It's been a bit of a crazy month in the photography world, wouldn't you guys agree?? As podcasters, we think it's important to keep ourselves updated on everything that goes on in our world beyond the lens, and the biggest thing this past month has definitely been the Meg Bitton drama!!

For those of you who don't know what's going on, here's an article on PetaPixel that sums it up pretty well: https://petapixel.com/2018/09/06/renowned-child-photographer-under-fire-for-sexualizing-young-girls/ Read that, and you'll be all set to tune into our podcast to hear our opinions!

As with anything, no publicity is bad publicity, right? We definitely agree that Meg Bitton knows what she's doing... she's riling people up and in turn she's attracting the type of photographers she wants to mentor to, and she's easily swatting the rest away. We talk all day long about finding our ideal client, right? If you're a wedding photographer interested in shooting offbeat weddings, you're only going to cater your website & your work toward offbeat brides & grooms, and you're not going to give a second thought about the brides and grooms that aren't digging your work. So how is this any different than that?

On this episode, we discuss where to draw the line between finding your ideal client & putting your subjects in a potentially dangerous situation. We chat about money vs morals, how far one should go to become popular, and the possible repercussions of "art." What IS art? Where do we set the limit? Is there a difference between art shared online vs art in a museum or art gallery? What about the photographer... can female photographers get away with things that male photographers cannot? Or visa versa?

This topic brings to light SO many questions & even we are torn in a few areas! But we definitely have our opinions overall, and we have no problem sharing them. Tune in to hear us chat, and be sure to come add your own opinion to our Facebook page!!

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Can you guys believe we are basically in holiday rush season for portrait photographers already?! It's insane how fast these years go by. It doesn't help that we usually have to start thinking about the holidays in the summer while it's still a million degrees outside (at least here in San Diego it is!), but believe it or not... it's TIME!

We decided this week's episode should be about various ways you can work smarter & not harder during your holiday rush! Ashley & Kate have learned a LOT as portrait photographers for over a decade, and we share some of the new stuff we've learned over the years that has made a huge difference in our holiday rush seasons. Tune in to hear the details, but here are some quick tips!

1. Automate when possible! Kate uses http://bookedin.com while Ashley uses http://www.calendly.com. Both are awesome ways to automate your session bookings. Kate does mini sessions, so she uses BookedIn to make her availability clear & concise, and clients can book/pay for mini sessions automatically without even having to send her an email. Ashley doesn't do holiday minis, but she uses Calendly to let clients know when she's available & mark their desired date, after which she follows up with a phone call to seal the deal. Both have made a huge difference in our workflow, cutting out the back and forth of 50 million emails, and keeping the booking process as simple as possible for both our clients and ourselves!
2. Set limits to avoid burnout- It's sooooooo hard to turn down money, isn't it?! But how many times have you taken on way too much overwhelmed yourself with work?! This is easy to do, especially during the holidays when most of us have a ton of family/friend commitments on our calendars as well. We suggest setting limits as much as possible, starting with an END date for holiday shoots. Clients need to understand our turnaround time, card company turnaround time, etc. and know that they can't book a shoot on December 20th and expect to get cards delivered before Christmas. Do your best to set a stop date (we suggest something in November!) and stick to your guns!
3. Don't be afraid to try something new- For those of us who have been in business a while, it's easiest to just copy exactly what you did last year... and the year before, and the year before... especially when talking about mini sessions. However, it's never a bad idea to look at your systems and see if there's something you could change, to either make life easier for you or to make more money! For example, Kate used to offer 20-minute mini sessions for the holidays. She'd schedule two per hour, giving herself 10 minutes in between shoots to "change over." However, she realized she often never used this time, as her next clients were typically already ready to go as she finished up her prior shoot. SO she decided to price her minis slightly lower this year and make them for 15 minutes instead of 20. Her clients felt that the money saved was worth a 5 minute shorter shoot, and she was able to schedule FOUR per hour and double her income each day. She hasn't attempted this yet, so it might bite her in the butt if clients are late, but if it works, it's genius! Stay tuned to hear how it plays out!

Let us know if there's anything you're changing up this year to make mini sessions easier for yourselves! Comment on our Facebook page & let's start a discussion!! ALSO stay tuned for our Facebook GROUP which is coming soon! We can't WAIT to connect with you guys on a regular basis on a super personal level!!! Exciting things are to come!!

