serge_kakorin

<p>Andrew Case, show us some of your work. After seeing it, we'll be able to give you a better advice.</p>

<p>I am looking for local wedding photographer from Portland Oregon metro area. Let us meet. I think there are a lot of ways to create very beneficial business relationships locally, in addition to communicating online. Email me if you are interested.</p>

<p>I have been using SmugMug for little more than a year. Everything was OK until recently my photos were stolen from my Pro account an put all over the Facebook. I am considering the switch. They say right upfront, that although the images in the galleries are right-click protected, they still can be stolen. That's exactly what happened with mine. People somehow downloaded some high resolution images and used them at their discretion. I wish they would provide more protection for paying customers. </p>

<p>Lisa, if it is $2500 just for liability, it seems too high. Photo.net's coverage is good at this price, if you do not add too much of equipment coverage. If you want a tip, email me. I pay $503 per year for 1M/2M plus bunch of additional coverages and $55000 coverage for business equipment, including rented (since it is in my custody while I rent it). I am in Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA metro area.</p>

<p>To William W: Thanks for the complement.</p>

<p>Looks like $500 Craigslist photographer thing is becoming new RAW vs. JPEG or digital vs. film. Fun.</p>

<p>Now, Tony are you serious or just joking? 'Cause I sense a hint of irony and cynicism in your posts.<br>

Take care.<br>

 

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<p>Brian, why do you worry about CL, since this is your side business? I assume you'll do well even if you won't get any bookings this year? If not, then you should start looking at CL as a tool. Also you should have a solid marketing plan. Where do you see your business in three years. I see mine well outside of CL world and in higher end of the client's buying power. For the time being, I use CL as traffic driver to my site, besides some other things.<br>

Robert Barkley, good picture is the one that makes you stop and look, causing you to react to what you see in some way. If it is good documentary or photojournalist photographer's picture, it'll tell the story by itself without you having to explain anything. If it is fine art photographer's photo, it'll pull you inside, and you'll drown in it.<br>

I remember old studio photos, made with large format (in most cases 8x10 inch) camera. When I compare them with anything I shot with my Zenit, they looked shockingly different. When I scan them now, I get 100MB file of astounding quality, as opposed to my 35mm photographs.<br>

Do you sense the difference?</p>

<p>P.S. It is generally accepted that photographers write their bios in the third person. I hate this. It is understandable for some CEO, but not for photographer. You must be closer to your clients (and prospective clients for that matter), than some faceless executive.</p>

<p>Alex, in addition to all that was said, consider the following. It is hard to read white letters on black background. When your site will grow, you will probably have more text on it, then it'll get even worse. Also, you list your specialties, but do not have photos showing corporate photo shoots and events, personal portfolios and lifestyle, sports and music. Good luck!<br /> </p>

<p>Go to asmp.org and find the business resources section. There is plenty of information on releases, licensing, contracts, copyright etc.</p>

 

<p>Kel, unfortunately, we do not see your work here. Maybe you can give us a link to your portfolio for starters? Then you can get a better quality info about the second part of your question (marketing and advertising). I want to say two things for now. First, never compete on price, because you'll loose. There are only two options there. If you want to go low, go to the very bottom and offer a package for FREE. You'd know better how to present it, because you know your situation better; or you MUST get out of the place where you have to compete on price. I agree here with Nadine. You can not stay in the middle of the price range if you want to keep your business and see it making you money. Second thing I wanted to say is never listen to a bad advise like " offer the same lower quality coverages". It is tempting in a short run, but it will establish you as a low quality photographer, and will kill your business sooner or later. It will also poison your life as an artist. Imagine cranking out "lower quality coverages" for the rest of your life. Search your feelings and good luck. ;)</p>

I will be glad to share the steps I take. In the next couple of weeks I will be doing three things. First, this week I'll be

talking with a couple of attorneys to discuss copyright stuff and contracts. I can not say enough about importance of

legal side of the business. Also, I will take a closer look at the competitors and see what they offer. If you know what's

out there, you'll be more aware of what to expect. And lastly, I need to meet with my tax advisor, to see what is a better

way to organize the wedding photography business (either individual or maybe LLC or maybe something else, he will

know better), and about the ways to run the finances. He is good friend of mine.

