The Beginner Photography Podcast

#128 The overarching theme this month is obviously winter. The extra time we have from not shooting out in 4 feet of snow. Now maybe you are out shooting in 4ft of snow. That’s awesome and you’re stronger than me for sure.

But if you’re not shooting in 4ft of snow (like me) I don’t want you to get lazy or think that you cant do anything photography related for a whole season.

If you have been listening for the past 2 weeks you will know that winter is an opportunity. And I want to help you take advantage of it!

So I made a little list of things you should take care of this winter to better set yourself up for success this in 2019.

1: Your Social Media

I know, I can hear the collective groans from you all.

But it's not as in YOU HAVE TO DO IT to be a photographer. if photography is just a hobby and you don’t share your photos you don’t have to have a FB or instagram but there are a lot of photographers out there listening right now who use both, and they do it poorly. This tip is for them.

I remember when I first made my FB and insta I didn’t post a lot. I thought I could I only post new content. I could never post the same photo twice. That’s just not the case. There are no instagram cops who will close your account if you post the same photo twice. Dont do it in a row of course but if you post the same photo once a month, no one will care as they will have forgot about it from the last time you posted it.

Most photographers also forget that Social media is suppose to be social. It’s not an online classified ad. Too many photographers go on and just post sales and promotions.

No one wants to ONLY be sold to. Make social media social. Tell the story of how you took a photo. Why you love shooting what you do. Ask questions. Have polls. A or B? That sort of stuff. Entertain your audience.

Your photos don’t speak a thousand words and they don’t need to. People are so use to aimless scrolling, give them a reason to stop. Give them a reason to interact with your posts.

the life of a photo is like 6 mins on instagram. You should be posting your work a minimum of once a day. “But I don’t have time for that!”

I get it social is addicting and time consuming. I cant tell you how many times Ive needed to get on FB or Instagram to check something specific like an ad and then 20 mins later forgot why I was on there. That’s why I schedule out all of my social media. So that I don’t fall behind getting lost watching everyones stories and what not. And I can also strategically curate my brand through my captions.

I use a program called Planoy which lets me schedule out my instagram posts for a whole month for free. It’s integral to sharing my message without getting too distracted and start scrolling.

And if you have a Facebook business page you have the ability schedule your posts built it!

2: Organization

Next thing to work on is Organization. This can be so much more than just the photos on your computer which are everywhere and in random folders names "Untitled Folder 7" But lets talk about photos first.

Use a dedicated hard drive just for work files. A 1tb hard drive can be purchased for $50.

Having a fresh slate makes it easier to organize. I Have a folder called RHP for my business, then inside is folders for business or photo, in photos is engagements, weddings, portraits, and personal. Then in each of those folders its broken down by year, then in each year is a list of the clients I photographed, then inside that are folders for Raw, Selected (The photos I want to edit), and Edited the completed photos.

So if Im looking for a specific engagement photo I could go
 RHP/Photos/Engagement/2014/Chris and Sally/Edited/ Chr

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Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#127 I'm looking out my window right now and its snowing. It’s 27degrees. This isn’t prime time for weddings. The winter months offer a lot more time freedom for wedding photographers than the warm summer months. These winter months although you may not be shooting as much as you were when you could walk out the front door with your camera at a moments notice, can still prove to be a time of growth for the next year. I honestly love this time of year as a photographer. Too many times you go out to shoot with high expectations that this is going to be the day that you take the best shot of your life but quickly fall upon the same ole routine without even noticing you’re doing it. After a while, your photos start to feel stale and boring, and slowly you stagnate and lose that passion you once had for photography. Well luckily winter is here to help!

Since we are inside for winter, we have the perfect opportunity for reflection. Reflect on the previous year. You should be using some sort of photo organizational tool. For some its Lightroom or apple photos or google photos, whatever you use to store and organize your photos take a day, a whole day to go through the photos you have taken over the year and try to find patterns. Maybe you framed things a certain way, maybe you like the moodiness of a good underexposed photo, maybe you stuck with a telephoto lens for most of the year.

Once you recognize patterns you can easily make changes to achieve what you want. Look at your photo and try to figure out what worked. What photos do you love? Try to figure out why. look at some of your favorites from other photographers. Figure out why you love those photos. What could you do to close the gap between their photos and yours?

What do you shoot? Do you shoot portraits? Family portraits? Focus on interacting with children. Look online for some family photographer groups and ask what works for them when connecting with kids or getting them to laugh.

