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Graham Crichton of www.grahamcrichton.com is a people and pet photographer with a street front and purpose-built studio in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

In addition to being the birthplace of the Titanic, Belfast is a famous university city, which means there looks to be a solid market for graduation photography — for both the graduates and their families.

Starting from a spare room in his home in 2005 when weddings and engagements were the initial focus. He opened his first portrait studio in 2015 and this year moved into a beautiful new space with a sizable investment.

If you watch his studio walkthrough and welcome video, you'll see his beautiful working space, including a shooting, sales, post-production and printing areas. Everything is done in-house.

In this interview, Graham shares everything you need to establish yourself as a graduation photographer servicing your local university graduates and marketing his business's profitable and very successful pet photography side. 

Here's some more of what we covered in the interview:

  • How to structure a photography business with different genres
  • Graham's total yearly revenue from photography
  • Graham's thought process behind his purchasing of graduation gowns
  • The volume and style of graduation portrait sessions
  • How to market your graduation sessions to students and families
  • Running ad campaigns on Facebook to attract graduates
  • When is the best time to show your graduation photography pricing
  • The process involved in collaborating with universities for graduation photo sessions
  • Graham's shooting process for graduation portraits
  • How same-day printing works and the challenges involved
  • Graham's printing process and print formats
  • Is there really money in pet photography in Belfast
  • The importance of continuously growing your photography skills
  • How to kick off a dog or pet photography business
  • The importance of IPS and joining trade shows
  • Why Graham prefers joining home expos to market his pet photography business
  • How to grow your photography business with expos
  • How to get people's attention at expos
  • Graham's #1 trade shows for photography leads and bookings
  • How to get people's details during expos
  • Utilising scratch cards and how they work
  • Why you should never declare everyone as winners when running competitions
  • Possible prizes with scratch cards
  • The risky side of running promotions
  • Using JotForm to record lead details at expos
  • Should you offer refundable session fees
  • How people find Graham's business

Graham Crichton 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 interview – the full-length and more revealing version where you hear the absolute best tips and advice from every guest.

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

Plus, special member-only interviews.

I take photos of what I think will sell but I'm not there to take a million photographs to push anyone into a hard sell. – Graham Crichton

You'll also receive access to the members-only Secret Facebook Group, where you can connect with other Premium Members and interview guests to help, support and motivate you to take ideas you hear in each episode and put them into action. There are also FB live video tutorials, role-play interviews and special live interviews happening in the group. You will not find more friendly, more motivated, caring and sharing photographers online.

Seriously, that's not all.

In addition to everything above, you'll get access and instructions on forming or joining a MasterMind Group with other premium members. These groups are super motivating, make you accountable and build friendships with other pro photographers with similar motives to you – to build a more successful photography business.

Graham Crichton Photography Podcast

What is your big takeaway?

Following this interview, I’d love to know if you're taking anything away from what Graham shared. Is there something you heard that excited or motivated you to the point where you thought, yeah, I'm going to do that! If so, let me know by leaving your thoughts in the comments below; let me know your takeaways and what you plan to implement in your business due to what you heard in today's episode.

I prefer in person, meeting people, so trade shows would be my favorite way of bringing in new clients. – Graham Crichton

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

Graham Crichton Photography Podcast

iTunes Reviews and Shout-outs

Each week I check for any new iTunes or Google reviews, and it's always a buzz to receive these… for several 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 and Google are the biggest search engine when it comes to podcasts, and it's your reviews and ratings that help other photographers find PhotoBizX. More listeners mean 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 or https://photobizx.com/google, 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 of your website and your name.

Alternatively, if you've left a review for PhotoBizX and are looking for more backlinks to help your SEO, leave a review for the new Photography Xperiment Podcast and email me your keywords or keyword phrase and where you'd like me to link to.

Another great way to get a backlink to your site is to send a video testimonial. It doesn't need to be fancy, and your phone will be perfect. Click record and tell me how PhotoBizX has impacted you and your photography business.​

BLACK FRIDAY SALE

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Graham Crichton Photography Podcast

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

Thank you!

Thanks again for listening, and thanks to Graham for sharing his thoughts, ideas and experience on growing both sides of his Belfast-based photography business, focussed on dog photography and university graduate photos.

You want people to know who you are. And we want everybody walking past to know I'm the dog photographer. – Graham Crichton

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