You know that sinking feeling: you've eagerly started to tinker with your website, but there is always one. more. thing. that needs to be added or edited or perfected.

Fellow reader, I am right there with you, because as a DIY'er, I've spun my wheels when it comes to making updates to my website content. I've sat on it so long that I know in my heart I've lost clients because my website simply does not address a problem nor does it offer a solution.

All that ends this winter when I dive into Ling Messer and Michelle Blais' new course, Master Your Website Content. [affiliate]

I was so intrigued by their system and approach to teaching that I invited them to a quick chat on my podcast, Tiffincast (Spotify, iTunes).

Ling Messer is a full time wedding, portrait, and commercial photographer in Connecticut, and has been in business since 2013 since she left her long career in the dairy farming industry in Oregon. She now runs a six-figure wedding photography business, Trailing Twine Photography, with her team photographers, who travel all over New England photographing outdoorsy soulmates getting married on farm and barn venues.

Michelle Blais has worked as an in-house corporate graphic artist, on staff at advertising agencies and since 2000, has been operating her own small graphic and website design business. Michelle works with entrepreneurs and small business owners to create branding, marketing and websites with a clear message, engaging imagery and a professional design that easily connects with their customers and grows their business.

After you have listened to the podcast in its entirety click this link to receive some free goodies from Ling & Michelle.

Here are are few screenshots of the Master Your Website Content course:

Also learn about Shoot For Web Design, the new company Ling and Michelle have formed. sign up for Master Your Website Content today.

A special offer – If you use my affiliate link above, Ling and Michelle have the following special offer for you –

Anyone who enrolls in the online course, Master Your Website Content, and learns about us through Tiffinbox, a free 1/2 hour coaching call for students, that they can use at any point in the course, valid through the entire year of 2021.

On December 17, 2020, you can register for a free webinar with Ling and Michelle. Learn the 3 mistakes to avoid a website meltdown!

Though headshot photography is gaining in popularity, retouching headshot portraits isn't discussed to a great degree in public yet. Only commercial photographers and professional retouchers handle this topic often, because that's been their domain for so long.

Things are, however, changing. There is a growing need for most people to appear professional, confident and approachable. Selfies and random party snaps simply do not cut it on sites like LinkedIn or when most people need to submit project proposals.

Rafal Wegiel a headshot portrait photographer based in Alberta, Canada intends teaching fellow photographers his approach to retouching headshot portraits.

His tips and techniques on Facebook forum and YouTube are simply great. Just a few days ago, he launched a new course called, “Beyond The Art of Headshot Retouching“.

We had a quick chat about the course and why he decided to introduce it to the world:

Learn more about the Headshot Retouching Tutorial here:

At $79.99, I think this is a steal. It's very hard to find a resource that is this in-depth. Across 17 videso, four of those being just retouching, Rafal walks you through just about every scenario that you will encounter as a headshot photographer. As I promised in the podcast above, I invested in this course right away. If you are reading this post and you have read this far or scanned down to this area, consider using the code: SESHU, to save $10 (for a limited time) OR use the code: HEADSHOT (also for a limited time) to save 20% when you check out.

Either way, I do not make an affiliate commission. Just bringing you something that will help you and your photography business!

Still interested in headshot photographers?

Eric Laurits, Perter Hurley and Dylan Patrick are all amazing headshot portrait photographers.

Friends at Chennai Photo Biennale have just informed me about a new residency program that will address the changes to how we now perceive “the family portrait.”

This project invites photographers and lens-based artists to reimagine the Family Portrait by establishing the transition from the accepted definition of ‘the family' to what it represents today.

If you are a photographer that is already pursuing family photography or you are a social anthropologist who is studying how visual perceptions shape society, you might be one of 10 selected to study with experts from France, Germany and India.

The residency will run from September through November 2019, in two phases with three mentors. Some sessions will take place in Chennai, India, while others will be conducted online.

The selection criteria is as follows:

Residency is open only to practising lens-based artists and photographers of South Asian origin across the world (South Asian Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)

Applicants can submit proposals for existing projects they are working on or new ideas on family portraiture they plan to work on.