Wedding photographer? Maybe you’re happy with your posing but wish your reception shots were better, specifically the dancing photos, more specifically, getting focus in the near pitch black reception. Search youtube for tips and make a youtube watchlist.

Narrow down what you want to work on so you know if you are getting better. If you just want to get better at "photography" it won't work.

When you laser focus on what you want to get better at, it makes it easier to learn and practice.

What are you going to focus on this winter? For me, last year I focused on adding more emotion in my photos by making sessions more fun, it worked, now this year I will continue my quest towards more emotive photos by getting closer. Both with a tighter lens and by physically getting closer.

This year Im sure I will pick up a 70-200 which for a long time I felt was only for the ceremony now I want to use it for portraits too.

What are you going to work on this year? I want to know! Share it in the BPP FB group. Keep everyone accountable.

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#126 It's winter! Here in the states its getting cold, we are doing less sessions, taking less photos.
 Perfect time to reflect on the past year figure out what worked best, what didn't work so you can do more of the stuff that worked at future sessions.

My biggest lessons I learned this year were....

Don't assume what people can pay for your work. -
 kinda business-y. We assume that since photography is a "luxury" the people who can truly afford is must be well off. Upper middle class. But this year I found that a couples economic status does not mean they will value your work any more or less than someone with lower economic status. I had a couple this year who seemed perfect! A Dr and a Lawyer, came from a history of past professional family members, super nice and thoughtful, getting married at a beautiful venue, had one of the cities top planners to make sure everything was just as they wanted it, but they were just hiring a wedding photographer because they knew they needed a wedding photographer at their wedding. The booked my base package and just went that into it on the day. Again super nice couple, I truly enjoyed my time but their personal value of photography was low.

And just few weeks later I shot a wedding where the bride told me at our meeting that her photo budget was less than half of my base package but she was going to "make it work somehow" because she loved my photos and could see herself in every one of the images on my website. she booked my middle package which is almost $1000 more than my base package and they were totally involved in the photography. So don't just assume when you get that email or FB stalk them. Give everyone the best experience possible.

 The power of the long lens.
 Ive always be drawn in towards ultra wides but I felt I couldn't get the same amount of context that I loved so much. So I started using a longer lens a bit more at the beginning of the year and this year have fell in love with it. I start the day with it now. Ive said this forever but Photos just have so much more emotion when you can get close to people! Whatever emotion they are going through is dialed up an extra notch.

Its ok to take the same shots as everyone else.
 When I graduated from film school I had this huge invisible weight on me that I should be able to create something really unique and at the drop of a hat. But that is just not me. Some people can do it but even then it comes from a lot of practice. Its ok to walk in and get the "easy shots" if anything it will help you be MORE creative. When you allow yourself to get the easy shot first, its easier for your brain to be on the look out for more creative shots. If you tell yourself you have to get the most creative shot ever, right away, your brain will blow a fuse.

Lastly that photography is a really bad business model.
 At first you think about how cool it would be to make $100 in an hour at a session to do something you love! Then when you have to make the business legal and file taxes you realize you can't survive charging $100 per session. You do the math and figure you would have to shoot 1000 sessions per year just to make what your day job pays. Thats almost 3 a day every day, no weekends, no holidays, no birthdays, no vacations.
 It seems tough because you are selling your time. Your time.

Thats how we have been taught to make money. Sell our time to a business who pays us for it. But as the only employee, if you get hurt or sick and can't sell your time to make money... you don't make money, your family starves, and you go homeless. Feeling stressed out?

 Its a bad business. And that's why this year Im committed to turning mine around so that I can keep photography as fun as possible. Automate as much I can so I can spend more time focused on shooting, and maybe even have others shoot for me.

