Today's guest is documentary and reportage photographer from the UK, Andrew Billington who has been shooting full-time for over 5 years and appears to be prolific all over social media. Googling his name brings up page after page related to him and his work. His business strategy seems simple enough and can be summed up as blogging, booking and shooting wedding photography.

Andrew is now shooting solely with the mirror-less format of cameras and it's been said that he is rapidly becoming one of the top ten UK wedding photographers. A listener to this show who recommended Andrew for the interview says Andrew Billington in the UK is probably one of the best Fuji users in the wedding game.

Here’s some more of what we cover:

  • How Andrew shifted careers to become a wedding photographer
  • Wedding photography pricing and packages
  • Why you shouldn't be doing pre-qualified sales on wedding albums
  • Why you need to be explaining to your clients they are buying photography not just the books
  • Why you should encourages couples to book dates right after receiving an enquiry
  • Why Andrew meets his couples at the venue a day/week before their wedding
  • Andrew's reply email wording to client inquiries
  • How to secure 50% of your bookings via email
  • running a photography business from a home studio
  • What you will see inside the “press books” or albums that Andrew shows to his clients – it's not simply weddings
  • The percentage of colour vs black and white prints for Andrew's clients
  • What Andrew does for his photography business in the quieter winter months
  • Why Andrew blogs twice every week
  • How Andrew booked his first wedding and what he did to take it a step further
  • It's normal to feel weird and uncertain when photographing your first wedding
  • Why you should be low priced when starting out as a wedding photographer
  • Why Andrew chose to advertise in Facebook
  • How much Andrew spends with his Facebook adverts
  • Utilising Facebook ads for profile raising and brand recognition for your business
  • How clients are finding Andrew today
  • The strategies Andrew uses to ensure his clients refer him to their friends
  • The downside of referrals as your prices increase
  • The importance of using an appropriate domain name for your business
  • Why Andrew targets his blog pages at specific wedding venues
  • Why choose a .com vs a .co.uk domain extension
  • Why you need to register your domain name for a longer period of time
  • The 2 prime booking times in UK
  • How to measure the success of your Adwords campaign
  • Why Andrew continues to shoot JPG
  • The importance of continued learning to improve your photography skills
  • How long did it take for Andrew to transition from using a Canon to a Fuji and how it went
  • The importance of managing the bride and groom's expectations before the big day

Andrew Billington 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:

  • The advantages of setting up a collaborative site with other photographers
  • Why you need to stop seeing other photographers as competition especially when you are starting your photography business
  • How a referral circle among photographers can work to increase your wedding bookings
  • Why you need to stop looking at your competitors pricing
  • The importance of working with fellow photographers rather than against them
  • How Andrew manages his time to be more productive
  • What type of posts Andrew publishes on his website
  • Why Andrew no longer submits his photos to get published on well known and popular wedding magazines and blogs
  • Why Andrew doesn't follow fashion and jump on the current trends in photography
  • The importance of creating and having a consistent style of photography for your business
  • Why you need to stick with the way you wanted to shoot rather than be blog-led
  • The best thing Andrew has done for his business
  • How Andrew found his photography style
  • Wedding workflow that works

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 want to be a photographer and not a book salesman

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

If you’d like an easy way to show Andrew 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

Andrew Billington Photography Podcast

Photography Business Income Calculator

It's no secret that I'm hopeless at the accountancy side of my photography business and it's lucky my wife Linda and amazing accountant Sharon, keep me where I need to be in regard to spending, bookings, prices, overheads etc.

If you're a long therm listener, you will be familiar with the fast talking, energetic and super knowledgable accountant and photographer, Peter Eastway. I interviewed Peter in episode 43 of the podcast where he cut through the ‘BS' associated with photography business and talked seriously about the numbers required to make a go of it and sustain any sort of comfortable life.

Or, whether you'd be better off quitting photography as a business, going to work in a bank and keep your photography fun.

Peter has just released a Photo Business Income Estimator that is totally free to use and is pre populated with numbers to get you started.

It's super simple to use, there's an instructional video below the calculator and the numbers are easily interpreted, if somewhat scary.

You need to check it out if you really want to know if photography as a business will even work for you or what number of jobs you need to book to be successful.

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!

I'm shooting for myself and I'm shooting for the couple. If I was shooting for the blog as well, I'd be doing a disservice to me and the couple that I'm working with

Secondly, iTunes is the biggest search engine when it comes to finding podcasts and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. And 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 to 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.

An Outstanding Resource for Beginners or Seasoned Pro Photographers

By Andy Davison from UK on February 19, 2015 

I only recently discovered this series of podcasts and am so pleased that I did – hugely informative and listenable, I’ve binged on them for the past week while driving around the UK.

I’m a member of quite a few photography groups and have learned a lot along the way but there’s so much good and fresh advice in these podcasts, it’s hard to imagine a better and more affordable resource for either starting or re-charging your photography business.

There really is something in here for everyone.

Steven Hubbard @HubbardSF

By StevenXM from USA on February 16, 2015 

I was a professional photographer for 33 years and I truly wish you would have been around when I started I would not have to have learned the hard way!

Excellent podcast very informative and enlightening. Keep up the great work, thank you!

Andrea Blair of Paper Horse Photography

I also want to say thanks to Andrea Blair of Paper Horse Photography for her email which was the perfect validation for me and the PhotoBizX podcast. She writes:

Thank you for all this information Andrew!

With my schedule and family commitments its so difficult to attend workshops. Your website and your podcasts have helped me immensely!

Have a great day.

Cheers,

Andrea

Andrew Billington Photography Podcast

Alternative to PhotoMechanic

PhotoMechanic is constantly mentioned on the show as a fast way to view, cull and rename images. I recently received an email from Dan who is using Fast Picture Viewer Pro who claim to have the fastest image viewer, EVER.

It costs $50 USD and can be found here: http://www.fastpictureviewer.com

Dan says, “If you don't need the complex tagging that sports and stock shooters use then it's the nuts.

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

Andrew Billington's Website

Andrew Billington's Commercial Photography Website

Andrew Billington on Facebook

Andrew Billington on Twitter

Andrew Billington on Google+

Prime Wedding Photography Collective

Jeff Ascough

Simon Atkins

Kevin Mullins Podcast

Photo Mechanic

Lightroom

The Snap Photography Festival

Fast Picture Viewer Pro

Peter Eastway's (Better Photography) Income Calculator

Follow Andrew on Instagram – http://instagram.com/andrew_hellmich

Equipment

Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Fujinon XF 10-24mm F4 R OIS Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Canon EF 16-35mm f/4L IS USM Lens

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens

Rokinon 85M-FX 85mm F1.4 Ultra Wide Fixed Lens for Fujifilm X-Mount Cameras

Fujinon XF 56mm F1.2 R

Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM Telephoto Lens for Canon SLR Cameras

Andrew Billington Photography Podcast

Thank you!

Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks Andrew 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