Creative Live: Jasmine Star Business Course Day 2
It’s been a couple of weeks since Jasmine Star hosted her creative live workshop. I’ve been slacking on posting, but here it is: a wealth of knowledge all stored in one place.
Day two was about about finding your style of photography, and how to deal with clients. Thank you again to Creative Live and the rest of the team, and ofcourse Jasmine herself. Thank you for being so completely transparent about what you do and how you do it. So many up and coming, and professional photographers appreciate it! :)
DAY 2
if you do not stand by that image, you should not give out the picture!
you want pictures on your website, that future clients can relate to and want to be like
you want pictures, of the types of shoots you want to move towards
if your website doesn’t ooze you.. you’re doing it wrong
Finding a photographic Style, Aesthetic + Voice
Use a process of dissection:
Figuring out the how:
* what kind of photos do you like?
* how are they processed?
Figuring out the why: (why do you like these photos)
* the use of natural light
* natural poses instead of high fashion poses
** IF … THEN :
* if you like natural light.. you need to pose outdoors
* if you like natural poses, you need to figure out how to get people into those poses
STYLE + VOICE BUILD A BRAND
* a brand is an experiance
* clients know what to expect ( you have told them over and over what to expect on your blog) and how to expect it ( tag in facebook)
You will get fabulous photos by:
* creating confident subjects
* educating them
* teaching them how to pose
* giving them a good time
* showing up and performing
let the client choose the location. let them have a part of the shoot, it shares the onus. Ask questions like: what do you do on the weekends? where do you enjoy going? THE ART OF CONFIDENCE
* i needed to create a photo that possessed the power to have the subjects and viewers see past insecurities
* if someone is uncomfy with their nose, your not going to take a profile shot of them kissing, you will take a 3/4 of them laughing, because it’s about the emotion
* it is your job to squash what clients are not comfortable with about their bodies, and highlight the parts that they are comfortable with
* it is your job to get good photos. if the client looks awkward.. that is your fault. you need to create confidence! you need to put them at ease!
* create a conversation – isn’t it a great day? how was traffic?
* release them from responsibility – you just have fun, and enjoy, it’s my job to make you look beautiful
* manage expectations – yes we can shoot on this bright sunny log, but it might not turn out.
* take suggestions – i shoot digital, if you have ideas, great, if not, its not me wasting film
* previsualization – have ideas for poses that you want to try
HOW TO PREVIUALIZE
* think of ideas in advance
* sketch on a notepad
* collect magazine ads
* create actions for your clients
* tell a story to narrate ideas – ppl are throwing rice, and your running out of the church holding hands
WEDDINGS:
* being in control is tantamount to being succesful on the wedding day
Communication
* 5-6 weeks before wedding get timeline
* first look : tell the bride to get ready 30 min before. Something always goes wrong. There are 10 thousand buttons etc
25 min to shoot bridal party
fam photos 25min
Promo codes: GETSHOWIT.COM/JSTARLIVE – one month free – 48 hours
SHOWITFAST.COM/#/SLIDESHOW/ – $50 discount – promo code: JSTARLIVE
THEBSCHOOL.COM – 25% discount – promo code: JSTAR25
PHOTOGRAPHERSEDIT.COM – 20% discount on first order – promo code: JSTAR2011
THE PERMISSION TO FEEL BEAUTIFUL: you are gorgeous, you’re beautiful, bring it on! let me see it!
Creative Live: Jasmine Star Business Course
Once again, Jasmine Star got together with the Creative Live team and delivered an exceptional 2 days of learning.
I’ve had the opportunity to take part in 2 of these classes in the past. One, was another Jasmine Star event, where she did a 5 day course and shot a LIVE wedding. Another, was children’s photographer Tamara Lackey letting us in on her secrets. Both.. were amazing! You can view J*’s event here, and Tamara Lackey’s here and here.
As always… I took copious amounts of notes. Hundreds and hundreds of notes.. anything I can do to remember even a sliver of the information that was taught. Creative Live is an online community, that offers free learning to Artists. Chase Jarvis, who launched CL is amazing, anyone who wants to share knowledge with those less fortunate deserves an A+ i n my book. :) . Anything and everything is taught here, and they stream the courses online for free! If you want to buy the courses afterwards, you can. You can visit creative live here: http://www.creativelive.com/
Anyways… that’s enough of my thoughts.. Here are the infamous Jasmine Stars thoughts :) These are my notes from day 1:
- “ I would rather you fail at something you love, than succeed at something you hate”
- Know who you is. – be comfortable with who you are. People will say crap about you, but their not booking you. We create something that is subjective, there will always be those that don’t like it
- David Jay – used a video intro introducing himself. He created an emotional connection using slide shows (music), 4-5 minutes in length, unique bio section, let people get to know the real you
- We’re trying to sell an educated service to an uneducated customer. good is good to a client. 5 years for a cx is just as good as a 1 year photog with a good action set
- On Pricing: If you are taking classes, you are smarter, and richer, have to recoup those costs to have a profitable business. RAISE YOUR PRICES
- On Pricing: you need to know your prices. Yes an album costs $500. but if it takes you 10 hours to edit, and create the album, you might as well be a barista at Starbucks
- Facebook: you want your photos on Facebook. The clients mom isn’t going to book you for a wedding, the friend from 4th grade on Facebook, is a potential client.