If you're a premium member you

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#125 Hi! I’m Raymond Hatfield, an Indianapolis Wedding Photographer and host of the Beginner Photography Podcast. Today I invite a member of the Beginner Photography Podcast Facebook Group, Carrie Norris on to interview me and ask the questions that the group wants to know. The Facebook group is one of my favorite places on the internet because of the people there.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• How I got started in photography
• The photographers and cinematographers who influence Raymond’s work the most
• Some of Raymonds hobbies and why he doesn’t listen to music
• Why Raymond transitioned from cinematography to photography
• How Raymond sees marketing changing for photography
• A list of the photography podcasts Raymond consumes
• What Raymonds Biggest Weakness is
• What genre of photography I would focus on if I had no commitments
• Photography trends what will look dated in 20 years
• A session that I thought I nailed but totally bombed

Resources:

• Indianapolis Wedding Photographer Raymond Hatfield’s Website
• Indianapolis Wedding Photographers Raymond Hatfield’s Instagram
• BPP 23 Louis Hermosillo
• The Daily Photo Briefing Podcast

 
 Check out more at www.BeginnerPhotographyPodcast.com

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Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#124 Sandra Coan is a film photographer from beautiful Seattle, WA who specializes in newborns, families and classic portraiture. She’s been in business for 20 years and loves sharing what she has learned with others. Whether its film photography, lighting techniques, studio workflow or the fundamentals of building a successful brand, her mission is to help you be the best photographer you can be. 

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• How Sandra got her unconventional start in photography
• The hardest part about photography for Sandra to learn
• Who convinced Sandra to start getting serious with photography
• How Sandra booked her first client
• What is branding in context for photographers
• Mistakes Sandra has made in her own branding
• The biggest misconception photographers have about branding
• Commonly bad branding info Sandra hears being taught to new photo new photographers
• The best investment Sandra has ever made to improve her photography
• What beginners need to be focused on when getting started with branding
• Branding mistakes Sandra sees established photographers making
• Examples of photographers doing a great job with branding
• Why you should spend time branding yourself even if photography is just a hobby
• What is a rebrand
• How branding can make us more money

Resources:

• Sandra Coan’s Photography Website
• Sandra Coan’s Photography Education Site
• Sandra Coan on instagram

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#123 Today's guest is Rosemary Watson of Rosemary Watson Productions. The host of the Listen and Lattes Podcast and photographer who has found a way to live a life that makes her happy all through stock photography. Today I’m excited to learn what it takes to get started and set up for success! 

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• How Rosemary started shooting stock photography
• What the job of a Stock photographer is to deliver
• Why people spend money on their business’ but not themselves
• The signs of an amateur stock photograph
• How sharing a photo with a vendor transformed her business
• How to tell a story with Stock photography
• What someone needs to get started shooting stock photography
• How much creativity there is in stock photography
• How Rosemarys Stock photography is different than others and makes her stand out
• How to do market research to find out what to shoot
• How to use instagram to make money
• Weather or not you should shoot a variety of subjects or focus on just one
• How Rosemary keeps all of her stock photos organized

Resources:

• Rosemary Watson Productions
• Listen and  Lattes Podcast
• Shay Cochrane
• Creative Market
• Nicky Laats Fonts

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#122 Today's guest is Scott Whden Kivowitz. Host of the wordpress photography podcast. He works for Imagely a company that creates wordpress website themes just for photographers. Today Im excited to find out how to make the best photography website in the world.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• How Scott got his start in photography
• The hardest part about photography to learn
• When you are ready to start a photography website
• Where to start when building your portfolio
• Which platform is most user friendly for photographers
• What do show when you shoot several different types of photography
• How much time you should invest in your website
• What Scott would change if he had to start as a photographer all over
• What piece of gear Scott thinks is useless
• What needs to be on your home page
• What most new photography websites get wrong
• What the goal of your website should be
• What plug in’s are and some of the most useful for your photography website

Resources:

• Scott Wyden Kivowitz Website
• Wordpress Photography Podcast
• Scott’s Instagram
• Scott’s Facebook
• Scott’s Youtube

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#121 Today's guest is Vanessa Joy. A wedding photographer with over 19 years of experience. She’s also a photography educator and after seeing her youtube video "3 overlooked posing secrets" and then seeing the success I had at my weddings from her suggestions I knew I had to get her on the show to find out more! In this interview we talk about her approach to speed posing.

