The headline isn't a mistake and it's not hyperbole either. Eileen and Phillip Blume, wedding and portrait photographers based in Athens, Georgia will teach you to make $1500 per hour shooting mini-sessions. Indeed, that's what they do whenever they announce their portrait sessions.

At Shutterfest 2015, a conference produced by Sal Cincotta in St. Louis, they presented a two-part seminar called “Maximizing mini sessions: Make $1500 per hour.” The room was packed with photographers, all eager to learn their secrets. Even though I couldn't find a seat, I stood for nearly two hours and took copious notes. It was one of the top presentation at Shuttefest and I do hope they are asked to present again.

UPDATE: Now through July 11th, The Blume's are making their Shutterfest presentation available for download … for FREE!

Who doesn't want to make $1500 per hour? Right? Well, Eileen and Phillip didn't hold anything back. They walked us through all their steps, one-by-one that guarantees them this high rate of return for their time. Soon after their presentation, I made a bee-line to them and asked if I could interview them about their successes. They both readily agreed to connect with me after the conference and true to their word, we set up a time to conduct a short interview.

In this short chat, we talk about how they structure their mini-sessions and dive deep into how and why they decided to offer mini-sessions in their community. Give this a listen!

One of the things they offered for sale at Shutterfest was a CD called “Maximizing Mini Sessions: The Complete Kit.” Included in the kit is a beautifully designed 30-page PDF that outlines the exact steps they take every time they launch a mini-session in their neighborhood. You'll also find a mini-session contract and a document to help you streamline ordering appointments. The Blumes also have thoughtfully provided a folder of customizable design templates that you can use to announce or advertise your own mini-session. I got the Shutterfest show special of $80, for this wonderful resource. At even its full price, I would say this is a bargain because it will save you time and get you on your way to setting up your first mini-session.

While this post is really about the Blumes and the mini-sessions they offer, check out their fabulous wedding photography:

Do you want to learn about how The Blumes inspire their portrait clients to go from stiff poses to fun, interactive ones? Get their free e-book, “From Posed to Playful” now! Just sign up for their newsletter and they'll hook you up!

Do you offer mini-sessions? Are you profitable? Do you make $1500 per hour as well? Would you like to? Am I kidding … of course you do! Click the graphic below if you are interested in buying Maximizing Mini-Sessions: The Complete Kit.

Mary & Justin Marantz are wedding photographers based in New Haven, Connecticut with clients who span the globe. They are also active educators and mentors to many photographers.

Skip Cohen loves to refer to their gorgeous website and work, so I am going to send you there to take a quick peek. When you come back, do me a favor and comment below, a word or two that best describes their website. I am curious to know what you came up with.

To say the Marantz are busy would be an understatement. I am not quite sure how they are able to do it all – photographing weddings, running a successful business, blogging on three separate websites, teach sold-out workshops and travel to some of the most amazing destinations.

The short answer to my own question: they've worked for it.

Curious to know where they blog? Here you go:

Well Groomed Groom
The Black Tie Bride
Justin & Mary Blog

Thanks to ShootDotEdit, Justin and Mary Marantz will present a FREE webinar on May 27th on how photographers like you can create stand-out images in the toughest of situations just like them. Register for the webinar here.

Given that they are sort of neighbors (we live about an hour away from each other, so “neighbors” may be a bit of stretch), I invited them to chat about their business, how and why they love shooting in tough situations and what kinds of solutions they bring with them when they are photographing weddings across the country.

Curious to know more about their business marketing guide and lighting guide? Visit their shop now.

I asked nicely and Mary & Justin gladly offered to give away their new Lighting Guide to one Tiffinbox fan. Will that be you? Do you want to win it? Go here for the Lighting Guide giveaway.

If you don't want to wait that long, and want to buy it, do so before the price bumps back up to $179! Right now you can download it for $129. [Not an affiliate link]

I am typically skeptical of sequels, especially with summer blockbusters looming ahead. But there is one sequel that I feel truly hits the mark and that's Mahesh Bhat's book, Unsung – Extraordinary Lives. Learn more about Unsung here.

Unsung was started by Mahesh Bhat in 2004 and it eventually became a book in 2007. Back in April 2008, I wrote a short review to the first Unsung book.

The first book chronicled the lives of nine unsung heroes from all over India. It sold 6500 books and it raised $150,000 towards the various projects these heroes were spearheading.

