Photographers Keeping it Real

This episode, wedding photographer Chris Denner shares insights from his 27-year career in photography, discussing the challenges of self-employment, the necessity of being a good business operator, and the evolving nature of client relationships in the wedding industry. Chris also explores the role of AI in photography, the significance of mentorship, and the changing dynamics of modern couples. He encourages photographers to embrace their unique styles and to be proactive in their client interactions, ultimately highlighting the need for creativity and adaptability in a saturated market.

Chris & Scott Discuss;

1. Self-employment is challenging but rewarding.
2. Business acumen is essential for photographers.
3. Creativity must be nurtured and exercised regularly.
4. Understanding client needs leads to better relationships.
5. Financial management strategies can ease stress.
6. AI can be a valuable tool in photography.
7. Mentorship and community support are vital for growth.
8. Modern couples seek deeper connections with their photographers.
9. The photography industry is becoming increasingly competitive.

Show links;

1. Chris's website
2. Chris's Imagen profile

Hosted by Scott Carney Photography

Back for 2026, host Scott, owner of Photographers Keeping It Real welcomes Nottingham-based wedding photographer Martin Cheung to discuss the evolving landscape of wedding photography and the importance of collaboration within the industry. They delve into Martin's journey from a corporate IT job to becoming a full-time wedding photographer, emphasising the balance between personal life and work commitments. Martin shares insights on how to effectively engages with clients and other wedding suppliers, highlighting the significance of being helpful and approachable to secure recommendations and build lasting relationships. The conversation also touches on the impact of social media and the shift in marketing strategies, particularly the diminishing role of traditional SEO in favor of more direct client engagement through platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

Scott & Martin discuss;

• "Take good photos and be helpful but If you can only do one of the two, be helpful."
• "Don't worry about SEO; focus on what your clients want to hear."
• "Modern brides don't really use Google."
• "You can make the business whatever you want."
• "The conversion rate is important to understand."
• "You have to compromise at every level in wedding photography."
• "Be nice to a magician, and you might get bookings worth eight grand."

Find out more about Photographers Keeping it Real here - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/

Show Links:

• Martin Cheung - https://www.martincphotography.co.uk/
• Wedding Photography Unveiled Podcast - https://www.martincphotography.co.uk/wedding-photography-unveiled/
• Martins Website Design Business - https://www.martincphotography.co.uk/wedding-photography-unveiled/
• Host - Scott Carney Photography - https://scottcarneyphotography.com/

EPISODE 34 - SET FOR SUCCESS SUMMIT AND CHEESE WITH MICAELA KARINA

The summit is a free to attend online event for photographers over 3 days between the 10th and the 12th of February 2025 with 18 industry leading speakers, including the likes of Sam Hurd, Corey Potter, Melissa Love, Lisa Devlin, Faye Cornhill, Adam Lowndes, Anna Pumer and many many more covering everything from SEO, workflows, websites, social media, marketing, making iPhone films and even money and avoiding burnout. All designed to improve your business

Register here (affiliate link) - https://courses.get-it-together.co.uk/a/2148040251/a8KN2mt2

Micaela is one of the nicest people in the industry and we have a great chat including;

• Micaela's favourite cheese
• Visibility for your business and Meta ads
• Micaela's start into weddings
• Time vs money with marketing
• The Set for Success Summit
• Small changes that make big changes
• Much more...

Show Links;

• Micaela's website - https://www.micaelakarina.com/
• Micaela's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/micaelakarinaphotography
• Set for Success Summit Register - https://courses.get-it-together.co.uk/a/2148040251/a8KN2mt2
• No Fluff Facebook Ads Course - https://courses.get-it-together.co.uk/a/38013/a8KN2mt2

Join PKIR here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Host: Scott Carney - https://www.scottcarneyphotography.com/

Join PKIR to listen to exclusive members only extended versions of the podcast, submit to the awards and watch exclusive members content to help improve your documentary wedding photography - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

In this episode I welcome the very talented wedding photographer, Ben Lee to the podcast. Ben has actually only been photographing weddings for a couple of years but has grown to become a huge talent and it was a pleasure to chat to him. We discuss;

• House plants
• Bens awards
• Bens fashion career and day job
• Finding your style early on
• Tips for getting second shooter work
• Bens appearance on Tenable the gameshow
• Delivering larger wedding previews
• Much much more...

Show Links:

• Bens Website - https://benlee.photography/
• Sam Docker - https://samdocker.co/
• This Is Reportage - https://thisisreportage.com/
• NineDots - https://nine-dots.co/
• Andy Gaines - https://andygaines.com/
• Tyler Wirken - https://www.wirkenphoto.com/
• Chelsea Cannar - https://www.chelseacannarphotography.com/
• Patrick Mateer (The Mateers) - https://www.mandgweddingphotography.co.uk/
• Andrew Keher - https://andrewkeher.co.uk/
• Tom Beynon - https://www.tombeynonphotography.com/

Join PKIR here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Host: Scott Carney - https://www.scottcarneyphotography.com/

Join PKIR to listen to exclusive members only extended versions of the podcast, submit to the awards and watch exclusive members content to help improve your documentary wedding photography - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

In this episode I welcome the wonderful Liverpool based wedding photographer, Marc Gartland to the podcast. Marc has won multiple awards from PKIR, TIR and judged a round of our awards in 2024. We discuss;

• Editing backlog
• What we do in the off season
• Struggles of running a wedding photography business including social media posting
• The Panasonic Lumic S511 camera and Panasonic Lumix system for weddings
• Judging photography awards
• Is less more with client galleries?
• How is 2025 looking for Marc?
• Much much more...

