Create Client Experiences

Brian Callaway, a destination wedding photographer based in Southern California, believes it is very important to create client experiences that are memorable. It's this mantra that has helped the business he shares with his wife, Allison, a worldwide success; naming them the top wedding photographers in the world!

Together with their fine artist’s eye, technical mastery and photojournalist’s gift for anticipation and timing, they are unmatched when it comes to creating the images and experience that is the story of your love and celebration.

Want to learn more about how to create client experiences that will ultimately also make you memorable? Brian and his wife routinely conduct workshops for photographers. If you live in or near India, you are in for a real treat. Brian is speaking at Silk Inspire 2017, in Goa, India, from October 6 through October 10, 2017. Now is the time to register for this event!

Interview With Brian Callaway

Just as I have interviewed Arjun Kartha and Jen Huang, I was thrilled to speak with Brian about his journey from comedic television actor to wedding photography. Check out this interview now:

The Same Portfolio

Register Now For Silk Inspire 2017

My friend Sephi Bergerson, who is producing this awesome wedding photography festival, tells me that he is pulling all the stops to make Silk Inspire an incredible learning and social experience for all of you. But to be a part of it, you have to register now for Silk Inspire and then get there.

If you are already in India and you are a wedding photographer, you must be a part of this event. In addition to the amazing speakers, you will get to meet other photographers like you who are also discovering their place in this industry. Look, even I'll be there, and I am looking forward to hanging out with you.

Let me know in the comments, if you are coming to Goa, in October.

Tiffinbox Award Winner

Every year on this day, for the past six years, I've announced The Annual Tiffinbox Award winner. The headline makes no secret of who I have chosen to recognize this year; my dear friend and mentor, David Anthony Williams.

Congratulations, David!

I first encountered David through a wedding photography forum called DWF. His posts were informative, inspiring and often hilarious. His warm personality shone through those posts and when he announced he was offering a workshop in New England, I jumped at the chance to sign up.

I still remember that workshop in Rhode Island vividly. It was perfectly structured and thoroughly engaging. Everyone left the “Almost Alone” three-day workshop feeling like they had learned something truly useful and special. I know I had.

Speaking At Conferences

David then came back to the area and spoke at a Mystic Seminars event, in Groton, Connecticut. One of the things he expressed during that presentation left a lasting impression on me. He essentially distilled a successful photograph to two major elements: light and life. With example after example, and story after story, David deftly guided the audience through an emotional and memorable journey.

Most recently, I invited David to speak at the Connecticut Professional Photographer's Association annual convention. Not one to simply fly in and deliver a presentation he had done before, David chose to present something totally new and untested. Just as soon as he landed, we spirited off to Michael's and Joann's to buy props and fabrics for his presentation. Of course, none of it made sense to me at that time, but when it all came together, it was a huge hit for all those who were in attendance.

David is also generous with his time outside the confines of a stage or dais. Just as the CTPPA convention was wrapping up, I approached David and indicated I needed 10-15 minutes of his time to discuss my family portrait photography business. He gave me an hour without once looking at his watch.

David's Portfolio

David is an artist in the truest sense. He isn't afraid to try new things and pivot. He is a student of history – ask him about Richard Avedon or David Bailey, or even the masters from the Renaissance – he knows them all and refers to them like one would speak of good friends. I trust you will see their influences in this small sample of David's august portfolio.

Learning From David

There is nothing like learning from David Williams directly. Remember that workshop in Rhode Island I talked about above? Well, several years later, I attended his workshop again in Niantic, Connecticut. Then followed that up by listening to him speak at a few different conferences.

David is Australian, but lives in Toronto, Canada now and travels to different parts of the world to conduct those memorable workshops. I urge you to make the time, find the resources and drop all excuses to go and learn from David. You'll definitely be a much better photographer because of it. Once you learn to pay attention to light and expression, your photographs will make a far greater impact for your clients and ultimately for your photography business.

Past Tiffinbox Award Winners

Here are the links to the past winners of The Annual Tiffinbox Award:

David DuChemin

Spencer Lum

Jamie Swanson

Jenika McDavitt

Neil van Neikerk

Megan DiPiero

Who will it be next year?

Fine Art Wedding & Portrait Photography

California-based fine art wedding and portrait photographer, Jen Huang, is set to speak at Silk Inspire 2017.

