I keep hearing and reading that, as a photographer, I need to develop my style. Particularly if I wish to be successful. The question is, why?
I don’t subscribe to this on so many levels. Consistency though, now that’s a different matter altogether.
Category: Journey
Lights, Camera, ACTION…
Yesterday I had the privilege of working with some very talented people on a beauty shoot over at Notting Hill. It was a great shoot but one thing that struck me was the diversity of the models we had.
The were all great. They all brought something unique to the day. Together we made some fantastic images.
One model in particular was very different to work with. Continue reading Lights, Camera, ACTION… »
In Focus
I visited Focus on Imaging, up at the NEC a couple of days ago. Once again another great show but I was surprised by the lack of visitors compared to last year. I did wonder if this was just the difference between visiting on a Sunday and visiting on a Tuesday but even the exhibitors were commenting on the footfall being lower this year. Interestingly many were putting it down to the economy.
There were some great deals to be had too, like the 580ex II for £299. I also picked up a set of PocketWizard wireless triggers at a huge discount over the prices I’d found on the web. They all seem to work together too. I’ve read lots of articles about the MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 not working with the 580ex or 580exII owing to RF interference but from the testing I’ve done so far I’ve not seen any of this. The sales rep. on the PocketWizard stand had assured me that the UK model didn’t exhibit any of the reported issues and I bought mine on the strength of that conversation. He seems to have been right too. At least so far anyway.
The other great thing about the exhibition was the talks and lectures on some of the stands.
The Flash Centre had their usual line up and I got to watch Adam Duckworth’s strobist demonstration again. He really needs to find some more jokes but nevertheless it was a great demo. The thing I like about it is how simple and easy he makes everything look. The results he gets are simply amazing and although he comes across as makeing it all up as he goes along and guessing the exposure, he is bringing a lot of experience to bear.
Mark Cleghorn was also there promoting Photo Training 4U (why does this always make me think of mobile phones?). He did another good strobist demo, in some way very similar to Adam Dickworth’s but at the same time, very different. I’d say the two were more complementing rather than competing.
I also spent some time watching the Photoshop CS4 demo but to me this was a let down more than anything. The audience was all agog but to me it was a great demo of tools that I probably wouldn’t ever use.
Getting cranky…
Had an amusing little phone call a few moments ago – someone looking for a photographer to shoot a wedding. Nothing unusual until amidst lots of giggles she proceeded to tell me that the guests and vicar would be nude. Somehow I don’t think she was serious… Made me laugh though.
2010 has started with a bang…
If you’ve been thinking its been a little quiet around here lately there is a reason – since the beginning of the year I’ve had a huge number of enquiries for 2010. Significantly more than I expected but I’m certainly not complaining. I’m putting it down to the fact that as we started the new year potential clients have been waking up thinking “Wow, its 2010 and I’m getting married this year. I’d better start doing something about it” or words to that effect 😉
Our recent snow fall has probably also helped. People being stuck at home or working in a quiet office have had much greater opportunity to surf the web than perhaps they would otherwise have had.
I can tell this from the recent upturn in hits and page views I’ve been getting, along with the enquiries and leads I’ve been getting via email. e.g. just checking my Google AdWords campaigns, I’ve now had over 750,000 impressions since the beginning of November resulting in several hundred clicks. It isn’t just Google either. I’ve seen an upturn in the number of referrals from other sites I advertise with too.
So, what does all this mean? My advertising is starting to work. No idea if it is effective yet but as I’ve said before, I’m new to marketing and sales. I must be doing something right though. I now have a number of confirmed bookings for 2010 and some very strong leads to follow up on. This evening I even had a very good referral enquiry for July 2011.
To sum up, I’m on target for achieving and possibly exceeding my goals for this year.
