My thoughts to your Heart
Taking Back Happy: Top 10 Business Take-Aways from Quarantine
Taking Back Happy
My Top 10 Pandemic Checklist
When the pandemic first started, my immediate reaction was to get very, very busy. Although that wasn't sustainable, it was a pretty fantastic way to generate ideas. Some of those new ideas became action steps for my photography studio. Although a lot of negative things are happening, this time of turmoil is the perfect opportunity to try new things. If they fail, you can just blame them on COVID. If they succeed, then you can take the credit!
Idea Generating
Take Notes: To generate ideas, the first thing I did was to take notes. My husband is a pastor so he instituted morning journaling and bible reading for the whole family. I have never journaled consistently over a long period of time so this was a great time to work on that discipline and really think.
Make New Friends: The second thing I did was reach out to photographer friends online. I created a new Facebook group and some Instagram groups. I had never had time to interact in groups before and these have started some fantastic relationships and business resources.
Put Good Info In: In the beginning of the pandemic, there were some webinars and online classes that I listened to and gained a lot of direction from. I found it super helpful to listen to what other photographers and business owners were doing and how they were approaching this strange new world.
Try new things. I tried using my existing software in new ways. I had used N-Vu for galleries and their in-person sales tools. I found out that using Dual-Vu for remote sales really helped my bottom line during the pandemic, and I will be using it more when the dust settles.
Get Involved: In short order, I also had opportunities to participate in leading webinars, teach classes and record a new series of podcasts. Anytime I teach, I find that it makes me think more clearly and I learn more about myself and my business in the process.
As you can imagine, I came out of this process with more ideas than I knew what to do with. Some things I did right away as a knee jerk reaction. Other things I had to really think through how I wanted to approach them. Here is a list of the top 10 things I did in my business, how they worked out and if I’ll do them again once life returns to “normal”.
1. Instagram Story Prep
The day before Kansas City went into lockdown, we drove to local landmarks and filmed video for our Instagram stories. It was such a nice way to be proactive about the upcoming stay at home orders. We were able to use the videos throughout the weeks at home and keep our social media interesting and engaging. We will definitely continue to film interesting experiences ahead of time for our social media. I think social media and engagement will continue to be our top way of connecting with clients throughout the next couple of years.
2. Happy News Email Series
I’m not sure if John Krasinski got the idea for his Some Good News YouTube series from the email series we started for the studio clients, but I do know I was using the name first! I wanted to send something out to reassure our clients that we were okay, still in business and doing good things. The first couple emails had a great response and open rate. I included segments in the email for kids’ activities, resources for shopping, local artists and other non-photography related content.
The activities did not resonate with our clients. They want to know about our photography and how photography relates to them. We will be getting back to our monthly portrait-centered emails for our clients in the future.
3. Small Biz Features
Not only did we feature local businesses in our email blasts, we also utilized our Instagram stories for business features and connections as well. We worked with clothing boutiques, a painter, jeweler, seamstress, watercolor artist, restaurants and coffee shops. The features were a big hit with the local businesses! We were offered opportunities to do giveaways and work with those businesses more in the future. Definitely a win there!
4. Just for Fun! Baby Pic Insta Story
One of my new Instagram photographer friends, Selessa, was doing a series on her Instagram stories with a high school senior’s baby picture followed by a beautiful senior portrait. I tried this concept right away when the Stay-at-Home started. The seniors loved it and participated immediately. It was so simple. I just asked them to direct message a baby photo to be featured. We had so much engagement on our stories during this time and we will definitely be continuing this activity next February for our 2021 seniors.
5. Social Media Senior Tribute
On that same note, we instituted a more formal recognition of our 2020 seniors with a post on both our Instagram and Facebook pages. We asked our clients to send us the Senior’s Name, High School, College, Area of Study, Favorite High School Activity, what they enjoyed most about senior pictures with us. This was our most successful activity during quarantine. We had non-senior clients emailing us and telling us thank you for posting the tributes, saying that this was one of the highlights for them, that they loved seeing all of the kids. We booked sessions from these posts and had our highest Facebook engagement ever. We may add tributes for other types of client posts. 2021 Senior Tributes will be a must for next spring!
