How would you feel if another creative were to challenge the way you think and work as a photographer? Would you be prepared to accept you may be doing things wrong in your business? Could you accept there are ways you can improve everything you're doing? Be ready to feel challenged by Joao in this episode – I wasn't and I'm still struggling with the changes I need to make.

João de Medeiros grabbed my attention when I saw a camera gear post on the Japan Camera-Hunter blog. In his camera bag were old film cameras, a sony digital camera and a bunch of manual focus lenses!

I searched around to look at his wedding photography work and loved it. I couldn't pin down a particular style because there was a bit of everything which seems to go entirely against the “niche down and find your style” that a lot of professional photographers and business experts are preaching today.

A little more searching and I came across a series of blog comments which I loved. Each was full of strong opinion. Nothing rude or vindictive just a solid opinion from someone comfortable doing what they do… successfully… and in manual.

Here’s some of what we cover:

  • Why Joao has such strong opinions about other photographers
  • Thoughts on photography today
  • Can any photography really be considered art?
  • From art student to wedding photographer
  • How Joao is building his wedding photography business
  • Why you must study and observe your competition
  • Why engagement sessions are a total waste of time
  • To be successful at photography you need to think without money being your influence
  • How Joao found clients despite the lack of a wedding portfolio
  • Why mirrorless cameras are Joao's preference for documentary wedding photography
  • Autofocus is not 100% reliable so why not use manual focus
  • The skill set required to manually focusing weddings and why you should have them
  • Wedding photography style and how to find yours
  • Most modern photographers don't know the basics of photography
  • Why photographers must learn the history of photography

Joao de Medeiros 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:

  • If you don't know how to shoot a Rolleiflex or a Leica M, you should rethink your business approach or photography technique
  • Why you should never rely on modern cameras to enhance your photography skills
  • How to never missed a critical shot when shooting a wedding scene
  • How Joao selects what lense to use
  • How to shoot faster in manual focus
  • Why the skill of manual focusing is worth learning today
  • How manual focus opens a new world in composition and creative skills
  • Automation makes every photographer lazy
  • Why clients are booking Joao
  • Wedding photography pricing
  • Why Joao has no plans of increasing his pricing
  • You don't need to be well-known to succeed in your photography business
  • Relying on referrals to bring in new clients
  • Why you need to have a great social media presence
  • Why Joao hates lists
  • Why wedding photography workshops are a total waste of your time
  • Learning photography can be achieved by simply asking honest questions
  • Why Joao hates wedding photo albums
  • The best thing Joao has done for his business
  • Joao's number one marketing tool

If you're on the fence about becoming a premium member, join with the $1 trial today and get access to the FULL interview with João de Medeiros, get access to an amazing back catalogue of interviews and ALL future interviews delivered automatically to your phone or tablet.

Plus, access to a members only Facebook group where we take learning and community to a whole new level.

Joao de Medeiros 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.

Manual focus is not only about control. It's about composition – João de Medeiros

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

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 of reasons.

Firstly, it's confirmation that I'm on the right track with the interviews and that they really are helping you improve your photography 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 PhotoBizX. 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 website or blog if you let me know the URL like I have with the review below:

Great podcast – superb host, brilliant guests!

In iTunes by Barry Forshaw of Barry Forshaw Photography in the UK.

I’m a voracious podcast listener, and of all the podcasts I listen to, Photobiz Xposed is the one I look forward to most every week.

Andrew is a superb host. He gets right to the point and drills down to the nitty-gritty, finding out specific information for his listeners, all with a great, conversational tone.

The range of guests is excellent – from seasoned industry pros to relatively new photographers.

The extras for the paid version are well worth it.

It’s the sort of podcast that you can listen to multiple times, and I often do, with pen and paper to hand and a list of new practices to implement.

Long may it continue!

Joao de Medeiros Photography Podcast

You shouldn't look for beautiful things but you should search for feelings, emotions, relations – João de Medeiros

Black Friday Special for 12 months Premium Membership

There's never been a special for the premium membership but I'm planning one for the upcoming Black Friday weekend – Friday 27th November till Monday 30th November 2015.

There will be a massive 40% off for that one weekend only and only for the 12 month subscription.

Normally priced at $200USD, the special price will be $120USD. Again, this will be the only special for the year and it's only for the one weekend.

I'll send links to the special sign up page to anyone on my email list which you can get on by simply downloading my free ebook – How To Book More Portraits Than You Ever Thought Possible.

Existing premium members, feel free to cancel your existing subscription and sign up for the special price if that suits you. Instructions on cancelling your membership can be found here: https://photobizx.com/premium-membership-cancel

You have one day to make an impression, a lasting impression – João de Medeiros

New Facebook Group for Premium Members

The new Facebook Group for Premium members has kicked off and is going amazingly well. The camaraderie, help, support, questions and answers have been overwhelmingly good.