Jen's work has been published in numerous bridal publications, including Harper’s Bazaar, Town & Country Weddings, Brides Magazine, Style Me Pretty, Martha Stewart, The Boston Globe and New York Magazine. 

Jen's fine art wedding and portrait photography is often described as being painterly. Her evocative images are created using medium format film cameras. The simple but elegant compositions you see below are her signature style that makes her one of the top wedding photographers in the world.

Be sure to follow Jen through her blog or her Facebook page.

Interview With Jen Huang

In advance of Jen's presentation at Silk Inspire 2017, in Goa, India, from October 6th through October 10th, I sat down with her to talk about her unique approach to wedding and portrait photography. Give this a listen now:

Be sure to check out Jen's interview on the Silk Inspire blog as well!

A Mini Portfolio

Register For Silk Inspire 2017

If you haven't watched the first interview in this series, with Delhi-based photographer Arjun Kartha, please do so.

Secondly, you should consider registering for SILK INSPIRE 2017, India's first wedding photography festival.

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.

“I'm the king of U-turns,” photographer Andy Anderson told our class at the 2014 Texas Photo Roundup. Over the course of the next few days, we'd come to learn that he meant that quite literally: Andy was in constant pursuit of his next personal project. For him that could have meant a dune buggy in a desert, or oilmen at work.

The bigger picture though, to me at least, wasn't about the art of it. Yes Andy spoke at length about how it was important to craft your own vision and continually be honing a unique point of view, and both of those things are incredibly important, that wasn't the golden nugget. The most valuable take-away from the workshop, and from my experiences since then was that photographers who shoot the most personal work get the most commissioned work of the type they want to do.

Other Tiffinbox blog posts that address the idea of personal work are here and here.

This concept has been reinforced by Andy's rep, Heather Elder, who writes the incredibly insightful, Notes from a Rep's Journal blog. Heather has often written that among the photographers she represents, it's always those who shoot the most personal work who find themselves the busiest commercially.

Years ago – I think it was from Nick Onken's blog, but am not 100% sure – I read the best advice regarding the photography business I've ever heard.

“Everything you do needs to be in service of two ideas – take better photos, and show them to more people.”

As I've built my business, that idea has been at the center of everything I do, and if a particular task isn't in service of one of those ideas, maybe that's something I should consider outsourcing (like bookkeeping).

The most valuable take-away from the workshop, and from my experiences since then was that photographers who shoot the most personal work get the most commissioned work of the type they want to do.

It all ties together though. In 2015 I committed to sending monthly e-mails to 2,000+ creatives and current clients via Yodelist as part of my overall broader marketing plan. Yodelist, while far less expensive then their chief competitor Agency Access, isn't a small financial commitment. To see a return on that investment, I realized quickly I couldn't send e-mails saying, “Hey! Come look at the same work I showed you last month!”

The catch-22 though is that much of the work I shoot in a given month won't be available to be shown publicly for a few months following, because it's either part of a broader yet-unfinished campaign, or because a magazine hasn't yet been published. As a result, having new personal work, like my recent “Fuego Faces” series is a key component to my marketing plan as I can shoot something today and have it live on my blog or website tomorrow.

While the “Fuego Faces” project was all shot in a day, my series of photos of New England Craftsmen has been ongoing for 3+ years with no end in sight. I don't exaggerate to say that literally every new client I've worked with during the past few years has referenced the craftsmen series – it's led to thousands (tens of perhaps?) of dollars of new work. I've received creative briefs with individual images pulled from the craftsmen gallery, and lost track of the number of times clients have said, “Just shoot it like your craftsmen series.”

Personal Work by Doug Levy

I try to treat personal work no different than commissioned work, and often that means paying an assistant to come to personal work shoots. It totally depends how you work though. For me, paying to have an assistant is just part of my overall marketing budget. I wouldn't do a client job without a second set of hands, so why would I shoot personal work any differently? To me, spending a few hundred dollars on an assistant = better photos = more paying client work. Personal work is also an opportunity to try new techniques and work in new assistants (or stylists, or digital techs) on jobs that inherently have a lower stress point than those involving large client expenditures.

I frequently get asked by local photographers, “How do I get more commercial clients?” At its root, the first step could almost always be, “Shoot some killer personal work and show it to as many people as possible.”