In this interview, Mark reveals his reasons for targeting the two markets having two price lists with two totally separate approaches and why it is working so well in the current and tough market for wedding photographers.
Both sets of clients come from totally different avenues but still part of a referral network. We go in depth on what you can do in your business to be the number one referral for anyone looking to refer a wedding photographer in your area. Interestingly, Mark says that leaving a wedding album at different venues is a bad idea and what you can do for better results.
Here's some more of what we cover:
Following this interview, you will be armed with new ideas on how to approach your wedding booking appointment, what to show potential clients and how to build a rock solid referral network to bring on more booking enquiries.
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 implementable content from where we dive deeper into some of the earlier topics plus some new ones that I pushed hard for, that include:
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.
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you'd like to ask 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 Mark your thanks, and support for the show at the same time, click the link to create a tweet and automatically let him know you're listening: https://photobizx.com/tweet
A lesson learnt
I deleted last weeks episode after releasing it and learnt a big lesson as a result of my mistake. Last week I interviewed Henry without doing my due diligence and as a result, had a great conversation with a lovely guy that just didn't have enough valuable content for you, the listener.
In hind sight, I should have contacted Henry and let him know that I wouldn't be releasing the interview. Instead, I was worried about hurting his feelings and throwing away the work I had put into that episode. Bad move on my part, I released anyway.
It didn't take long for my worries to be confirmed, the emails and comments started to come in. I'd let you down and Henry in the process. After working hard for over a year to provide the best possible content, I should have known better than to publish something that wasn't up to standard. I apologise and won't let it happen again.
The Resources Page
Remember the ever expanding resources page that has a listing of products, programs, hardware, books and directories mentioned in each episode of the show. If you’re looking for something that a guest has mentioned on a previous episode but just can’t remember who or what it was – you’ll find it listed in order on the resources page.
iTunes ratings, reviews and Shout-Outs
Each week before recording the podcast I check iTunes for any reviews and each week I'm excited to see what you've had to say about the podcast. This week I was blown away to see five fantastic reviews! Thanks you so much to:
Tara Tara Eveland Photography in the USA
Backdrifters from the UK
Sayah from Sayah Nathan Photography in Canada
Brad from New Zealand
Natalie from Natalie Weber Photography in the USA
Sincerely, thanks so much for your ratings and reviews, I appreciate the time you've taken and it's a big help for the show. It's these iTunes reviews that make a big difference to the podcast being ranked well and found in the iTunes store. If you have the time and are happy to leave an honest rating and review, head over to iTunes.
Don't feel your comments have to be long, involved or gushy, an honest opinion is all I ask. Don't be shy about leaving your business name in the review either – that way I can add a link in the show-notes and show my appreciation with a proper thanks and a Google loving back-link to your website.
Get in Touch or Leave a Voicemail Message
If you'd like to get in touch, ask a question or make a suggestion for the show, you can email me [email protected], find me on Twitter https://twitter.com/andrewhellmich or on Facebook at https://photobizx.com/facebook – I'd love to hear from you!
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
Website: http://markseymourphotography.co.uk
Photos from the Workshop Mark did in America: http://markseymourphotography.co.uk/dallas-images/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkSeymourPhotography
Google+: https://plus.google.com/102969380533826883853/posts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkSeymour1960
People/Workshops/Photographers mentioned
Caravagio – http://caravaggio.com/
Huy Nguyen – http://loveunscripted.com/huy/
Henri Cartier Bresson – http://www.henricartierbresson.org/index_en.htm
Elliott Erwitt – http://www.elliotterwitt.com/lang/en/index.html
Sebastian Salgado – https://www.facebook.com/SebastiaoSalgado
The Foundation Photography Workshop – http://fworkshop.com/
The War Photographer Movie – http://www.war-photographer.com/en/
Wedding Venues
Cliveden House – http://www.clivedenhouse.co.uk/plan-an-event/weddings/
Claridge’s Hotel – http://www.claridges.co.uk/luxury-wedding/
Mark's Video Links
http://markseymourphotography.co.uk/professional-documentary-wedding-photographer/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0oLzEOLtVw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM_RopNNH0Q
http://vimeo.com/84294651 Orthodox
http://markseymourphotography.co.uk/slideshow/Efraim/
Equipment
Nikon 20mm f/2.8D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 24mm f/1.4G ED AF-S RF SWM Prime Wide-Angle Nikkor Lens
Nikon 28mm f/1.4D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 85mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor Lens
Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens
Books
The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly?
Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking – by David Bayles and Ted Orland
That's it for me this week, hope everything is going well for you in life and business!
If you've been enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to tell another photographer about it – it could be in a Facebook Group you're a part of, a photography forum, with a photographer friend or on twitter.
If you do have a twitter account, simply click here: https://photobizx.com/tweet or use the share buttons below.
Thanks and speak soon
Andrew
So I listened to this whole thing while I edited and blog stomped (yes I just found blog stomp and wow I love it, what an invention!) Anyways, I did not expect that shout out, THANK YOU!!! I am a self proclaimed “Jesus Freak” and yelp I’m letting that light shine in my business and through my work thanks to your podcasts and the many many helpful people that urged me to just be myself. Andrew, Nikki from Epic Danger photographer, and Jamie from the Modern Tog!
Okay so for this particular interview, well hmmmm, I have to say its the one time I DONT have a takeaway. Lovely guy and friendly and all but I don’t do weddings, and if I did I’m not sure anything he said would really have applied to me anyways just because there are like NO jewish people around here. Amish yes, but they don’t believe in having their photographs taken.
Anyways, I will say this however, I really enjoyed listening to the stories he told of different culture and traditions and how that affects how he has to shoot them and such. Id love to see some of those engagement images without them touching. Like you said Andrew, HOW do you convey love and such in an image without even holding a hand.
Also, for Mark, a question.
I went to your website and noticed that 90% of your images are in black and white. Do your clients typically prefer them that way, or is that just part of your ‘style’ and brand that you have created? Also, are you shooting film or do you edit in a way that makes some images look ‘filmy’ because it seems as some are film. Last question, what camera model do you shoot with? You said Nikon but I did not catch the model. Thanks for the interview!
Be Blessed and Be Inspired!
Hi Tara, many thanks for taking the time out to write.
Firstly I use Nikon and at the moment its the D4 which enables me to shoot at high ISO with available light.
I haven’t shot film for years now but my digital imaging is carried out in lightroom and then the B & W are with silver effex where i have a custom pre set to make my images look as film like as possible .
Wishing you all the best
Mark
Hi Tara
Glad you enjoyed the interview and I’m surprised there were no takeaways for you, even though you’re not a wedding photographer.
I love a bunch of things Mark is doing including:
Not just showing wedding photography in his studio but showing what he’s also passionate about
Having two markets to draw work from that get married on different days of the week
Having two separate price lists – something I’d normally be afraid to do
The importance of not falling behind the new and younger photographers on the scene
His relationship building with venues, although I believe in having albums there if you can
What he takes to client meetings
His project shooting to improve his photography
To name a few 🙂
Look out for next weeks episode with a fantastic portrait photographer!
Well, you really redeemed yourself with this one! Fantastic episode, Andrew!
I liked Mark’s insight and unique perspective on how Jewish families and Christian families both view wedding photography differently. The album example sort of said it all. I have done two Baptist (Christian) weddings lately and both were superhero themed weddings and I did not get the impression that they took the whole thing as seriously as I have seen other faiths do. But maybe that’s just me generalizing. Isn’t it funny how faith gives us hope for the afterlife yet totally makes us biased toward our own faith and makes us think that everyone else’s faith is utterly wrong and pointless? I used to be LDS (Mormon) and boy am I glad I woke up and came to my senses! So needless to say that I am no longer religious in the traditional sense. I just hate the way religion makes people into sheep who end up not questioning anything…they just believe what they’re told…Not for me. Yet I still photograph weddings; mostly because they pay good and not because I just loooove weddings. And for those reading this here post who are all uptight right about now…would you keep shooting weddings if nobody ever paid you? I didn’t think so. Moving on..Andrew, you mentioned Audible.com May I suggest a couple of audio books? “The Book of Immortality” by Adam Leith Golner and “Chariots of the Gods” by Erich Von Daniken And if you enjoy movies you could check out “Religulous” by Bill Mahr or any of the “Zeitgeist” movies by Peter Joseph. Really eye-opening stuff.