6. Senior Tribute Package
Typically, we sell an album, digital files and wall portraits to our high school senior clients. We leave the grad party posters and invites for them to create themselves. But with extra design time on our hands and a giant wave of popularity for door banners and yard signs, we created a Senior Tribute Package. Rather than sell single banners and signs, we wanted to offer something more worth our design time. The package included a slide show video of all the images from the session, a yard sign or door banner, a matted print that can be signed at the part, grad invites and wallets. We had quite a few seniors purchase this package. The door banners were our favorite! We will be offering this package to all of our seniors this year!
7. Insta Takeovers
Before we tried them, I didn't know how to conduct an Instagram takeover. We had floated the idea of having a senior do a takeover of our Insta stories, but we never took the time to think it through and make it happen. But with the stay-at-home looming, we decided to make it happen. And now, we've figured out how to do a senior Insta takeover in a way that works for and benefits our studio, we'll be incorporating them throughout the upcoming senior year.
The takeover or guest posting is not something new, but it's the first time we've used it in our business. Initially, the idea seemed terrible - give my high school seniors access to my Instagram account, one of the most important assets in booking sessions in my business???
But we figured out ways to make Instagram takeovers work for us. And I'm sharing those with you!
Keep the Keys to Your Kingdom. Rather than clean up our direct messages and give the seniors their own password to literally take over our Instagram account, we opted to do the posting throughout the day. The senior creates the story in their own Instagram, downloads and sends it to us to post. This is a nice touchpoint with our senior. We have control of what's posted in the name of our brand!
Stay Classy. We created a template in the Unfold app to put the stories in. This keeps the posts consistent with our brand and our followers don't get confused and think they've somehow started following a random high schooler they don't know.
Pump up the Excitement. We create a timer and some fun graphics on the story to go up the day before. The senior is tagged and we encourage them to repost and promote their takeover day.
Be the Activities Director. We give the senior a list of ideas and ask them to tell us what they are going to do. Crafting, cooking and working out are favorites. Questions create a lot of interaction, too. We tell them to have their friends send in questions that they want to answer. The nice thingvis that their friends ask about the senior model experience and a lot of good promo has happened on the takeovers.
Say Hello and Goodbye. Setting a start and end time was really helpful. Some of the seniors would start out strong and then fizzle out. Having a set beginning and end helped them keep going. We ask the senior to do an intro video for around 10 am and a good night video in the afternoon or evening, their choice.
Calendar it. Some photographers did the takeovers for each day during one week, but we scheduled ours for every Tuesday and Friday of the Stay-at-Home. The last week was our studio manager, Aubrey, on Tuesday. I'll be doing the last one tomorrow so follow along at @stylemusemagazine!
Say Thank You! It really is a lot of work for the girls so we sent them all a thank you card and a bracelet in appreciation. If it hadn't been the Stay-at-Home, we would have sent coffee shop gift cards!
Put it into Practice. Now that we've gotten the hang of it, we'll be doing more Instagram takeovers. We'll have our senior models do 2 takeovers a month if they aren't too busy. It will be fun to see how it evolves since our upcoming seniors have been watching and waiting for their turn!
8. Free prom and cap & gown sessions
Because prom and graduation were initially cancelled, we offered free mini sessions to students once the stay-at-home was lifted. We created a simple set in our studio and photographed about half of the students who signed up initially. Some of the students opted for the free session and image while others wanted to option to purchase more. This is a great way to incorporate N-Vu for online viewing. In the future, we will incorporate prom and cap & gown in our mini sessions that we offer for referral bonuses to our seniors.
9. $1000 Giveaway
For the last few weeks of the Stay-at-Home, we offered a $1000 gift certificate for a session and portraits. This had a really big response and added a lot of names to our email list. We wished we could give it away to so many deserving folks! We ended up choosing a family and doing a smaller giveaway to a 2020 and a 2021 senior.
