Photo Success

A Place to Grow

Put an end to these 6 behaviors and grow a legit photography business…

By Leave a Comment

I been thinking: “What are the biggest roadblocks and barriers to success in a photography business?”

And it occurred to me that the biggest reasons, the biggest roadblocks are behavior based.

Not external forces, which so many of us like to use as excuses and reasons.

It’s me. It’s you. It’s our behaviors.

I can increase my odds of success if I’m honest with myself.

The 6 BIG ones:

*Buying equipment (lenses, cameras, flashes…addicted to tech). You may have heard it before, it’s not the camera

Get good at posing, lighting, composition and the basics of good photography. Master it, best you can. Spending money on buying expensive tools will not make you a better photographer.

But we resist. We yearn the easy road.

*Buying props (no real plan on how they’re going to use it, as if owning is enough)…enough said. I found myself with way more props and backgrounds, most of which I rarely ever used.

I had a junkyard of ‘stuff’. Thankfully, I got rid of most of it. However, I do get tempted, like a junkie, and need to talk myself down from the prop buying high.

*Thinking you’re so good you deserve success to flow automatically into your life. This is the BIG one with photographers. As if talent alone (if you want to call it that) will get your the respect and business you think you deserve.

*Listening to your comfort friends….(at Tim Horton’s, StarBucks). I’ve always said: “don’t take advice from your mom, she loves you too much.”

Same with friends. Or, comfort friends. Or the dude at the camera store. They all have reasons why they want to lead you down the road of opinions and commissions.

Most of which is well meaning. If you get together with friends and start whining, moaning and complaining, the advice you’ll receive as a result will be the worst advice ever. Stop it.

*Take yet another workshop from some big name marquee celeb guru. I see this all the time:

“I’m signing up with so so’s big time workshop….” Blah blah….Ok, nothing wrong with learning. Nothing.

I’ll all for taking workshops, and learning from successful photographers. It all goes nowhere when we do nothing with what we learned, as if attending, taking some notes, asking a few questions and hanging with new friends is enough. It ain’t.

You need to break free and really put what you learned into action.
Solid, purposeful action. Strategic.

*Ignore marketing. The true key to the golden gates is marketing. But alas, this one gets ignored the most.

In its’ place, we do all the other stuff mentioned in this list. Most challenges live here, it’s why most shy away from marketing. And yet, true long term success in selling, profits, business principles, long term repeat clients is within your grasp if you take marketing serious and become a marketer of photographic goods and services.

Avoid the easy road. It’s  a ruse. It’s not real. It’s a lie.

Hard work, risk and nose to the grindstone get-er-done effort, over time, over and over, is what works.

That, and marketing.

These behaviors lead us away from doing what really matters.

Have a legit plan, with a realistic timeline and a spirit of focus and determination and you’ll increase your odds many times.

Your in success in photography,

Robert Provencher

P.S. MEMBERS…JOIN US Thursday, April 6th 2017 at 9:00PM EST with Chad Pennington “How to interact with
clients and get killer expressions in your portrait photography.”

LINK HERE

Flipping babies upside down and other ways to get great expressions…

By Leave a Comment

Babies love to fly. I discovered this years ago.
And get flipped upside down.

I had an adorable five year old girl, and her 8 month old brother in my studio 2 days ago.
A happy, strong rugged baby boy.

I asked mom to flip him upside down, and bring him close to his sis.
The laughs, the expressions, the pose.

What fun! They think I’m nuts. But they love me at the same time.

I jokingly add: “You can’t never do this to a newborn baby….”

Duh….of course. Always use discretion, and keep safety as top priority when pushing the posing envelope.

If he’s not able to maintain the pose, don’t do it. And if he can, only do it for about five seconds. Remember, all that blood is rushing to the little guys head.

When it comes to getting great expressions, when you can draw from a grab bag of strategies, and techniques, your clients will think you have super powers.

