Getting back in the game

[catherinevankempen]

<p>Hey guys,<br>

Once upon a time I was a pretty active member of photo.net. That was before kids, work, mortgage, life, got in the way :) Now I am in need of some good old fashion photo advice, and I immediately thought of you guys.<br>

So, I am wanting to get back into the photo game. I was a photography major in college and shot quite a few wedding during that time, but I was never a "professional". The last wedding I shot was about 4 years ago. I've done some stuff for friends, but nothing huge.<br>

Now I am ready to try my hand at some payed work. I think I would like to mainly do engagement/kids/family stuff. Not sure I'm ready to tackle a wedding just yet. On the other hand, when it comes to experience, I've shot more weddings than any other stuff. Sigh ... what's a girl to do.<br>

So here's my question ... I was hoping some of you would hop over to my website www.lazydaisy.us and take a quick look around. If you have any comments regarding the content, layout, portfolio, ... I'd be so grateful. I am worried, because all of my previous work was shot on film and a lot of it has been lost so I don't have a huge amount of work to show. <br>

My second question is, I don't feel comfortable charging a large amount of money, seeing as I've been out of things for so long. Is it okay to charge less and honestly tell people why the price is so low. I don't like the idea of faking it till I make it. <br>

I guess I need some honest feedback from people who won't be worried about hurting my feelings ... should I even attempt this (no worries, I'm not quitting my day job!) or should I just stick to taking pictures of my kids and move on.<br>

Thanks for any help!</p>

[booray]

<p>As a rule, I try not to comment on other photographer's work because you open yourself up to being put under the microscope yourself and who needs that. :)</p>

<p>However, after looking at your website my first impression is that your style is all over the place. It looks like you open a picture in photoshop and try everything until you find something you like. I think, in the family portrait market, you need to have an identity so that the Mom's know what they are getting. In the family images gallery there are about 5 different style of post processing. Decide what you like and perfect it. You can still go in another direction on occasion just not in 10 directions.</p>

<p>Rather than lower your prices, you might just shoot for free. Take 10 free family sessions and give a free print. This will help you refine your style and fill your portfolio. Then, set your prices and go to work. :)</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>I like Booray's response above. My other suggestion would not to refer to professional photography as a "game",......... a craft, a business, but never a game.</p>

[Marcus Ian]

<p>After looking at your website, I was left wondering where the rest was. In each of the three categories, I saw what appeared to be 3-4 clients in each (at most -- there were 2 Seniors?).</p>

<p>I understand if you are missing a lot of what you've shot in the past (especially if you sent the clients your negatives), but your current portfolio isn't that of a pro, it's that of an experienced second, or assistant. You <em>need</em> to fill it out.</p>

<p>That said, I also see a lot of inconsistency in it's presentation. There are quite a few pictures which, while emotionally relevant to the subjects (or the original client), not only are not interesting to a 'browsing' potential cient, but demonsrate some significant technical weaknesses - Especially the ones who's highlights are <em>beyond</em> completely blown. Even a boring image that is technically perfect has a place (sometimes) in your portfolio, but an emotional image that shows weak skills definetly does not. Booray's comment about inconsistent style is also true, but I think would be a lot less noticeable if you had more than a few shoots posted.</p>

<p>To be perfectly honest, I think the best thing you can do is offer your services for free. Put REAL prices on your website, and then put up a CL ad explaining both your experience and your requirements -- and why you offering your services for free. Screen your potential clients for strengths (overall appearance, dress, decor, location, etc), and select a few of the respondants to shoot - remember, since you are doing this for free, you can be as picky as you want. You should write up an altered contract for these shoots (just to protect yourself), but make sure they understand both your strengths and limitations. In the end it's as much their choice as yours, but you need to work and be working. I'd also consider calling some local pros to see if they can offer you work as a 2nd. As I said work is better than no work, and you need to be working. </p>

[catherinevankempen]

<p>Hi guys,<br>

I've been out of town and just now got a chance to read over your comments and respond. <br>

First, thank you so much for taking the time to read my post and browse my images. It really means a whole lot.<br>