10 Zoom Session Consultations
The last thing on our list of new things that we tried were our session planning consultations. Since we weren’t meeting in person, these Zoom calls kept the ball rolling and sessions being added to our books. Although meeting face-to-face is super helpful, it’s great to have this capability in the future. One thing to note is that parents are happy to talk, but don’t always want to be on the actual camera. Giving moms the option to be present, but not face-to-face helped keep it easy for the parents. Some simple tips for Zoom calls:
send a text of what to expect
stay in control of the conversation
ask your clients to have their outfits handy
suggest they have questions written down
it’s ok to keep it short
I hope you take my list of top 10 things I did in my business, and make them your own. Try journaling, brainstorming, reach out to other photographers—do whatever you need to do to jump start your creativity during this time of uncertainty. I found this time to be a huge source of inspiration and creativity for my business, and I hope you will too!
How to Predict Upcoming Trends in Fashion for Photography
I’ve had a lot of people asking me lately for advice on upcoming fashion and buying trends that will impact photography. Friends often remark about how I’m good at knowing what’s coming next like it’s a special magical skill. I was surprised to hear that because I sewed a rabbit skin to the back of my black jean jacket in 6th grade, maybe in an attempt to have a fur coat? and that has never caught on.
But I do teach classes on Stylized family portraits and I have a senior portrait account called Style Muse Magazine so I guess fashion trends and STYLE have been more than just a passing interest.
That remark got me thinking though. Do I possess magical skills to know what’s coming? Definitely not. So, why is there that perception? Over the years, I’ve created several habits that I just naturally do each season when preparing for what I will be shooting with my seniors in the spring and my family sessions in the fall. Part of my process for creating fresh imagery is connecting with what is coming up in fashion - both the actual fashion trends and the buying habits of the current consumers.
Here is the step-by-step process I use to find and predict fashion trends for my studio.
I take stock of what I’ve been doing and the fashions I’ve been connecting with. Last fall, I highlighted gold accents, hygge home trends, the evergreen color of the year and of course, farm house wood. These trends informed the sets and holiday specials I offered to my family clients. Some trends carry over from season to season. I think carefully about what I’ve done in the past so I don’t repeat the look accidentally.
Next, I google current fashion trends. When I find a source that I like, I’ll search back and forth in the seasons as well. I would literally enter into google - Fall Winter 2021 or FW 2021 or Spring Summer 2020 or SS 2020 Fashion Trends.
For fall, I look at current home trends and search in the past year or two fashion trends because I am looking for what my family clients will want to do in their homes. Home trends are typically a few years behind fashion. Living in the midwest, my clients are not quite as modern and clean-lined and they are definitely not as trendy as the coasts.
For spring, I don’t go too far ahead either when I make my planning. I’ll look at the next year’s predictions if I can find them, but what is hitting the midwest is usually current and some of it is from the year before. Because I am predicting for high school senior girl buyers, I don’t worry so much about the contemporary women’s fashion. I look more at the juniors side of fashion and teen.
Once I’ve laid a foundation for what I am looking at on google, then I go to pinterest and do the same searches.
I compile everything I’ve seen mentally and pull together 3-5 trends that I want to explore. I typically come up with several trends that I feel are fresh, new and young. It’s really simple. I’m not looking for the avante garde and fancy pants. For spring 2020, fruit is going to be a big thing - citrus, watermelons, strawberries. Ralph Lauren’s spring resort look is gorgeous lemon, lime and tangerine colors! That’s an easy one to translate into photo sessions. I’ve also seen a lot of black and white polka dots - another fun look I’m planning a session around.
Then, I make secret pinterest boards for each trend that I identify with visual concepts for what I’ll be shooting - backgrounds, props, clothing, poses for senior sessions in the spring, home decor, color inspiration clothing and poses for families in the fall.
