The Confession

Bear with me …

Confessing my screw-ups in public does NOT come easy at all. Yet, I have to do it.

I have two of them to offer you. Two quick lessons that will save you from a similar fate and will likely make you more money down the road.

Last week, I got myself into trouble. Real trouble. Business trouble, and not the criminal kind.

A vendor (let's leave his specialty out of the conversation for now) contacted me a few months ago about a date and an event he wanted photographed. He and I had had a gentleman's agreement. All was well and then he went on an extended vacation without exactly telling me when he would be back.

I held the date for him and then emailed him twice, attempting to confirm the timeline for the shoot. All I heard back were … crickets.

Then a frantic email arrived last week from him: “Seshu, why aren't you on the schedule?”

I was flabbergasted.

I had held the date as long as I could but I had another client call in during the time the vendor was away.

Business is business, right? So I booked the portrait session but made sure it was at the tail end of the same day (just in case I had to photograph the event anyway).

I told myself that I will be done photographing the vendor's event and then be able to make it to my own client's portrait session.

But that didn't sit well with the vendor. His expectations were different and because we hadn't discussed the details or put them down on paper, it was all very ambiguous to both of us.

And he got mad. Then I got mad. Well …

Don't Give Miscommunication A Chance

Ambiguity kills relationships. So, last Thursday after going back and forth on email about the snafu, miscommunication or what he perceived as me trying to “double book” (which I never do), we broke our ties.

Forever.

Ugh!

Yeah, I should have picked up the phone and just called the guy right? That's another lesson for another day.

It wasn't the the loss of revenue that has troubled me the most since the incident. What aches my soul is now his perception of me has changed … forever.

Good news travels fast and bad news, faster.

Where I Failed

In a world of amateurs, I failed to be the professional. I didn't produce a contract that spelled everything out for the vendor so that he knows what to expect – arrival times, departure times, the number of photographs (enhanced or not), delivery time for the final photographs and the delivery method etc.

Being a professional, I have learned, is about having agreements that everyone, well, agrees to. Having it in writing makes it legally binding, in the end helping everyone involved. Having a contract brings clarity and business peace for all.

Contracts are intended to set the bar of expectations and inform the clients of the photography relationship process. – Rachel Brenke

Rachel Brenke's Contracts

If you haven't heard of Rachel Brenke, she is a photographer AND a lawyer who publishes one of the most helpful websites called The LawTog.

To celebrate her birthday, this week alone, ALL of her contracts are on sale right now. If you don't have a contract specific to your situation, I would urge you to seek her's out.

It is awfully tempting to “Google” photography contracts and just swipe one from the Internet.

My advice: Do not do it.

Foremost is the reason that those other contracts aren't guaranteed to have been written by a lawyer (much less seen by one for accuracy and veracity). Secondly, you have no guarantees that the lawyer has truly your best interests in mind.

This is where Rachel shines – not only has she gone through law school, she is a photographer who for years perfected her contracts.

So, you are probably wondering, if I knew about Rachel's contracts why I didn't use hers, right?

That was screw-up number two. And it totally stinks.

The Sale Ends Soon

Don't wait too long to snag Rachel's photography contracts. Whether you are a wedding photographer or a portrait photographer, there is something in there for everyone.

The sale ends on October 7th. Use the code: mybirthday20

Yes, I make a small commission when you buy using my link, but that's not why I am mentioning Rachel's contracts. She has helped hundreds of photographers and I believe she will be able to help you out too.

Would you want clarity and peace of mind versus confusion, chaos and lost opportunities? The choice is clear. Get the right photography contracts here.

What's a pianist, husband and father doing on Tiffinbox? Well, Tomasz Trzebiatowski happens to also be a photographer and the founder of FujiLove, a website dedicated to photographers who, yes, love everything Fujifilm.

I've been following Tomasz's work for about a year and been amazed at how quickly he grew the FujiLove website.

Since launching the website, he has also launched a beautiful magazine, Fujilove and on July 23rd of this year will launch the first FujiLove Global Photowalk.

Impressed with his persistence and drive, I had to speak with Tomasz. As a busy pianist, father, husband, photographer, and blog publisher he was genuinely hard to pin down for a quick chat, but here it is:

Thanks to Tomasz, I received three issues of the Fujilove magazine to check out. It's absolutely divine and I highly recommend you subscribe to it.

If you are going to be free on July 23rd (Saturday) of this year, I also recommend you see if a location near you is going to host and participate in the 2016 FujiLove Global Photo Walk.

If you watch the interview above all the way through, you'll hear Tomasz offering a special giveaway to one of you – a year-long subscription to the Fujilove magazine! Here's what you need to do to win it.

1) Visit Fujilove
2) Find a blog post on that site that intrigues you
3) Post that link here in the comments
4) Based on your link choice, I'll randomly pick a winner and let Tomasz know

This couldn't be easier and I am slightly envious of you (whoever the winner is going to be) because I'm going to have to pony up for my subscription!

Please be sure to use your real name when commenting. I'll publicly respond to your comment, telling you if you have won. So, you do need to come back and visit this post to see if you are the winner. If you are brave enough, include your email address in the comment, making it easier for me to contact you.

Good luck!

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.