I think the successor of the group has a lot to do with everyone's common interest to build a better photography business and the fact everyone is at a different level means the range of topics and help really has been exceptional.

Members will have noticed more and more interview guests have been joining and participating in the discussions which just adds another level of value completely.

Having the Group as part of the Premium Membership has just added a whole new level of value – I love that!

Productivity Hacks

In the last episode, I mentioned productivity and asked if you had any tips, ideas or software you could recommend to help. Here's an email from wedding photographer Clint Bargen of Clint Bargen Photography from North Vancouver in Canada:

Just listening to your podcast while I finish up some wedding photos. Love the show! I look forward to it every week.

You mentioned this week something about internet productivity, that's a struggle I definitely have as well!

One super helpful app is called “Freedom” and it allows you to completely turn off your internet for a set amount of time. I use it almost every day and I highly recommend it.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know about that. Now back to the slog!

Best,

Clint

I've downloaded and installed the software and it works great! I'm not yet in the habit of remembering to turn it on yet but plan to make it a habit.

There are free and paid versions. I spoke to Clint and he's using the paid version and highly recommends the extra features. Details on pricing are here: https://freedom.to/welcome

Art is not a competition – João de Medeiros

Joao de Medeiros Photography Podcast

Facebook Re-marketing Offer from Kerry Fitzgibbon

Following the last episode with Kerry Fitzgibbon which was heavily focussed on Facebook Advertising and remarking, there have been a lot of comments, emails and messages about the technical aspect of what Kerry was teaching.

As good as Kerry was at explaining how to set up remarking yourself,  it was technical and there were a lot of steps. In saying that – there is no doubt the power of remarking will help any photographer improve their bookings.

I did ask Kerry if she had some specific training for listeners and she has come through… Big time!

She has made her remarking training available to listeners for $197 (normally $500!) to you.

Click here to get the training – Social Media Plus One – Remarking Training

Joao de Medeiros Photography Podcast

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

Joao De Medeiros Website

Joao De Medeiros on Tumblr

Joao De Medeiros on Instagram

Joao De Medeiros Facebook Page

Joao De Medeiros Personal Facebook

Joao De Medeiros on Vimeo

Joao De Medeiros on Disqus

Joao De Medeiros Camera Gear blog post

A Manual Approach to Wedding Photography by Joao De Medeiros

William Klein

Jose Villa

Jonas Peterson

Garry Winogrand

Robert Frank

Dorothea Lange

Sally Mann

Ansel Adams

Martin Parr

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Steve McCurry

Don McCullin

Saul Leiter

Ian Weldon

The 100 Best Wedding Photographers in the World: 2015

Fer Juaristi

Henri Cartier-Bresson Scrapbook

Sebastião Salgado

Trent Parke

Duane Michals

Blurb

Steve McCurry Books

Henri Cartier-Bresson: Scrapbook First Edition Edition on Amazon

The Photobook: A History, Vol. 1 by Martin Parr

The Photobook: A History – Volume 2 by Martin Parr

The Photobook: A History Volume III 1St Edition Edition by Martin Parr

Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS by Lelia Wanick Salgado

Trent Parke: Minutes to Midnight by Trent Parke

Storyteller: The Photographs of Duane Michals

BBC: Genius of Photography

Freedom Software for productivity and turning off apps or internet access all together

Equipment

Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM A1 ART Autofocus Lens for Canon

Zeiss 35mm f/2 Biogon T* ZM MF Lens for Zeiss Ikon & Leica M Cameras

Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.2 II Aspherical Wide Angle Leica M Mount Lens

SONY A99 Translucent Mirror Interchangeable Lens Camera with Full Frame

Sony a7 Full-Frame Mirrorless Digital Camera

Nikon D800 Body Only

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH2 16.05 MP Live MOS Mirrorless Digital Camera

Nikon F

Rolleiflex 2.8 F Type 2 Camera

Leica 10771 M 24MP RangeFinder Camera

Olympus OM-1 35mm Film Camera

Pentax K1000 Camera with 50mm (f/2.0) Lens

Canon EOS 5D 12.8 MP Digital SLR Camera

Konica Instant Press

Sigma 85mm f/1.4 EX DG HSM Large Aperture Medium Telephoto Prime Lens for Sony Digital SLR Cameras

Voigtlander VM-E Close Focus Adapter for VM-Mount Lens to Sony E-Mount Camera

Joao de Medeiros Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks to Joao for sharing so much about his photography, his business and for inspiring me (you too hopefully) to keep learning, keep improving and never ever forget about the history of what we do as photographers today.

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