By the way I wanted to make one point than seems to be hiding in the background. I am sure it is very important for any

business owner to have a good professional advice of attorney, accountant and insurance agent. It is not possible to know everything, and

I would rather spend time growing my business and do what I do best, than waste time studying web design, law, insurance or accounting.

Thanks again to all for great points and thoughts. I will be returning later to add a couple of things.

 

Sergey

Kirsten, thank you for your great advice. I really appreciate your time and willingness to help. Your word helped me to stay focused. I am still in the planning phase. You are absolutely correct about the importance of doing it first and doing it right. I had experience with starting the business without proper preparation and seeing it failing. So this time I can not let it happen. Finances, well, I have some reserves to keep me going. I have another business going at this time, which will help to support the new one. So I guess it is just a matter of factoring in the "economic climate". People are less willing to spend their money now, and if they do spend, they are not willing to spend as much. I am looking at the possibility of having a profitable wedding photography business, because I want to eventualy get out of the corporate world.

Kirsten, I wonder if the economic turbulence affected your cafe at all. Do you have as much business as say 8-9 month ago. And what are your prospects for the next year?

Thanks again for your great advice.

Thanks, Bill and Charles. You have good points. Good business plan and financing as well as product and services are essential, but how does bad ecomony affect your business? And if you were to start now, would you do it differently? And how? If at all.

Thanks

I plan to start a wedding photography business.

If you were to start your business now, with economy being what it is, what would be your considerations? What

would you do differently, if at all?

Thanks to all for your good ideas. This post was moved from business forum, although my question was more business than processing oriented. I know a couple of photographers, who are really busy doing weddings, while also working in the studio and locations. They work with the guy who does all their PP on the full time basis. So I was wondering how many of you professionals, and just busy shooters use someone to PP or edit/prepare for publication of your work.

Thanks, Tony. What I meant to ask is do you do the post processing yourself or hire sombody? And, by the way, do you have Lightroom installed in the camera?

...Just kidding...

Thanks again.

This question is for professional photographers and those who are not considering themselves professional, but are

very busy shooting. Post processing can take a significant amount of time. How do you post process? Do you do it

yourself or hire someone for this?

Thanks.

Thanks to all of you who contributed your time. Lots of good ideas. I appreciate your help. Right now I work on the old

stock of Delta 400, given to me by my friend. He was professional wedding and portrait photographer, but had to change his

career some time ago. I also got studio lighting equipment from him, so I have a lot of stuff to experiment with. I have a

question about prints. Just curious. How do you make big prints these days? Do you scan and print or print live using an

enlarger? How do the results compare, if someone used both processes?

Thanks, Bob. 36" on the short edge? Do you think it will yeld a good quality print at this size. We are talking about 36x40 or so from 6x6, am I correct?

Thank you all for your input. I'll make it more cpecific. I shoot digital all the time. I am very interested in doing B&W studio portraits. So I need to see what film can do. I will be using either of both H1 and/or Yashica Mat 124 tlr tocompare lower end and higher end cameras and lenses. As far as enlargements, I understan that I can not expect 8x10" negative quality from 6x6cm negative, so it'll be in 11x14 to 16x20 to 20x30 range of sizes, just to see the real prints in life. I am not a professional or even experienced amateur, I am just starting, and until recently my biggest prints were 5x7 and I kept my photos on hard drive. But on my daughters birthday, we printed one of her portraits in 16x20, framed it and put it on the wall. It was printed at 72dpi from 40D file. Even this quality of print surprised all the guests at the birthday party. They started asking me if I can do the same for them. I am not sure if I will go there yet. I want to see what 6x6 format can do. I looked at Fuji and Illfrod films. Maybe you experienced folks can compare these. For example, how Neopan 100 Acros compares to Pan F+ or XP2 or FP4 or Delta100?

I appreciate you sharing your expertise. It looks like there are not too many people left who really knows about film these days.

Thank you all for your comments.

I should have said this right away. We'll be using 6x6cm square format camera.

This is the question for those of you who still works with B&W film. I plan a couple of projects, where I will need to

use B&W film. It will be studio shoot, in all kinds of lighting. We'll be doing some pretty big enlargements afterwards.

So I figured we'll need some ultrafine grain films, which will be able to render the tone very well too. Thanks for your

help.

Thanks, B G and Dave. I really appreciate this.