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Hellllooooooo PhotoSpark listeners!!! It's SO good to be on the airwaves chatting with you guys again. We missed you BIG time!!! If you want to hear the inside scoop on where we've been & why we took a little hiatus, be sure to listen to the episode. We want to be an open book with you guys & we got super vulnerable, so it's a good one!

Basically, side hustles are freaking HARD. It's so hard to prioritize something (especially if it's not making you any money... YET) when you have a million other things on your plate. If you've ever attempted a side hustle, especially collaborating with other people, you'll know that oftentimes they fall to the back burner, and run the risk of disappearing altogether. So how do you keep everything working & flowing & growing? Here are a few tips!

1. Consistency is KEY: Instead of just working on your side hustles whenever you get the chance, set a schedule for yourself. Whether this means a set weekly meeting time, set office hours, or a formal deadline, keeping your work times consistent will make sure you don't neglect your side hustle, which will lead to its demise!
2. Use a planner: We can't stress enough how using a planner helps us keep all of our daily to-do lists and goals clearly written out and organized. We all make sure to keep our planners extra cute too, so they're colorful & fun to look at. There's something special about crossing an item off your to-do list, and the more you do it, the more motivated you are to do more!
3. Accept the ebb & flow: Part of being successful in just about anything, is accepting that there will be high parts & low parts of whatever you're doing. Some days, you'll feel AMAZING about what you're doing. You'll be motivated, you're getting great feedback coming in, and you can't wait to tackle the day's to-do list. Other times, you might hit a slump. Maybe you're lacking creativity, having a hard time coming up with new ideas, and feeling overwhelmed & stressed. There's ALWAYS a light at the tunnel. You have to work to see it sometimes, and if it really truly isn't there, then it's time to reconsider your priorities, and decide if this side hustle is actually right for you!

Long story short, we are BACK! And we are STOKED! New episodes will be released every OTHER Wednesday morning, so be sure to keep an eye out on iTunes or your chosen podcast subscription service!

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As with everything in business, you learn a lot of things as you go! Do you guys remember the first time you made a contract for your business? If you were smart, you purchased a photography one somewhere (preferably from a lawyer), but if you're like a lot of us, you probably started with a VERY basic contract template, and have added to it over the years. In this episode we'll be discussing our contracts: what they contain, what we've had to add over the years, and why they're important!

Key Takeaways

1. Portrait contracts are JUST as important as Wedding contracts. Recently in a group of ours, a bunch of photographers were having a conversation about whether or not portrait clients need contracts. The answer is 100% a resounding YES! Absolutely every single shoot you do should have a contract to go with it! This protects you, your client, EVERYTHING. So important!
2. Sticking to the contract. This part is up to you. You can be as harsh or as easy going as you want with your contract once it's in place. For example, if you have a punctuality clause that states that your shoot begins at X time and ends at X time whether or not client shows up on time, and client shows up 15 minutes late, it's your call whether or not to honor that clause or to just tack on 15 minutes at the "end" of the shoot. This can be a struggle, because we want to appear kind, not stress the client out, etc, but at the same time, our time is valuable. Having a contract in place gives you protection so if you do decide to enforce your rules, nobody can complain. It also ensures that clients go into the shoot knowing what's to be expected of both parties, which can help prevent miscommunication issues.
3. Things we've added:
   1. Drunk wedding guest/couple clauses
   2. Punctuality clauses
   3. Weather clauses
   4. Photo selection timeframe
   5. Album selection timeframe
   6. Wedding vendor meal inclusion

Relevant Links:

• Ashley DuChene
• Kate Mills
• Julie Ferneau

Download from iTunes Here

If you guys haven't listened to last week's episode yet, you totally should! Last week we chatted all about goal planners and long term planning strategies. This week, we're continuing our "goals" episode and talking about daily planners! Daily planners are such an important tool to stay organized in your business as well as your personal life. I know personally for myself when I don't have an up to date planner, I end up with a million "to do" lists floating around both digitally and on scraps of paper, and I always feel like I'm forgetting something. Keeping up with your daily planner is a good way to avoid that!