Commercial and portrait photographer John Mireles is based in San Diego, but he is on a mission to visit all 50 states for his Neighbors portrait project.

When Photo Projects Are Personal

“Neighbors” is a personal project, grown out of the need to stay creatively engaged in photography as well as to prevent burn out in the industry. But it isn't John Mireles' first long term photography project.

A few years ago he drove from southern California all the way to North Dakota, to discover and photograph oil workers in the Bakken oil fields. At the culmination of that project, Mireles published a book called The Bakken.

It's impressive work, no doubt, but I imagine they weren't easy to produce. Persuasion, charm, efficiency and professionalism perhaps were all factors in aiding John's efforts on that trip. And he is feeling that itch to get on the road again.

This time, he started photographing his neighbors in San Diego. He wants to continue setting up studios in different locations across the US, to photograph even more people; giving them a face and a voice to express themselves.

Take for example this striking portrait of Chuco that John created at Chicano Park Day in San Diego.

Mireles writes about Chuco in his blog:

The gang life lost its importance however, once he began to raise a family. His wife and kids – he has four now – became the focus of his life and he took to it with all the seriousness with which he formerly administered his gang life.

The portrait is one of many Mireles has created. But he doesn't stop there. He prints them and then displays them on his fence for the whole world to see.

Neighbors began as a series of portraits taken on the streets of a lower income community in San Diego. Instead of focusing on attention grabbing characters, I chose as my subjects the everyday people who constitute the backbone of the community. Afterwards, I displayed these tightly cropped portraits at 4 feet by 6 feet in a prominent location available for all to see.

Check out this short documentary about John creating these large portraits:

Again, pretty impressive. All of this as you can imagine takes a fair share of financial resources. This is where he needs our help. He has set up a fundraising campaign that will help him finance this new project. Having seen his previous accomplishments and what he is able to produce, I have no doubt that the “Neighbors” project when completed will become a historical document as this country goes through massive changes in its demographics.

The Interview

A few weeks back, John and I got together to chat about “Neighbors” and how he plans to pursue it. Give this interview a listen:

For those who do support this project, John is offering a signed magazine that will most definitely become a collector's item.

Other Neighbors

Support The Neighbors Project

If you have scrolled down this far, you know that John Mireles is creative and resourceful. As an artist who engages so successfully with his community, John needs our timely support to continue and complete “Neighbors”.

Can I count on you to support him? Click this link to make your donation, however big or small, now.

Why Stories?

If you lived in the US between 1985 and 1987, you probably watched a show on the NBC television network called Amazing Stories.

While the 45-episode series explored fantasy, horror and science-fiction, as a 15-year old boy, I was hooked. I wasn't the only one, though. I recall that series being the subject of many discussions at school between friends who were also watching it with me.

Why?

Well told stories, whether it was your grandma or a Steven Spielberg production (which Amazing Stories was), have a way of capturing people's imagination, delivering a message with impact and motivating or inspiring action.

But narrating stories is a skill that doesn't come easy. Much less an epic story, I have struggled all my life to tell a joke without swallowing the punchline. So, if telling stories is powerful and it can captivate audiences near and far, online and off-line, how does one embrace the process of storytelling that it becomes second nature?

Storytelling Is Sacred

Enter Patrick Moreau of Muse Storytelling. He staunchly believes he has the process figured out. His company Stillmotion routinely wins awards, including five Emmy's, for documentaries the company has produced for its clients.

When it comes to storytelling from the heart, we believe you can learn more from a well-informed friend than you can from the finest academic institutions. We bring this personal approach to our storytelling processes, books, online courses, intensive workshops, filmmaking consultation, mentorships, and speaking events in the world at large.

Patrick Moreau is quite literally, obsessed with story. He believes that story is unparalleled in it’s ability to bring people together. And so he spends his days telling stories through his filmmaking at Stillmotion and helping others be empowered by story through their Muse Storytelling process.

He believes that we must “guide the heart, but move the heart” – that we need to connect emotionally if we want to change the behavior or perspective of our audience. It’s a philosophy that’s been presented to global business leaders at the United Nations in 2014 as well as at TedX (see below).

He’s worked for some big brands, directed several documentaries, won some Emmy’s, but more than any of that, he’s a real dude that loves the craft of filmmaking and how it’s a skeleton key to unlock so much wonder in this world.

Read – What science can teach us about being a truly happy creative?
Read – The importance of storytelling over statistics.
Read – What makes for a great Super Bowl ad?

The Interview

I had a wonderful opportunity to speak with Patrick about Muse Storytelling and his work at Stillmotion:

Examples of Stillmotion's Work

Click on the photographs below to get a glimpse of the work Patrick and his team at Stilmotion have produced in the past.

Patrick Moreau at TedX

Do you still need to be convinced about storytelling? Here is a TedX talk that Patrick gave just last year:

Tools To Build Stories – Register For Storybuilder

So, how does one construct a story? If you are a filmmaker or a photographer, you have a lot of factors to consider and keeping track of them all is challenging.

Patrick Moreau and his team are on the cusp of releasing a tool to help you build your stories. It's called Storybuilder and it launches on May 23rd. Register for the launch and receive 3 months to give the new tool a whirl for free.