It’s part of our repertoire when it comes to posing. It’s why I love learning the secrets, tips and subtle, sometimes not so subtle nuances from others photographers.

This Thursday, April 6th, 9:00PM EST we’re bringing one of my favorite dudes back, Chad Pennington, to share with use some of his best techniques for getting great expressions in his portrait sessions.
This dude has it going on.

We can, and shall learn.

If you’re a member, INSTANT access, and the eventual replay, will be available HERE (login first!)

If you’re not a member, and want to access this event, it’s  a mere twenty bucks (Canadian funds, no less….for my American friends, that’s like half price!…)…all you need to do is join us. (Cancel anytime!)

JOIN US HERE

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. It’s been said that genius is in the ability to learn from others.  Your clients, your bank and your self-esteem will love you for it.

Write it down….and predict everything from success to your baby’s due date…

By Leave a Comment

When I get together with my fours sisters, as I did recently over the holidays, we often reminisce years gone by.

We we’re chatting about the oldest of the four girls (I’m the oldest in the family, with four sisters younger than I) and the birth of her four babies.

You see, she’s the academic in the family. Made the rest of us look smart.
She became and currently is a successful lawyer.

And she had four babies. Barely interrupting her career.

She’s a great mom, and her clients love her too. She totally kicks butt in the “having it all” category.

But here’s what I found truly fascinating. You see, the sisters were chatting, and sort of poking fun at her ability to schedule the birth of each baby.

Not a medically induced, scheduled dealio. But old school, organic, natural, baby comes when baby is ready.

She would put the babies due date in her jam packed schedule, and, baby came THAT DAY.

Here’s what’s really cool.

With one baby, she had a visit with her doctor the day before her due date.

The doctor said something to the effect of…:
“baby’s fine, you got about ten more days before it comes…..hang tough…”

All the while, her due date was the NEXT day. AND, the baby came, the NEXT day.

I chuckled….maybe, maybe not, that because she “scheduled it”, the baby, on the day she had in mind.

It reminded me of the power of writing things down.

Goals, Plans. Ideas. Crazy thoughts. Dreams. Hopes. Wishes. Aspirations. Births.

But mostly goals.

True story:

My wife and I and our nine year old girl moved into our new ‘dream home/home studio’ back in 2005.

It was uncanny.

Going through my office, cleaning out some of the drawers in my desk, I found a sheet of paper with my five year plan written out on it… from, you guessed it, five years prior.

I totally forgot I even had this tucked away.

I read it.

And was blown away. On that five year plan I had written down the following:

*in five years I’ll be living and working in a home studio (we were at the time renting a commercial space)
*this place will be 3,000 SQ feet
*it will be wood, lots of wood
*it will have cathedral ceilings
*large lot
*it will have a home studio on location
*it will be not too far from the city, yet not too close

And that’s it. All I wrote. And as I’m reading this long lost list, I got chills.

It dawned on me.

Our new home was, you guessed it:

  • exactly 3,000sq ft
  • cedar outside, everywhere. Hardwood inside
  • 1200 sq ft studio out back, all cedar as well. About 20 paces from the patio doors out back
  • it was right on the city line. Bears, deer, moose, foxes, coyotes and more. A two minute drive to everything
  • cathedral ceilings….(I’m not shitting you!)
  • acre sized lot

I ain’t making this up. Coincidence? Nonsense? I don’t know, don’t care.

I’ve had this happen to me many, many times in my life…Cars, Hasselblads, health and homes….and more.

I can honestly say I’ve achieved more, way more by doing TWO things:

1-having a clear mental picture of what I wanted….CMP I call it

2-writing it down

I believe in this principle. A lot.

It’s why I teach and preach it. And help other photographers, young and old, newbs and oldtimers,
get better, stronger, healthier and more prosperous.

BUT, you gotta start inside. In your heart and soul.
What do YOU want?

What’s getting in YOUR way?

Start there first. Cool?