Key Takeaways

1. Physical planners vs. digital ones: There are pros and cons to both physical and digital planners. Digital planners are great because you can take them everywhere with you via your phone, and you can easily sync appointments & calendars with other people. However, every time you pick up your phone, you run the risk of getting distracted... Facebook and Instagram are probably the number one culprits! For this reason, we love physical planners. There's also something really fun about physically putting pen to paper both to write out your tasks and to check them off. The downside of a physical planner, is you have to decide whether or not you want to take it with you everywhere you go, and it can be rather cumbersome. To each their own when it comes to this choice, but for today we're chatting about physical daily planners!
2. Be as specific as possible in your planner. For example, don't just write "answer emails" in your planner. Write down exactly what you have to answer. Like "respond to Vanessa's inquiry" and "Send location details to Sam" and "Send thank you email to Fiona." By doing this, you see peoples' names and are reminded of the urgency you have to reply to them. If you just write "answer emails" every day, you'll start glancing over it, and it's easy to deem it unimportant. This way, you keep everything fresh for the day and make sure it catches your eye.
3. Pick a planner that's right for you. Not all daily planners are considered equal! Here are some things to consider when choosing your planner:
   1. Does it need to be small enough to fit in your purse/laptop bag or will you be leaving it at home most days?
   2. What's your most important feature? To-do lists? Large boxes for day, week, or month? Is there enough space to write everything you need? Are there tabs and pages that you know you'll never use & are therefore a waste of space?
   3. Do you want something extremely minimalistic or do you want something fun? Stickers & doodles or professional writing only? Do you want something with a personalized cover or are you happy with a design you pick out at the store?

We had a blast talking about this stuff this week, so be sure to tune in to the full episode to hear more about our planners & our techniques for keeping them up to date!

Relevant Links:

• Simplified Planner by Emily Ley

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here

HAPPY 2018 you guys!! We are so happy to bring you another year of PhotoSpark... can you believe we started planning this podcast in 2015? Feels like a lifetime ago! We all know how important it is to get your year off on the right foot... the new year always feels like a great time to re-evaluate our businesses (and our lives!) and see what's working for us and what isn't! Today, we're sharing part one of our two part episode about... PLANNERS! We're kicking off 2018 chatting about GOAL planners specifically today! What's a goal planner? Why should you have one? How are they different from daily planners? If these questions are in your mind... tune in to hear more! In this episode we are referring to Julie's current goal planner, which are the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets. They're SUPER awesome and you guys should check them out! So we're walking you a briefly through the steps these Powersheets take you through to plan your goals for 2018!

Key Takeaways

1. Brain dump your goals. When goal planning, sometimes it's hard to figure out where to start. A good technique is to just START. Just brain dump every single goal that crosses your mind. Don't worry about ranking them, categorizing them, or thinking about logistics. Just write them down. Spend some time really thinking about every single goal you have and get it out of your brain and on paper! You can worry about details and ranking later... brain dumping in your goal planner just a great way to get started & a great visual to have of all of your goals!
2. Rank your priorities in 2018. There are SO many categories our goals can be arranged into. Of course, we have to find a way to prioritize some areas over others, or else we'll just go crazy. Here are the categories that Powersheets recommends using for your goals. It's a good idea to go through each category and rank it from 1-10 on its importance THIS year. What do you want to focus on this year?
   1. Finances
   2. Recreation
   3. Work
   4. Family
   5. Spouse/Significant Other
   6. Friends
   7. Health
3. Have fun with it! The prettier your planner looks, the more likely you'll be to return to it every day & work on it! We suggest getting some fun sticker books, a fresh set of markers, and some great highlighters to help you keep your planner fun & pretty! This seems like kind of a frou-frou suggestion, but we promise it isn't! Anything you can add to your planner to make it fun, will keep you returning to it & keep you working with it!

Ok, this is JUST a skim of the whole episode, which dives way more in depth into goal planners... so check it out! And again, if you'd like to check out Powersheets, just click the link! We promise we aren't getting paid anything to promote them (yet... eh, Powersheet people?) but the free promotion is a sign of how much we're loving this product!

Tune in next week for part 2 of our "Planners" episode, where we dive into our daily planners!

Relevant Links:

• Buy Powersheets Here
• Kate Mills 
• Julie Ferneau
• Ashley DuChene

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here

Photo Cred: Your Face is Rad

Today we are chatting about everyone's FAVORITE topic.... criticism!! If you guys are anything like me, the thought of having someone criticize you (in any way!) makes you get a little nauseous! It's a huge weakness of mine, and something I've had to really work on over the years, because it's a normal part of life! And it's actually a GOOD part of life! Criticism helps us grow, both in our business & in our personal lives. It's what you do with the criticism that makes all the difference. So here are a few tips from us here at PhotoSpark about handling criticism!

