Mizu Backdrops

As a photojournalist and much later a family portrait photographer, I rarely considered using backdrops in my photography. Backdrops would have simply got in the way of what I was producing for my clients.

Recently, however, I've a new-found interest in studio photography and want to go well beyond the existing lavender walls in my home studio. As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a backdrop company called Mizu.

Mizu's brand promise is this:

“Presenting MIZU Backdrops, handcrafted to perfection. Each drop is painted by seasoned artists with high quality materials for a timeless touch that your pictures deserve.”

Ordering A Mizu Backdrop

The Mizu bacdrop website is elegantly designed and easy to navigate. The sample images on the site are stunning and inviting. What caught my eye was however the fact that Mizu offers custom backdrops. Not having backdrops before, I don't know how many other backdrop companies offer that to their customers, but the fact that I could a request a specific tone and have that delivered really intrigued and excited me.

So, as I said, my home studio has lavender colored walls. When I repaint it, it will be a neutral gray, I promise. But until then, I'll be using my Mizu backdrop in my studio because it was neutral gray that I requested when I placed my custom order.

I was intrigued by Mizu's process and reached out to the owner and asked if I could see what was involved in making a custom backdrop. A few days later, I received a video and a Dropbox full of images of my canvas being produced!

The Backdrop Details

One has three choices for backdrop dimensions: 5'x7′, 7'x10 and 10'x15′. Given the dimensions of my basement home studio, I ordered a Mizu backdrop in the 5'x7′ dimension. My cost was just $100! While the payment was originally in Indian rupees, Mizu now accepts Paypal payments in US dollars.

The canvas is sourced from Camlin and is made of a linen canvas fabric. The backrop I received, a small, weighs between 6-8 pounds. The backdrop is made and shipped from Chennai, India, via FedEx and I was very surprised that it arrived here in the US within days of ordering it.

While I ordered a custom backdrop, you may want something out of their current inventory. At this writing, Mizu has nine different backdrops for sale. If I had a typical commercial studio, I would likely buy every one of them.

As Mizu was running a launch special when I ordered my custom item, I ordered a second backdrop from their inventory (Creative Charcoal). I have not had a chance at using this second backdrop yet, but here are some examples from a recent portrait session using the custom backdrop.

A Mini Review Of Mizu Backdrops

As much as I wanted to photograph a few friends indoors, in my basement studio, I chose to experiment a little by using the Mizu backdrop outdoors on my back deck. With a little more space to move around, I felt quite comfortable initially in setting up my backdrop.

A couple of A-clamps held the backdrop steady until a gust of wind took the whole set up crashing down. My backdrop did get crinkled a bit (as you can see from the portraits above) but one way to look at it is that it adds a little more character to the backdrop in the process.

So, one big lesson I have learned from setting this up outdoors is to invest in lots of sandbags.

The Mizu backdrops are my first backdrop, so I didn't know what to expect. The finish of the custom canvas was spot on to the color I sent them to emulate. I was thrilled to get just the color I was looking for. I was also happy with how quickly the order arrived. Lastly, the price surprised me the most. Making hand-made made backdrops is no easy task and it is labor-intensive. When I discovered these are produced in Chennai, India, it made a lot of sense. Labor costs are definitely lower than in Brooklyn, New York. But that they can produce something so beautiful at such an affordable price truly amazed me.

I invite you to compare Mizu backdrops with Oliphant, Gravity and PaintX.

Are you going to take up studio photography? Is studio photography “The Comeback Kid” as Rangefinder magazine suggests? If it is, and you are looking for a well-made, affordable custom backdrop for your studio, you should place Mizu backdrops on the top of your wish list.

Rajesh Setty knows you are smart. But he also know that you sometimes get stuck in business. He speaks from personal experience and he wants to help you get unstuck fast.

As a serial entrepreneur (see list below) and a book author based in the Bay Area, Rajesh encounters numerous examples of business owners initially enthusiastic about their project but who find themselves soon spinning their wheels.

Speaking with him recently, I know he feels passionate about helping people in trouble. His latest book, “Smart, But Stuck,” outlines the problems most business owners face, and what he believes can be solutions to get them out of their own way.

Give this interview a listen to see if you can glean any nuggets from it that will help you get unstuck too!

Rajesh is crowdfunding the book, “Smart, But Stuck“. Supporting this self-publishing process not only helps Rajesh get his important and timely advice into the world, it also inspires other authors to step up and contribute to the business dialogue that is often sorely missing in the marketplace of ideas.

Learn more about “Smart, But Stuck,” here. To contribute to Rajesh's crowd-funding campaign, please go here.

