Has 2020 moved you to use different platforms to get the message out about your business?
In the past, Facebook has been good to small businesses, yet the platform is allowing less and less contact with your audience. Even Facebook groups are getting poor reach among members. It is frustrating to keep up.
In her session at the Professional Photographers of Washington’s 2021 Spring Conference, Lara Grauer, CPP will cover how as a small, local business owner, the trust and credibility you establish with your community is of utmost importance. Lara will share about creating positive relationships and staying top of mind means so that you’ll be the one they call when they’re ready to book. In this session, Build Fans Beyond Facebook – you will learn new ways to reach your target audience, build meaningful community, and become a local leader – so you’re the go-to photographer in your community.
Plan to attend this session on Saturday, March 27th at 2pm, PDT, included in your 2021 Conference registration.
Want to better understand how to make an emotional connection with your photography? That connection helps with the story and impact.
If yes, then you need to plan to attend the session with Toni Johnson Harryman and Learn How to Dream. Emote. Play. Create.
In this class at the Professional Photographers of Washington’s 2021 Spring Conference, Toni will talk about getting more emotion into our work. She will show some ways you can display that emotion in images and use storytelling, composition, color, and more to set the mood. She will cover how to bring out emotions in people to make more meaningful images for your clients.
Plan to attend his session on Saturday, March 27th at 2pm, PDT, included in your 2021 Conference registration. Toni will review artistic principles and delve into creative concepts that will elevate your work for your clients, print competition judges, and the art world. She will also talk about feeding our brains and creativity and where to find sources of inspiration.
Photography is your passion and your business. But what makes a thriving photography business or a successful professional photographer? Is it the right gear? A beautiful studio? Pure talent? Great passion fro the art? What do you do when those things collide on your journey and you lose sight of why you started? It is normal on the path to success, but sometimes you don’t feel like a success.
Mary Ann Breshears, Master Cr, AFP will share with you why you cannot give up. In her session, How to Create Habits for 2021, she will focus on the habits to help us create a successful photography business and a successful mindset. She will share her studio’s journey that began as a part-time business including the frustrations and fears she experienced, including wanting to give up a few times.
The word Challenge is such a powerful word. The Oxford Dictionary defines the word challenge as both a noun and a verb. Mary Fisk Taylor, MBA, M. Photog., Cr., EA- ASP, CPP, ABI, API will share how our industry essentially personifies the word CHALLENGE – both personally and professionally. At the Professional Photographers of Washington’s 2021 Spring Conference, Mary will be sharing how accepting this challenge can propel photographers toward their best.
Plan to attend her session on Saturday, March 27th at 1 pm, PDT, included in your 2021 Conference registration.
For almost 25 years Mary Fisk-Taylor has owned a portrait and wedding business with her business partner, Jamie Hayes in Richmond, Virginia. Hayes & Fisk Photography is one of the most sought-after Portrait and Wedding studios in their industry. Mary has received her Master of Photography, Craftsmen of Photography, and Certification of Professional Photography. Mary was Photographer of the Year in 2007 and has won Best Wedding Album of the Year in Virginia several times. Nationally her prints and albums recognized as Grand Imaging Award finalists. To learn more: https://ppw.org/Conference-2021
Renée Gage, M Photog. invites you to envision the photographer you want to be and create the photography business you desire; her three “be’s” that will help you to map YOUR path!
This interactive presentation, ‘be. – Finding Your Path’, will help leave you with a better sense of who YOU are, what are YOUR personal and achievable goals, and what foundation MUST be present in order to grow a successful business that will grow YOU and your happiness in turn. Renée believes the world around us in awe-inspiring, in both little and big moments, and she looks forward to the opportunity to share images with her audience from personal projects and client work that have been a part of her studio since she has begun this journey. In this ever-changing world, take a moment to join her as you plan your path to BE who you are in life!
For twenty years, Renée has continuously expanded her successful business despite 13 moves around the country with her U.S. Naval Officer husband and raising FIVE boys because she has focused her business growth on her own passions, talents, and terms.
Renée C. Gage is a Master Photographer who employs her portraiture and photojournalistic talents to tell the stories of her subjects with elegance and whimsy. She is a member of The American Society of Photographers and has received numerous professional accolades for her outstanding imagery.
To learn more about attending this and other awesome presentations at PPW 2021 Spring Conference, learn more at: https://ppw.org/Conference-2021
Pet photography. Perhaps you have considered adding it to your photo business playbook for 2020. Creating the ideal pet session takes time and thought to be able to not only light and create the set properly but provide the ideal environment for the comfort and convenience of pets and their owners.
Gena Tussey will walk attendees through how to start with the idea, create the vision, building it to serve multiple purposes and marketing it to be a money maker each season with minor changes. There is nothing you can’t do with paint, wood, fabric and Knick knacks that you may already have just laying around and how Gorilla Glue, hot glue, sticky dots, duct tape are your best friends.
Where do you want your profitable mini pet shoots to go?
What can your return on investment to be?
How many clients can you expect to book reasonably?
How much storage do you have for props? What do you have in reserve?
Where can you find inspiration? What’s your style or voice?
She says,” My one piece of sage advice is to “Take what you do seriously but with passion and a sense of humor…we get to do every day what some people can’t wait to retire to pursue is a life calling.”
This workshop will cover all aspects of the judging process, including terminology, scoring, ideology, digital vs. print, presentation, and conduct.
This workshop will cover the process of judging and will break down the judging process so that you will be able to understand the “12 Elements” of print competition, scoring, challenges and, most importantly, the rules that govern the entire print competition event. The 12 Elements are the foundation of judging within our system. They are used at all 4 levels and help the judges determine the final score.
