For The Love Of The Photograph

Let me cut to the chase. Buy Chloe Lodge's book, “For The Love Of The Photograph” now. In fact, on February 29th, New Zealand time, you can buy the book and the accompanying journal for $29 each.

If you are still looking for that #1 reason, it's built into the title of the book! It's a strong buy from me because you, like me, absolutely LOVE creating photographs.

Other Reasons You Will Want Chloe Lodge's Book

Now that I have the most urgent matter out of the way, let me give you my perspective on the book called “For The Love Of The Photograph“.

Most photography books are pedantic and pedestrian. Lodge's book, within arm's reach on my desk, is conversational and convenient. As you read along, it's as if a dear friend was sitting next to you to explain everything they know about photography.

It's small form factor makes it supremely convenient to carry around town to a coffee shop. It's crisp printing and colorful photographs make the book very engaging. You turn the page and your are brought to a complete halt at Lodge's own gorgeous photography in and around her farm house in New Zealand.

My Takeaways From The Book

What did I take away from it? Be more present with light, to understand moment and gesture, to embrace color and to play to your heart's content with what and who you have right in front of you.

I assure you will be tickled by her observations and her insight. Having been in this business for about 20 years now, few things surprise me now. But Lodge's words reverberated within me, echoing as if I had said them myself at some point or another. It's a somewhat weird but welcome feeling.

Interview With Chloe Lodge

By now you know the drill. I look forward to speaking with photographers from around the world. It was quite easy to track Chloe Lodge down to see if she might be interested in talking about her book, “For The Love Of The Photograph.” So, give this chat between us a listen –

Buy The Book Today … Buy The Journal, Too

This book will inspire you for years to come. If you treat it as a “recipe book” you might just end up making one heckuva meal. There are 10 chapters in all. You are allowed to skip around if you wish. Come back and read something all over again, if you want. It's totally up to you.

What you will find, I suspect, is over time as your understanding and practice of photography grows, the words in the book will resonate within you even more. That's the beauty of this book. It's not a once-and-done type of book at all. It calls you back again and again, as it fills you up with a little different ingredient as you read it from a new perspective.

Yes, leap into photography with a book that will distinguish your work over time. I urge you to buy the book (no commissions being made here folks) and the journal that now accompanies it. Remember the special time limited flash sale on February 29th (it's New Zealand time and they are way ahead of us).

Mr. Farnsworth was a terrific music teacher. Affable, yet stern. He would tell me each time I would return to take drum lessons, “Seshu, failing to practice is practicing to fail.”

It’s taken me nearly 30 years to absorb that. Sometimes, it would be obvious that getting my stuff done in time was beneficial and sometimes procrastination would get the better of me and I paid dearly. Still, creating a plan or a workflow and being organized simply has not come naturally to me.

Is that how you feel at least a few times a year? Do you feel that being organized would create at least a semblance of efficiency? Have you struggled to keep track of your client contact information or sales tax deadlines? Are you sometimes delivering your client orders later than when you promised them?

My friend Eric O’Connor, a wedding photographer in Chicago, tried to get me to think in about workflow. Several times. I remain in awe at how his allows him to photograph 30 weddings a year and be a father and a husband.

“Creating a system,” he told me once, was the ticket to being stress-free and happy.

I have a short stack of scratch paper filled with workflow ideas and what I would do the minute a potential client rang me. I had steps that I would follow after the portrait session was booked. But what would come after the shoot and in what order? Sadly, I had too many ideas and no action. This is mostly because having and maintaining a system requires clarity of thought and the “D” word … discipline.

Thankfully, Design Aglow is the photographer’s friend. I lean on the team there to provide me with ideas and templates. Just in time for the start of the new year, they launched a photographers’ studio planner called The Big Picture.

Like all their templates, The Big Picture, does not disappoint when it comes to how it is presented. Minimalistic design meets elegance. The introductory section says, “it’s a repository for your hopes and dreams.” So true.

The Big Picture guides you through a short writing exercise where you enunciate your goals. Then you are gently coaxed into breaking down your goals into actionable tasks. Huge win for me.

There are templates for daily, weekly and monthly activities surrounding your studio. The exercise is in writing it all down and being able to refer back to it constantly. I think this is brilliant because it instills that sense of discipline and accountability to oneself that I mentioned above.

Keeping track of clients, venues and vendors (mostly for wedding photographers) is now easy as 1-2-3. There is a questionnaire and a time table that helps you through your online and off-line (local) marketing.

Want to track your website and blog statistics? Yes, there is a rather intricate table for that too. The Big Picture also includes income and expense reports that you fill out and also a mileage tracker (which I have usually forgot to log in the past).

The Big Picture ends with a long list of recommended business books one should read to stay informed and inspired. There were quite a few in this list that I hadn’t even heard of before. So, Design Aglow, thanks for that too!

I don’t think this team has missed any detail when it comes to putting this studio planner together. I know as I launch my new website and business this month, The Big Picture is going to help me stay focused and remain efficient through the year. It’ll be a binder that I take with me to client meetings and I’ll refer to it when I am trying to assess my business. It promises to provide me a macroscopic view of my business and will tell me about its health from month-to-month. I no longer have to fret about keeping tabs on my workflow or if my quarterly sales tax payments are late.

Now, there are a couple of things I would have liked to have seen in The Big Picture download: 1) InDesign files to further customize the templates and 2) perhaps down the road, an electronic version that we can refer to while we are in the field, say an iPad application that could display all of these bits of information?

[UPDATE: Both InDesign & Photoshop files are included! I had failed to open all of the folders that came as part of the zip'd download file! Sorry about the error!]

That said, The Big Picture is a remarkable achievement because it so neatly brings so many elements of one’s business in an easily accessible folder or binder. I know there are several other options in the market but as a die-hard Design Aglow fan, I have to urge you to take a look at this product first.

On January 15th (that’s tomorrow), the introductory pricing of $69 ends. Make this the first business expense you enter into The Big Picture for 2014!

In other words, buy it now.