The Pet Photographers Club Podcast Archives

Are you an on-location pet photographer? In today’s special episode, with Pet Photographer of the Year awards sponsor nPhoto, we discussed the benefits of giving your clients just three set locations to pick from for their photoshoot. We recommend a park option, beach option and urban option - but of course, you could adjust these to suit your own environment. If you’re still leaving the location scouting up to your clients, this is a must-listen episode!

Want to hear more tips for how to streamline your pet photography business? You can watch/listen to our full interview with Eugene Nagawiecki at nPhoto and catch more live chats with photographers over on the nPhoto facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/nphotolab/videos/383456186418316

p.s. Have you entered the 2021 Awards yet? Entries close really soon - May 31st 11:59pm GMT/BST. nPhoto has generously sponsored not one, but two prizes - check out the details and enter online here: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/awards

With entries now open for the 2021 International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards, we thought it would be the perfect time to chat with the 2020 Category Winner, Saskia Rosebrock of SasR Photography. Saskia wowed the judges with her outside the box interpretation of the ‘Pets and their People’ category and in today’s episode she shares her own experience with entering - and winning - during the awards, plus her journey as a landscape-loving dog photographer.

A perfect dose of inspiration and motivation for you if you have not yet entered this year’s awards! Don’t miss out - entries close on May 31st. You can check out the beautiful work of previous years’ winners and find out more about entering the awards yourself here: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/awards

LINKS:

Website: https://sasr-photography.de
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/sasr_photography and https://www.facebook.com/sasr.photography

Have you submitted your entry for the annual International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards yet?

We’re halfway through May, which means there’s only a couple more weeks to go! These awards are open to all countries, 100% free to enter and there are so fantastic prizes up for grabs thanks to our generous sponsors. Tune into the latest podcast episode as Kirstie and Caitlin share everything that you need to know to enter - and win - the 2021 awards.

1. There are four categories: Portrait, Action, Pets & Their People and Open.
2. Images are judged on three criteria: Technical (/10), Visual (/10) and Judge’s Response (/5). Read more about the scoring on the website here: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/scoring
3. Read the rules here: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/entry-form
4. Trust your gut instinct
5. Get inspired by last year’s winners: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/categories
(If you’re a member of the club, you can also view the 2020 shortlisted images in the Member Zone)
6. Bring your fresh perspective to the category. Thousands of images are entered each year - memorable and unique ones will stick in the judges’ minds!
7. Enter all four categories - the overall winner is based on the highest combined score, so entering all four categories gives you better odds!
8. Master your technique. Often the images that don’t make it through to the Top 100 shortlists are passed due to technical details like focus, over/under exposure, sharpening etc.
9. Involve your community - take this opportunity to generate some local buzz and engagement with your audience.
10. You’ve got to be in it to win it!

IMPORTANT INFO:

Entries close 11:59pm GMT 31st May
Two entry levels: professional and emerging
Website: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/awards

Following on from last weeks interview with Michael Puck, we wanted to share with you how to get your clients thinking more about wall art before they even contact you! In this episode Kirstie focuses on Room Mock Ups for your marketing material.

Covered in this episode:
1.Why you need Room Mock Ups
2. How to Create them and Kirstie's top pick of platforms to use
3. Choosing a room view
4. Making them look realistic
5. Where to use them in your marketing material 

Extended episode in the Member zone: https://members.thepetphotographersclub.com/courses/take/members/lessons/23395040-s8e11-using-wall-mock-ups-for-marketing-material

LISTENER BONUS:

http://canvy.com/voucher/thepetphotographersclub

Michael Puck is shaking things up in the world of professional pet photography. Fuelled by his desire to help save dogs from kill shelters, he runs his business, K9Photo, as a nonprofit.

But although k9Photo is a charity, Michael does not ask for donations. The revenue is entirely generated by selling multi-thousand dollar dog wall art collections to non pet related businesses. In this fascinating interview, Michael shares how you can position dog wall art to businesses in your own local area, to open up a vast new world of opportunities. This is an interview that your MUST NOT MISS!

p.s. Michael has shared even more tips in his newly released, FREE e-course which you can find here: https://www.k9photo.org/ecourse

TOP THREE:

1. Why K9Photo is a non-profit

2. How Michael finds and contacts leads

3. Michael’s first question to potential new business clients

IN THE EXTENDED EPISODE:

* Michael gets specific with numbers and pricing

LINKS:

Website: https://www.k9photo.org
The Free E-Course: https://www.k9photo.org/ecourse
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/k9photo.org

Click here to watch the full extended, video version of this episode in the Memberzone

It’s almost that time of year again! We’re busy behind the scenes here at the Pet Photographers Club getting ready for the 2021 International Pet Photographer of the Year Awards. Entries open on May 1st, so make sure you sign up to our free newsletter to get reminders about entering. This year we’re very excited to introduce a new online event prior to the awards - the Awards Image Peer Review.

