Photo Success

A Place to Grow

“There’s a lot a of money on the table. All you gotta do is ask for it…”

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I was chatting with a photographer not so long ago. He asked me this question:
“Rob, what’s your secret?”

As if there’s a “secret”, once discovered, all one has to do is wave a wand and magic happens.

Instead of blowing smoke his way, I said this:

“There’s a lot a of money on the table. All you gotta do is ask for it…”

Get focused, get working, don’t cheat, be real, work hard, stay focused, ask for the money and learn to sell.

Selling is the gas that fuels your marketing. People are lazy. They will ALWAYS take the easy road. You know, low cost, easy-to-pose-for shoot and burn photographers that make it real easy for clients.

They seem happy picking up crumbs and catering to the lowest primal urges of humanity.

It’s our responsibility to sell them, making it harder, much harder for them to take the easy road. And make profit delivery a quality product they will truly value over time.

If you want to learn the very best “selling secrets” from real, legit photographers, I created a Selling Series for members HERE

Not a member? I have a bunch of content on the blog HERE

The money is right there in front of you. Just reach out and grab it.

Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

Join us…Content, Coaching & Community

Become a slave to the technique…

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“There is no such thing as ready. Do it scared, and build the muscle of confidence.”

I was paralyzed with fear when it came to public speaking. Throughout most of my 20’s I was incapacitated by this fear.

And I didn’t really break out of it until I stopped any negative and destructive behaviors that only fed that fear.

I took painful, slow grinding action to develop new skills.

I learned how to speak in front of groups. I took every single opportunity I could in my life to speak in front of groups. I still do to this day.

And for a couple of years, it was hard, it was very, very hard. But I persisted.

I am glad I did, because now I have the skill that I would have never been able to develop, unless I faced my fears dead-on and wrestled them to the ground and almost removed them or at least now they are able to be managed.

Now when I speak in front of a group, it’s a real sense of mastery for me.
That took a total of 13 years to develop.

The first 2 years were painful. But I got there.

Was it worth it? The better question to ask is:

What price are you really paying when you don’t tap into the talents and skills locked inside you by your fears?

When you manage to get a handle on your fears, look for the opportunity to become a better person, you will be become a better photographer.

That is a total given. You cannot avoid it. The two are linked.

Jeff Foxworthy talks about when he was struggling and growing. Seinfeld gave some advice to Foxworthy’s big question back then: “How can I create a “style?”

Seinfeld told him to keep giving his show,keep making people laugh, keep doing it, day after day, month after month, and your style will develop.

And it did. Jeff is now a household name.

This applies equally to photography techniques and creativity.

Or, any skill we are trying to master. Become a slave to the technique first, before you can forgot the technical and let the creative shine through.

Confidence is a skill. Selling, and marketing are too. Shooting is.

No matter what the creative endeavor, they are all subject to the same grind.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

Join us…Content, Coaching & Community

Finding, seeing and using the light you randomly find on location…

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When I show up at the brides home for pre-ceremony photos, I look around for creative lighting and posing options. In this example, you can see the light reflecting in my assistant Danielle’s eyes. I spotted that right away, looked to my right and noticed the source. The same light is, in this shot, bouncing off the closet doors to my left.

The main source of this light. I spotted the bannister to the right as a possible option for some creative angles:
I knew I wanted to try some images here with the bride, and planned on shooting from several angles, since the main floor (upper right) would allow me a great place to shoot from. I love finding cool, unusual angles.

Here’s one angle, at eye level…notice the specular highlights in her eyes:

Another example, (the bride is in the exact same place, and this is one of many poses/ expressions) creative angle from up high, shooting just over the bannister:

The thing is, when shooting at a wedding, there’s isn’t a lot of time so I need to work fast, work with what I got and get maximum results.

Yea, yea, I could bring all sorts of studio lighting, or spend hours planning. I want the bride to enjoy the day, not have to sit for too long, and have fun in front of my camera…..

Yours in photography,

Robert Provencher

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

 

Frontline webinar with Thomas Dodd December 3rd, 9:00PM EST

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JOIN US….December 3rd, 9:00PM EST

OPEN to everyone….REGISTER HERE

Thomas Dodd is a visual artist and photographer based out of Atlanta, Georgia who has developed a style that he calls “painterly photo montage” – a method he employs in editing software in which he crafts elaborately textured pieces that have a very organic and decidedly non-digital look to them. His work often has mythic and quasi-religious themes that pay homage to Old Master art traditions while at the same time drawing from psychological archetypes that evoke a strong emotional response from the viewer.
Although his artwork resembles paintings, his pieces are entirely photographic in nature, fusing many images into a cohesive whole. His larger works are often presented in a mixed media form that adds a depth and texture that complements the photography beautifully. Thomas has had numerous exhibitions of his works in many cities in the USA and around the world.

