photography

The 21st Century Guide to Business Conduct

May 20, 2011 Leave a Comment

Never use texting lingo such as LOL or OMG. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the people you are working with uses them. Rise above, people.

Dress professionally. If you are sitting behind your desk at home, feel free to wear whatever floats your boat. However, if anyone business related is going to even merely do a Skype video call with you, dress professionally. You don’t have to have a lot of money or clothes to look nice, either.

Know what you are talking about. I don’t care who you are talking to and what their rank is, but you need to know what you are talking about. If the person you are talking to brings up something that you don’t know much about, tell them and refer them to someone who does know.

Know what you are doing. If you don’t know, don’t pretend to. See above.

Don’t use extra letters. If you are talking to your friends, this is fine. Otherwise, spell properly.

Work like a professional. Just do it. (If you don’t know how, train under a professional and then go do it.)

Don’t make excuses and just get it done.

Work smarter and not harder.

Have confidence.

Filed Under: photography, Uncategorized Tagged With: business, business conduct, professionalism, The 21st Century Guide to Business Conduct

Photography Lessons: Community

May 20, 2011 Leave a Comment

Everyone needs a community. It gets lonely running a photography business sometimes. Inspiration runs dry. You need someone to bounce ideas back and forth with. Second shooters and assistants need to be found to hire, at some point. You know the deal.

Now is the time to create yours! This is going to look a little different in every case, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Join a local photography club.
Regularly meet with some local photographers/bloggers/other creative business owners.
Regularly Skype friends/photographers/bloggers/etc. that live farther away.
Attend local events, especially those that are targeted at your target clientele.

You all are brilliant! Do you have any ideas for creating community?

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: community, creating community, local, photography, photography assignments, photography clubs, photography lessons, running a photography business, Skype

Photography Lessons + Practice: Creating A Business Plan

May 9, 2011 4 Comments

A business plan should tell the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your business. I promise it’s not as scary as it sounds. Creating a business plan will help you keep your business focused and productive. Let’s dive in.

Who - Who is your target clientele?

What - What do you offer? Obviously, you offer photography services, but let’s go a little beyond that. For example, your target clientele are seniors. They probably want digital images files, a preview on your blog, photos on Facebook to share with their friends, and some outfit/style boards. Think about your target clientele when deciding what you offer.

When - When did you start?

Where - Where (what area) are you offering and promoting your photography?

How - What’s your philosophy? What’s your style?

Why – Why do you do what you do?

I’ll go first and then you can enter your post link below!

Who - children, babies, and seniors

What - Right now, I’m keeping it simple with just the processed, high-res digital image files. I also post photos on my business Facebook page and post previews here! I think I want to start throwing together some style boards occasionally and posting them on here and Facebook.

When - Fall 2010 (which is a story all of it’s own!)

Where - I cover the Hopkinsville, KY area.

How - I believe that life is lived in moments and those moments deserve to be captured. I could write pages and pages, but that is the gist of it. I am a lifestyle photographer. I find beauty in the everyday and capture the moments that we carry in our hearts forever.

Why - I am a photographer because it’s part of me. It’s part of me because I find beauty in the moments that go by so fast. I love it because it offers up a different, fresh perspective. Wherever I am in life, I’ll always need to photograph it. This is now. Let’s capture it.

Okay! That wasn’t hard at all! Now, it’s your turn.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: business plan, digital photography, photography, photography assignments, photography business plan, photography lessons, photography practice, running a photography business, wedding photography

Photography Lessons Update

May 5, 2011 3 Comments

Let’s get down to business here.

I’ve been writing and scheduling posts for the Photography Lessons series. I absolutely can’t wait! This series is for me as much as it is anyone else. Feel free to tell your friends, too! Remember, it’s not the equipment, it’s the photographer.

I wanted to give you a general idea of what we’ll be covering, so here goes.

Create a business plan
Create a marketing plan
Community
Style a shoot
Capture: Food
Capture: Families
Capture: Children
Capture: Couples
Capture: Teenagers
Capture: Fashion
Capture: Babies/toddlers
Capture: Event
Capture: Wedding
Identify your style + create your brand

I might sprinkle some interviews with other photographers in there, too. If you’re a pro in any of the types of shoots we’ll be covering (families, children/babies, fashion, event, etc…) and would like to be considered for an interview, please email me! I’d love chat with you! If you are participating and have any questions, feel free to email me too!

xoxo

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: interviews, photography assignments, photography lessons

Learn to Event by The Middle Tennessee Pony Club | Percy Warner | Nashville, TN Photographer

April 16, 2011 Leave a Comment

Not too long ago my best friend invited me to go with her to the Learn to Event event in Nashville! She and her brother were going to be showing their horses there, which is super amazing. I couldn’t resist the opportunity, so off we went. [Can anyone spot the Batman building in that picture up there?]

That’s Hannah. She’s one of my best friend’s little sisters. She also happens to be one of the sweetest little girls ever and my name twin! She was way into brushing horses’ tails.

I’m sure the horses wondered why I was sticking some big black thing in their faces, but they’re just too pretty not to.

That’s my best friend’s brother. He totally trumped stadium!

That’s my best friend at dressage. She did super well!

This last one is of one of their friends there. She was really helpful to all of us!

I could go on and on about that day. It was one of my most favorite weekends ever. I’ll let the rest of the pictures do the talking, though. You can view a slideshow here and order prints here.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: best friends, horse show, horses, name twin

Things I Love #1

March 2, 2011 4 Comments

1. Evernote. I just downloaded it and started using it. I can already say it’s worth your time to dowload, easy to use, and will keep all your projects and ideas organized and in one place.

2. Creamy Parmesan Spinach Dip from SkinnyTaste.co m. I’ve had a dip very similar to this before and it’s one of my all time favorites, so I really want to check this one out soon!

3. Imperfectly Pleated Scarf {Turquoise} from Eclectic Whatnot. This could not be more perfect – my favorite number (3), my favorite color, and one of my good friends all in one place.

4. [FRAMED] Episode 4: Moms With Cameras. I’m not a mom, but I do have other things to balance in addition to business, like school, family, and friends. This really helped me to remember to keep everything in balance, to shoot what I love, and to always improve my business and how I shoot.

5. Grace for the Good Girl. I’ve never exactly thought about what Emily says in her video and book, but I am now. It’s important. You can click the link to watch the short video and pre-order the book.

—-

P.S. This post was linked up to:

Filed Under: personal, photography Tagged With: Eclectic Whatnot, Grace for the Good Girl, SkinnyTaste.com, Things I Love

Spring Kick-Off + Updates

February 18, 2011 1 Comment

Spring is coming really fast and that makes me really, really happy! I mean, what’s not to love about warm weather, more sunshine, and shooting weather? It makes me want to dance! [Um, more on that dancing thing later.]

To celebrate, I’m having a Spring Kick-Off Sale. How fabulous is that, right? Here are the details.

If you want to share the love, you can click on the graphic and click ‘Share this’ in the top left corner. That way, we make sure that everyone can help show off spring! That’s always good.

One more announcement…

I am splitting the blog and website. The site address will still be hannahbraboy.com and the new blog link will be announced when I get everything squared away. There are just a few more glitches on the blog though…

Main points of this post [I can get really chatty sometimes.]:

Spring Kick-Off Special [You don't want to miss it!]
You can share the Spring Kick-Off Special graphic with your friends.
I’m splitting the blog and website!

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: lifestyle portraits, portraits, specials

BlissDom at Home

February 16, 2011 2 Comments

BlissDom at Home is just that- BlissDom at home. It is for people who went to BlissDom and for people who didn’t. It was made because sometimes, you just need more bliss than one week. Sometimes, you need to make your bliss every day. That’s what BlissDom at Home is all about.

BlissDom at Home is awesome. It’s awesome because you get to relive all those memories, sit in on every session from the comfort of your own home, and you have access to the audio from the sessions, videos, exclusive footage, and more. It’s like a powerhouse to empower you do live your dreams. If that’s not awesome, I don’t know what is.

BlissDom at Home is for every woman. It’s for you, the one with big dreams in your heart, but just need that little push. It’s for your sister, the one who is a mom by day, but wants to make a business of getting her craft on at night. It’s for your best friend, the one who wants to work toward quitting her day job to be a self-employed designer. It’s even for your ambitious teenage daughter, the one who chases after her dreams with wild abandon and wants to take that next step.

What would BlissDom at Home help you accomplish?

P.S. The link to BlissDom at Home is my affiliate link. I guess they throw some Hershey’s Bliss Chocolate my way if you click on the link, but I promise I’ll share. [Everyone needs a little chocolate.]

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Blissdom, BlissDom at Home

First Client Interaction + Branding

February 15, 2011 Leave a Comment

Interaction is a really important. It’s really important because it makes the client/photographer (or any profession really) relationship more awesome. First client interactions can be on the photographer’s website, blog, Twitter, or Facebook page. The impression left from the first interaction is crucial because you want that client to immediately know that (hopefully) you are their photographer.

Interaction is awesome, people love awesome, and people share awesome. Make awesome – the experience, the images, your website, your everything. In order to make awesome, you need to know what your target client would be like and what they would find awesome.

How can I make awesome? Let’s start with your website and say you are a children’s photographer. Your style captures emotion and fun in a timeless way. You want your website to reflect that. You want it to be fun, timeless, and you also want some sort of good emotion to occur when they visit the site. You want your Facebook page and Twitter to reflect your brand also. That makes a lasting impression.

Each photographer, brand, and business is different. All you need is to know yourself, your limits, your target clients, your brand, and stick to all of it. I hope that helps! If you have any questions, you can post them in the comments section or we can set up a very detailed, personalized brand consultation via Skype.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: blogs, branding, brands, clients, facebook, interaction, photography, social media, twitter, websites

Borrow Lenses

February 9, 2011 1 Comment

Borrow Lenses is a company that rents out camera gear. They are the very best. My friend Lizzie originally referred me to them last year. I first used them when I did Brooke’s maternity session back in November. For that session, I rented the Nikon SB-900 speedlight and the Gary Fong diffuser. I may or may not have had to chase down the FedEx truck, but that’s another story.

BlissDom came around and I instantly knew I wanted to use them for the extra equipment I’d be needing. I immediately thought of Borrow Lenses because of their constant presence and interaction with me and others on Twitter, fast and accurate shipping, and the excellent brand new condition of the equipment I had rented previously. It started with one DM on Twitter and I inquired if they would like someone to represent them at BlissDom. Josh, a super helpful, friendly Borrow Lenses staff member, replied back and that’s how the ball started rolling.

It started with one simple DM on Twitter and a company who truly understood the new turn that marketing is taking. That is becoming so very important and I am so glad to have worked with such a fabulous company that understood that. I don’t know about you, but I value a company who is friendly, helpful, I can count on, has a very good social media presence, interacts with people through social media, and understands the new way of marketing. That company is Borrow Lenses.

Disclosure: Borrow Lenses sponsored some of the equipment I used at BlissDom as an Official Photographer. All opinions are my own. I promise. xo

P.S. FedEx has no idea whatsoever that I blogged about them.

Filed Under: photography Tagged With: Blissdom, BlissDom '11, Borrow Lenses, camera gear, camera gear rental, event photography, Marketing, Nikon, twitter