Part of what I do when it comes to trends is sift through everything and find a) what I like and b) what will connect with the client that I am targeting. I’m not a slave to fashion here. If I don’t like something personally or I don’t think it will sell or resonate with my client base, I ignore it. The beauty of this is that whatever I say is in style or is a trend then becomes an actual style or trend in my world once I shoot it. I can’t really be wrong if I’m pulling from current sources. As long as the images are new, fresh and fun, my clients connect and love it!
I hope this helps you in your business world to have new ways to look at fashion and how it affects your business. Watch StyleMuse Magazine for an upcoming fruit explosion. Check out my Pinterest boards. I typically open up recent trends once I shoot the concept. And if you want to follow along and be part of my stuff, sign up for my email where I’ll share upcoming trends and the buying habit side of those trends each email.
Faces on the Wall not in the Clouds: A Guide to a Profitable and Stylish Family Part 3
As I said before:
In my 20 years of experience as a professional photographer, I've found most people find family portraits to be boring, overwhelming or generally chaotic (if not all three). I felt exactly that way until I began incorporating Stylized Family Portraits into my business. Because of this mindset, family portraits are now more rewarding - both monetarily and inspirationally. Most important, Stylized Family Portraits give my clients a wonderful memory with their family, personalized art for their home and an experience they can't wait to share on social media.
Here is the last of the three keys that helped me transform my family portrait sessions from intolerable to inspiring.
Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.
Celebrate your STYLE.
Once you’ve created these amazing images that reflect your studio style and look great in your client’s homes, the last step in the process is celebrating your style. Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.
Start with sharing your images. Online is the easiest way to share by using Instagram and Facebook. Update your website with these fresh, new images (I’m preaching to myself here, as much as you).
Make the investment to display your work. In today’s world, online is definitely important, but nothing can beat the impact of a big, gorgeous framed portrait. My clients are so excited to see portrait displays in local businesses, at events and even on the walls of our studio. When you show how to frame and display your stylized images, you’ll create a desire for the final product.
To take it up another notch, tell the story of your stylized shoots with behind the scenes, inspirations and your excitement about the final product. You can do this through blogging, social media, emails, print newsletters or in person. Bring in your clients for studio tours and opportunities to meet the artist to tell them your stories in person.
Ken Downing of Neiman Marcus remarked on the controversial new concept of live streaming fashion shows, “When you can excite customers and ignite their imagination and give them a reason to shop, they respond.”
Many of you are already creating senior and children’s portrait sessions, so taking the next step with family portraits is going to fit right into your process. It’s vitally important to go all the way through the process from conceptualizing, to creating to installing the art. You’ll enjoy the process and feel accomplished as a result.
As a business person, as well as a photographic artist, my end goal is to create work that my clients love so much they want to purchase it for themselves and hang it in their home. One way to help your customers visualize what you have created for them is to show your images in a sales session through an app like N-Vu. N-Vu has a feature, Room-Vu, that allows your client to submit an image of their own home wall or mantel. Then you can actually show what their images will look like hanging over their sofa or above their mantel. They can visually see the difference between what an 8x10 and a 30x40 will look like in their room and you can help them choose the perfect image or collection of images for that special spot. (Check it out at n-vu.com) Creating excitement and igniting the imagination with Stylized Family Portraits gives them a reason to purchase portraits that they will display, cherish and share with their friends.
Sometimes we put so much effort in creating beautiful work that we are too tired or insecure to put that work in front of the public. Don’t stop short! Share, display and tell the story of your stylized family portraits.
Faces on the Wall not in the Clouds: A Guide to a Profitable and Stylish Part 2
As I said before:
In my 20 years of experience as a professional photographer, I've found most people find family portraits to be boring, overwhelming or generally chaotic (if not all three). I felt exactly that way until I began incorporating Stylized Family Portraits into my business. Because of this mindset, family portraits are now more rewarding - both monetarily and inspirationally. Most important, Stylized Family Portraits give my clients a wonderful memory with their family, personalized art for their home and an experience they can't wait to share on social media.
Here is the 2nd of the three keys that helped me transform my family portrait sessions from intolerable to inspiring.
