Find Your Focus

Figuring out Facebook ads can be overwhelming, but joining us to shed some light on the topic is photographer, videographer, and Facebook ads guru Chip Dizárd. Chip has a longstanding career in photography and first decided to fine-tune his social media marketing skills when he wanted to reach a market beyond just the group of people he knew. In this episode, he advises listeners on getting started with Facebook ads, walking them through every step, from identifying your target audience to knowing where they like to shop and hang out. Because, for Chip, you want to create a warm audience and nurture people rather than trying to cold sell, and to do this, you will need a bit of patience and understand that you do not convert clients with a single ad. It often takes a series of ads and other strategies to finally get them to book with you. Tuning in, listeners will also learn incredible tips for getting testimonials and reviews that no prospect can deny and how to budget to avoid overspending on campaigns. 

Styled shoots or sessions are such a big part of running a wedding photography business, and we all need to make some mistakes in order to learn from them and improve, right? Well, you can also learn from the mistakes of others, and today’s show aims to help you do just that! Today’s guest is Judith Stoop, a wedding and family photographer based in Munich, Germany, who also has a passion for styled sessions. In this episode, Judith shares how her first few styled sessions went, what mistakes she made, what she learned from them, and how she makes sure her styled sessions are successful. What is great about this interview is that Judith doesn’t sugarcoat anything, because she wants to share the lessons she has learned. She also gives us some great tips and tricks for mastering styled sessions and talks through how she sets up these sessions in a way that isn’t overwhelming. So, grab a pen and paper, take some notes, and make sure not to miss this episode!

Established by photographer KT Merry as a means of creating connections across species and borders, Render Loyalty seeks to support solutions to the perils facing our world’s animals. KT Merry is a destination wedding photographer who is lucky enough to work beside her husband and business partner, Chad. Their goal is to use their skills and passions to leave the world a bit more beautiful than when they found it. Whether that is telling a story of a once in a lifetime wedding day, or sharing images that shed light on issues of global importance, it’s the work that they are honored to do. In this episode, KT tells us more about how she likes to gives back to conservancy projects, and why it is so important to her. She also gives us ideas on how we can give back as photographers and the importance of photography passion projects. Don’t miss this episode!

Family sessions are incredibly rewarding to shoot, but they come with their own challenges. With many people to coordinate, it’s important to have a clear plan of action as a photographer to get the best out of the shoot. Shalonda Chaddock, today’s guest, is a family photographer extraordinaire, and she joins us to share her unique approach to her shoots. In this episode, Shalonda discusses how having children was the impetus to pursue photography professionally. She saw the magic of capturing milestones and has been hooked ever since. We also explore the importance of creating a connection with the client before a shoot. Shalonda does this through numerous phone calls and collaboratively working on styling before the session.

When it comes to photography sessions, many of us might be slightly hesitant at marketing ourselves as mini-session photographers. Is 15 minutes really enough time to capture those “must-have” shots? Would you be able to make enough money to survive by doing only mini sessions? Our guest on today’s episode of Find Your Focus Podcast is family photographer and educator Rebecca Rice. Rebecca has mastered the art of mini sessions and is able to make anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 doing mini-sessions where she only works about two to three hours a day, and today we talk about all things related to capitalizing on these types of niche-focused sessions in order to effectively grow your business.

So much of what we see on social media is fake and makes people feel inferior. It is so important to have images in circulation that deliver a different narrative. Today’s guest is Kate Parker, New York Times bestselling author of Strong Is the New Pretty and The Heart of a Boy. Kate’s work is real, raw, and tries to capture girls and boys as they really are, doing what they love, in a manner that doesn’t look posed. Our conversation with Kate is all about how she got started in photography, how she came up with the idea for Strong Is the New Pretty, and what goes into making her non-stereotypical images. Kate starts by telling us about how her passion for photography got ignited when she wanted to portray her kids in a way that felt true and authentic.

Everyone has something unique to them—a specific area in which they shine and where most of their positive feedback comes from. Whether it be communication with clients, a specific editing technique, or the way you thank them after the shoot, it is about identifying your strength as a photographer and doubling down on it! This is what our guest today, Terri Baskin, refers to when she talks about finding your frosting. Terri is a photographer and educator who has succeeded in creating a unique experience for her clients. But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. She talks about comparing herself to others when she just started her business and how she finally found her groove when she gave up trying to mimic others and focused instead on crafting the business she wanted.

There are many routes that you can take for a career in photography, and one of the really great ones we don't hear enough about is branding shoots. Here to talk about how her passion for taking pictures developed into a great career in branding photography is Meg Marie! After discovering her love of capturing portraits while living in Asia, Meg came home to the US to pursue this career and was fully committed to finding success in her new field. This meant learning about the business side of things and a lot of research and skills development. After starting out in wedding photography, an occupation she loved, she started to build up a reputation for her branding shoots and made the decision to pursue that full-time. Meg has experienced loads of success with her work in this area and has so much wisdom to share with anyone aspiring to a similar path. She talks about what it means to help new clients discover their brand and how she brings confidence to her shoots in order to help the people she is working for! Meg underlines the importance of great communication and shares how this plays out before, during and after a session. We talk about some tips and tricks for getting the most out of your subjects, easy ways to improve your photos and how to get your clients really excited about working with you and referring you to the next person. Tune in to get it all!

Productivity and scheduling are two areas of any creative business that go hand in hand! Without a finely attuned approach to these areas of work, we might all end up on the couch all day and never get out of our pajamas! Laylee Emadi, our guest today, has loads of personal experience with overcoming the distractions we encounter all day, every day, and she is here to share some of that wisdom with all of our listeners. Laylee is a teacher turned full-time photographer and is on a mission to help other photographers with all the tools they need to take their businesses to the next level! We talk about how refining her scheduling system ensured that her productivity levels soared higher than ever before and prevented looming burnout. We then dive into her regular, weekly routine, and how she lays it out. Laylee gives us three, simple, actionable steps that you can implement immediately to improve your productivity and workflow, so make sure to stay tuned for that at the end of the episode!

As creatives, our minds do not naturally go to the practical side of things, and these tasks may even overwhelm us. But it is incredibly important to realize that when you are a photographer, you are a business owner as well, which means you have to make the necessary provisions for your venture to thrive. Today’s guest, Paige Griffith, is the owner of The Legal Paige, a virtual law firm, where she teaches small business owners the legal way to run their operations. As a photographer herself, Paige has used her law degree to fill a gap in the market by providing legal advice and educational material for photographers. In this episode, Paige outlines some pertinent legal issues photographers need to be aware of. We discuss how LLCs are different from Sole Proprietorships and the importance of separating your business from your personal assets. The liability protection an LLC offers is crucial in ensuring that you, as an individual, stay safe. We also cover contracts, why you cannot share them with other photographers, and how to ensure you get reputable ones. Throughout the conversation, Paige highlights the importance of getting sound legal advice and paying the necessary costs. As photographers, we would happily spend thousands of dollars on lenses and our legal protection is as important as our equipment. We round the show off by talking about copyright and watermarks. Be sure to tune in today!