Examples of all levels of scoring will be discussed. This workshop will involve all those in attendance. All seminar attendees will have an opportunity to participate in a practice judging. All attendees should be prepared to sit in the “hot” seats. When you have completed the workshop, and have passed the judging evaluation, you will have an understanding of the judging principals and be able to participate in future judging’s within in your local association.
Oregon’s most award-winning photographer, Bruce Berg will be giving a program designed to help you be successful whether you’ve been in business six months, six years or even 30 years. Bruce will cover many topics of a successful studio strategy such as:…
Why Branding IS important and what you can do about it.
Unique Marketing ideas to help make your wallet fatter.
Because you can’t make a living if you don’t have clients!
Working more than 40 hours a week? Tips to get control of your life. Sales
Strategies and how to price your work that will have you singing to the bank.
Mary Ann Breshears will explain the step by step process she used to overcome these hurdles, going from part-time to full time to flourishing. She will show you how creating these daily habits and growing them into routines, allowed their photography business to grow by 73% in 2016 and then another 50% in 2017. Currently, they have had a combined growth of 315% since 2104. She will explain how habits and routines continue to sustain that growth.
We have all been in the position of naming a print and nothing we ponder seems to work. We have seen ill-conceived titles, or flat titles describing the obvious. There are confusing titles that act as distractions, and we have seen humorous and clever titles that completely miss the mark. It’s a bit contrary, but the very nature of language interferes with the nature of visual imagery. This article is meant to shed light on why naming is tough, and to provide practical advice and resources for generating interesting and compelling names.
The difference between language and visual imagery is simple. Everyday use of language is conditioned to be direct, to be descriptive, to explain, and most importantly — to persuade. Visual communication is about exploration, interpretation, and evoking emotion. Visual imagery is about creating spaces to ponder content while language is used to explain and validate it. We might use everday words for editorial type images, but we want to use emotive words when naming prints for our more artistic endeavors.
Rather than viewing titles as necessary evils, explanations, or descriptions, we can view them as just another design element. A good title can act as an introduction, something that supports content or design, or as a trigger to fire off the imagination. If you’re struggling with a print, then take a good look at. What are the feelings you get from the image? What are the stronger design elements? If you can answer these questions, then you can start looking for words that support them.
The Meadow
Potential names for this image were “Three Elk” and “Yellowstone.” I felt compelled to let the viewer know there were three elk within the image, but “Three Elk” turns the image into a “Where’s Waldo.” “Yellowstone” is good if Yellowstone is the target market, but having a physical location as a title limits its application. I eventually went with “the Meadow.” It is simple to understand and enables the viewer to jump right into the image. The simplicity of the name also enables this meadow to represent any meadow with a similar environment, and it opens greater interpretation by the viewer.
Life
Another shot from Yellowstone, and I wanted to name this “Bison at Lamar Valley.” A descriptive and flat title, but again, I felt compelled to tell people where this photo was taken. This particular image received a lot of attention and it demanded a better title. “Life in Yellowstone” and “The Life of Bison” emerged as well as some others. I finally just used “Life.” The hope was a quick understanding by the judges and to put them immediately “in” the image. A year later and I’m liking the name “Life on the Plains” a little bit better. Naming is like composition and post-processing – it gets better with time and practice.
Still Nights
This is an infrared image of Riverfront Park in Spokane. “Riverfront” was the first and obvious name, but again, it is flat and stale. Calm was a great word to describe the image, and it matched the experience of taking the photograph. “Still” emerged from a thesaurus search keyed from calm, and it worked well the water elements. “Nights” was the word I felt and Night was the word I was reasoning. After a while, I came to feel that “Nights” better represented the passage of time. “Night” felt singular and descriptive in nature, whereas “Nights” felt more emotive.
The
nature of this article is not to get you to agree with my names, but to present
a new approach, or a new way of thinking, that will help you generate stronger
names with confidence. What has and hasn’t worked for me is listed below, and I
am always interested in feedback to strengthen the list.
View titles as introductions, or as a design element to support narrative and themes.
Avoid describing the content — it is flat and redundant.
Keep it simple and generic — The more generic the name, the broader the appeal to your audience.
Use a Thesaurus. Describe the feel of the image and look for help to generate more interesting words.
There are a plethora of words to use for cool and warm tones. Images with significant depth of field, or strong leading lines all speak to time.
Trails, roads, and paths all speak to personal and spiritual journeys.
Anything dilapidated speaks to entropy, death, and the passage of time.
Get feedback. Find people you trust to give you honest feedback and share your titles with them.
If you have a personal and meaningful name, but it is confusing to others, then give a second name. One public, and one to keep private for everything you want it to be.
Do not be clever. Clever names turn an image into a magic show. The viewer becomes more interested in the title than the content.
Modern photographers are not poets, but poetry is crafted to evoke emotion. It is worth your time to explore.
Do not cast a name in stone. Naming is like everything else in photography — it improves through time. Return to old images, reflect and refine.
Do not use camera generated file names. It implies the photographer has little to no processing or file management skills and by extension — to little or no photography skills.
Use “Untitled” with caution. Many of us want our images to speak for themselves. Unfortunately, when “Untitled” is read out lou, it implies a lack of creativity on the part of the author. The content becomes biased as the viewer wonders why the image was not named.
The hard lesson – if your image needs a title to be explained, then you probably need to rethink and reshoot the image. Titles are a part of our business, but really, the best images stand on their own.
Thanks for reading and contact Mike with any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions.