But anyway, this episode was so good, Andrew. It really added value to the podcast as a whole. I hope maybe Mark can be a return-guest in the future. Really level-headed guy and great to listen to.
Thanks again,
Joey Joiner
There’s no doubt about you Joey – I love reading your comments and never know where they’re going to go.
Thanks for your honesty, even though it may ruffle a few feathers! I’ll have a look at the books you suggest; I’m not sure they’ll be my “cup of tea” but I’ll check em out none the less.
Great to hear you enjoyed the episode!
Andrew,
You’re always so nice to me, even when you may not agree. I love that about you. I admire that trait and want to incorporate it as my own.
And about those books, sometimes we need to be pushed outside of our comfort zones, just like in photography. We get so used to how we see the world and having the guts to look at things through a different lens seems like a daunting task. So much so that many opt not to do so. Hence the old saying, “nobody likes change.”
My eyes were opened so much by those 2 books.
But yeah, I know what you mean…I tend to drift with my comments and go off on tangents.
Sorry about that.
Having a good day!
Joey
Hey Joey – thanks for the lovely compliment.
It’s good to go off on tangents, don’t change that 🙂
Another great episode, and it was great to hear the story of how he got into photographing a fairly specific wedding culture. It proves that all you need to do is just get out there, and then IN THERE, meet the right people, and things will start to work out for you. Congrats Mark!
As for the previous week’s interview, it’s a shame that the page was taken down. I didn’t even have a chance to visit it as 1 I didn’t see the value and 2 I was just too late… I imagine there was some interesting discussion going on in the comments section? Or maybe it was just Andrew trying to protect his image by removing it. Either way, I thought it was a decent interview but just not on topic with what we’re subscribing to here, and nothing that I would take action on myself.
Ps, was it just me or was the ticking stopwatch at the start of the 10 quick questions just a little too loud this week? I had to turn down my car stereo until it timed out…
Good to read you enjoyed this episode Chris.
In regard to last weeks episode, the page has always been there but I did take the audio down from iTunes. I have added an audio player to the website with the episode if you want to check it out.
I increased the volume of the stopwatch just for you Chris, wanted to keep you on your toes!
Fantastic insight into how you create images for your diverse clients Mark. I admire your skills and your business ethics. You should start your own academy; you surely have a gift for inspiring new talent combined with the generosity of sharing knowledge and experience.
[…] Although this podcast cuts off before the end (you have to pay to hear the rest…), the free portion is still worth a listen. London-based photographer Mark Seymour talks about how he got into the Jewish, and particularly the Orthodox Jewish, community as a wedding photographer. He also photographs a lot of Christian weddings – they’re the ones which feature more heavily on his website. Seymour is more of a street photographer first and his style of wedding photography has that same reportage feel with punchy colours. It just goes to show that you don’t necessarily have to be part of a community to photograph their weddings – it’s about relationship management and being a good photographer. Listen to the podcast here. (53min) […]
Hey Andrew,
I’ve had a really busy week and have only just started listening to this podcast and thought I’d drop you a line about the intro on last week’s podcast. Personally I had no problem with it. It was interesting just to listen to and see how someone else works. It did emphasize the importance of social networking mind!
It really wasn’t that bad if you ask me. Anyway, even if it wasn’t up to the usual standard, 1 bad one out of 60 odd is good going mate!
Take care
Thanks Rahim 🙂
Good to hear you’ve been busy but great to see you’re back.