In This Episode You'll Learn:

• How Vanessa Joy got her start in Photography
• Why it was so hard for her to learn photography
• What Vanessa Joys first client taught her about being a photographer
• Why we all struggle so much with posing when starting out in photography
• What most new photographers get wrong when they start posing
• How posing from a shot list can BOOST your creativity rather than make it stale
• What advice Vanessa would give to a new photographer just starting out
• How to build confidence when posing for the first time
• The must have wedding portraits you have to nail
• How to get unnatural couples feeling and looking their best in front of the camera
• Coming up with poses for both an engagement session and wedding

Resources:

• New York City Wedding Photographer Vanessa Joy’s Website
• Vanessa Joy’s Photography Education Breathe Your Passion
• Speed Posing Course for Wedding Photographers
• Vanessa Joy on Instagram

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#120 Today's guest is a Photographer and global leader in motion art. His work has appeared in top magazines including Vanity Fair, GQ, Rolling Stone and many more. His latest creation is the digital sharing platform and app, Plotagraph. Today we will be talking about what the future holds for photography. I'm excited to chat with Troy Christopher Plota CHECK OUT THE SHOW NOTES HERE TO SEE AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT WE TALK ABOUT IN TODAYS INTERVIEW! 

https://www.beginnerphotographypodcast.com/podcast/120

In This Episode You'll Learn:

How Troy got started in photography
 The hardest part of photography to learn for Troy
 The history of imagery. From cave drawings to digital motion art
 What the future holds for photography
 How Troy came up with the idea of Plotagraph
 Bad info troy hears being taught to new photographers
 How you can start to incorporate motion arts into your work

Premium Members Also Learn:

 How to add Plotagraphs into your digital photography workflow
 How you can charge more money by creating Plotagraphs
 Why Troy left being an accomplished photographer shooting models like Heidi Klum to create a motion art start up
 How to make your Facebook stand out and how do deliver something incredible to your clients

Resources:

• Plotaverse
• Plotaverse on Instagram

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!

#119 I’m starting a photography studio. Spending some time in Alaska, a family vacation, Iceland, in the hight of wedding season made one thing clear. I can only do so much with my time. Things slipped away from me. I have no one who works for me, I only make money when I sell my time. This is how we have been trained to work. Want to make more money at your job, pick up more hours.

Ive said many times I didn't go to school for business but for photography. The business side has always been a challenge. In the past year or so I have read some great business books. The e myth revisited, the war of art, and most recently, Making money is killing your business by Chuck Blakeman. The premise is that as small business owners we are so focused on making money that we don't take the time to build a business that makes money.

Thats me. I sometimes feel burnt out and like Im on a treadmill. Doing work but getting nowhere. Its exhausting.

Chuck lays out a roadmap to building a business that makes money and it is exciting. Its so exciting Ive read the book about half a dozen times. I bought the audio book to listen to it in the car over and over too. And Ive realized how bad of a business model a single operator wedding photography business is. I can only make more money by selling more of my time.

As the kids get older, I want to spend more time with them on the weekends. As I get older I worry I won't be able to relate to my clients who are usually 24-30.

So Ive had to make some decisions for the future. And I want to open a photography studio. I less than 3 years. By May 5th 2021 to be exact. Thats my Business maturity date that I have set from the instructions of the book.

I even bought a countdown timer. From right now I have 926 days and time until I reach my BMD. In that time I will be doing a complete rebrand, researching a brand new market to me, work on marketing, register a new business, that comes with dealing with taxes of course, Ill also be writing out how I conduct business. Everything from figuring out pricing, getting new clients, how to shoot, to how to edit, correspond with clients, blog their session and then keep in touch so they book with me again and at the end... Open a studio space. All of this while still being a stay at home dad to 2 kids. lol.

All of this will be documented monthly and shared in a bonus podcast episode. These podcasts will be heavily focuses on business, starting and growing a new photography business. Dealing with everything from marketing to photography competition.

This how to build a 6 figure photography studio part 1 of 31. The introduction. If you are interested in hearing the rest of the series, it will be a Premium Member exclusive since its so focused on business and making money with photography.

And to kick off this new endeavor Im going to give away a copy of Chucks book Making money is killing your business to one lucky patron who signs up by December 31st!

So if you want to become a premium member click the premium membership link below at the top. It will take you to patron where you can become a premium member for just $10/month. On top of the new podcast where Ill be documenting how I start a 6 figure photography studio You will also get the extended versions of each weeks interview where I ask additional questions geared towards making you money with your camera.

So again to become a patron by December 31st and you could win your own copy of the book, Making money is killing your business.

Thats it. We have some incredible interviews coming up in the next few weeks that I know you will love. Until next week keep shooting join the conversation with other photographers just like you in the BPP fb group and most importantly, stay safe! I

Connect with Raymond! 

• Go from Confused to Confident behind the camera with The Ultimate Photography Education Bundle - https://beginnerphotopod.com/bundle
• Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
• Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/

Thanks for listening & keep shooting!