He has had recent shows in Germany, Romania, Argentina, New York City, Mexico City, Orlando, Miami, New Orleans, Tokyo, San Antonio, Seattle, Paris and in his hometown of Atlanta. Dodd’s photographs have been featured in many magazines, on book and album covers and he frequently teaches workshops and webinars on photo-editing and marketing for artists.

Thomas began his career as a visual artist in 2005. Before that, he was best known as the harpist and songwriter for the 1990s musical group Trio Nocturna, a Celtic Gothic ensemble that put out three critically-acclaimed albums (“Morphia”, “Tears of Light” and “Songs of the Celtic Night”) and performed at author Anne Rice’s annual Halloween balls in New Orleans, as well as spawning an offshoot band called the Changelings. Mythic themes and their relation to emotions and psychological states continue to be his primary subjects and motivations.

JOIN US….December 3rd, 9:00PM EST

OPEN to everyone….REGISTER HERE

Lighting is infinitely complex, and crazy simple, all at once.

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It took me a long time in my photography career to “get” lighting.

As in, really get it. Not just understand the technical side of exposure, basic portrait ratios and camera settings.

Something deeper. Something intuitive, eloquent, masterful.

I still don’t really “get” it. Even though I do sorta get it. I do feel a much higher level of confidence with lighting. Took me long enough.

But I seek higher levels of lighting application. That subtle “je-ne-sais-quoi”.

One thing is certain….in portrait photography having control over your lighting and creating images that sell based on your lighting abilities can make all the difference in whether or not your create a steady demand for your photography.

Have you ever looked at a beautiful portrait of a high school senior, or a family, or children and babies, and it just screams quality?

It is instantly something you wish you would have taken. Or, wished you knew how to replicate that “look”?

A masterful portrait starts with masterful lighting. You won’t get away with basic 101 lighting techniques.

Creating high impact portraits means applying high impact lighting strategies.

It’s why I roped in the likes of Fuzzy Duenkel, Brian DeMint, Maggie Habieda, Judy Cormier, Maria Sampao and many, many more.

Including yours truly. Every month I dedicate one of two mastermind meetings to lighting.

Sharing, brainstorming and strategyzing what works in my studio, my photography gigs (all paid of course….not academic fluff)

It’s all in the forum. And it’s cheaper than a cup-of-joe a day to get access.

Join me on my never ending quest.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

How and why I teach photography 101 in my community

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I was asked a few years ago to teach a photography 101 class at our local library.

At first I was repulsed by the idea. But after some consideration I gave it the green light with a few conditions:

*The class had to be for serious amateurs. I didn’t want a basic 101 for those
with zero experience
*The class size limited to 12 attendees

Fine. They set a date, announced it, filled up the class with about 20 on a waiting list.

Whoa….ok. The interest is there.

After I ran my first series I noticed a few things:
* the students were eager. They ALL showed up consistently and ALL did their assigned
homework
* I really enjoyed teaching it.
* My style of teaching seemed to be a hit.

Go figure. It was working.

And I had NO idea what I was doing insofar as exactly what to teach. I made it up as I went along, following certain parameters:

*I did NOT want to go all techie, you know, let’s look at ALL the camera settings, file types, bla bla bla
*I wanted to PUSH the students to learn to SEE light, learn composition and create a style their own

This of course required some serious distractions. And this was of paramount importance to me.
Teach them to see, and they’ll learn for a lifetime.

I bombarded them in each class with establishing my credibility (showing images I created), going over the basics of exposure (ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speeds) and how tones & light works (source, distance, angle,shadows, mid tones, specular highlights).

Rinse, repeat….over and over. And do the same while going over the images they submitted each week.

This worked. NO endless rambling about camera settings. Just pure learning the art of “seeing”.
My version of tough love.

They never asked about histograms, file types, camera types, lenses or any other academia distractions.
The way I see it, those questions will arise and get answered organically as they master the art of seeing.

I wouldn’t want to teach this any other way. It wouldn’t be fair to them, and it won’t be nearly as fun to teach.

So when Kirk Saint asked me how I taught these classes, I offered to run a webinar style meeting. Which I recorded, and placed in the forum.

That, AND my powerpoint files for members to use as models in case they want to teach something similar in their community.

Members access HERE.

Yours in photography and success,

Robert Provencher

“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”

An open letter….