Here are some of the projects Rajesh has been involved in with over the years:

Witty Parrot
iCharts
Compassites
Jifflenow
ForesightPlus
Thoughtful Cards
Napkinsights

I hope you will step up and support the publication of Rajesh Setty's new book, “Smart, But Stuck” with me. The information and the steps outlined in the book could be priceless for your photography business. Isn't it time you invested in yourself?

G.E. Masana, a New York based wedding and portrait photographer has a boat-load of real-world experiences and advice on sales and marketing. If you are a wedding or portrait photographer, this post is for you.

I had the pleasure of speaking with G.E. Masana several months back about six specific strategies for wedding photography success:

The 6 Strategies For Wedding Photography Success

1. Be Strategy-Driven Rather Than Tactic-Driven
2. Strategy: Mean Something Significant To A Significant Number Of People, And For Which They'll Pay You Significantly More
3. Strategy: Responding To Inquiries – Stand Out From The Rest and Get Results
4. Strategy: Purpose Of The Phone Call Is To Set Up The Consult For Success
5: Strategy: “Just Get The Booking” and why
6: Strategy: Sales Without Pressure – Gently Guiding Your Prospective Clients To Sell Themselves On You

Mentoring & Courses

Click here for Mentoring, Coaching & Consulting Options

Maximum Wedding Album Profits contains business nuggets, aha! moments, insights and principles as well as a complete system for selling more wedding photos to place into your clients' wedding albums. A few booking strategies are thrown in for good measure.

Instead of a few hundred, you'll know how to set the stage to make thousands. I've averaged adding another up to $15,000 per wedding from regular every day couples with this system.

G.E.Masana's courses (yes, I bought these) are well-produced audio presentations that will help you move beyond the blocks you have:

How to Raise Prices, Increase Profits, Even When You Think You Can’t – Especially If You Think You Can’t

How To Turn Phone Inquiries Into Paying Clients

Other Resources

Listen to G.E. Masana's tips on sales or selling in Ben Hartley's Six Figure Photography podcast.

Buy the book: When They Say That, You Say This: For Wedding and Portrait Photographers – The Strategy for Handling Sales Objections

A Very Special, Time-Limited Offer

From G.E. Masana:

“So as you know, I'm playing with the idea of teaching wedding photographers my complete systems, strategies and tactics, which would cover everything from marketing to handling inquiries to getting bookings to after the wedding sales: the entire what to say, what to do and how to do it. No fluff and no cheer-leading, no theories, just solid info, everything 100% tested, proven and true.”

If you are interested in learning the strategies from booking to marketing your wedding photography clients, contact G.E.Masana right away. This offer is only for 5-10 wedding photographers, so you must act quickly.

Please include your name, location, how many weddings you do now and how many you want to do in the future, and how much money did you make photographing the weddings you say you have photographed.

If you enjoyed the interview and this post, would you please do me a favor and share it among your wedding photography friends please? Thank you!

Who Is ‘jetsonorama'?

Jetsonorama is Chip Thomas' public artist name. In addition to being a photographer, public artist and activist, he spends most of the time on the Navajo reservation in Arizona as a physician.

Today, as I scrolled through Facebook, I noticed a short documentary produced by KQUED Arts (see below) and I couldn't resist thinking about a few things.

The Commitment For Public Art

It is easy to be in awe of Chip Thomas' commitment when you take a look at Dr. Thomas' dual role of not only being a physician, but also a documentary photographer. What's our excuse for not finding a local cause, charity or organization where we too can give back to our community in our own special way: making art for them?

These murals aim to reflect love and appreciation of the rich history shared by the Navajo people back to Navajo people.

The Documentary

You Can Make It Happen

Dr. Chip Thomas is part of the Justseeds artists cooperative and manages The Painted Desert project. His GoFundMe page is very close to reaching its goal of raising $6000 to fund mural opportunities and youth arts education on the Navajo Nation.

Please donate liberally to make it possible for public artists like Chip Thomas and others to continue pursuing their life's mission.

What's Our Role As Photographers?

Assuming we aren't always in it for the money, do we use our skills in a way that makes a direct impact on other people? As a family portrait photographer in Connecticut, I would like to think that I am transforming the lives of children and their parents. But does what we do get measured and if so by whose standards?

Sound-off below in the comments. I am curious to hear your take on this subject. And, if you are working on a personal project, please do not hesitate to contact me. Ok?

“I began my journey worrying about equipment, web page, blog, client documentation, accounts … and left one of the most important (and ongoing) aspects to last – marketing.”

The finding and keeping of clients is such an art and a science, and yet so many photographers ignore it.

Any why?

