All right we're driving to the city today.
Look mom.... no hands!
This is my first series of ten videos...
this is gonna be like your marketing
course... as a photographer, really as a
small business owner... even if you're not
an actual photographer... you're a creative
of any kind...
this next ten weeks that I'm doing for
you... buckle down, you were gonna learn
some stuff... let me tell you...
leave your butt's at the door,
and I don't mean it your derriere,
I mean your rebuttals.... your job
is not to search for what you can't do,
your job is to find what you can do.
I need you in the comments of these videos
to tell me what you're doing, what's
working for you, and tell me when it's
not working for you... because I'm gonna
read these comments,
get in there with you,
and give you other suggestions when
things that I've said aren't working for you.
So we're gonna do this together
let's go...
So five wedding rules that you probably
don't know about...
Number 1 - Know when to shut up..
I've had a lot of assistants or
second shooters...
they just didn't know when to shut up,
and it became awkward...
because they just kept talking, and
everything was like ooohh and ahhhh and it's
beautiful... and oh my gosh....
it's like read the room...
don't suggest photo ideas...
lighting poses anything like that to the
main photographer while you are in front
of a client...
all right the second wedding
rule can help you whenever you're
working with other human beings...
you have to understand their style...
now for me it's all about weddings...
so my goal is to understand their
relationship style and
I only figure this out because I wildly
failed at it once...
I was shooting an engagement session and
the whole engagement session they were
like kind of stiff... I wasn't really
getting to them... and then the last 10
minutes naturally of the engagement
session it's like I finally found them,
and finally found who they were, and I
turn to my assistant afterward I said
you know what Shane... that was my fault,
and it was it was my fault, I realized I
didn't take the time to get to know them
ahead of time, and don't like get me
wrong here I am NOT to have 16 dinners
with my couples before I shoot their
wedding... and I know a lot of photographers are
like that... and that's great, but there are
ways that you can get to know your
clients very simply.
I send them a five question survey...
that's a week or two before shoot...
I say what's your typical
date night look like?
Tell me something that you like about
your spouse or your significant other,
what side of your relationship do you
want to capture...
Since then I am so much better at
pulling emotion, and pulling the right
kind of relationship style
out of my clients.
As photographers you know we
have a style and sometimes we perceive
our clients as being one thing,
or the other... but it's no good..
if your couple is fun and quirky and
you're trying to get them in like
romantic poses,
I don't care how good at
posing you are, if they are naturally
more of a fun-loving wild couple, and
you're trying to get them in these like
you know sensual moments together..
it's just not gonna look natural.
It might even look natural...
but then when they look at the photos
later they're gonna look at them and not
connect to them... because that's not them,
it's not their relationship style.
That is a huge rule for me.
You have to know your couples style,
Rule number 3....
repeatedly ask your clients what they
want... this is huge!
And the reason I know about this...
I'm going to tell you story number two..
is a recent wedding that I photographed,
and I just failed miserably at getting a
specific photo that the bride wanted...
now granted... I didn't know she wanted it
and I did a similar photo... but with a
different pose variation, it just wasn't
what she wanted, and you know what
ultimately that kind of thing could have
been avoided... if you know obviously ...
1....she would've told me what she
wanted but
2. if I had just kept asking.. 'Hey is
there anything else you want?'
Is there a specific type of pose...
even on the job, I sent all those
questionnaire... a special shot
request list, but communicating during
the shoot and continued asking
will save you a ton of aggravation..
and guilt, and sleepless nights
over the fact that I can't create this
shot that this poor bride just wants so badly.
Tell me in the comments...
I want to know if you have ever missed
a shot on a job...
and tell me what it was...
tell me how you rectified the situation
with your client...
With weddings I can't
rectify it by shooting it again... but I'm
trying to rectify it by you know going
above beyond, just anything they can do
to make up for it, and really the last I
left it was... you know what can I do like
tell me what I could do... but you guys
tell me in the comments, I want to know
if you've ever missed a shot on the
shoot and how you rectified that
situation...
all right... number 4 and
don't shoot the messenger...
you need to dress better on jobs...
I'm not saying every job depending on
what type of photography you're doing
you know you need to be comfortable...
you need to be in durable gear,
but if you're shooting events, weddings,
you need to step up
how you look..
I hated this when I first
started, I was like no, but this is not my
brand, my brand is like bright colorful...
Why are you making me wear all black at
these weddings.. and I actually got in
fights with maitre d's at wedding halls
in front of the mother of the bride's,
about what I was wearing... embarrassing...
you know what, just dress
nicer alright.. and I know it can be hard,
especially for us ladies, with you know
the types of shoes that we wear, and
things like that but just dress a step
ahead, because think about this...
every other person at that event is a
potential client, so when you are
shooting an event it's like a first
interview with a potential client...
it's like a consultation, it's the first time
they've seen you work, they may have an
event coming up, so dress more
appropriately...
Dressed 50% better than
you think you're supposed to,
because you know... quite frankly,
by the end of the day...
we look 300% more crappy because
we've really been through it.. by the end
of an event..
Just a side note by the way
guys about shoes...
people ask me this all the time
or for all-day weddings the key
is not which shoe is perfect.. the key is
having multiple shoes that brings me to
my fifth point though...
that your goal at a wedding,
or any job is to play up to everyone.
One of the most annoying things
to me is when like Grandma is on the
dance floor, and I've been photographing
it for the past 15 minutes, and the guests
come up and their like...
'That's the brides Grandma...
did you photograph that yet?
But the truth is you have to play
to everyone.
You have to be like
'yes.. oh my gosh isn't this amazing...
Maybe not that totally campy and cheesy.. but
those people... like we were saying about
you know dressing up, like that's your
next client, that's your mini interview.
Especially with like bridal party and
family members.
They are going to remember how you
were during those annoying family photos.
During you know, when the whole entire
bridal party is drunk.
They will remember how you are,
smile, play everyone, because they are all
watching you, and they're going to
remember this when it's time for them to
hire a photographer.
All right so that's five wedding rules
that you didn't know about!
They actually aren't even wedding rules,
they're just kind of photography rules...
professional rules.
So much of what we do as photographers...
and why we succeed, or
why we don't, have to do with how you're
perceived as a human being.
So over the next nine weeks...
we're going to talk about things like..
how to find your first client.
How to start a wedding photography
business from scratch?
Networking marketing...
we've got tons...
I've got tons of stuff for you, and lots of
guest appearances..
so you're not just hearing from me,
you're hearing from other
photographers, and other genres outside
of weddings... so I'm excited join me for
the ride!
Quite literally we'll be walking through
New York City, it's gonna be a lot fun.
Thanks for joining me on this 10-week
marketing course here on AdoramaTV.
Make sure you subscribe...
hit the bell so you don't miss a thing...
don't forget to leave comments.
Tell me how these things are
working for you... or aren't working for
you... and I will do my best to answer them,
give you new suggestions, and really
follow along this entire course... so leave
a comment hold the hate cuz very frankly
you're somebody that I don't know and
you're taking shots at me like it's
patron... ain't trying to mess with your
self-expression but I learned a lesson
that's dressing and obsessing about
somebody else is no fun!