Key Takeaways:

1. Accepting it is a muscle. That's a confusing sentence, but what we mean by this is it takes time to build up your brain to accept criticism in a healthy way. It's a cognitive process that you have to really work on over and over again to improve. It's very easy to take things personally, and it's a trained exercise to take it without getting your feelings hurt or challenging your self worth.
2. Learn to GIVE criticism properly. This is just as important as learning to receive criticism. In our industry, there are many areas where we can give others constructive (key word... constructive!) criticism, especially when dealing with assistants, editors, or second shooters. Everyone knows the old adage of giving a criticism sandwich (a compliment, followed by constructive criticism, followed up with another compliment). The more you are to be able to GIVE constructive criticism, the more likely you are to be able to take it as well.
3. If it seems over the top, give yourself a break. Oftentimes, when people are criticizing you about something, there are external factors at play as well. ESPECIALLY with photography. When you go above & beyond to try to fix the problem but nothing is working, let yourself off the hook a little. If you're pleased with the images, and they're technically on par with the rest of your work, chances are there's something the client is feeling self-conscious about that is affecting their opinion of their shoot. Maybe the client put on a few pounds this year, or they were in a fight with their spouse & can see it in the images, or their kids didn't have a good enough nap so they can tell they aren't as smiley as usual. There are so many things that go on behind the scenes... sometimes it isn't our fault!

We hope this episode came at a good time for you guys! We know with the year wrapping up, tensions can be a little high, so criticism can be extra painful. If you liked this episode, please subscribe to us on iTunes and leave us a positive review!!!

Relevant Links:

• Ashley DuChene
• Kate Mills
• Julie Ferneau

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here

HELLO PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHERS!!! (I had to put that in all caps to "yell" above the CHAOS that is the holiday portrait season so you guys could hear me). :)

In all seriousness, who else is feeling totally drained right now?! Holiday portraits SHOULD be dwindling down (unless you have superhero-esque turnaround times), but even so, you should be coming to the end of your shoots for 2017. How are you guys feeling?! Over here, we're feeling pretty good this year, but still pretty stressed! Julie's off galavanting in Iowa (although, traveling for the holidays has its own set of stressors!), but Kate & Ashley were still rockin the family portraits up until last week, and I (Kate), still have a makeup day coming up this weekend!

We decided now was a great time to chit chat about holiday burnout.. more specifically, how to avoid holiday burnout! Enjoy this PhotoSpark episode all about the holidays!

Key Takeaways

1. There's more to life than being busy. It's so easy to get caught up with being "busy." It's how we all respond to people when they ask us how we're doing this time of year. "Oh, I'm good, but I'm SO BUSY." Take a look at your daily life, and see if there's anything you can cut out to make it LESS busy. Can you imagine if we all felt relaxed & refreshed instead of feeling busy all the time? It's not an easy thing to do, but eliminating some unnecessary tasks during the holiday season can help us avoid holiday burnout. Maybe you do New Years cards instead of rushing to get your family Christmas cards out. Or maybe you skip making the cookies this year, or you hire someone to help keep your house clean for the rotating company that's streaming in. If there's something you can do to make yourself less busy, now's the time to do it!
2. Pick an end date & stick with it. We're telling you this for next year, and we're also telling OURSELVES this for this year, because I'm pretty sure none of us succeeded in this this year. To be fair, I was SUPER close... but the crazy wildfires here in North County San Diego caused a few clients to need to reschedule their shoots, so I am ending up shooting past my "end" date. But usually, it's a good idea to pick a date at least a few weeks before the end of the year, as your final day for photos. It gives you something to look forward to, and also ensures that you won't be accidentally screwing over any clients with turnaround times.
3. Shop online. If you're not on Amazon yet, come out of your cave, and sign up. Kate's a huge fan of Subscribe & Save as well; it can save you SO much money & time! We pretty much don't even go to the store anymore. Think of all the time you'll save this season buy buying online.

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here

Oh man; do you guys remember school photo day?! I have very vivid memories of being like, 10 years old and sitting on that little stool, while some dude told me to put my feet on the "x" and tilt my head to the left, lean my shoulder down, chin up just a bit, and SMILE! School portraits have come a long way since then (for the lucky ones!), and this episode will explore the world of school portrait photography! There's nobody better to have on to discuss this than Natalie Chiles, who is ROCKING the school portrait niche in San Diego! She discusses how she built her business around school photography, as well as some tips & tricks for our listeners who might be interested in diving into school photography!