If we’re honest, it’s because it’s hard. We want to do the easier things first and “play” business because getting people to pay you with their hard earned money is super intimidating.

But it doesn’t have to be because I’ve put together a list of the top six uncommon trends that are going to be huge for your photography business this year.

Uncommon Trend #1: Live Video

For the past few years, photographers have used social media to share their work (photos) and have seen a lot of success. While most people were just posting text, we found that photos got a lot more engagement and social media could be a huge asset to our business.

But, as engagement rates dropped and organic reach plummeted (especially on Facebook), social media lost a lot of its ability to drive business for photographers.

But that will turn around this year. If we look at how so many brands are leveraging live video to engage with their audience and get in front of new people, it’s no surprise that two-thirds of all internet traffic is streaming video.

Some studies suggest that 80% of consumers prefer watching a live video to reading a blog post with images.

And you can do it on almost every platform: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Periscope.

The best part is that those videos remain forever on the platform and can be repurposed in the future for blog posts, email autoresponders, social media posts, etc.

Uncommon Trend #2:Content Marketing

Video is just one type of content that you should be making for your ideal clients. If we agree to the idea that every photography business should be a media company, we need to start treating our content as an essential business aspect.

This means creating content that helps out ideal clients in every way including:

Video (live)
Video (edited)
Blog posts
Infographics
Audio (podcasts)
Messaging (Bonjoro)

For example, here’s a great guide that Michael Will put together of the top wedding vendors in his city. It’s a great way for him to spread the word about all of his friends and colleagues and also build a solid relationship with his ideal client (brides and grooms).

Uncommon Trend #3:Getting Featured

I’ve been pretty strong in arguing that more photographers need to write. It’s simply the easiest thing that you can do as a photographer to get more traffic from Google and build a deeper relationship with your audience.

If photos are proof you know what you’re doing with a camera, the words are what get people to pay for your services.

Getting featured on other websites can be difficult when it’s completely one-sided (“Please feature me! PLEASE!”), but what you can offer in return is to create some amazing content, using the above content marketing ideas.

By using search terms like “write for us” and “submit post” in Google, you can find a lot of opportunities to connect with other websites that would love to feature you and get you in front of their audiences. This is especially valuable if you’re just starting your photography business, too.

Uncommon Trend #4:Hyper-local Search Results

More and more people are using their mobile devices as their primary means of searching online and when they search for your services, Google is serving them “hyperlocal” search results.

This means that not only are they getting unique results based on the country and city they’re located in, but now they’re customizing results down to a one-block radius.

As most photographers get traffic to their website based on local search results, you need to make sure (at minimum), that you’ve set up a physical business location in Google (guide).

This also means that while you may not rank for a big keyword like “Chicago wedding photographer,” you may see an increase in website traffic if you have a physical address in the city.

For photographers like Evermark Studios, being located in Pittsburgh is great, but having a prime location on the most important street in the city (Penn Ave) is going to become more and more valuable in 2018.

Uncommon Trend #5:Client Personas and Journey Mapping

Most of the photographers that I’ve known have never considered creating client personas or a client journey map as a formal technique, yet they’ve done it informally hundreds of times.

Basically, along the journey of a person discovering you to become a client, they’re better served with different communications and experiences. A person who clicks a Facebook ad is at a very different trust level with you than an email subscriber that’s opted in to receive a custom wedding quote, right?

Smart Insights put together this really smart life-cycle map of all the potential touch points across different types of media. Look at what you’re currently doing? Where are the gaps in your marketing?

Uncommon Trend #6:Live Chat (Anything But Chatbots)

From live video, to content marketing, to chat, the trend in 2018 is going to be for personalized engagement.

With the rest of the marketing community clamoring about chatbots, I would argue that even though they are helping businesses grow now, we’re seeing the return of the “voice menu” when you call a big company.

I’m sure they were novel and helpful at first, but the thought of going through 10 menus just to talk to a person makes me want to scream.

So let’s skip over that horrible trend and look at the bigger picture. People want real-time communication which means any time we’re at a computer, we should offer it to them.

Photographers like Playa del Carmen-based Pixan Photography have already implemented these concepts and are seeing big results.

But if you want to get ahead of the game, check out Facebook’s chat feature they’ll beta-testing and align your Facebook presence with your website:

What's Next

If you really want to take advantage of one the big photography marketing trends this year, here’s what you need to keep an eye on:

Live Video
Content Marketing
Getting Featured
Hyperlocal searches
Client Personas and Journey Mapping
Live chat

Now that I’ve lifted back the curtain and showed you how to really grow your photography business in 2018, it’s time for you to pick one of these and test it out for yourself.

Let me know in the comments below what you’ll be working on this year (I read every one of them!)