Shoot your STYLE.
The next step in creating stylized family portraits is shooting examples of your style. To determine what looks you want to shoot, first gather ideas. I buy physical magazines, dog ear favorite ideas and tear out those pages. I pin these pages up on a wall in my studio office. Be careful if you do this because my young son started tearing out pages from a magazine and when I asked him what he was doing, he said he was reading it like mommy does. Whoops! You can also create Pinterest boards, use the save button on Instagram or delve into the recesses of your very own brain to decide what looks you want to shoot.
It’s important when shooting sample images to be obvious and over the top. George Silverman said, in his book, The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, “Remember, people only go out of their way to talk about the Unusual, EXTRAordinary and OUTrageous.” If you are too subtle with your sample shoots, people won’t understand or see what you are doing. Give your clients something worth talking about and desiring.
When planning what to wear with my clients, I give suggestions for backgrounds, clothing and color schemes. I also go the extra step if they aren’t confident, even to the point of going to their homes or shopping for their shoots. When I closet shop in my client’s home, I pull the outfits and accessories from each person’s closet to give a cohesive look to the portraits. This is helpful because I can see exactly where the portraits will be going and plan the look and style accordingly. Or, if they don’t have the clothing that works with our photo shoot, I will online shop and send links for the pieces that I think will work best with our session.
Faces on the Wall not in the Clouds: A Guide to a Profitable and Stylish Family Part 1
In my 20 years of experience as a professional photographer, I've found most people find family portraits to be boring, overwhelming or generally chaotic (if not all three). I felt exactly that way until I began incorporating Stylized Family Portraits into my business. Because of this mindset, family portraits are now more rewarding - both monetarily and inspirationally. Most important, Stylized Family Portraits give my clients a wonderful memory with their family, personalized art for their home and an experience they can't wait to share on social media.
Here is the first of the three keys that helped me transform my family portrait sessions from intolerable to inspiring.
Know your STYLE.
The most important element for shooting stylized family portraits is to know your own style. When you know yourself and your photography well enough to pinpoint your look, you will be able to help your clients express who they are through stylized portraits. It doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your aesthetic to what your clients want, but knowing your style can help you incorporate what you love to photograph with what will work in your client’s homes.
A fantastic exercise to define your style is to choose 3 words that can encapsulate your photography. Examples of descriptive words are fun, fresh, silly, playful, simple, clean, romantic, vintage, modern, edgy. To get a better idea for your visual aesthetic, make Pinterest boards and reflect on what you choose. Take a minute to look at my Pinterest boards (kiabondurant). Notice my color boards — you’ll find that they are bright and full of life. My boards are different than my photographer friends who have dreamy and vintage or clean and modern choices.
Another way to determine your 3 words is to ask others. I encourage you to text several people right now and ask them, “What 3 words would you use to describe my photography work and/or my personal style?” It might feel embarrassing to ask, but you’ll be glad you did. Invariably, when I challenge photographers to text friends for words, they hear incredible feedback about their work and business. It becomes an amazing boost of confidence!
For many years, I would sit in a booth displaying my work at women’s expos. I heard the same words over and over. Your work is so Vibrant. I love how Authentic the feelings are. I’m so Inspired. So when I did this exercise several years ago when creating my studio website, I already had my 3 words. Vibrant, Authentic and Inspirational are the words I chose and they have been a guiding force in the direction of my business and personal life ever since.
My final suggestion on knowing your own style, is to look at the work that you create for yourself. If I go back through the portraits I’ve made of my own family and children, I can see evidence of the 3 aspects of my personal style. Many of my sessions are bright and playful with clothing or backgrounds in turquoise, bright green, red and yellow - Vibrant. There are also times when I’ve done more vintage or black and white, capturing the family sweaty, muddy and messy - Authentic. And then, some of my favorites are dreamier with a make believe or ethereal element - Inspired
Knowing your personal style gives you more confidence, direction and enthusiasm as you help your clients express their family’s style through your photography.