Weddings In India

Arjun Kartha views his success as a photographer pursuing weddings in India to more than being at the right place and at the right time. While his journey began as an engineer, he then pivoted into advertising and marketing. It was there that he saw first hand how photographers worked; how they dealt with clients and presented their work.

Arjun and his wife Praerna are wedding photographers based in Delhi, India.

Arjun will be speaking at SILK INSPIRE, India's premier wedding photography festival, from October 6th through October 10th, in Goa, India. While he hasn't nailed down his topic, he promises to share his experiences as a wedding photographer from the Indian context.

What's important, for Arjun, is that Indian wedding photographers adapt the information they glean from speakers or teachers, either at the wedding festival or through online courses, to their own situation in India.

The Interview

Register To Attend SILK INSPIRE

Want to find out more about their approach to weddings in India? Register and come to SILK INSPIRE, in October of this year.

Finally, who else is speaking at SILK INSPIRE 2017? Here's who: Andrea Corsi, Jen Huang, Jeff Newsom, Sergey Ivanov, Juya Gentil, Zack Arias, Brian Callaway, Sephi Bergerson and me!

Success Comes With Work

Listen folks, Arjun Kartha Photography on Facebook has nearly 200,000 likes! How did Arjun and Praerna do it? Seems like their solid work ethic, being the founder of the Wedding Photographers Association of India, knowledge of SEO and an engaging and inquisitive personality all played a part in their success.

For more about Arjun, be sure to visit the SILK INSPIRE blog as well.

In the competitive world of wedding photography, social media is a fast and effective solution for you to find, attract, and book clients for your business. Because there are so many platforms available to you, which platform is best for you and your photography business? To help you discover which platform is best for you, I reached out to ShootDotEdit to provide insights into each social media platform.

At ShootDotEdit, we love to help you eliminate the stress of post production from your wedding photography business. In the bigger picture, though, we are here to help you grow your business, including how to maximize your social media presence. Let’s be honest – social media can be a very effective way to grow your business, but it can take a lot of time. There are numerous social media platforms, ranging from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Snapchat. Below, we share tips on how to tell which social media platform is best for your business, so you can focus your efforts on which one will have the biggest impact for you!

Consider focusing on Facebook if…

You know your target audience.

Facebook is a great platform for you to use to attract ideal clients to your website and blog. Of the advanced features Facebook has for business owners, one of the top features is you can set custom audiences to place specific content in front of your target audience.

Image Compliments of Custom by Nicole Photography

In the Advertising tab, choose the objectives for your campaign, including your ideal client’s age, gender, relationships status, and connections. Set the qualifications for your target market based on what you know about them. For example, do you find a lot of your ideal clients get married at vineyards? You can target your posts toward people who are engaged and like the Facebook Page of various wineries in your area. Facebook also lets you retarget your posts toward people who have already visited your website and blog. So, when one of your couples shares their blog post images from their wedding with all of their friends and families, you can use this traffic in Facebook for a future audience.

Does using Facebook in this way involve a learning curve? Yes, no doubt. Understanding who you want to reach can help you effectively utilize Facebook, and help direct what content you share with your audience.

Consider focusing on Instagram if…

You have a unique and recognizable style.

Instagram is an entirely image-based platform, which naturally lends itself perfectly to wedding photographers. Instagram is best used to showcase your unique and recognizable style in front of specific audiences.

Image Compliments of Custom by Nicole Photography

Because Instagram is so image-focused, the unique attributes of your style are on full display. When you share images on Instagram, you show potential clients what type of work you do and who you are as a photographer. Ensure you share the best and most unique images from your engagement sessions and wedding shoots. These are photos that are consistent to your style, and showcase your skills as a photographer. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags [http://shootdotedit.com/2016/02/19-hashtags-you-need-to-use-on-instagram/] to place your photos in front of clients who are perfect for you. Hashtags allow you to target your unique images to specific audiences.

Consider focusing on Snapchat if…

You incorporate your personal life into your brand.

Snapchat is ideal for the photographer that incorporates their lifestyle into their brand. The platform is built on ongoing video stories for high levels of engagement. For the busy wedding photographer, it is ideal. The reason for this is because it doesn’t require you to schedule anything out in advance or create a content calendar.

Unlike Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, Snapchat can be used effectively at your convenience. You can send individual messages to your followers, and also build stories with your videos and images. When you build a story, your videos and images are available for view for at least a day, meaning many of your followers can view it and get to know you more. Use Snapchat to share about the things you do outside of your wedding photography business, but relate to your target market. Going back to our winery example above, Snapchat would be a great platform to share your wine tasting adventures with your ideal clients!

