jenseay

27 people. Who can show us bigger? (I know there are plenty out

there!)<div></div>

i paid $600 for a corner booth at the show in my area. i booked 8 weddings directly as a result of the show, so i made my money back tenfold (plus some).

i didn't do a big fancy booth - i ran a slideshow on a borrowed lcd projector for the whole time and had a few albums and info sheets on the table (along with a form for brides to fill out - THAT'S how i got the bookings).

jen

Are you a member of PPA? You can download a model release from their website if you're a member. And if you're not a member, you should consider it...your a@$ will be covered by them if you need them (I'm a teacher and would never walk into the classroom without coverage from NEA, so I appreciate the work associations like this do for the industry).

If you don't have access to this model release, you can find tons of them out there on the good ol' www...just google "model release."

Jen

Okay, so YOU can't change your name, but Mary can. Last year, she asked us to tell her where we were from, and she changed our names to include our city and state. If she can do that, then she definitely has the capability to make other edits to our names.

Jen

I'd bet that Mary would delete that particular thread, if you asked her to. Having your name in photo.net can work to your advantage, too... Last summer, after I photographed a wedding at the US Naval Academy, I wrote about it here and people googling "naval academy wedding photographer" could see my name on the first page that came up!

One other option (if you don't want any potential clients to view your photo.net entries or profile) is to change your name to Michelle G. or something - go to your workspace, and under Personal Information, click Update the Information Above. Maybe (just maybe!) changing your name will change it in past posts...Mary could answer that better than I could, though.

Jen

"It can drive that cliënt into the arms of the competition."

Usually, they dove into my arms to begin with, because I offer the images with copyright release that the other photographers won't offer around here. So I'm certain that my legal document won't scare them off - especially if it means they get their 8x10 for $1.99 and not $20.00!

Jen

Taken from the copyright release I got from Sam's Club once...

I do hereby declare and warrant that I, the copyright owner of the photos, have given permission and license to the customer to submit for processing or reproducing these photos. I hereby grant a nonexclusive license to ______________ to reproduce these photos for personal use only, and I represent that I have a legal right to grant such a license.

I also have this at the bottom (some of the wording taken from William W., in a recent post where this exact topic was discussed):

With this disc, you may manage and use the image files to produce prints for your family and friends, for personal use only within that group of people. You do not have permission to make copies for sale or for the purpose of circumventing sale of the images by the photographer, nor will you authorize any reproductions of the images for commercial use. You are personally responsible for communicating the limitations of this contract to any person who receives a copy of this disc.

A former student of my husband's (he teaches high school) is now a lawyer, and for a few hundred bucks she's rewriting my wedding contract AND giving me new wording for a copyright release AND a model release. She works as an attorney in Baltimore, 2 hours away from where I live, but we're communicating entirely by email. If anyone wants her name, send me an email...she can help out MD residents and can probably give some guidance to residents to other states, too.

Jen

Do you have some sort of portfolio? Most brides won't even approach a photographer who doesn't have samples of his or her work, so that's a good start. Of course, it's a catch 22 - how do you get work without a portfolio, and how do you get a portfolio unless you have work? My portrait portfolio is what got me my first weddings, and word of mouth got the ball rolling from there.

Jen

More bird in hair... or, rather, The Birds in hair (a halloween

costume).<div></div>

I love using my fisheye lens (a Sigma 15 mm f/2.8) at least once at every wedding. Generally, I pull it out during the ceremony to capture the whole church or location and then during the reception. I've done some pretty cool table shots with the fisheye (I climb on a chair and shoot from above, with everyone looking up).

Here is an example of some fisheye pictures I've done at weddings.<div></div>

I just bought a Wolverine this month, and love it so far. Can't wait to use it at weddings...especially ones that aren't near my home. I like having my pictures in at least two places at once, at all times!

Jen