A Place to Grow
Maggie is one of the most prolific and successful photography business success stories. Her passion, her drive and ambition are all testament to the success she so richly deserves.
[Read more…]A short while ago we had a wedding shoot out series with yours truly and James Hodgins. It was simple. Get a bride and groom, or just a bride…..and go out and shoot, on the fly. Random locations.
See what happens, see what we create and explain the process.
As I mentioned last fall in the Part One “Throwing a grenade in the tools shed”:
I love Mondays.
I always have. Go figure….
Except when I drank heavily, since Mondays I was still suffering from a hard weekend of shooting (photos), partying, smoking and drinking.
But those days are long gone. Now I love Mondays. I must be doing something right.
I feel exhilarated, refreshed and ready to take on another productive week. Doing my own thing, feeling free and alive. Ain’t nothing like it and worth every effort to get there and get my own photography studio going.
I believe this puts me in the minority. Being self-employed also places me in the minority.
It seems there is a lot of ill feelings about Mondays. Wise cracks, bumper stickers and a general malaise.
Most folks dread going back to work for another week of drudgery. Go figure.
Of course with the gain comes the pain of uncertainty. As if there is in fact any certainty in life.
I know I’d rather be the captain of my own ship. Even if I am occasionally sailing through troubled waters.
I don’t think we evolved to hate Mondays. Days of the week are an abstract idea created to measure time.
Like I said, I feel energized.
I bounce out of bed eager to get back to the studio. If you don’t feel jazzed and eager to create in business, in art, in marketing and in photography, maybe you’re not doing something right.
There’s no day of the week that’s designed to be filled with hate. Makes no sense to me.
The key, the secret is to have a purpose, a vision, something you really believe in. Something that reflects your innermost passion and love.
You will be criticized and shamed. The worst critic of all will be the inner voice that tries to shoot you down. Second to that is your closest “allies”….friends and family.
Many, many will be envious. And they won’t even realize what they’re up to.
But you know what’s going on. The solution, the actions you need to take are simple.
Yet they require some self-discipline. Discipline to create your very own reality, and shut out the naysayers from within and from without.
I’m up for the challenge.
You?
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
I always said my photography studio was like a swiss army knife. A “multi-purpose” studio for lack of a better term.
Instead of specializing in a major niche, I specialize in many niches. Families, fairies, babies, commercial, weddings, boudoir, ice fairies, medieval sessions, headshots, theatre photography, seniors and more….much more.
And now pop-up weddings. (More on that in my marketing mastermind replay mentioned below)
I need to take this approach. It keeps me profitable, relevant and busy.
I could specialize and carve out a profitable niche. You know the saying, it’s true: “There are riches in niches.”
But I would need to move to a larger area where the population base would support a niche.
For now, and likely for a long time, I’ll stick around my blue collar mining community.
I’m happy here. Everyone knows me. And loves me. I know, they tell me, and they pay me.
I talked about this in the yesterday’s recorded Marketing Mastermind presentation, where I showed many of the on going marketing adventures from my own little studio in my own little community.
For members the replay is in the forum HERE
Every month I have a mastermind marketing and a mastermind lighting presentation.
It’s like nutrition for the soul and for success. I need it. I hope you do too.
See you on the inside.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
“Where should we go for lunch with John?” I asked James.
“That panini place downtown…”
“Ok, see you there..”
Had lunch last week with James and John. I’ve known them both for at least two decades, both still full time photographers.
Not just dudes with cameras and tech. But real, legit photographers still making a living, hard cold cash, in their respective fields photographers.
James Hodgins (many of you know him- one of the best lighting masterminds with James is in the forum for members HERE) is a niche photographer well known and respected in the industrial and mining niche.
John, a grad photographer, who is loved and respected so much at the local university they are building him a studio to shoot out of. No more temporary class room studios for this guy.
How cool is that?
Yes, they do need him to shoot the occasional gig for the school. But he always gets paid. Sweet deal.
Can you still make a living running a professional photography business? Granted, it’s not as easy as it used to be, with everyone a photographer nowadays.
But possible, yes. More than ever marketing plays a key role. And choosing the right market. (which is really a marketing thing when you think about it)
Choose wisely and cherish, nurture and work your niche.
It’s too valuable to take chances on.
Whenever we get together we have a blast. The conversation centers around friendly gossip, local happenings, how awesome our wives are and mainly on making money.
Me likey.
Truth be told, John is a bit of a recluse. He may hurt me for talking about him in this email. He keeps to himself, his business and his wife & two adult kids.
But he’s a good guy, successful and we are simpatico.
It’s a rare thing these days to hang with real photographers. Not to disrespect photographers who are into the craft for the passion and love. I get that. Totally.
But for guys like me, it’s refreshing to hang with those whose lives depend on bringing home the proverbial bacon with our cameras and our skills.
It’s why I love hosting marketing masterminds online. I think it’s the coolest thing ever to be able to login, and chat with other successful photographers from all over the world.
Couldn’t do that 20 years ago. You had to fly, drive or crawl to an event.
Pay a ton of dough and sit through the crowded convention hall with hundreds of other sweaty photographers.
🙂
Last week I had a meeting, sans panini, with Ohio photographer Paul Floyd. Paul talked many ideas and also about his recent 16 page senior mailed to 3,000 homes. Crazy, I know. Old school.
But it works. Paul’s presentation is HERE for members. (Among hundreds of other replays.)
Join us, won’t you? The paninis are warm and tasty.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
One of my favorite all time best seminars I personally experienced, first hand, like watching a master of masters in action, was way back when I organized a speaking gig with Al Gilbert.
Al did a live demo on how he shoots, poses, lights and controls a session.
He somehow he had contacted our city mayor to come out on a Sunday so he could demo his portrait strategies, on location, at our city hall.
It was amazing. All I can say. Amazing.
Al knew his stuff. His confidence, assuredness and the way he communicated to us and the subject at hand, was and is to this day one of the most important lessons I have ever learned.
One lighting strategy that Al used is called “subtractive lighting”, where he strategically placed light blockers to prevent certain ambient lighting from polluting the subject.
His exposure was such that the flash and the ambient all played a key role in the final image, which was stunning. But the light needed to be controlled. And control it he did.
This reminded me of Fuzzy Duenkel’s lighting strategies. Fuzzy is primarily a senior portrait artist and in my oh so humble yet accurate opinion the very best there is today.
Why? Well, first off, the results speak for themselves. And lighting control plays a huge part in all of this. Al, and Fuzzy are both masters of controlling light for a certain look and outcome.
You can see it in their work. I can spot it when it’s missing. I can see lack of lighting control a mile away.
Sadly, it’s pervasive in todays day and age of “everyone is a photographer.”
I never met Fuzzy, not in person anywho. But I did rope him in a few years ago to run a four part series online.
Even though I had the fortune of hosting and working with Al Gilbert 18 years ago, and he remains to this day my all time favorite event, I can honestly say my favorite ONLINE event, bar none, was the “Transcend the ordinary” with Fuzzy Duenkel.
Check it out:
Lighting is everything. Learn to see, control and master it.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
It’s been a while, but we’re back on the rails, railing about any and all things photography..including smart lifestyle choices, fitness, making money, boosting confidence and raw vs JPEG (not that again!)
The superman images James ranted on about:
