The one underlaying theme, which isn't obvious from the start is putting your heart and hard work into a great portrait photography business is what's required for success. Portraits are often seen as the easier avenue to build a ‘highly profitable' photography business when compared to weddings… I think you'll come away with a different view following this episode.
We are making good money and there's a lot of portrait photographers out there that aren't
They specialise in family portrait photography and take a limited number of wedding photography bookings each year. In 2014 they photographed 21 weddings and over 140 family portrait sessions.
Here’s some more of what we cover:
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:
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.
Every successful portrait photography business is using vouchers to bring clients in
If you have any questions that I missed, a specific question you’d like to ask Katie and Jeremy 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 Katie and Jeremy 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
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 Christine below.
Excellent Podcast for Photography Professionals & Amateurs alike
In iTunes by Christine Wehrmeier AKA Miss-Ninja-UK on April 6, 2015
I’m a professional photographer from London and have been listening to Andrew’s podcast for sometime now. Andrew presents and edits his podcast with such professionalism and warmth and interviews top names in the industry from all around the world.
I invest in training every year and I have to say that the tips and advice you get in this podcast are just as good as the advice I’ve picked up at photography workshops/seminars.
All of Andrew’s guests are so open with their experiences, successes and failures, it truly feels like a shared community rather than just a passive listening experience.
It’s hard to think of just a single “take-away” that I’ve picked up from all the episodes, but I think the strongest theme for me personally has been to always be true to myself, something many guests have spoken about and is very important to me right now.
I didn’t hesitate to take up a premium membership on Photobizx.com last year to take advantage of the bonus content available, it was a fantastic move.
Thanks Andrew, you’re doing a fantastic job and I recommend this podcast to everyone 🙂
Links to people, places and things mentioned in this episode:
An Open Letter to Andrew Hellmich by Nick Brown of Iconic Photography
Gina Milicia's Website and Podcast
Gina Milicia Interview on PhotoBizX – Premium Only
The Candid Frame episode with John Free
Pro Select – portrait sales software
The Follans – Andrew Follan
Andrew Folan interview in PhotoBizX – Premium Only
Uber Photography – Kate Buchener
The Nikon AIPP Event 2015 – photography workshop / seminars
Sue Bryce Interview on PhotoBizX – Premium Only
Equipment
Nikon 85mm f/1.4G AF-S Nikkor Lens for Nikon Digital SLR
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens For Nikon Digital SLR Cameras
Thank you!
Thank you again for listening to the show and thanks Katie and Jeremy for being an awesome guests!
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
I only just managed to listen to this episode, but boy – it was a cracker! Thanks so much to Katie and Jeremy for being so open, helpful and downright awesome.
THIS is the kind of interview that made me sign up for the Premium membership last year! It’s right up there with my all time favourites . (Jean Smith, Nikki McArthur, Kristen Kalp, Steve Saporito…)
I’m so happy to hear an interview focusing on Portrait photography, and from photographers who view it as their main focus. There was just so much good information here, and I really appreciated how candid and honest both Katie and Jeremy were.
There was realism and cold hard fact in everything they told us, something that we need to hear as photographers – and the tips on Marketing and Networking were especially helpful.
Best of all was hearing some real in-depth information on Sales Sessions, which is something I feel like I need help with and would love to hear more about on the podcast. Hearing about their pricing strategies and the way they structure their prices was extremely useful – I’m using the Digital Files in a similar way as an incentive and it’s reassuring to know I’m on the right track.
I totally agree with how much importance they place on the relationships with their clients, and especially with the kids on shoots. It should really be our number one priority by a mile to build these relationships and offer great customer service – make yourselves invaluable, people!
Cheers guys!
Thanks Damian and I agree, Katie and Jeremy were awesome in the interview.
It’s difficult but sobering at the same time to hear just how much work it takes to build and keep a photography business going well. There’s no denying that to be successful, you have to work at it.
Noted with the sales info and the focus on portrait photographers for the show – make sure you check this weeks episode with Christine DeSavino, it too will be right up your alley.
Thanks for adding your comments and feedback Damian, always appreciated and great to have you listening.
Speak soon
Andrew
I really enjoyed this episode. Listening to Katie and Jeremy talk about their different approaches and what they admired in each others was lovely. Sometimes I wish I had another photographer to go through everything with me and bounce ideas off especially with the business side of things.
I was really surprised to hear them say that the best returns came from Portraits as opposed to Weddings. I guess when you think about it on an hourly basis and how much you put into a wedding you really do put in the hard yards for your money.
It was enlightening how much education they put into their clients and the sales they get as a result. I think that connection they form with their families and the kids enables them to create such beautiful work making it easy for people to see the value in their investment.
Thanks Teowai – very cool to read your comments.
Have you thought about getting together with a couple other photographers and forming your own group to bounce ideas off, talk business and marketing etc? It wouldn’t be difficult to get started and can easily be done via Skype if you didn’t want to do this with local photographers. Let me know if you need a hand taking the next step with this.
On an hourly basis I agree, portraits will out perform weddings but I think the work involved to book portraits is more relentless and takes continual work, especially if you want some kind of regularity to your bookings.