Suzette Allen and her husband Jon Yoshinaga are busy photographers based in Sacramento, California. While the west coast is home, the duo are on the road several months out of the year photographing clients across the country and teaching photographers new techniques that enhance client's portrait experiences well beyond the session.

Thanks to Panasonic Lumix cameras and Bay Photo Lab, Suzette and Jon, are now offering something super special to their clients.

Hybrid Imaging – the use of video, still pictures and audio – isn't new. It's been attempted before. But not like how Suzette and Jon approach it. It would seem that technology had to grow up a bit first. Aren't you glad you are a photographer in 2016?

The Interview

Listen to our conversation below to find out more about Live Portraits:

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Learn about Talking Business Cards.

Here are the tools Suzette and Jon use to create Live Portraits.

Suzette Allen & Jon Yoshinaga Present At CTPPA

Register here for Suzette Allen's CTPPA workshop on May 17th. Scheduled from 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM, the workshop will be held at the Radisson Hotel located at 100 Berlin Road, Cromwell, Connecticut.

This event is sponsored by Bay Photo and Panasonic LumixG

More On Hybrid Imaging & Live Portraits

Still curious to know more about hybrid imaging? Watch this quick little intro Suzette Allen has put together for you:

Examples Of Suzette Allen & Jon Yoshinaga's Work

Well, will you embrace hybrid imaging and create Live Portraits for your clients?

Comment below and again, don't forget to register for the CTPPA workshop if you are within driving distance of the venue.

Full confession, my friends … I am obsessed with Marie Masse's website, Fearless & Framed. If you ever considered documenting reality for yourself or for your photography clients, you need to check out Marie's blog posts.

Challenges Of Documenting Reality

Highly produced portrait sessions are in vogue right now, so the challenge becomes convincing clients to sign up for a documentary session. Marie says, “The point is that somewhere, we have started to neglect taking photos that document our lives, our personality, and our connections.”

We are going to quickly evolve into a society that produces “cute” pictures that simply don't have any soul. Marie isn't advocating for the complete omission of selfies or the occasional “camera aware” portrait. She (and I wholly agree with her) is calling for more balance.

Marie double dog dares photographers to commit to creating a list of possible documentary opportunities. And if clients are still reluctant to work with you, Marie has a free PDF that outlines four easy ways to increase client demand. Here is an alternate link to the same free resource.

Fearless & Framed

Marie Masse describes her website in these words:

Fearless and Framed was built out of a vision far different than your average, trendy photography sessions. We wanted to create a place where developing and professional photographers can be freed of any rules that may be in their head about how a photo session should be.

Fearless and Framed is about leaving the props and backdrops at home. We document life and yield photos that merit tears in a mom’s eyes, warmth in a bride’s heart, and become a tangible piece of someone’s history forever to be shared.

Click the link below to receive Marie Masse's 29 page ebook, 7 Day Storyteller’s Challenge, totally free of charge.

What's in it, you are wondering? Well here you go:

1. Get off Order-Taker Mode
2. Shooting Details: Object + Human Details
3. My shooting techniques (getting clients to relax too)
4. Energizing the story through editing
5. Evaluating Your Story
6. The #1 Thing You Need in Growing into a Business
7. Getting Your Marketing Moxie

Click Here to grab the 7 Day Storyteller's Challenge ebook

Portfolio Of Documentary Photography

Shop At Fearless & Framed

The other thing that I absolutely loved about Marie's website were exactly the right resources I was looking for. I pretty much bought everything in the store! See a screenshot of my cart before I checked out.

Use this special code which is valid until July 31, 2016 – tiffinbox15 to get 15% off her store.

Here are the resources I personally bought:

Client Guide Template For Documentary Photographers
Session Sparks – Photo Session Ideas Ebook
Goodbye, Posing Guide
Family History Photo Sessions
Client Attractor Toolkit

Which ones will you need for your documentary portrait photography business?

Ben Hartley leads a wedding photography business at Style and Story Creative and is a business coach and podcaster on his site Six Figure Photography.