Second, thank you for being so honest. What Booray said hurt at first and then I realized he is completely right, except I don't open them in photoshop, it's Lightroom :) I think I'm kind of like a kid in a candy store right now. I was so used to shooting film where I either shot color or b&w and where the only choices I had in the darkroom were whether to use a higher or lower filter, or add a little magenta or subtract a little yellow. Sure, I messed around with some non silver processes, did a little bit of cross processing, but now it's just a mouse click away, all these wonderful effects! It's amazing, a little bit too amazing. It took you guys pointing it out to realize I was totally overdoing it. <br>

As to David's comment, I really didn't mean any disrespect. It was just a figure of speech. Believe me, I fully understand the dedication, study, and discipline it takes to become a good photographer. It is a craft, and art, and a passion; which is something that can't be said about many things in life.<br>

And Marcus, you too were spot on. I am missing a lot of my work, something that makes me very sad and until I beef up my portfolio it does look as if I'm only showing the couple of images that happened to turn out well. In my defense, though I do have images that are technically losers, some of the ones I posted look even worse because of the crazy filters I put on them (see response to Booray's comments) and/or because of technical ineptitude in digital scanning and processing. That being said, that still isn't an excuse to post sub par work and I fully realize that now. I was so desperate to have images on a website that I was less discerning than I should have been.<br>

So, now for the battle plan. I am in the process of lining up 10 free shoots. I've posted an appeal on facebook ... I have offered 10 people a session of 1-2 hours, they will receive a cd with 8-10 images. In return I have the right to post these images on my website. I am working on a contract that I will have them sign. After these 10 sessions I am going to reevaluate my work, reevaluate my portfolio, and set prices. <br>

I need to work on technique, getting reacquainted with my equipment, and just finding my own personal style. I guess, in the past, I've been trying to adjust my shooting to the client, when I really need to look at it the other way around. Let clients find me because of MY style. <br>

Thank you all for your insight and help. I'll be sure to keep you posted, and maybe I can run some of the images from the following weeks by you guys.</p>

 

[Marcus Ian]

<p>That sounds like a reasonable plan of attack. I had completely forgotten about FB. Just remember that often 'normal' people don't understand just how hard it is to model effectively, and, (unlike teenagers) aren't often motivated to try to hard. But, good luck! </p>

<p>There was one more thing about your website which you may want to address, the return links don't work ("back to index") and there is the option to "download" at the top bar of the image pages. Probably a good idea to remove that, especially in the kids gallery (no point in stirring)... </p>

[catherinevankempen]

I noticed the return link wasn't working, and I def need to take away the download button, I didn't even know it was there. I'm using iweb,

and am obviously still trying to figure it all out :). Thanks for the feedback.

[dave_wilson1]

<p>I think put together a print portfolio of about 18-24 good solid prints and use that to show some of your work to prospective clients <em>in person</em> and get some smaller jobs rolling, make some new connections face-to-face and build on personal contacts. Your phone will ring and you will make some decent money. Charge a fair fee for the work, if your portfolio is nice you will get work at a fair price, raise it some later, don't work free or cheap. I have a bag too with about 5 or 6 16x20s in it, big prints impress clients if they're quality, sell those too and you'll make decent money on those. I don't do weddings anymore, but I still do basic shoots of smaller functions, editorial shoots and some portraits. I have no website, don't want one, don't need one. I do have an agent who gets me some higher end work for private or corporate clients. On most of my jobs I shoot between 12-125 shots so I either deliver a disk or use a folio account I have set up. Weddings of course is a different story, BTDT. </p>

[fotografz]

<p>Catherine, I'm going to provide a different perspective. </p>

<p>Showing different approaches is pretty common now with family/kids work. It offerers an insight to how diverse that client base has become in the past few years ... what appeals to one may not another. I think your work will bring you business. As to technical aspects, sure you need to always work on that, but a lot of what you show now on your site is in keeping with a lot of family/kids stuff from pretty successful photographers. My only tip would be to watch your depth of field on some of the close work like with a Dad and his boy, and stuff like that. </p>

<p>That whole category of photography seems to be booming. In 4 years, my wedding assistant went from not knowing what an f stop was, to now owning her own brick and mortar street-front studio. That she is a Mom with kids, and in that circle of influence, was a huge aid in developing her contact base ... which is now an on-going repeat business model. She has zero interest in shooting weddings even though she gets requests to do so all the time. </p>

<p>P.S., be careful with giving away anything ... it can type-cast you as cheap ... which can be a bit dangerous because this is primarily a word-of-mouth business. </p>