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“The most important part of a race car is the tires.
Good tires will always beat bad ones.
The most important part of a cup of coffee is the beans.
The grinder, the machine, the barista pale in comparison to the quality of what you start with.

And the most important parts of an organization are the people you begin with.
Not the systems or the policies or even the real estate. Great people make everything easier.
And yet…
And yet we spend money on 4 wheel drive instead of snow tires.
And yet we upgrade our coffee maker instead of buying from a local roaster (or roasting our own).

And mostly, we run classified ads to find the cheapest common denominator employee and spend all our time building
systems to protect our customers from people who don’t care…”
~Seth Godin~

Friends,

I started noBs photosuccess back in January 2001 with James Hodgins. Back then, my busy studio was converted 100% to digital using a 3.2MB Canon D30.

I was shooting about 700-800 sessions a year, including families, babies, kids, commercial and over 30+ weddings.

All digital. No one was shooting or printing digital in those days. Except one older dude I met at a workshop.

He showed us how the pixel count mattered not so much. He inspired me in a big way.
Him, and Craig Minielly. Pioneers.

I was an early adopter. They helped point the way.

The industry told me:
“You can’t get anything bigger than an 8″x 10″ with those files.”

Meanwhile, my studio reception walls were covered with 20 inch, 30 inch and 40 inch samples.

All digital. I still have those images. One photographer walked in and said one of my images of a two day old baby looked like it was shot on a 4″x 5″ medium format film camera.

So needless to say, we called ‘bullshit’ on their claims.

There’s no point to this historical meandering, except to point out the underlying story that I believed in, and still believe in to this day…..:

That a business is an exciting adventure and a personal vision  that expresses itself to the world like a drive-in theatre at night.

It is an expression of who we are.

And like any business, there are layers of struggles, challenges, skills (both innate and learned) that on average takes 3-5 years before you start to make some serious ground, lay a solid foundation and start reaping profits.

Sadly, in today’s day and age, many newbies don’t get beyond 1.5 years in photography. That’s the latest statistic I heard from reliable sources.

The truth is, and this is something I believe with all my heart and soul, is that business is a creation, a work of art, built on a matrix of marketing, selling, and personal vision.

For me, learning marketing and selling is everything. These qualities, like lighting, posing, composing images that sell, are all skillsets. We get better with time.

And, a constant on-going self-improvement regiment is key.

I believe in freedom. Freedom to basically choose what and where we want to go in life.

And I believe it is my obligation to improve myself constantly, everyday, every year, forever until I die.

Like I said, it’s an adventure. Sometimes crappy things happen and it seems like the entire universe is conspiring against me. Other times, everything flows, and events, opportunities fall into my path.

Assuming I am open, willing to spot these, and pick them up, then, and only then will progress be made. I said it a million times. It’s an inside job. We have choices.

When I look back at my life (I’m 58 now….busy, busy shooting still…running my studio) and I see the shit storm of events (much of which was self-imposed) I try to focus on the good stuff.
I came  a long way and it wasn’t easy:

  • I sobered up 25 years ago. That period was HUGE for me. It’s when I really, really started to make change. Facing my demons head on and taking positive steps was by far the best thing I could have ever done….yea, sometimes I wished I didn’t have to go through that. Or, that I could have done it sooner.  But alas, one cannot live in ‘should haves’. Regret is poison.
  • I started Toastmasters 25 years ago and honed my public speaking skills
  • I started an obsession with marketing and became, and still am, the proverbial info-junkie
  • I cleaned my messes, including my friends, finances and health
  • I got married to an amazing woman and we had a child Danielle
  • I believe that in order to stay healthy, both physically and mentally, I need to constantly be learning.Learning never stops. Learning how to get better, as  a person (I still have a long ways to go in that area!), how to stay active, how to be the best human I can be. The best marketer I can be (marketing IS everything), have the best friends I can have, and be prosperous and creative

    We seem to be living in crazy times. Everyone, it seems, is full of anxieties and more stress than ever before.

    I believe social media, the interweb and a general inner drive to finally reach that elusive state of “I made it” (which is a big lie) is the root cause for many of us.

    I still have  a lot to do and  a lot to give. The way I see it, as we get older, and hopefully wiser, it’s our, my responsibility to try and help others as best I can.

    For me, there is no better path in life than self-improvement. This is the key, both personally and in business.

    And, working with a group of great people (this point is really brought home if the quote by Seth Godin above…if you skipped it, go read it now…..)

    Yours in photography and success,
    Robert Provencher

    P.S. On that note join us tonight with Chad Pennington’s presentation:
    “How to interact with clients and get killer expressions in your portrait photography.”

    HERE