- On outsourcing: anything I don’t want to do.. I don’t
- On my blog I am castro and it is cuba.. I’m not paying for you to talk trash about me or my clients. – talking about the haters ( AMEN.. I so agree with this comment! Don’t waste your time on people who don’t like you, or your work)
- money should never be an issue where dreams are concerned.
- help others, do not be jealous or hateful. so many ppl in the world don’t have shoes. so what if you don’t have a 5d mk2
- if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not working hard enough
- luck is when preparation meets opportunity
- put yourself out there, it’s the only way you will grow. GET UNCOMFORTABLE
- you don’t get to third base without running to first. shoot the pb&j bride before the whole foods bride, and make her look like whole foods.
- take more risks! Jump in and play the game, you can’t win standing on the side lines. it’s like playing double dutch, are you going to jump? or not?
- Have a mental checklist before each shoot. Check ISO, choose an aperture.
- Learn how to interact with clients before a paid shoot. Revisit magazine clippings for inspiration
- About your website: You are selling the idea of a wedding day. not you or your photos, cx’s are thinking of them on the day, not the bride you shot
- at the shoot: make your client comfortable. Tell them “my goal from this session is for you (the client) to have a good time it’s my job to make you look good”
- On contracts: it is the bride and groom’s job to advise all guests that there is a chance that the guests pic or likeness could be online. If there is an issue with this, it is up to the couple to advise the photographer
- On contracts: A deposit is refundable.. a retainers fee is not!
- On contracts: you will have back up copies of pictures for 1 year, after that you are no longer responsible. You have the rights to pictures, you may publish them to blogs, online, advertising etc.
Gettings the type of clients that you want:
- posing and shooting attracts the type of client
- look through magazines, work backwards from the picture that you like. The pose gives you the picture, that you can then market towards getting client that you want
- dissecting the how:
how is the photo illuminated
how was the photo captured
how was the subject posed?
how did the photographer get them into that pose?
how was the story told?
how was the emotion conveyed?
The name brand raisin brand theory:
It’s about the brand!! get the del monte raisins . Your brand defines you.
rent until you own
2.8 16-35 70-200
get a business licence tax id
sole proprietor
paying taxes
get insurance on yourself
creating a profitable business – you have to know your numbers
understanding my fixed costs:
outsourcing – $200 photo editing 1000 pics x.20
$45 average price per wedding for bookkeeping
$40 gas per wedding
$35 average price per online proofing gallery
$32 shipping hard drive – editing
$2 disc stationary, postage etc for client
total $372 per wedding
wedding price 1500 per wedding ( including cd)
take home per wedding: 1128
how do you differentiate yourself from other bloggers?
1. i don’t say I’m a mold breaker. don’t be high and mighty
2. find your skill set, and rock it.
ABOUT SECOND SHOOTERS
When you are the main shooter:
- make sure to get the photos that your second shooter plans on blogging. You want to get those to your clients.
- create clearly defined roles between you and the 2nd shooter, assign to your strengths
- set clearly defined goals
- if shooting with a spouse: set a schedule and have family time scheduled
When you are the second shooter:
- care about the person, not the photographer – make friends with the main photog.
second shooter faux pas – remember you are a division of that person’s brand
the only thing you have is your credibility
don’t tag clients in Facebook. they’re not your clients
don’t blog before the 1st photog.
don’t say you would do things differently
don’t be above schlepping bags
don’t stand behind the photog
how to get a second shooting gig –
engage in forums
comment on blogs – ppl want to know that you like them not the opportunity they create for you
write on Facebook fan page
talkback on twitter
leverage your assets – shake what your mama gave you
Jasmine’s initial photography investment in Feb 2006
$3000 : canon 20d, 24-70 2.8, business cards
LINKS
- osp forum – www.opensourcephoto.net/forum
- the b school – thebschool.com 25% discount jstar25promo
- Stephanie Fay from Arizona second shot for Bianca’s wedding. (J*’s sister)
- the war of art – Stephen Pressfield – book
Creative Live Workshop: Jasmine Star
I have had my butt planted in front of my computer screen for the last 4 days. All day! Every day! I’ts getting sore.. but I’m loving every minute of it! lol
Let me explain: Jasmine Star, a wedding photographer who I adore, agreed to shoot a wedding and have an online course on how she does things. It’s a 5 day workshop, with questions and answers… and she shot a LIVE wedding! how insane is that! A couple actually volunteered to have their special day.. filmed.. photographed, and streamed on the world-wide web! INSANE!
