Carla Ten Eyck is a wedding photographer based in Hartford, Connecticut. She is also one of the founding members of Inspire Photo Retreats, an annual gathering of photographers. This year it will take place in Portland, Maine, from February 9th through the 11th.

Carla took a year long sabbatical from organizing the gathering in Maine, but she is back as a speaker. We had a chance to sit down and chat about her experiences at Inspire Photo Retreats in the past and what she is going to be presenting this time around.

In addition to being a wedding photographer, Carla is also well-known for her teaching and her photography at other industry events, such as Engage Summits. The following images are a few examples of her work from a recent Engage Summits event:

It’s time to move away from your humble beginnings and start to position yourself as the expert you are. You have the knowledge, the dedication and the vision to be bigger than just a local photographer who takes nice photos.

What exactly is an expert? Experts answer complicated questions with ease. Experts produce inspiring work. Experts are known by name in their industries. Interested? Here are three ways that you can become known as a photography expert.

Option 1: Teach A Photography Class

You’re probably thinking, “Ugh, teach?” But, yes! You can inspire students and share your knowledge. Take your enthusiasm for photography and spread it to a class of eager and excited students. You teach, they learn and you become the expert. They will ask you questions about what camera is the best on the market and how to use the settings on a DSLR…what is a DSLR?! Questions you most likely already answer, since you are a respected professional photographer.

Don’t reject the idea of teaching due to your objection of writing a curriculum. Teaching a photography class isn’t as big and scary as it may seem. Magazine Mama sells ready-made, pre-written teaching plans for photography classes.

Start with the basics – regardless of students’ age. No one is coming to your class as an expert (that’s your roll)! A common question that beginning photographers who purchase a DSLR camera will have is about manual mode. How do you do shoot on manual and what are the benefits? Photography curricula on Magazine Mama start with these exact topics. Photography basics like understanding exposure, shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

The key to teaching kids is to start even smaller. Save technical features like aperture, shutter speed and ISO for later on in the course or at an advanced class. Kids are visual. They want to learn something that they can show someone, like the crayon drawing hanging on the fridge. A good place to start is to show them different shooting modes. It’s simple. This exercise shows kids what each mode is by using a picture:

• head = portrait mode
• mountain = landscape mode
• flower = macro mode
• person running = action mode
• a star in the background = nighttime mode

They choose the mode based on one of the subjects from above. After they get the hang of it, you can add in more modes like M, AV, TV and P.

Starting with the basics will never let you down. Build a solid foundation first and then add more complex topics later. Tailor your curriculum to the intended audience. Kids, adults and moms all have custom teaching plans at Magazine Mama. The hard work is done for you. Add your logo and press print. Curricula come in editable .psd formats. Instructions are included.

Option 2: Custom Magazine With Client Articles

Content in a custom magazine shows your clients your expertise. They accomplish two of the three things experts do: inspire and educate. Lead with inspiration for others. Fill the magazine template with your best work. The work that even you admitted was amazing. These are the photos that will inspire others to take action and distinguish you as an expert.

Marry your artsy self with a client focused business model. Go ahead and let your artistic voice shine in your studio welcome guide alongside your professional client-focused business persona. As we discussed earlier, to be known for something is to share expert knowledge. Show potential clients that you have the experience, eye and knowledge to do the job well and that they don’t need anyone else.

Clients read blogs and pin hundreds of photos to Pinterest before they make final decisions. Whoever they get this information from – they will see as the expert. Give them all of this information in a sleek, creative and informative welcome guide and be THE expert.

Sharing knowledge helps you help them help you. Magazine Mama has customizable magazine templates with pre-written articles. Topics like “what to wear”, “professional headshots and your business”, and “tips to rock your senior session” are included. These topics help you:

* Answer frequently asked questions
* Educate clients with answers to questions they didn’t know to ask
* Inspire clients to help you take epic photos

Option 3: Go Get Published

Don’t hide your work in a dark, cobwebby corner of your website. It should be front and center. If you want to be known in the photography field amongst the other billion photographers – you need to get your name out there.

The best (and easiest) way to get out there – is to get published. Magazines receive a lot of submissions every day from ambitious and talented photographers like you! And because of that – they are picky. Which means not everyone can bask in the warm glow of a magazine spread. What better way to obtain expert status than by having your images published in a highly respected and widely read industry publication? But, expert status isn’t the only reason to pitch your latest photo-shoot to an editor, it will also help you drive traffic to your website and blog and will give you a boost in sales.

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Michelle Turner is one of the top wedding photographers in the US. Her destination weddings have taken her around the world. She teaches other photographers at ClickinMoms, where is also the Director of Programming.

Michelle has published two books about fashionable wedding photography and speaks at numerous conventions and events throughout the year on posing and the use of off-camera flash.

Michelle will be presenting at Inspire Photo Retreats, in Portland, Maine from February 9th through the 11th. We sat down to speak about her presentation at the forthcoming conference. You'll also learn a few tips on posing wedding couples:

Zach and Jody Gray have quickly become industry leaders. They are known for their wedding photography and their ability to teach photographers off-camera lighting and business strategies. In fact, when they were hopping from city to city teaching small groups of eager photographers, I attend one of their workshops. I noticed how particular they were to following a system, even if it was using a tool called the Expo Disc.

They are just as meticulous about using off-camera flash. When I started Connecticut Headshots, I turned to their DVDs to learn how to use a simple reflector. I eventually graduated to their other DVD, In Camera: Light, to learn more about their off-camera lighting system.

Thanks to ShootDotEdit.com, the Gray's are going to spend about an hour going over their simple 3-step system to using off-camera flash. The webinar is free, so why not register here.

I managed to convince Zach and Jody to meet with me early one morning a few days ago to talk about their background and what they were going to bring to this webinar.

Check out their instructional videos on how to use the Expo Disc I mentioned above:

So, those videos should give you an idea of how systematic the Gray's are. Want to learn more about lighting from them? They are giving away a free ebook to those who sign up for their awesome newsletter (lots of nuggets of craft/technique and business wisdom freely shared!). Click the graphic below and you will be all set.

If you are interested, feel free to poke around the Gray's online store to check out these useful video workshops and other resources for your photography business:

David Murray's long history in photojournalism inspires his wedding photography. He is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and has photographed for The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

David is coming to Inspire Photo Retreats in February. The dates of the convention are February 9-11, 2015. I do hope you will take the opportunity to be there and to speak with David directly. He is a true gem of a guy and an inspiration to me and a great many photographers, not so much because of what he does so well, but who he is as a person.

As a part of this series of interviews with Inspire Photo Retreats presenters, I chatted with David at length about his journey and what his expectations have been in the past at Inspire Photo Retreats.

David and I continued to discuss this interview after we recorded it and this is a short exchange with him about our purpose in life as photographers –

ME: at the end of it all .. it is about how we saw the world, how our seeing it has influenced it (even if by a little bit). No grand ambitions but doing all that I can I suppose…

David: That is all we can do: give our take on the world. It then goes to the viewer to decide if and what they like. I write with light. The camera is just the medium that I use to describe life as I view it.

Check out some of David's work. It's not limited to weddings, as he says he just a photographer. Follow him on Instagram here. David also has an Instagram account for his wedding photography.

What is your take on your purpose in life as a photographer? Why do you pursue it? Come and discuss it all at Inspire Photo Retreats. Beyond idle chatter, you'll leave making stronger bonds with people like David, understand your business better and perhaps even become a better communicator. If you are up for all that, register now for Inspire Photo Retreats. There are only a limited number of seats left for this year and the organizers tell me that they will sell out!