For more information, please visit this Chennai Photo Biennale page.

Please note that the deadline is fast approaching – August 31, 2019!

Marie's Soft-Touch Marketing Idea

The last time I interviewed Marie Masse, it was to introduce you to her awesome website Fearless & Framed.

If you are photographing families in your community, documenting their reality may be your thing as well, but how do you go about persuading people to work with you? What would convince them more than anything else that this genre of photography is a good fit for them?

“You teach them,” said Marie.

Jaw dropped, I said, “Say what? Can you tell me more about this?”

Marie suggests conducting timely but profitable photography workshops for moms (and I suspect dads are welcome too).

Teaching Sells

If you are a photographer, I am pretty sure you have had someone in the past roll up to you and asked you about a feature or two on their DSLR that they simply do not get. The fact is, most people who own DSLR's are using it in “P” mode or “A” mode and never in “M” mode.

As a professional photographer, you've been rocking your sessions on manual mode forever and feel very comfortable talking about the exposure triangle, the rule of thirds or anticipating peak moments.

You are a pro, after all.

But for most moms and dads there is a mismatch between what they envisioned their photographs of their children would be like and what their skill set is with their fancy cameras.

A photography workshop that you can offer them, bridges this gap, giving them the rudimentary skills to get going and most importantly to value what you do as a professional.

In some ways you are disabusing them of the notion that to create a photograph, of a quality worthy to be displayed on their walls, all they need to do is to push a button.

By teaching them the basic in's and out's of photography, you are in some ways letting them know that what you do isn't as easy as that; it takes years of training and experience and most of all patience.

When they come to value what you do and see the artwork that you create for other clients, there is an excellent chance they will recruit you to be their family photographer.

Bingo!

Structuring The Workshop

At this point you must be thinking, “do I have to teach them for free?” The answer is a resounding: NO!

Educate your potential clients from the very beginning that your time is valuable. So, conducting these photography workshops for moms and dads in your community could be a boost to your bottom line if you do it right.

You are going to want to publicize it and of course, launch your first photography workshop. I have done three so far at the local library, but you may want to choose a different spot in town. Regardless, there is a structure that you can and perhaps should follow to set it up correctly.

Marie Masse just launched a course called Profitable Photography Workshops For Moms and based on the webinars she has conducted over the last few weeks, it might be just the thing for you.

The Interview

We got together for another chat, specifically about this new resource for professional photographers like you:

Profitable Photography Workshops For Moms

From Marie's website, here is what you can expect to receive when you invest in Profitable Photography Workshops for Moms:

The Complete Guide to Running Photography Workshops for Moms ebook – this 50-page guide will walk you through everything you need to know, step-by-step. From planning the workshop, filling workshop seats, how to create an incentive plan to book workshops from workshops, running this workshop in-person as well as getting started with taking this workshop online, and how to make lasting connections AFTER the workshop that can turn into more business through running a Facebook Group (which will be a gold mine for information direct from your ideal clients). No topic was left behind in this guide!

Connective Email Templates – inside of the guide, you’ll get email templates to help you fill up your first workshop, welcome new students to the workshop and questions to get to know your new students before the workshop, keep your workshop hostess pumped up and on fire to fill her workshops up, a reminder email to students, and after-workshop communication emails to encourage a continued relationship through a photo challenge, a Facebook group, and recommended resources and equipment list. The how and the why behind all of this communication is laid out inside of the guide.

Marie’s Beginner Photography Workshop 4 part Video Series – listen to this real demo again and again until the content flows off your tongue with ease. Feel confident knowing Marie has sold out her workshops using this specific class. You’ll see Marie’s slideshow packaged and put together inside this demonstration video series.