Chase Jarvis from Creative Live, is the mastermind behind this idea. CreativeLive is a website which offers free advice (in the form of streaming video) to artists… wether it be wedding photography ( Go Jasmine :) ) How to use Photoshop, or even how to paint watercolor.
It’s all up to you, what you watch, and it’s all free. so thanks Chase. :) This was amazing! There were people watching this stream from all over the world, Denmark, Trinidad and Tobago, someone even mentioned they were up at 3 am watching from Brazil! Crazy! It’s amazing the freedom that technology gives us!
I learned sooo much from this last 4 days. All of the little tips and tricks were a godsend. and I know everyone does things differently… but if I can become even half as good as her. I’ll be happy
Here’s a list of things she said that inspired me over the last few days, or at least things I want to be reminded of on this journey:
- “Your website is your handshake and your blog is your voice.” she means that your website should be you, the professional.. you’re blog, should be you the person. Let people get to know, and like you for you, not just your photography.
- “Take the Ghetto out and shoot the fabulous!” – when shooting a crappy location
- “The tongs cheapen the pictures” Remove Remove Remove, if it doesn’t add to the shot, remove
- “Take 5 seconds out of your time to move things. Remove. Always.” – when setting up a shot
- tell a story in a photo, not everything needs to be cropped - get a shot of the brides feet, with her purse and shoes.. get the dress in the back.
- “You can rent a camera, you can borrow your sisters computer, but you cannot rent or borrow your brand.” – your brand is everything
- “I’m a photographer. Not a Lightroom or Photoshop expert.” I out-source my life because I want a life.
- “You’re either connecting or repelling.” – getting clients, you want people to like you , or dislike you, you want them to feel something, the worst thing is indifference
- “Nobody ever sees life in flash.” – on using flash
- Say yes to all of the clients request, this is their day. You are a guest. Make their day!
- “Brides are booking out of emotion.”
- “It is OK to be absolutely breath-taking and feel beautiful.” give the bride permission to feel beautiful, in today’s society.. that is hard. “Make it fun, fresh, and fierce.”
- “Know your style, get your clients posing to the image you want, and use those images on blog to pitch your style!”
- “It’s not their fault that you put them in that dumb pose.” – speaking about posing, Dont let them know it’s not working, shoot a couple frames and move on, otherwise the couple will get nervous about their performance
- “Make him look cool. Make her beautiful, and everyone is happy.”
- “You have to give them an action to move into that.” Walk up to him and swing your arm around him like you’re seeing an old friend from summer camp
- If you’re stuck, you just need to take a step back and take a look at the situation.
- “When you talk behind your camera, you keep the client engaged.” They will be more comfortable
- “You have to show them what they don’t know they want.” speaking about *the first look*
- If it’s special to them, I want to photograph it
- Anything that makes the wedding unique, that’s what I will be photographing.”
- “We make images of emotional moments people (would normally) forget.”
- Same day slide shows are a way for the client to see my pictures first! I want them to see my professional pictures before Uncle Bobs. “Yours probably is better but it’s not new.”
- “If you want something to grow, you want to start the conversation early on.” – about slide shows
- “It’s my job as an artist to choose the strongest picture”
- Shoot for the client, but also take pictures for yourself, pictures that you know the bride might not necessarily like, but something that drives you.
- shoot the name cards, every magazine will publish the name cards
- turn your subject to face the light, people naturally face away from the light and then you have a blown out back because you’re metering for the face
- “When you wake up for the rest of your life and could choose every day what to do, what would it be?”
- “I’d rather see you fail at something you love than to succeed at something you hate.”
Top 10 words of advice for a second shooter.
1. Leave your Ego at the Door
2. NEVER PASS OUT YOUR BUSINESS CARD
3. Find New Angles – there’s no point getting the same picture as the main photog, that’s not why you’re hired
4. Smile
5. Get Water – the main photog will appreciate this!
6. Offer to Carry Bags – you are there to make the main photogs life easier. you don’t have to carry bags, just offer! the thought is appreciated
7. Taking Care of Vendors – help move things, put things away, ppl remember this, and you will probably work with them again in the future
8. Gather the Family
9. Same Day Slideshow – find a place for the photog to create it, and to display it.
10. Dress Appropriately
One of the bigger things she discussed, is finding your own style: “What are the three words that describe you, and you’re style?”
“Are those three words describing you now? Or are those words describing what you want to be? If it’s the latter, you need to take a step back.”
I think I still need to figure this out! but that’s a whole other ball game!