Mahesh has given a 100 presentations about the original Unsung project. It wasn't until he was approached by Dinesh Khanna, a photographer based in Delhi (and Dinesh was interviewed on Tiffinbox too), about doing a second book that Mahesh started to seriously consider it. But of course, a project like Unsung isn't inexpensive to do. An admirer of the Unsung book stepped up and provided Mahesh with two checks to fund the day-to-day production of the book. This included paying photographers a living wage and travel expenses that simply covered their costs.

Mahesh and I spoke about this book sequel and why it is important for him to produce it. Listen to our conversation and look at some of the photographs the photographers have submitted towards this fascinating book about ordinary Indians doing extraordinary lives.

Out of the eight heroes featured in the book, Mahesh and I talk about Niketu Iralu, a peacemaker from Nagaland, India and Narayana Reddy, an organic farmer in Bangalore who is making a tremendous impact on the food production in his community. To look at these gentlemen, you are likely to mistake them for regular old joe's (or the Indian equivalent of it). But through photographs and text we come to understand how their passion to make the lives of their fellow human beings drives them into making their ideas happen.

Mahesh is looking to crowd-fund the printing of the book. He hopes to raise $6000 to cover the cost. If you can help, do so by going here now.

“Whether you call it hustle, get up and go or grit, I noticed some of your reaction times seemed delayed. The athleticism and “eye of the tiger” hunger felt like it was missing.”

Facing The Truth

Those honest, heart-felt words came from a dear friend with whom I had photographed a couple of weddings. Though I was the one who had initiated the correspondence and asked him for feedback, he was still right to call me out. Isn't it refreshing that a critique isn't sugar-coated?

The truth stung for about 15 minutes. Then I got sideswiped by a blood test that showed that I was borderline diabetic. Yes, it runs in the family and if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you also know that I love to eat vegetarian food. A lot of it. I was so sure that I could evade the disease until I was 60 years old. You know, diabetes … “it's an old-person's disease,” I thought to myself.

The doctor gave me some choices, thankfully nothing involved taking medications on a daily basis (it might come to that at some point, though). He said I had to lose some weight. I was a whopping 190 lbs. To put things into perspective, I am only 5'8 1/2″ tall. Yes, I was over weight by some 30 lbs. That was my wake up call, back in July 2014. While the progress has been slow, I am proud to tell you that I have lost 15 lbs. So, I am half-way there!

First Steps

Here's how I did it. First, I want to thank my wife for supporting me and insisting that I hit the gym. In December while the rest of the country was partying and cutting into Christmas cakes, I committed myself to going to the gym at least every other day. At the gym, I walked initially at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour. In the first few months, I couldn't walk/run for more than 20 minutes. I felt tired and exhausted, but I kept at it. I would often come home feeling good about the walk/run. I had to split it up at this point because I really couldn't run the entire time.

At home, I limited what I ate. I cut my portions down and I began the day with a green juice. Thanks to Joe Cross of Reboot with Joe and his movies Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, for the initial inspiration.

My doctor told me that I had to pretty much quit eating breads and pastas. Being a vegetarian that just threw me for a loop. While I don't eat starchy Italian food everyday, I do enjoy my peanut-butter & honey with bananas sandwich. Instead of munching down two of those sandwiches, I have limited to just one, if that. Sometimes there is so much more green juice left over from breakfast time, that I end up finishing up my second glass of green juice for my lunch!

Anyway, I am making the time to eat right, sleep right and workout right. I try and avoid sitting at my computer all day long. I drink copious amounts of water, green and black tea and keep hydrated even on a cool day.

So, those were the symptoms and the solution to a problem that I am sure I am not the only one facing. I wanted to dig deeper into why all of this was happening to me.

Unwinding For Photographers

I suspect stress was causing me to over eat. And I was clearly reaching out for things that had no business being in my body – think, sugary cereal snacks right before I went to bed or granola bars that had more sugar and fat in them that would make a dietician blush. So, while I started to eat the ‘right' foods and I cut down my portions, I still had to deal with daily stress.

We all have that beyond the stress of running a business, right? Kids not well, so you have to run them to the doctor in the middle of the day. Or, the washer and dryer needs servicing and you are there waiting for the repair technician to come home and he is 45 minutes late. Yeah, we have all those little dramas taking place in our lives too.

One thing I have turned to is meditation. It is almost never longer than 10 minutes at this time, but I shut every electronic device except for my iPhone off and sit quietly for about 10 minutes, breathing in and breathing out. Just listening to my own breath is a good reminder of why I am on this planet. Why don't you give it a shot right now. Close your eyes and just breathe in, and breathe out slowly and deliberately.