Marie’s Workshop Video Transcript (aka Word-for-Word Demo Swipe Files!) – all four videos come with a transcript for you to read and use as your outline to practice your class demo until you feel confident

Clean & Simple PowerPoint Slideshow Template – Marie’s demo includes all of the words with a license for you to use, so all you have to do is drop in your photos to make this workshop your own. The template has a variety of slides from title and engagement slides to single image slides and collage slides. We kept the professional design of this slideshow minimalist and clean, so your images shine and the slideshow has a timeless look and feel.

Cheat Sheets for Students Galore – Camera Settings Scavenger Hunt (pdf), Light Guide Template (InDesign file so you can add your images to the light categories), Exposure Cheat Sheet (pdf), and My Photo Wishlist (pdf).

Workshop Planner to create your blueprint to launch your workshop in 30 days (pdf). The planner a fillable pdf for you to map out all of the details, your workshop plan and policies and even a slide planner to help you cull your photos. Get organized in no time flat!

Two Organization Tools: a Sign-In sheet & an Open Date sheet to use at your workshops to keep track of who showed up, collect email addresses and to inspire your students to book their workshop, advanced class or session.

Bonus: Real is the New Perfect Photo Challenge – the exact quiz, beautifully designed to challenge your students during the workshop to help inspire their documentary shooting ideas and potentially needs for their own session (pdf)

Bonus: Access to the Private Facebook Group just for Workshop Instructors to unite. The Facebook Group is a place for instructors to support one another and grow together through your ideas + success stories you bring to the table. The online group is a place to connect, problem solve and gets questions answered from other instructors. The Fearless and Framed team will be inside and active in the group answering some questions, but this is not a place to receive 1:1 support from Marie/Fearless and Framed.

Wowza! Marie pretty much sets you right up for success!

A Testimonial

This is what one reviewer said about Profitable Photography Workshops For Moms:

I’m naturally good at teaching and inspiring others, but the concept of creating a workshop was intimidating and therefore I’ve never gotten it off the ground. I didn’t know where to start, how in-depth to go on certain topics and only setting it all up from scratch was just not something I had the time for. So you could imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that Marie had created the Profitable Photography Workshop for Moms bundle. Finally, I would be able to take the leap and do something that I’ve been afraid of doing for so long – and best yet it's practically all set up for me all I have to do is insert my images and branding, market it and bam, I’m done.

A Challenge & An Offer

So, here's my challenge for all of you – in the next 60 days will you launch your profitable photography workshop? What's stopping you from trying to reach an even greater number of people in your community who could very reliably become your clients for life! Comment below.

Here's my offer to you all. If you use this affiliate link to buy Profitable Photography Workshops for Moms, and you send me your receipt (seshu at tiffinbox dot org), I'll schedule a 30 minute Skype call with you to discuss your workshop plans. This offer is only for those of you who jump in and buy between now and July 31st, 2016, though.

Sound good? I look forward to speaking with you about your profitable photography workshop.

Lindsay Adler is a renowned portrait and fashion photographer based in New York City. It is quite likely that you have seen her teaching on CreativeLive or KelbyOne.

On July 1st, she will be conducting a free webinar thanks to ShootDotEdit. While she is a master as lighting, posing and photography, she also commands a great level of respect from her peers for her retouching, using Photoshop. Indeed, the free webinar she is teaching is called Photoshop Techniques for Photographers.

Lindsay and I managed to speak briefly about her background in the industry, why she is compelled to teach and of course about her upcoming webinar on Photoshop. Give this chat a listen now:

Be sure to buy and read Lindsay's books:

Creative 52: Weekly Projects to Invigorate Your Photography Portfolio
Shooting in Sh*tty Light: The Top Ten Worst Photography Lighting Situations and How to Conquer Them
Fashion Flair for Portrait and Wedding Photography
The Linked Photographers' Guide to Online Marketing and Social Media.

Reading and learning from her blog is time well spent. And, she has lots of wonderful resources to buy through her online store.

For a small sample of Lindsay's work, scroll down! Do you now see how amazing she is with Photoshop? Register today for her webinar.

And if you are looking for other opportunities to learn from industry leaders, skip on to ShootDotEdit‘s website and check out all the free educational webinars here.