Considering if your image needs further post-production? Maybe you can’t decide between two action photos or which category that image should be entered into? Join the Awards Image Peer Review on the 27th April to get invaluable feedback from Kirstie and your fellow professional pet photographers from around the world. Tickets are $10 for non-members, or free for Club members, but seats are strictly limited so grab yours now: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/awards

To celebrate the upcoming awards, we interviewed Morgane Caradec - the 2020 Emerging Pet Photographer of the Year. Morgane wowed the judges last year with her unique and instantly recognisable style (those dreamy pinks!). In this video episode, she shared the process behind the scenes of creating those images, picking what to enter for the awards and her journey so far as a pet photographer.

LINKS:

Website: https://morganecaradecphotographie.fr
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/morganecaradecphotographie
https://www.facebook.com/MorganeCaradecPhotographie

VIDEO EPISODE DIRECT LINK FOR MEMBERS

Partnering with local pet-friendly accomodation is a fantastic way to tap into a market of potential clients who really, really love their dogs. So how do you go about setting up that sort of partnership? One of our long-time members, Rebecca Kostka of Shy Wolf Photography, reached out recently with this very question. So Caitlin sat down with Bec to answer all her questions - and we recorded it so that you can learn too!

WIN-WIN-WIN STRATEGY:

What the partner gets:
1. Ongoing marketing to your audience (you share the images + capture behind the scenes social posts everytime you’re there)
2. Ability to offer a unique/memorable experience to their guests
3. Professional images of their location to use on their website/marketing material/social media

What the client gets:
1. Memorable keepsake and experience during their vacation
2. Photography at a unique location
3. Optional: special offer (e.g. print credit with the session)

What you get:
1. Marketing to a new audience of your target client (people who really, really love their dogs)
2. Tap into urgency - special offer is only available during their stay

LINKS:

Countrywide Cottages Offer on Website: https://countrywidecottages.com.au/sleep-and-smile
Countrywide Cottages using the images: https://countrywidecottages.com.au/pet-friendly-accommodation

EXTENDED EPISODE DIRECT LINK

In this week’s episode, we chat to the In Person Sales mastermind, Rachael Boer, about all barriers and blocks that photographers experience when selling their artwork. Rachael shares everything, from her top tips to breaking down mental barriers, the experience of switching from online galleries to IPS, how IPS has changed with COVID (and what you can do to adapt) and in the extended episode we addressed the elephant in the room - can you do IPS and still sell the digitals?!

TOP THREE:

1. Mental Barriers to IPS

2. Switching from Online to IPS

3. Adapting to COVID

EXTENDED EPISODE:

* Sell what you love
* How to pick your products
* Using limited edition / new products to bring in old clients
* Selling digitals with IPS

LINKS:

Website: https://www.ipsmastermind.net
Revive! by IPSM: https://www.weloveips.com
Social Media: www.instagram.com/rachaelboerphotography
www.facebook.com/rachaelboerphotography

EXTENDED EPISODE DIRECT LINK

Valentine’s Day. Mother’s Day. Father’s Day. Halloween. Christmas. There are a handful of classic national holidays that professional photographers often market themselves around, but what about those smaller, random holidays? There are so many different pet related days throughout the year (everything from Doggy Date Night on February 3rd to National Pet Parents Day on the last Sunday of April).

In this Member Spotlight video interview with Ina Jalil of Ina J Photography, we deepdived into her success with running National Dog Day minisessions. Ina shared all the details, like how she launched her campaign using Facebook Events, filled her booking goal and made the event profitable with follow-up in person sales.

If your marketing calendar is in need of a dose of inspiration for 2021, make sure you tune into this episode. You can also download our free PDF guide for all the 2021 Pet Holidays here: https://www.thepetphotographersclub.com/2021-pet-holiday-calendar

TOP THREE:

1. Launching using only Facebook Events

2. Booking ten $50 minisessions and follow-up in person sales

3. What Ina would do differently next time

LINKS:

Website: https://inajphotography.com
Social Media: https://instagram.com/inajphotography
https://facebook.com/inajphotography

At the age of just 20 years old - and in the midst of a global pandemic - Caitlin Hodges transformed an industrial unit into a professional pet photography studio and launched to a fully booked calendar of excited clients.

Want to know just how she did it? Tune into today’s interview with this talented photographer, as Kirstie and Caitlin learn all about her journey. Don’t miss out on the special extended version of this episode too, as Caitlin Hodges shared all the juicy details of studio launch special, pricing and using Facebook groups to grow your business.

TOP THREE:

1. The logistics of transforming her space into a studio

2. How Caitlin launched her studio with a fully booked calendar

3. Not letting age/confidence hold you back

EXTENDED EPISODE (FOR CLUB MEMBERS)

* The details of Caitlin’s studio launch special

* Raising your prices after you start

* Using Facebook Groups in your community

* Using Facebook Reviews to grow your Word of Mouth

LINKS:

Website: www.caitlinhodges.co.uk
Social Media: www.instagram.com/caitlinhodgesphoto
www.facebook.com/caitinhodgesphoto