Consider focusing on Twitter if…

You probably shouldn’t focus on Twitter at all. :)

Twitter’s effectiveness to market personal service business’ like photography has always been questionable. It’s not that Twitter can’t work for your photography business, but more that it provides you less return for your time.

Image Compliments of Custom by Nicole Photography

If you use Twitter, make sure you link out to your other social platforms and (of course) your website and blog. With Twitter’s specific image requirements, it can be difficult to have your images displayed exactly how you envisioned.

Rather than including an image on your Tweets, link out to your Instagram or Facebook page for your followers to see the photo there. Not only do you give followers the chance to view your unique photography style, you also encourage them to follow you on those sites. Use this opportunity to also link out to your website and blog, so followers can see other examples of your past work.

There are benefits to each of the social media platforms, so it is important to focus on one that allows you to easily attract and create connections with ideal clients. Above all, focus on the platform where your potential clients are. If you receive the most interaction and bookings from Facebook, place the majority of your energy into the strategy for your Facebook business page. Or, if you notice most people visit your website and blog from Instagram, focus on a strategy to increase the number of bookings you receive from the platform. Discover additional ways to maximize social media for your business with our Comprehensive Guide to Social Media for Wedding Photographers!

Jenika McDavitt of Psychology for Photographers fame just announced a new resource today called Irresistible You.

Have you bought Irresistible Words or Irresistible Website from her?

Buy them as a bundle here.

If you have bought one or the other, or both, then you know how useful her tips are, right? If you haven't, please do click the links above to find out more.

Why should you buy Irresistible You?

Look, just like you, I struggle to write about myself online. The dreaded blinking cursor is a recurring nightmare. I bet some of you feel the same way.

So this course will teach you how to write about yourself in business! You get to naturally communicate your personality and connect with clients without feeling like you're boring or bragging.

Do you need help coming up with work for your website, blog or even social media posts – that sound like YOU wrote them instead of a machine?

You get that and more with Irresistible You.

The Interview With Jenika

To find out even more about this new course, I sat down to chat with Jenika a few days back. Check our our short discussion:

Finding It Hard To Stand Out?

In a crowded marketplace of amateur and professional photographers, how are you standing out? What are you doing to establish yourself as a brand? How are you showing up on the world's stage?

Here's my advice for you if you are just starting out. Before you even begin considering a website for your photography business, figure out what your client communication needs to be and how it needs to sound. I highly recommend Jenika's Irresistible Words program, but what would make your approach stronger is if you worked on Irresistible You first.

Course Contents

What do you receive when you buy Irresistible You?

You will receive a PDF and class material that's divided into four weeks. Jenika will also be sending out email reminders to keep you motivate, plus bonus interviews with the likes of Christine Tremoulet, Brooke Snow, Nick McArthur, and other experts.

Class Contents:

– What clients actually want to hear about you
– Five psychological influences that make personal sharing a smart business strategy
– Talk about yourself without feeling self-absorbed or boastful
– How to pick stories to share that draw people in
– The “it girl” secrets to dominating online (that even an introvert can steal)
– How to sound like yourself when you write
– The never-ending blog content generator – a strategy for always having something new to say
– How to write an About page that you love
 
Specific pain points that this class debunks and solves:

“I don't know how to show clients who I am.”?
“I don't know what people want to hear!”?
“My life is just not that interesting.”?
“I am an introvert / private person and I don't want to share that much.”?
“Whenever I go to write about myself, it comes out sounding dumb.”?
“I don't know how to sound like me.”
?”How do I avoid sounding unprofessional?”?
“I sound like every other photographer!”

Irresistible You is being offered at a special introductory offer (only $119) through November 10th. After that date the price jumps to its regular price of $219.

So, what are you going to do now? Get lost in a sea of sameness or stand out and be counted? The choice is yours. If you don't know how to go about it, that's where Irresistible You comes into play. Check out Jenika's site.

I know and trust you will make the right decision.

Pete Wright, a photographer, teacher, speaker and author, is obsessed with everything George Hurrell.

Glamor Portrait Photography

If you think of glamor and Hollywood these days, you might think of Annie Leibovitz and you wouldn't be wrong. But for Pete Wright, almost all of us portrait photographers need to tip our hat to Mr. Hurrell who was a pioneer in cinematic portraits.

Yet, Pete Wright has his own spin on the genre of cinematic portraits. He essentially wrote the book on the topic.

From Goodreads:

Pete Wright teaches you how to re-create mysterious, dark, and glamorous cinematic portraits reminiscent of those taken of 1920s’ and 1930s’ stars and starlets. The book contains 60 discrete sections which contain 60 of Wright’s most impressive, nostalgic black & white portraits, along with some alternate poses and lighting diagrams. In each section, the author details the steps taken to create the final portrait.