One reason I have my iPhone still on is because I switch between Headspace and Buddhify, both good applications for meditation. I won't go into greater detail about both of them here, but will just say that if you don't know how to meditate or feel like you don't have the time, these apps will solve those problems for you quickly.

Being Indian, I am embarrassed to say that I know almost nothing about yoga. But if you want to unwind there is nothing better than to stretch your own body. There are yoga centers all over the place now, so that shouldn't be so difficult to find. However, if you are going to be more comfortable practicing yoga at home, do consider Vanessa Joy's course on CreativeLive.

The Healthy Photographer

Sofia Negron is a New York City based photographer who just recently launched The Healthy Photographer. It is a blog for photographers that guides them through fitness, mindfulness, and nutrition. We had an opportunity to speak about her new initiative.

About three years ago, I had to go through shoulder surgery. I had what was called a “labrum tear” and it was due to carrying heavy cameras, lenses or camera bags on my shoulder for 10 to 18 hours a day during weddings. If you are a wedding photographer, you know what I am talking about.

This blog post on Sofia's site talks all about avoiding shoulder injury. It is well worth your time to check it out!

A Different Perspective

Ramit Batra is a destination wedding photographer based out of India, and has photographed weddings worldwide. A mechanical engineer by education, Ramit quit his senior management job profile in 2008, to become a Wedding photographer. Having documented more than 250 weddings, Ramit is one of the most sought after destination wedding photographers in South Asia.

Almost a year or two back, Ramit and I spoke about how health affects photographers and how we are often loathe to take care of our own bodies. He was so enthusiastic about writing a guest blog post for Tiffinbox, that I have decided to publish it below. Give it a read:

Enough has been said about photography gear. But the most important gear that the photographers neglect, is their body. Like Charlie in ‘Two and a Half Men' I am sure I heard most of you raising a hand and saying ‘Guilty' in a not-so-proud way. And if you did, read on.

1. Shooting Too much

If you are a busy photographer & more of a one man (or woman) show, you have been neglecting sleep, activity, games & basically all things healthy, to run a profitable business. You cannot time when or what you shoot or predict a possible date for a shoot. But you can choose to say ‘No' when loaded with work.

I learned the importance of this little word last year. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of declining a project. Just because you have one day at leisure or an evening free, doesn't mean you cramp yourself up with another little shoot, like an engagement session.

Everyone needs time to recover after 3-4 days of continuous shooting, especially Big fat Indian Weddings. And although you might have your own threshold of working-without-taking-a-break, I usually add a 75% buffer to the time I spent shooting; to help me get back to normal. So for a four day shoot, I would put a three-day gap and block the entire seven days.

2. Your Body

Your body is the most important gear that you can have. And to carry out a brilliant shoot, it is necessary that your fitness levels are high!
I often get students, assistants and associate photographers complaining of pain in the wrist/forearm/ankle/heel. If you get that too – you need to check these:

a. Pain in the Wrist and Forearm = You are not holding the camera properly.

Blackrapid straps have been a lifesaver, now I don't have to carry the camera around my neck all the time (thank you, Blackrapid!). But a very minor downside to that is the grip. Because you bolt your camera at the bottom, you cannot use your left hand to ‘shelf' the camera properly. which means, your right hand grip is doing the hold, click and change of settings, all at the same time.

The solution: Make sure you put in enough support with your left hand, cupping the lens, so much so that your right hand is free of any weight, and is only used to control the camera.

b. Pain in the Heel and Ankle = You are not squatting/kneeling properly.

If you have shot an Indian wedding, you know where all the details are during the ceremonies. Right on the floor. And you will end up squatting and bending for a picture and getting up the next instance. The posture here is key. A lot of people (including me) get down on one foot and one knee. And when you get up, you are putting ALL your body weight on the ball of the foot, whose knee was touching the ground.

The solution : Kneel, putting both knees down for support. And when you stand, do not take a push from the foot behind you, always the foot in front of you. Or better still, squat with both feet put on the ground (not a very complimenting pose – beware) – but very stable & safe.

3. Nutrition & Hydration

Six to 12 hours of photography means – you are on your feet most of the time, you are working hard, carrying weights and burning about 100-125 calories per hour. Broadly that means you use up about 800-1200 calories on a wedding day, shooting! Not only do you need energy, but water and salt too!

Nutrition bars are great, but they are mostly high in protein, and not ideal to pump you with energy instantly. Energy drinks are great too, but they come with a distinct hangover, making one grumpy after 2-3 hours. I am a big fan of Webber (and RBR F1 Team) but the race lasts for 1-2 hours only, and so does the positive effects of the energy drink.

