I’ve dedicated the last of this summer/start of Fall to becoming more business-savvy. I am rebranding – working with an online designer for a logo and marketing kit, which is awesome and intimidating. I have to decide whether I love working the personal angle (customized cd covers, etc) or if I want to produce generic covers for everyone, etc. I will partaking in a 6-week course regarding pricing, costs, cash flow, etc with another photographer. I expect to come out of it with a concrete price list, a plan to move forward and learning how to upsell/do in-person proofing/showings.
I want to advertise and work throughout the Winter on booking brides for the summer. It’s hard in our area, as it is common for a bride to ask 6 weeks or so before her wedding. That’s just too short of notice. I have to encourage early booking as summer fills up fast.
I’m working on ideas for mini-sessions, seeing if this is something I want to offer. I think it can be soooo cute, and prettier than a standard wal-mart special, but it’s a lot of work.
Business. The business side to art. It’s no fun but I also hired an accountant. I’m going through my papers for 2012 and will meet/submit them for him to take a look through end of month. I shall be ready for Tax Season!
I have recently bought a ton of lenses and am really aiming for two more. I have a thing for primes. I almost have my ideal wedding kit – a 50mm f/1.2L, a 24mm, f/1.4L and a 70-200 mm f/2.8L, and am looking into getting a macro lens, like the 100.. f/2.8 Macro. Of course, what I reallllly want is the L series of that lens, but at twice the cost, I don’t know. I don’t specialize in weddings so I don’t know if I should dedicate that kind of money to a lens I will only really use then. Then again, I dropped a pretty penny on my 70-200, and I plan on only using that for weddings.
So. I’m gonna keep thinking about it.
In my regular session bag, I rotate in the 50mm and 24mm and I want to get a 85mm f/1.2L. That will allow me to get close without getting in their face, which is always nice.
Done. I also have a have an ideal portrait sessionI want to upgrade my flash to a Speedlite 600, but before I do that, I should actually learn how to use my existing flash in a mode other than AUTO!
But all this talk of gear and it doesn’t really matter. I can rock a shoot on my Rebel T1i, as well as on my 7D. It’s the passion you have for what you do, the beauty of understanding light and composition and capturing emotion and connecting with your subjects. I think that’s what makes a photograph.
