roxyandkaidotcom

Which Craigslist are you posting on? Post a link and I'll go flag their ad for you, too. The more

flags, the faster they get kicked off.

Flag their ad and email Craigslist. They'll remove it.

Good luck! I used Craigslist when I first got started (just under a year ago) and my business

really took off after I had a few weddings under my belt. Keep posting there until your prices

are over $1000 ... even when you're charging $750ish, you'll get tons of emails from there.

Thanks you guys for all the suggestions! The weather was awesome :) We went to the

Botanical Gardens. There's a bunch of good spots over there! I'll be posting the pics on my

blog sometime this week if anyone's interested.

Thanks again!!

http://www.roxyandkaiphotography.blogspot.com

I have a sample book from them that has both glossy and matte pages. Pretty much everyone

says they like the matte better.

Hey everyone! I have a bridal shoot this weekend in Austin and need some ideas for where to shoot. She

wanted to shoot at the Austin Museum of Art but found out they charge $75 and doesn't want to pay that.

I've shot weddings in Austin but only have only had one portrait session, so I don't know where to suggest

we go.

If anyone knows any great spots, I'll take any suggestions I can get!

Thanks!

I'm with Anne on this one ... I can't really tell what's happening.

You're work is AWESOME though! I'm sure we'll see your name in the list of winners :)

Good luck!

BluDomain is offering "mini sites" for people who want to give their client a personalized

site. They're $200 (kinda pricey) but really really nice! Each mini site has one gallery, one

text section and one contact page, plus music you can select. Blu's sites are REALLY easy

to update and upload photos to, so it would be super simple. Here's a link to the example

"mini site" :

http://www.bludomain.com/mini1-1/

BEWARE of REALLY LOUD music on the sample site. It's easy enough to mute, but it's pretty

loud when you first get there.

I'm thinking about POSSIBLY offering these. Still haven't decided. Maybe I'll start offering

them and see how people react. Can't hurt! :)

Good luck!

Zook's "Sample" books are designed by you and look just like a regular finished book, but

have "Sample" on the inside front cover. It's really small though. Nobody I've ever showed it

to has noticed.

It's worth it to get a sample, cause it's a BIG discount.

I haven't used them but they look pretty cheap. Why not just get one and see? If it sucks,

you'll only be out $30 or so.

I have one Asukabook, one Zookbook and one Cypress Album and those are the three I

offer. I take all of them to show when I meet someone. I meet people at their homes or

coffee shops, too, and it's really not too much to take. Everyone LOVE seeing the albums -

way more than my portfolio, which I think has a better collection of shots.

Before I had the samples, I made up an info packet to give people I met and it had info

about all the albums I offered (but didn't have samples of) and, even though I did a really

good job on the printouts, they were nowhere near as impressive as the real thing, in

hand. You should definitely get at least one to show off.

My suggestion - get a Zookbook. They're REALLY nice. Asukas are cool, too, but the Zooks

always get the most attention from the people I meet.

Also - Zookbinders will send you swatches of all the different leather cover materials they

offer. They sent them to me without me even asking when I ordered a book from them.

People will be impressed if you have samples and swatches. It makes you look like you've

been doing this a while, even if you haven't.

Good luck!

Flush mount ... everybody wants flush mount! I've NEVER sold a matted album. Ever. I finally

quit offering them last month.

Craigslist (www.craigslist.org) will get you lots of referrals and bookings if you're just

starting out and still inexpensive. Every wedding on my site (so far) was booked through

Craigslist. Now I'm a little pricier and get most of my referrals from the WPJA site

(www.wpja.com).

I tried putting listings on all the free marketing sites (www.marketingtool.com,

www.bigdaysmallworld.com, www.weddingphotographysites.net, etc, etc, etc) but I never

get any hits from those AT ALL.

I get a lot of hits from my MySpace page, too. I have tons of pictures on there and a link to

my "real" site. I've even booked a couple of weddings and portrait sessions from people

who found me on MySpace. That was back when I was doing $500 weddings, though.

Definitely try Craigslist!

Good luck!

Sarah :)

I think you're stuff is really good, James! How long has it been since you applied? It can take a

few weeks. Hang in there ... you'll get in! :)

Good luck!

I usually come home with about 800-1000 shots but I hardly ever give more than 250.

Every once in a while it hits 300, but not often. I'm shooting digital, but I don't like giving

all the "okay" shots. If there's 50 from the toast and they look really happy and great in

one or two, they only get those one or two.

I put all the keepers in a SmugMug gallery and send them the link. Nobody's ever

complained about having to go through 250 pics. Once or twice I've had people ask if they

can see the rest ... that's a NO-NO! :)

I say you should post them all so they can see what they're getting, but make a slideshow

or a smaller gallery with the best for them to forward to family and friends. No guest will

want to see 900 pics!

Good luck!

Zookbooks can have as many panoramas as you want ... it's not limited to 3. Their "Flush

Albums" are limited to 3 panoramas, but I've never ordered one of those, so I don't know

much about them.

FWIW, I consider a ZookBook to be a flush mount album. I tell people that's what it is and so

does the photog I used to work with.

Zook doesn't require any software purchases ... ?? I'm not sure what that last poster was

referring to ??

I've heard good things about VisionArt, too, but haven't seen anything by them yet.

I looooove Zookbinders. I got my sample album a few weeks ago and it's WAY nicer than any

other album I've seen. I did the print-to-bind and the color's great. They have you submit

test prints to check accuracy before you can use PTB.

I like the Zookbook so much I'm thinking about not offering anything but them and Asukas. I

was offering Cypress Albums, but they're WAAAAY pricey and not as impressive as I thought

they would be.

Good luck Bob!

Hey Susan :) You're pretty good at quizzes! You're right about learning it on my own. I never

went to school for photography, but I DID go to school for art. I was gonna be an art teacher

before I started shooting weddings (I may still do that someday). I did do some assisting -

but only for about a month before realizing I could make a LOT more money working on my

own!

So, good guessing!! :) And thanks for the compliments, by the way! :)

You say you CAN tell the difference most of the time? Okay, guess. I'll let you know if you're

right. :)

White House - quality is AWESOME. They're usually pretty quick, too.

htpp://www.whcc.com