I generally keep nutrition bars and energy drinks for towards the last 1-2 hours of the shoot. When you start, you need a lot of Water, salts and minerals, carbs and even sugar. Fruit juices and sandwiches are great for the first 3-4 hours, soda, coffee and a protein rich meal will do you good mid-way. And yes, more water.

4. Exercise

Each photographer has his own favorites, and a lot of photographers whom I interact with regularly would agree on these basics:

a. Before a shoot

– Always stretch before a shoot. The most important stretches are – Back Stretch, Hamstring Stretch, Shoulder Stretch, Tricep Stretch, Hip-flexor stretch.*

– Do a few pushups, Lunges & Sit-ups *** (25% of 1 working set). For example, on a regular day, if you can do 3 sets of 20 push ups, do 5-6 before leaving.

Just so much so that your body knows that it is going to be subjected to some kind of exercise next. It takes about 5-10mins to follow this process, but if you follow this on a regular basis, you will feel a lot more energetic at the shoots.

b. On non-shoot days

– Work out, play some sport, do some activity for at least 5 hours/week. Running & Swimming can help you gain major stamina. And you don't need to be at your Home destination for a run or a swim, so no excuses for that too!

5. Gear

Ah, I know I am contradicting my very first statement. But one must remember camera support gear is evolving at keeping our comfort in mind, and it is foolish to not invest in these.

I use and recommend the biggest possible cabin-baggage sized ThinkTank rolling bags instead of backpacks for all shoots – this keeps your shoulders free from any weights when you are traveling. I also use BlackRapid double straps to hang two cameras, rather than having a spare lens on a belt – which makes sure the weight on your shoulders is balanced, without putting unnecessary stress on your back. I also use shoulder sling straps rather than hand grips – to make sure I am not holding the camera when I am not shooting.

Keeping Healthy & Following a good routine goes a long way in maintaining a great photography business. Less downtime. More power to you!

(* Please consult your personal trainer/doctor before doing this. Please follow necessary precautions while performing exercises. If you don't know what these are and how they must be done, please do NOT experiment by looking at YouTube videos, but learn from a trained professional at your local gym)

Tracking Fitness, Nutrition & Sleep

Now, it's not just important to actually set aside a time to workout, do yoga, or meditate, but you must have a way of tracking all of that to see if the work you put into it creates the positive results you hope to achieve.

I've already mentioned a couple of apps above that will help you meditate, but thanks to wearable devices like Fitbit, Jawbone and even the Apple Watch, wearable devices are on the upswing. I have vied for a Fitbit Charge HR for a long time, but my friend and fellow photographer Mark Higgins swears by the Polar Flow. Beyond just exercise and meditation, these devices and their online or smart phone apps can also track what you eat.

As an added bonus, if you read all of this and you are still with me, check out the Official Couch to 5k app. Feeling inspired and want to make changes? My recommendation (and I am not a doctor obviously) is to make incremental changes every day. Drastic changes almost never stick around and you are liable to fall off of the wagon.

Does this blog post resonate with you? If it does or this entire post is something you have been pondering, please leave a comment and start a dialogue with other photographers. Do you work out, do you practice yoga or meditation, are you particular about your diet? Do you consider yourself a healthy photographer? Tell us!

Feel free to share this post with your photographer friends now. We are in this together!

The number of social media tools appears to be growing each week, doesn't it? If you are just getting started in your photography business, you may be feeling totally overwhelmed like I do on some days. Where is the time to curate content and engage with prospective clients online? And is the ROI, or return on your investment (again, time), justified?

I guess what I am asking you is this: Are you booking paying clients through social media? If not, listen up.

The last time Colorado wedding photographer Jason Grubb stopped by at Tiffinbox we chatted about how photographers can use Instagram. Did you get a chance to take a look at that post? Did you register and listen to Jason's suggestions on using Instagram?

This time around, Jason and I talk about using Pinterest. If your target clients include women, sit up and listen to what Jason has to say about using Pinterest. While his perspective is from that of a wedding professional, as a family portrait photographer in Connecticut, I learned a few things too.

Jason is leading another free webinar, on using Pinterest, thanks to ShootDotEdit.com. Register here today. The webinar is on May 6th. If you have enjoyed the ShootDotEdit webinars, give my friends there a shout-out will ya?

[Tweet “Check out this new @shootdotedit webinar on Pinterest marketing for photographers …”]

So, what social media platforms are you on right now? Which ones appear to be working? Comment below!