Ryan Brenizer is a prolific wedding photographer who is shooting over 60 weddings per year! Anyone that has photographed a wedding knows that it takes hard work and Ryan has been doing these numbers and more year after year. It takes great photography, smart business and hard work to be where he is today and that's exactly what we cover in this interview.

Ryan started shooting professionally for newspapers in the year 2000. His first full-time wedding year was 2009 after making a start in 2008. He has since covered three U.S. presidents, been blessed by the Pope, been stared down by Muhammad Ali and, is the only photographer in the world to have been officially represented by the three largest photographic retailers in the Western hemisphere.

He's even had a photographic technique named after himself!

Even after so many weddings, Ryan says he never feels so blessed by photography as when photographing a wedding.

Here’s some more of what we cover:

  • Why Ryan is working from a home based studio when he doesn't have to be
  • Showing what you want to sell when displaying products in your studio
  • Why it's not necessary to have a street-front studio today
  • Pricing
  • Ryan's wedding photography business model and why he believes it's a strange one
  • How slight under pricing your wedding photography can be a good thing
  • How to determine who the possible best client for you really is
  • Shooting 60+ weddings per year and coping with the work
  • Investing money into doing less of the things that dragging you down in your business
  • How to determine which aspects of your business you need to delegate
  • Why Ryan still does his own post processing
  • The biggest problems with wedding photographers today
  • How Ryan outsourced his emails and how you can too
  • Just how did Ryan become so well known as a wedding photographer
  • The importance of taking advantage when opportunity knocks

Ryan Brenizer Photography Podcast

What’s on Offer for Premium Members

If you’re a premium member, you should have received an email with links to your version of this episode where you can hear lots more content from where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for that include:

  • Utilising Flickr to get noticed- will it still work today
  • Why you need to invest time on social media and the internet
  • Learn what targeted marketing is all about
  • The exact strategies Ryan applies to book more weddings
  • The most important thing to do for your social media presence
  • Ryan's social media process step by step
  • Why you need to focus on quality content in your Facebook feed
  • Why Ryan still needs to spend so much time promoting his business in social media
  • Blogging and staying up to date
  • Understanding and dealing with the fact that you will not see a return of investment quickly
  • Endurance is what matters in your social media marketing
  • The goal is to get your name out everywhere
  • The importance of back-links from big sites to yours and how to get them
  • How to stay relevant and attract referrals through blogging
  • Analysing where bookings come from by employing some spy tactics
  • What you need when meeting vendors
  • Networking benefits for you and your business

Ryan Brenizer Photography Podcast

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway is – what is the one thing that you’d like to implement or learnt from what was shared? Let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below.

I'm trying to be a photographer as much as I can

If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Ryan or if you just want to say thanks for coming on the show, feel free to add them below.

If you’d like an easy way to show Ryan Brenizer your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically show you’re listening: https://photobizx.com/tweet

Ryan Brenizer Photography Podcast

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

Each week I check for any new iTunes reviews and it's always a buzz to receive these… for a couple reasons. Firstly it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping listeners to improve their business. That's awesome!

Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find the PhotoBizX show. More listeners means more interviews and ultimately a better show.

If you have left a review in the past, thank you!

If you haven't and you'd like to, head to https://photobizx.com/itunes and you can leave some honest feedback and a rating which will help both me and the show and I'll be sure to thank you on the show and add a link to your site like I have with the listeners below.

Brilliant resource

By Not Of This Earth Wedding Photography by Stephen McCurry from UK on February 10, 2015

Just an absolutely amazing and inspiring resource for any photographer, not only us wedding photog’s.

Andrew manages to get some really, really excellent and insightful information from the guests he interviews. Even those who don’t seem exactly what you would normally be interested in provide so much useful and invaluable insights into areas such as marketing, professionalism and life as a working pro.

Above all what you get from this is that you realise everyone has been through similar situations and hearing how these photographers dealt with them is a constant source of inspiration.

Obsessed

By Sam13089 from USA on February 9, 2015

Update – I've since heard from Sam and I'm happy to add a link to her gorgeously simple and clean website – Sam Shuma Photography. Thanks again Sam for your lovely review 🙂

I'm obsessed with this podcast.

Each episode is packed full of awesome expert advice. It has been SO helpful in getting my photography business started! Andrew does a great job asking all the right questions.

The premium content is completely worth the subscription.

Ryan Brenizer Photography Podcast

Personalise your email signature

Below are examples or the personalised email signature files for Tenneille, Linda and me. The response to the new signatures has all been positive, they're easy to set up and not expensive at $35 each.

I have to thank Raymond Hatfield of Raymond Hatfield Photography an Indianapolis Wedding Photographer and PhotoBizX listener for giving me the idea to get this done. I received an email from Ray and being able to see a photos of him made me feel like there was more of a connection right away.

I'm always making a fuss on the show about being able to put a face to a name or a listener and right after receiving Raymond's email, i knew this would be a great idea to implement into my photography business.

Ray is using a signature from WiseStamp.com who have a couple of different pricing plans including a free one that includes a link to Wise Stamp.

I decided to have one built by  Kamal, a developer I found on Elance and I've added his details below if you want to give him a try.

You will need to set up a free Elance account to hire Kamal and he can be found here: https://www.elance.com/s/edit/kamal2184/

Email signature

Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Ryan Brenizer's Website

Ryan Brenizer on Facebook

Ryan Brenizer on Twitter

Ryan Brenizer on Google

Flickr

Sara and Dylan

Sam Hurd

Tiffany

Jonas Peterson

Todd Hunter McGaw

Tatiana Breslow

Ben Chrisman

Davina + Daniel

Fer Juarsti

Jeff Newsom

Nikki McArthur – Epic Danger Photography

Nikki McArthur Interview on PhotoBizX

Gimme That It – Branding and Web design

Rachel Callander Interview on PhotoBizX

Rachel Callander's new website designed by GimmeThatIt

Equipment

Canon EOS 5D Mark III 22.3 MP Full Frame CMOS with 1080p Full-HD Video Mode Digital SLR Camera (Body)

Canon EOS 6D 20.2 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM Standard & Medium Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Nikon 135mm f/2.0D AF DC-Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Sigma 150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM ( S ) Lens for Nikon F Cameras

Nikon D200 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Fujifilm Finepix S5 Pro Digital SLR Camera with Nikon Lens Mount, Body Only Kit, 12.3 Megapixels, Interchangeable Lenses – USA

Nikon 58mm f/1.4G AF-S NIKKOR Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro Large Aperture Wide Angle Lens for Nikon SLR Cameras

Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED AF-S RF SWM Prime Wide-Angle Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras

Nikon D750 Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) [Import Model]

Ryan Brenizer Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks Ryan for being an awesome guest!

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

That’s it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!

Thanks and speak soon

Andrew