Safe to say, Ben knows a thing or two about branding; what works, and, what does not work. To Ben, branding supersedes pricing and even location. You see, Ben and his companies are located in Columbus, Ohio. It's a wonderful city, no doubt, but it isn't what one would consider a mecca for the latest fashion trends or even photography. Yet, Ben and his colleagues at Style and Story Creative have established a very legible mark in the landscape as the top wedding photography company in the area.

While all of that can and should be attributed to hard work, it was also a very strategic branding move on Ben's part to set himself and his company apart from the competition. That in a nutshell what branding is all about.

Branding Mistakes

While it's easy to concern yourself with marketing collateral – logos, business cards, promotional flyers, etc. – branding comes down to how your customers perceive you. In some respect, it is what they say you are that defines your brand, not how you define it for yourself.

Ben and I had a lively discussion on the topic and of course addressed the five common branding mistakes photographers make. Give this interview a listen now:

This is just speculation, but I think within the next ten years the photography industry for the middle to low end photographer is going to collapse. – Ben Hartley

Unpacking Your Branding Mistakes

1) You have a crappy headshot – why is it important to have a fantastic headshot or business portraits, and why it should be the best portrait on your site?

2) Your copy or your words on the website don't reflect who you are and way you use them in your emails or contracts is hurting you

3) You are your own graphic designer – be a photographer first and foremost and leave the graphic designing to a professional please

4) You don't know how to handle client conflict – diffusing issues with clients gracefully and tactfully – is it a win-win at the end?

5) You don't niche down – you are a generalist, a Jack-of-all-trades!

The Free Webinar

If you enjoyed the interview above and want to know more about each of the branding mistakes you could be making, click on the graphic or links below to sign up for the ShootDotEdit hosted FREE webinar that Ben Hartley will be leading on branding mistakes photographers make all the time.

Ben will be leading a free webinar on Wednesday April 6th with ShootDotEdit. The title of the webinar is 5 Branding Mistakes You Know You're Making.

Check out the work Ben and his colleagues at Style and Story Creative have produced for their clients:

Register now for the FREE ShootDotEdit webinar that Ben Hartley will be presenting on April 6, 2016.

Heidi Hope Guerard is a photographer based in Cranston, Rhode Island, specializing in natural light, newborn sessions. In addition to running a busy studio, Heidi makes time to host workshops for photographers also interested in newborn and infant portrait photography.

Professional photographer and studio owner Heidi Guerard of Heidi Hope Photography is internationally recognized for her colorful, soft and whimsical portrait photography. Often referred to as a “baby whisperer”, Heidi’s most celebrated work is creating artistic portraits of babies from their first days of life through their first days of school.

Heidi will be presenting at Inspire Photo Retreats this year. Her topic is The Business of Baby and Children Portraits.

We sat down to briefly talk about her presentation this year and also a little bit about her background in the arts.

We talked about:

– Her foundation in the arts. She has a BFA in Art Education
– How she first learned the skills to teach photography technique
– How she weaves the importance of the business with the art of photography
– How work and life can be in sync with each other
– Why outsourcing can help you focus on your strengths and make you stand out
– What she put in her proposal to Inspire that got it accepted
– Looking at the photography industry and what is changing
– Why your brand and business matters more than ever in a crowded market

Here is a small sample of Heidi's portfolio. For more, please visit her website.

Have you registered for Inspire Photo Retreats? It's right around the corner – like next week! I am really looking forward to being there and learning from people like Heidi.

Bryan Caporicci is clear about who he is. Yes, he is a wedding and portrait photographer. But he is also a businessman. And with that comes the clarity that to run an efficient business, one must have streamlined workflows that gets the job done, using the least amount of resources while the output remains consistently high.

Not only does Bryan run an active and successful business, he is also the brains behind Sprouting Photographer (a blog, I worship) and Sprout Studio, a newly launched web application for photographers to run their businesses more efficiently and productively.

Teaming up with ShootDotEdit, Bryan is offering a free webinar on December 16th on this very topic. Register for “10 Must-Know Business Workflow Hacks Webinar” now.

I spoke with Bryan a couple of weeks back about this webinar and teased out of him one or two of these hacks for you. Take a listen and if you have any questions, list them out in the comments section.

If you have a hack or two you would recommend, mention those too below! Join Bryan and I as we collectively redefine “busy” and run photography businesses like pros.