Key Takeaways

1. Modern School Portraiture: In a lot of areas, San Diego included, there's a bit of a monopoly on school photography. We still do have the big company that goes from school to school with their little stool & their 1-2 photos of each kid. However, preschools and private schools don't have to buy into this company! Natalie aims for private meetings with school administrators, where she discusses modern school portraiture, and how it differs from typical school portraits. She brings sample photos and talks about her process, and once they see her work, it's easy for the administrators to see how she's different and why they should go with her instead of the other guys!
2. Be personal & take your time!! This is the difference between modern school portraiture and regular school portraits. Natalie aims to spend 2-3 minutes with each kid. She focuses completely on them, and chit chats with them to relate to them, get them to open up, and make them comfortable. Her goal is to get 5 different expressions to present to the parents, which differs greatly from a lot of the other companies who usually just pick the "best shot" and send it to the parents.
3. Bring an assistant. School portrait day is a LOT of work. Sometimes there are hundreds of kids, so staying organized is KEY. Otherwise, there's a huge risk of mislabeling photos which makes for a huge mess when you're trying to deliver the right galleries to the right parents! Assistants can help with all that, as well as help get kids to smile, relax, and be comfortable in front of the camera.

There are SO many more awesome points to hear on the episode. This is such a cool niche of photography that hasn't really been oversaturated yet! Please be sure to download off iTunes, or you can listen below!!

Relevant Links:

• Natalie Chiles Photography

Have you guys heard about the BIG changes coming to ShootQ? We have, and we have been SO excited to see them roll out! If you aren't using ShootQ, you are missing out on a CRAZY valuable tool for your photography business. Chances are, if you're doing something manually in your business, ShootQ can take it over, and provide you with precious extra time! Emailing the same thing over and over? ShootQ can handle that. Still having clients sign their contracts in person? Let ShootQ email them a digital contract. Tired of collecting payments or sending invoices manually? Look no further. At this point, we're wondering if there's anything ShootQ CAN'T handle for us!

We are SO excited about the changes, we invited Adam Fried back on the show to chat with us a bit about what's new, what's the same, and what to expect from the revamped ShootQ. Tune in to hear how you can take advantage of ShootQ to help you with your photography business!

Key Takeaways

• Take FULL advantage of the free trial. Oftentimes, we'll sign up for a free trial for something, dip our toe in, and get so overwhelmed with the whole process that we don't really end up using whatever it is to it's full extent, which means we're just confused the whole 30 or 60 days or whatever, and end up not subscribing to the service at the end. So here's the awesome thing. ShootQ is designed to really help you with setting everything up. They help make the on boarding process fun, so you get incentives to complete your set up. There's always someone to help you,
• Don't be scared of change! If you already use ShootQ, don't be scared they're going to mix everything up on you! You have the option to keep things the same for as long as you like, and ShootQ is rolling out new features slowly, so you can very easily make the switch without feeling overwhelmed.
• Utilize questionnaires. Questionnaires are a GREAT way to know all sorts of things about your clients. From the very first inquiry, you can use a ShootQ questionnaire to find out more info about your client & what kind of shoot they're looking for. After the shoot, you can use a questionnaire to find out what worked, what didn't, and get honest feedback about your shoot. ShootQ has unlimited questionnaires you can send your clients, which makes the whole process very easy and streamlined!
• Keep track of all of your clients. ShootQ makes it SO easy to keep track of your clients. First off, obviously all their information is saved in your ShootQ, so you know their contact info. Also, you can look back on ALL your past shoots, and you can see notes you've made throughout the years. This is great for something like locations. You can make a note of what locations you've already used, so you know new locations to offer them. You can also note important things like birthdays and anniversaries, so you can send little notes or gifts on those big days!
• GO MOBILE. These guys are rolling out an AWESOME mobile app to go along with their service. It's going to be revamped, and easier to use than ever. You'll have all your client info at your fingertips, all the time. So if you forget something before the shoot (like dad's name... raise your hand if you've done that!), you can quickly look it up & save yourself!

Of course, Adam talks about a LOT more ShootQ features, as well as shares a hilarious story about #vanlife. (You just have to listen, I can't explain that here!) So be sure to download this episode now! THANKS FOR LISTENING!! Have a great week everybody!

Download from iTunes Here

Download from iTunes Here