The Interview About Cinematic Portraits

When I found out that he was going to be presenting a workshop for CTPPA members on June 22nd, we hastily made arrangements to speak about cinematic portraits, his connection to Canon and how he is now on the road for most of the year bringing photographers full circle – teaching them about capture, processing and printing their artwork.

It's quite a mission and I applaud him and Canon for it. If you are in or near Connecticut on June 22nd and June 23rd, register for the workshop and do NOT miss this opportunity to learn from a master craftsman.

Pete Wright's Portfolio

Please visit Pete Wright's website for even more examples of his cinematic portraits. Here is a small sample for your viewing pleasure!

Register For the CTPPA Workshop

On June 22nd and June 23rd, you can learn the skills to create your own version of cinematic portraits. But you must register today!

In addition to Canon's sponsorship of Pete's presentation over the two days, we have to thank Elinchrom for making their studio strobe equipment available to participants.

If you have any questions for Pete Wright about cinematic portraits, please comment below.

With the season turning from spring to summer, I'll bet you have a lot of family portrait sessions scheduled. But the one thing that I was nervous about as I was getting started in family photography was how to pose my clients.

One photographer and teacher who helped me in that regard is Laura Siebert. I initially bought her excellent workbooks, but when she made plans to be in Connecticut to conduct a live workshop, I signed up right away.

Given the timing, I figured it was appropriate to interview Laura about her background in family photography, her workbooks and her workshops.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you based, how did you get your start in family portraits? Why is it important for you to photograph?

I started my business in 2005. I had begun hand painting black and white portraits as a small side business while I was a nurse. I had been photographing my own child with a film camera to have portraits to practice on and gradually my hand coloring clients began requesting me to also photograph their children for their hand colored portraits.  By September of 2005, I had switched entirely over to portrait photography with only an occasional hand painting commission. I am currently based in Denver, CO but maintain about a 50/50 client base in Denver and St. Louis, MO where I started my business.

1) As a family portrait photographer what challenges you the most and what techniques do you use to overcome them?

Family portrait photography used to scare me. A LOT! I have always been comfortable with kids, transitioning into photography from a pediatric ICU nurse. But I used to actually refer out that proverbial “family photo”.  I think the most challenging thing for me is the grumpy dads or the frazzled moms. I overcome both by explaining in a pre-session consultation and also at the beginning of the session that we are here to have FUN and it will be quick and painless. By getting the full family images out of the way first, it reassures mom that we have THE shot that she was most stressed about. I then move on to dad and kids so that dad is finished quickly.

2) What is it about photographing families jazzes you the most?

I think it's really, really awesome when you can get the whole family together and interacting with each other for an evening. No texting, no sport practices or conference calls. Just THEM. Just them actually being with each other and having fun. I enjoy capturing these interactions and knowing that when they look at the photos, it will bring back actual memories of this evening of family time.

3) What tools do you typically gravitate to the most when photographing families?

I use Canon 5d Mark 3 with an L85 1.2 about 80% of the time. With Canon 70-200mm and Canon 24-70mm making up the other 20%. I use reflectors occasionally indoors but not outdoors. Mostly I like to keep it as simple as possible by finding the correct light to begin with. 

4) Tell us about the books you have written. Get Real and Get Real 2 – what is your intent with both of them?

When I was about 2 years into my business, I realized that I couldn't be afraid of family images if I wanted to stay viable as a business. I can't say exactly how or when it dawned on me except for that one Fall busy season, something just clicked and I started treating every family session with a formula of game playing. I found that by making everything a game and having a pattern/plan for every session helped me be more confident. It also resulted in much more natural smiles and allowed for many more beautiful “in between moments” to be captured.

Over the past 9 years, I've really perfected this concept and wanted to share the method with other photographers. Get Real teaches how to approach a family session from pre-session forward that allows everyone to be relaxed and have a lot of fun at their session by playing my proven games. My style of “posing” is guided but loose. I teach photographers some good base poses to start your clients in before playing games that are time tested to result in amazing, connected family portraits.

Get Real has all of that information: pre-session client education, how clothing can make or break a session and how to communicate that to your clients, base poses and lots of games. It also has a section on difficult situations and how to overcome them.  Get Real 2 is a supplement containing 27 more games that I've come up with and been using at family sessions since publishing Get Real.

5) After Get Real was launched, what kind of a response did you receive? What were photographers saying to you?

