Houston Wedding Photographer Scott Villalobos
Oh how I admire the life of the amateur photographer, carefree and skipping about through vast fields of wildflowers (quite literally myself four years ago) looking for the most magical light on the most magical poppy on the most magical day. You know what I’m talking about, the good old days when the only thing you had to worry about was in which order you would frame your favorite prints and hang them down the hall so that you could listen to your friends sing your accolades and ask in wonderment how you ever captured such a moment with your new 300 mega pixel, state of the art, “yeah I spent my whole tax return on it and part of my kids college money too”, digital camera.
Oh for the good old days of not so long ago. But then something happened, something both wonderful and yet terrifying in the same breath. Those accolades from your friends seeped deep down into your being and you decided to scratch the itch and turn pro. What’s worse, you decided you would turn your passion into your business. Oh don’t worry, your not alone, infact you’re in very good company. Yet for the many who have come before you, being in business for themselves is like being on an alien planet with out oxygen. You’re totally excited to be there but you have no idea how you’re going to survive once you finish holding your breath.
The first step in learning to survive in the business of photography, whether it is portrait, wedding, stock, whatever, is to learn how to be in business period. You have to learn how to breath a different kind of air, and by the way, all that passion you have for creating amazing imagery won’t help you here. You’ll have to change your mindset from photographer to business owner and gain an understanding of all the facets that are involved. You know, those warm fuzzy little things like accounting, marketing, advertising, being an employer, customer service, financial planning, etc, etc…
Did I lose you? Don’t go back to your day job yet. There are resources out there to help you succeed, and the best part is you can tap into many of these for free. We’ll maybe not free, but on the cheap anyways. For example, I photograph competition cheerleaders and sell them various packages with different products. To deliver these products I needed to purchase packaging. This I did through a company called American Retail Supply. Even though I didn’t solicit it, I started receiving emails from the company owner about running a successful business. He would share many insights of his own and of his customers. Many times there were tidbits of info that I found useful for starting and running my business.
Another resource I came across was joining the PPA. While the membership isn’t free, it did come with a one-year subscription to “Professional Photographer” magazine. Now I’m not one to read a lot of magazines but I do find myself reading 75% of it’s content, also I find myself reading it more then once. Joining the PPA doesn’t only provide you with a magazine subscription though; it provides many services to its members to help them succeed in the business of photography. I was strongly urged by a friend to join (I won’t mention any names but Krista you know who you are) and I strongly urge you to join as well. You won’t regret it, and if money is a problem, they will take monthly payments to ease your financial pain and that’s a relief when you’ve quit your day job for your dream job.
And since were speaking of our dream job, if it starts turning into a nightmare the PPA offers a service known as SMS. Studio Management Services (SMS) is a unique PPA program where each studio is teamed with an experienced business mentor and a PPA staff accountant. Together, they will evaluate your business, work closely with you to develop your plan, and provide valuable financial and marketing support. Support service options range from a one-time consultation to ongoing quarterly or monthly plans and hourly bookkeeping services.
There really are too many benifits to list in this short space so I’m just gonna post a link to the benifits page on the PPA website so make sure you check it out here: http://www.ppa.com/benefits/details-nonmembers.php
Other venues for gaining info on being in the business are on forums such as this one where for a small monthly fee you will be exposed and able to access people in the business. You are encouraged to ask questions, I’ve never met a photographer who didn’t like to talk about his business. (Be careful what you wish for though, some of them won’t shut up. I’m not pointing fingers at anybody, I’m just saying.)
Next, for those of you who like to read there is a seemingly unending supply of books about how to be in the business of photography available at your local bookstore. Many will be specific to your genre of photography while others will be more generalized. Whatever you’re looking for I guarantee you somebody has or is in the process of writting a book about it. One book that I found helpful was “Business & Legal Forms for Photographers” by Tad Crawford. If you’re just starting out this may be just the thing you need as it contains all kinds of forms from image licensing to wedding photography contracts and more. It even comes with a CD of the forms in Word format so you can simply add your info to the form without having to retype the whole thing.
Something Keith Lee, the owner of American Retail Supply, really makes clear in his emails is that to be successful you need to think of yourself not as someone in the business of whatever your business is, but as someone in the business of marketing the business your in. What does that translate to? I use myself as an example. I’m a professional wedding and portrait photographer, but I’m in the business of marketing my wedding and portrait photography. There is a whole lot more that needs to be said about this topic so stay tuned.
PS, for those of you who care to know about the portrait above. This was taken on the wedding day about twenty minutes before the ceremony. If you look at the picture hanging on the wall behind Lauren you will notice that it’s a woman in a beautiful dress much like a wedding dress. I saw this and the lights went on in my head so I thought this would be a perfect chance for life to imitate art. This really was a no brainer, no special lighting other then the table lamp and a little creative dodging and burning in Lightroom and Photoshop. I’ll be posting the wedding highlights on my blog this week if your interested. Just click on the picture to get there.
Next time: “The Business of Marketing Your Business”
Houston Wedding Photographer – Scott Villalobos – RSVP Studios
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