You with me?

Success IN photography starts on the inside,

Rob Provencher

P.S. Everything I know, practice, teach and show on goals setting is in my presentation I gave a few years ago, along with some PDF forms…..members can access it now.

Fast, easy, and well done food photography…

By Leave a Comment

They wanted mission impossible…all their menu items photographed. Shoot it in an hour, and shoot it for cheap.

Now, these folks had the funds, they had a high quality, very respected restaurant. All they needed was convincing and a plan.

This my friend is part of the sales process. Come up with a strategy, pitch it, and get em to sign on the line.

Light it, shoot it, workflow and deliver.

Running a profitable photography studio involves these tactics moreso than the actual lighting, shooting and ultimate creation of the images. But lighting is important too!

Chatting with the owners, back and forth, we created a strategy. I pitched ideas, concepts, looking to feel them out and see where they were at. Most folks don’t even know where they are at. It appears it’s part of our job, as photographers, to not only deliver the goods, but also get into their heads and own them.

One of the first things I mentioned was if they were in a big city, with a legit food photographer, food designers, assistants etc etc the bill would be around twenty grand. Or so. Mas o menos, as they say in Costa Rica.

But never mind that. I can shoot it, shoot it fast, create images almost as good, and I did.

In the mastermind lighting presentation, tonight, March 30th, 9:00PM EST, I will going through the details and all the nuances I used to shoot the entire menu selection for one of Tamarindo’s finest restaurants.

That, plus other exciting lighting scenarios on the beaches and in the farms of Costa Rica where I spent the last ten weeks. It’s all about lighting and the challenges faced by all photographers.

That, and more.

The lighting mastermind presentation I run with the noBsphotosuccess members is designed to dig into the many facets of lighting, and running a photography studio that shoots families, children, seniors, commercial, publicity, scenics, on and on.

We’re not only business folk. We’re “painters”, using light as our paint.

Members, join me tonight. Login and register in the forum.

Not a member? Join us and access hundreds and hundreds of high quality presentations like this and much, much more.

Yours in photography and in success,

Robert Provencher

How to interact with clients and get killer expressions in your portrait photography

By 1 Comment

A short while ago we hosted a webinar with Chad Pennington, a world class wedding photographer from the Bronx.

It was nothing short of amazing, filled with great advice, ideas and marketing strategies.

(Members can access the replay HERE)

After it was over, I had a nagging relentless sensation. I thought to myself: “This guy knows how to elicit some very cool reactions and expressions from his subjects. How’d he do that?

So, I hit Chad up and asked him to come back again. This time we’re going to focus in on actual strategies and techniques he uses.

To me, and to any photographer who creates portraits of any kind, being able to get emotion, reactions,
and expressions from clients is like being a magic wizard with super powers.

MEMBERS….REPLAY IS HERE

If you’re not a member, a gold mine, including this presentation awaits you for only twenty bucks. CHECK IT OUT*

*(you will have instant access to this presentation and over 1,000+ high quality marketing
and success strategies for portrait & wedding photographers)

You become more of who you are meant to become…

By Leave a Comment

I’ve read  a few books about the wealthy. And about prosperity.

It’s always been an area of pain, frustration and limitation with me.

I did not grow up with much. And I heard the typical stuff you likely heard as well.

Things like “money doesn’t grow on trees”… or…”hard earned money”…..

Over the years I changed my beliefs. Wasn’t easy, but I did it.

I still struggle mind you, but it’s not nearly as hard or limiting as it once was.

