Them Eat Cake Kennebunk, ME
band: Baby Grand
dress: Andrea’s Bridal Portland, ME
hair: Eddy-Taylor Salon Kennebunk, ME
honeymoon: Italy
photographers: Emilie and J

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Pictage Ask and Learn tonight at 7est

We will mainly be talking about branding, but certainly bring any and all questions!  Click here to join the discussion: http://forums.pictage.com/showthread.php?t=29495

You can also take a moment to checkout emilie inc sites:

http://emilieinc.com/

http://emilieincassociates.com/

http://emilieink.com/

Blog http://blog.emilieinc.net

Holiday Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/5n94p5

Workshop: http://rootsworkshop.com/

Directory: http://www.newsweddingphotographers.com/

Non-profit: http://www.pinkinitiative.org/

Sign up for the Master Class at WPPI, I understand there are still a couple openings!

Some slides for tonight:

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Today’s Image

This is a post to highlight a beautiful wedding that Emilie shot of our new friends Reg and Kelsie.  I unfortunately had a wedding that day to, so I was not able to be there with them…but the images of this Peaks Island wedding let me experience it anyway

Peaks Island Photographer :: Emilie Sommer

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Upcoming Speaking Engagements

Today I was putting together upcoming speaking engagements for my monthly newsletter and thought I would share that here:

October 21st  New York Apple Store
I will be speaking about what makes a great portfolio website for a photographer.  liveBooks cient, Lou Manna will speak about the evolution of his site, the sequencing of the images in his portfolios and how he markets it and drives traffic to it. Visit Lou’s website at http://www.loumanna.com

October 23rd-25th  New York Photo Plus Expo

November 6th  Minneapolis, MN
Photographer’s Survival Guide for Today’s Market with Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease

November 10th Boston, MA
CIPNE Event

December 2nd  Online
The Importance of Building an Enviable Brand WEBINAR with J Sandifer & Emilie Sommer

December 3rd  Online
Pictage Podcast + Ask and Learn with J Sandifer & Emilie Sommer

December 16th New York
Calumet Road Tour Event

Let me know if you think you have a group that would like to have a speaker to talk on marketing, branding or websites.

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WPPI 2009 Master Class

Registration is now open to book your Master Classes in Vegas.  The trade show is great and the networking even better…but don’t forget to educate yourself.  Em will be speaking on building an envious brand!  Having a strong brand will help you raise your pricing and book more events!

Emilie Sommer :: WPPI Master Class

Emilie had recently done something revolutionary in the industry with her wedding video testimonials.

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PartnerCon

What a week!  I have just arrived home from my west coast swing and feel lucky to have been able to meet so many great people at the Partner Conference!  Thanks to everyone that came to our talk on branding, I truly hope that you were able to take something from it to use in your business.  I had some terrific immediate feedback and look forward to hearing from more of you.  Did anyone take a image of me on stage? 

Thanks again for coming out to PartnerCon and specifically for spending some time with me and Em.

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Roots Workshop

I have been reeling for the past few weeks from my experience on Cape Cod at Roots Workshop. Spending 4 days with other creative professionals concentrating on your craft is something that everyone should treat themselves to! Being housed on the same compound really gave it a community feeling and being able to see my team’s editing sessions gave me valuable insights into my own photography and style.

Roots Compound

Mr. Greg Gibson was my team leader and also visited me on my shoot. Here he is letting me have a it a little…

J Sandifer being grilled by Greg Gibson

I was assigned to shoot a light house at Race Point and create a story around it. The light house was located about an hour and 15 minutes from the compound, so having a mentor visit me was kinda tough…not to mention the 3 mile stretch of sand that you had to have a 4×4(with training) to get out to. I spent 1 day there shooting a group of three families that were all related. I returned late that evening and was edited by Greg until about 4 AM. I spent the next day at the light house and the night there too…to make sure I had time to grab both sunset and sunrise. Have to say that this was one of the first sunrises that I have been up for in a LONG time! It was beautiful and so quiet out there.

Race Point Lighthouse for Roots Workshop

The story developed into the people that actually visit and stay at the house next to the lighthouse.

Day 2 of assingment for Roots Workshop

Roots Workshop Day One at Race Point Lighthouse

Race Point Lighthouse

Evening activities!

Roots : Racepoint Lighthouse Beach

Dinner

Sunset Day Two of Roots Workshop

Late Evening Day Two at Racepoint Lighthouse

Early Morning Day Three for Roots Workshop

On Thursday evening we took a cruise on the river and returned to a lobsta bake! Once it was dark we started presentations of each Roots participant. We had some of the subjects join us for that…three people in my story stopped by and were great to see again.

Roots Cruise

Our beautiful leader Emilie Sommer

The Man : Greg Gibson

Roots Presentations Begin

Roots Workshop Crew

You can see my presentation on YouTube:

Thanks to Stephen Bobb, Shyla Dalirifar, Evan Bishop, Neysa Ruhl, Ty Miller, Linda Crayton, Scott McQuarrie, Meredith Purdue, Dan Williams, Mellissa DeMille, Samantha DePoy Warren, James Bass and Eric Laurits for their participation and inspiration throughout the week!

Thanks to mentors Jennifer Domenick, Tyler Wirken and Vince Dewitt for doing an amazing job out in in the field.

Thanks for the knowledge and input of our editors Greg Gibson and Arnold Miller!!

HUGE thanks to Emilie, for the 15 months of preparation and planning that this took. You truly are an inspiration to me! You can see MUCH more on the story of Roots on her blog!

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