Show Links:

• Mark Gartland's Website - https://www.marcgartlandphoto.co.uk/
• Hollie & Patrick Mateer website - https://www.mandgweddingphotography.co.uk/
• David Scholes Photography - https://www.davidscholesphotography.co.uk/
• Lyndsey Goddard Panasonic Blog Post - https://www.lyndseygoddard.com/canon-to-panasonic-the-move-to-lumix-s5ii-for-wedding-photography/

Join PKIR here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Host: Scott Carney - https://www.scottcarneyphotography.com/

Join PKIR to listen to exclusive members only extended versions of the podcast, submit to the awards and watch exclusive members content to help improve your documentary wedding photography - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

In this episode I welcome the wonderful Damion Mower to the podcast. Damion is a wedding photographer, previous owner of The Trained Eye and works full time in marketing. We discuss;

• Balancing full time work with a wedding photography business
• Marquee weddings on private land
• SEO and moving websites to Kadence
• The Trained Eye, photography communities and sharing knowledge
• Awards - entering them for reassurance and marketing
• Damions approach to the day, mixing portraits with documentary and candid 
• Advice for photographers 
• Much much more... 

Show Links:

• Damions Website - https://damionmowerphotography.co.uk/

Join PKIR here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Host: Scott Carney - https://www.scottcarneyphotography.com/

Join PKIR to listen to exclusive members only extended versions of the podcast, submit to the awards and watch exclusive members content to help improve your documentary wedding photography - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Don't forget to check out Damion's work here:

Web // Insta

In this episode, I welcome business and marketing expert Alice Benham. Alice shares amazing tips on creating a simple marketing strategy, managing burn out with positive habits and some great tips for creating your own content without feeling too salesy!

Alices new book, The Digital Marketing Handbook comes out on the 20th June 2024. Find all the links below on how to order and find out more about Alice.

Show Links:

• Alices Website - https://www.alicebenham.co.uk/
• Alices Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/alice_benham/
• The Digital Marketing Handbook - https://www.alicebenham.co.uk/book Discount code for 20% off on pre order - ABCOMMUNITY20
• OnPaper.shop - https://onpaper.shop/ 
• Starting the Conversation Podcast - 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/starting-the-conversation/id1347265219

 https://open.spotify.com/show/4IJW7DoTlGN012Zr9DfiPx?si=AbRtNztuRxeZlNiwb36NvQ

Join PKIR here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Host: Scott Carney - https://www.scottcarneyphotography.com/

In this episode I welcome Ed Godden, Nottinghamshire based wedding photographer. I have been a huge fan of Ed's work for a while and it was wonderful to sit down and chat with him. In this episode we discuss;

• Fashion, shackets and what to wear to weddings
• Judging photography awards
• Having a photojournalistic background and how that helps with weddings
• Keeping things simple with your website and preset
• Eds homepage secret weapon
• Pricing on your website
• Gear and keeping things simple
• Film photography
• Training and mentoring

Show Links;

• Website - https://www.edgodden.co.uk/
• Instagram - http://instagram.com/edgodden
• Perspective Podcast Episode - https://perspectivebycinemate.com/episodes/103
• Eds for Photographers Section - https://www.edgodden.co.uk/for-photographers
• Fujicast Podcast - https://www.fujicast.co.uk/

Join PKIR to listen to exclusive members only extended versions of the podcast, submit to the awards and watch exclusive members content to help improve your documentary wedding photography - https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/

Episode 28 - Special Guest Tom Aizenberg

In this episode I welcome London based wedding photographer Tom Aizenberg. Tom is a hugely talented photographer with many PKIR awards as well as many other awards within the documentary wedding photography world. In this episode we discuss;

• Kindergarten Cop 
• Burnout without any autumn / winter break
• Updating your portfolio throughout the year 
• Overwhelm with New Year marketing
• Corporate photography work 
• Do you need to know how to use flash for wedding photography? 
• 35mm / 50mm lens combo 
• Dance floor lighting and having lighting knowledge up your sleeve

Members Only Content;

• Tom’s main marketing 
• Lead sources and more in depth about SEO

Show Links;

•  Website - https://www.tomaizenberg.com
• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tomaizenbergphoto/
• The Art of SEO - https://theartofseo.co/
• Patrick Mateer (The Mateers) - https://www.mandgweddingphotography.co.uk/

In this episode I welcome the wonderful Matt Badenoch. One of the nicest guys I had ever spoken to and a big inspiration of mine since I started out in weddings. Matt has just launched his Street with Matt - street photography workshops. I was lucky to go to a workshop with Matt at the end of last year and it was so much fun and I learned a lot so I would highly recommend them. Head over to streetwithmatt.com to see his upcoming workshops and trips. 

In this episode we discuss: 

• SEO how Matt is still ranking despite hardly working on his website in years
• How Matt went from 4 months of savings to a full time wedding photographer
• Street photography, how it has helped Matt with his wedding photography, mental health and life.
• Matts recent ADHD diagnosis and his coping mechanisms without medication
• Matts tips for anyone thinking of starting their own workshops 
• Much much more…

Matts Website

Matts Instagram 

Street with Matt Website

Street with Matt Instagram

DocDay

Anna Pumer

This is Reportage

Is This Something - York Place Studios book

Angela Ward Brown

Where Children Sleep Book

Jay Doherty

NineDots

SNAP! 

Join Photographers Keeping it Real here: https://www.photographerskeepingitreal.com/register/