If you asked me in a nutshell what I learned, here it is:

*Focus on earning, not saving. Saving, yes…but earning too!
*Leverage creates wealth, not hard work
*Money is earned from thought, innovation, leadership… not hard labor
*Never worry about running out of money, instead, think about how to innovate and make more
(by the way, that’s a big one)
*Don’t see money with emotions, but with logic
*Realize you are in control of your wealth, not luck or fate
*Don’t wait for some external force, politician or whatever to ‘rescue’ you
*Take action. Nothing, nothing, nothing beats taking action
*Don’t stress about money. Get peace from it
*Money is just a tool, an energy. What we do with it is up to us. If we’re a jerk, it may make
us more of a jerk. Likewise, you can do great and wonderful things with it and become more of who you are.
*Avoid debt like the plague. (especially credit card debt)
*Be patient. Be disciplined. But have goals and believe in them. Too often our goals are impulses
from vapious mal-contents, or we become like whiney little babies who want it all now. Delay gratification.

Money is an idea. Frozen energy. It has no direction, moral compass or discretion.

We give that to it, for better or worse. It goes where money already is and is attracted to activity and thoughts that magnetize it.

It all starts with you.

Money is a responsibility. Therefore, we must be responsible.
No guilt, no shame, no distorted sense of morality.

When you create wealth, your wealth and get cool with it, you get in touch with your own destiny in many ways.

When you grow, and welcome prosperity into your being, you actually become a better person. You become more of who you are meant to become. If you let it.

It’s never just about the money. Money isn’t everything. If you think that, then you are thinking small.

If you pursue money out of desperation, it will run away from you.

If you create money just for the money, you will not be successful.

But you must be guilt free and open to it in order to succeed both financially and as an individual.

Get rid of the crap and get focused on what you want.
I owe, I owe…what a crappy reason to go to work. Yuch….

It’s important to be cool with money and prosperity.

Be challenged too! That’s where growth and opportunity lie.

I created an amazing PDF form and a presentation on wealth creation strategies for photographers.

Pure magic. Check it out….

Members HERE

Not a member? A goldmine awaits you….HERE

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

Busting through the BS…

By Leave a Comment

There’s a blanket of bullsh*t.

Opaque, suffocating and soul sucking.

It’s inside, outside, everywhere.

It always was there, and is never going away.

Do you want to know how to break the shame, the blame, the bullshit that binds you?

Blame, victimize, accuse others….  These get you off the hook.

Stop those games and you’re in another game.

Keep playing them, stay in the same game, and it stops you from creating your own identity……

I see a problem with that. Do you?

Join me this Thursday, March 30th at 9:00PM EST for a Lighting Mastermind meeting.

I’ll discuss, show, reveal real, authentic, legit money money making lighting strategies.

Including a quick overview on fairy portrait lighting, creating high quality commercial images for a restaurant menu, shooting portraits in the hot blazing sun in Costa Rica, both in the beach and on a farm…and more…much more.

Members, login, go here for the registration link.

Non member? join us….it’s like a measly twenty bucks (canadian bucks) a month, leave when you want, no excuses, no notes required.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

P.S. The replays for all lighting masterminds are also in the forum.

What to do when you’re oppressed and angry?

By Leave a Comment

When you’re feeling oppressed, overwhelmed and angry, frustrated and resentful….

You have two choices…

ONE> Grow up…get on with it.

TWO> Feed the beast and let your anger kill your soul, dampen your ambition and kill your productivity.

Number one is uncertain. No guarantees. Only adventure and risk. And pain.

GO after the unknown. The pain.

Number two is what you think you know. Don’t be a fool and don’t be fooled.

If you protect what you know you’re only protecting the false sense of self infused anger.

Blaze a new trail. Call it your own.

Being in business can do this for you. Wanna get triggered?
Start a biz.

The challenges and mountains you’ll need to climb will make you or break you.

Maybe you’re not meant to be in business. I get it. It’s legit and I respect you for that.

But, if you do, you ain’t the exception to the game.

You’re either the hero or the victim. No middle ground. No safe space for anyone.

The fork in the road is in front of you. Which path you take
depends on what you want for yourself.

And again, I ask, what do you do when you’re feeling oppressed and angry? Your attitude determines your altitude.

Yours in photography and success,
Robert Provencher

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