Get Real was an instant hit, especially with seasoned photographers who were looking to really take the emotion in their family work to a new level. There aren't a lot of educational materials out there for established, experienced photographers and they have been so verbal in their appreciation. From newer photographers, I am told over and over how they now look forward to family sessions rather than being afraid. I also get “love letters” about how this method has finally allowed photographers to photograph their OWN children and husbands without resistance and with fabulous results.

6) In their essence, what do your workbooks Get Real and Get Real 2 achieve?

If I were to sum them up as a pair: Learn the systematic, reproducible “secret formula” to family sessions that results in truly connected, emotional portraits that leave everyone feeling happy, refreshed and willing to come back year after year!

7) Why are games so much more successful than “posing” people?

I think people get really nervous and self-conscious when they think they are supposed to “smile”. Or they think THEY have to spontaneously do cute things with their kids. They feel put-on-the-spot. When you make the whole session a series of games, the clients can relax and let you run the show because they can feel that they are being adorable and photogenic while they play your games.

8) When a photographer starts to learn from these workbooks (workshops in a book, essentially right?) what strategy do you suggest works best?

Yes, I've been teaching workshops since about 2008. And all of the information I cover in my 2 day workshop is contained in the 4-book set. I decided to break the books into smaller, digestible bits for those people who can't attend a workshop or for those who may only be interested in one or two aspects of the workshop. I think the strategy really depends on where the photographer is in his/her journey. Do they really understand their camera and it's settings? If not, they should start there (my workbooks and workshops are based on the premise that the photographer understands camera exposure and settings). The next question should be if they understand light in it's most basic form. Seeing where it's coming from, whether it's harsh or soft, whether it's drastic or feathered, etc.

If they don't feel like their images have consistent lighting, then Lighten Up would be a great place to start for outdoor portrait photographers. Lighten Up also covers my editing process in detail. Two of the things I'm most often complimented on are the emotions in my portraits (Get Real & Get Real 2) and consistent, natural, even skin tones (covered in Lighten Up).

For photographers who live in areas where shooting indoors for some or most of the year is necessary, I recommend Step Inside. It contains information on utilizing natural light inside client homes (or a natural light studio) including intimate, small space games and posing, lighting and post processing.

9) How is the Get Real series different from your other book, Lighten Up and Step Inside?

I think the Get Real series is more practical information that anyone can utilize at any skill level. It's the human side of photography. Lighten Up and Step Inside dig more deeply into the technical side of things with lighting and post-processing.

10) Your workshops on location are just as popular as your books. When are you coming back to the Northeast?

That's a great question! I was in Connecticut in 2014 and New Jersey in 2013. I really enjoyed both locations. My workshop schedule is really dependent on my family schedule and whether I can “get away”. I don't have any workshops planned at this time (subject to change at any time).

11) Using the techniques in your Get Real books, what has been the client response to the games you prescribe for photographers?

They love them! I know I keep harping on this, but … especially dads! Here is a quote from an actual dad client:

“There is almost nothing that I can think of that I'd rather not do than family portraits. But I was pleasantly surprised that Laura made the session fun, easy and best of all-fast!  When we saw the photographs, it was so incredibly worth it.” – John from St Louis who, in full disclosure, was bribed by his wife to provide feedback for me. He was not told WHAT to say though. Ha!

Kids also really love the games. Believe it or not, the tweens and teens are some of my biggest fans. I think because I make them ALL feel silly and let loose, they don't feel self-conscious. It's important for the photographer to be silly too and laugh along with them.

Here is a quote from a mom about her tween/teen trio: “I'll never forget the first time I took them to meet Laura for pictures. I was stressed, yelling, not a great start… They were dreading it. After pictures we got in the car to leave and one of the kids said, ‘That was really fun!' in a surprised voice. The other two chimed in in agreement. They never worry about photos now. They always turn out great and it's never stressful. ~Kerri

12) In your opinion, why are family portraits important?

Oh gosh, why AREN'T they? Yes, we have a million and one ways to “document” our lives now. Snapchat and Instagram and Youtube and … But professional portraiture is still the best way to capture the whole family for generations to come. Having professionally printed and framed portraits in a home sends a message to the children that “Our family is important. We take time out of our lives to remember who we are TODAY as a family, because we are never promised tomorrow and because we will always be changing.”  

There is a wonderful song by Johannes Stankowski that sums up my feelings about this in a couple sentences: “The years are flashing by and everything will change. But way down deep inside, we all just stay the same. Old memories come alive and then we know.” Video of the song below for your listening pleasure!

Workshops In A Book

Interested in buying Laura's “workshops in a book”? Click this link or click on the graphic below! Thank you!