Lighting Presentation in Dutchess County

It's been awhile since I've blogged, so I need to get back on the horse. I know blogs drive SEO and help business, but business has been so good, I haven't had much time to write and post.

Last Thursday I presented my photographic lighting program "One Light, Two Light, Red Light, Blue Light" to the Dutchess Regional Professional Photographers (DRPP) in Fishkill, NY. Here is the write-up that will go out with their President's Message. Writeup and photos of me provided by Steve Lynch, DRPP.  Used with permission.

Patrick Luke, President of the Professional Photographers Society of New York State, (PPSNYS) gave an excellent presentation on Studio Lighting and also "On Location" lighting techniques using One Light, Two Lights . . . and up to Five Studio Lights with three reflectors.

His presentation was both informative and very entertaining.   Although it was a bit lengthy - ending at about 9:45 PM . . . NO ONE left the meeting early!    Pat specializes in photographing High School Seniors in the Rochester, NY area, and he said that he always interviews them beforehand to find out their likes and special interests - athletic sports team, or perhaps plays a musical instrument - and then he personalizes their photo shoot accordingly.

For example, one High School Senior was on the school's soccer team, and so Pat set up his "On Location" lights on the soccer field and then had the student's mother throw the soccer ball up in the air, and the Senior jumped up about 4 or 5 feet into the air, and did a "Scissor Kick" . . . and Pat looked at the back of his camera and said:   "OK Perfect - GOT IT" !     ONE SHOT - Picture Perfect ! ! !   See photo attached - which was "Copiedright" without permission from Pat's Website.

To view a selection of Pat's High School Seniors and other portrait photos, go to his website:   www.LukePhotography.com

How To Get Your Customers to Love You

As any small business owner will tell you, our customers are the lifeblood of our business. Ensuring brand loyalty is crucial to our survival.  Because there are so many photographers flooding the market with business cards now that digital cameras seem to do everything for you, getting customers is a difficult proposition.  But once you have them, keeping them is the name of the game.

There is a long-standing "80/20" business adage that indicates that 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers, meaning that the majority of your business comes from repeat customers.  In the world of photography I'm not not sure that these figures are entirely true, but let's focus on what you can do to not only keep the customers that you have, but make them your biggest ambassadors and shout from the rooftops....or from social media sites....how good you are.

1. Send a Thank You Card - I always try to send out thank you cards shortly after my customers walk out the door with their orders.  I have a box of blank note cards, and it only takes a few minutes to write a short note thanking them, knowing that they could have spent their hard-earned money elsewhere. Yes it takes longer than a quick e-mail, but that's the point.  I include some personal comments about their order or something that happened during the session to make it personal, and that makes them stand out.
2. Pay Attention To Them - When you are with your customers, they should have all of your attention.  Don't be answering phone calls or text messages. By diverting your attention, you are saying is that whoever is on the end of the line is more important at this time.  The people that are standing in front of you are more important than anyone, and you are now wasting their time.  If the phone call is important, you can return the voice mail....and a text message you can answer any time.  Has anyone ever done that to you?  How unimportant did it make you feel?
3. Celebrate Their Victories and Suffer With Them - I pay attention to the local newspapers and social media, and when I learn that a student athlete had a big game, or someone had a birth or death in the family, I reach out to them.  It doesn't have to be much, but show them that you noticed, and that you care.  And it helps if you really do care....phony sentiments will bury you.  And do this as yourself, not your business; your'e not selling anything here.  I'll even send birthday wishes and graduation congratulations along.
4. Pay It Forward - Karma almost always pays off.  Find ways to talk about your customers to other people.  If your customers are business owners, do what you can to talk about them and push business their way. After all, they've done the same thing for you, why not return the favor?
5. Always Be Positive - Yeah, sometimes life can be a B-word.  Don't burden your customers with your issues...we've all got them.  I concentrate on asking questions, not making statements.  I'd rather know about their day and what's going on with their family.  They don't need to know about my aches and pains.

I always said my business was going to be about building relationships...not collecting money from people.  If you build enough relationships and become enriched with friendship, your customers will gladly make you successful, both personally and financially.  When I see my customers on the street or in the grocery store, I get hugs and handshakes, and when I see  HS seniors that I've photographed, I get high fives and fist bumps.  I've laughed and cried in my office with my customers and when I go home at night I feel like the richest man in town, like George Bailey in the classic Christmas movie It's a Wonderful Life.

Business Portraits - The Right Way

There are a few ways to take a great business portrait, and many ways to take a really bad one.  Business portraits, whether you are an executive, entrepreneur, speaker, author, or are unemployed, are often the first thing that people see, as social media sites have taken over both our personal (Facebook and Twitter) and professional (LinkedIn) lives.

Selfies are great...if you are in high school.  Candid photos at a party are great....to share with your friends.  But if you want your first impression to be of someone that people can trust to hire and want to do business with, a professionally-done business portrait will put you head-and-shoulders above most other people.  Choice of clothing, color of clothing, and the environment that you are in all come into play when planning and creating your portrait.

Whether it's a traditional head shot, or a more contemporary business portrait showing the environment you work in, it certainly pays to have it done well.  Leave the selfies and party photos for the weekend.

But don't take it from me.  A recent article in the Small Business Trends website written by CJ DiRoma implored readers to Say Cheese! 4 Reasons You Need a Business Photo Shoot.  

"Too often, businesses neglect making the most of their greatest commodity when it comes to creating content for marketing initiatives – its people. With social media driving brand awareness and social engagement strategies pushing new limits in brand loyalist campaigns, more and more businesses of all sizes are maximizing the faces that make their businesses unique, trustworthy, dependable, reliable and, overall, awesome."

To read more of the Small Business Trends article, go to: http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/11/business-photo-shoot.html

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Luke Photography Studio Expansion

The Luke Photography studio expansion was finally finished in early August, but the workload has been too busy to share it with everyone until now.  Most of the high school yearbook deadlines have passed, although I have high school seniors at three different schools whose deadlines are this week, and we gotta get moving on them.

But I wanted to share a couple of photos of he expansion as it is.  There are a few things that have to be done to get it "tricked out" to maximize its use, and those activities will happen over the winter.

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South wall showing expansive amounts of window light, and wall-to-wall neutral portrait background.

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North wall, showing sandblasted brick wall

New Web Site for Luke Photography

Portraits of high school seniors, commercial and industrial photography, and business portraits

After several years of using my most recent design for my Luke Photography web site, I decided to make a switch to a more responsive web design that is easier viewed on smaller screens such as tablets and smart phones.  That, and I needed a fresher look and feel to the web site which showcased the best part of the business: the photos.

The large majority of the work I do is HS senior portraits, and if you look at most high school seniors nowadays, you mostly see the top of their head, because they are all looking down at their phones.  Based on the old saying "if you can't beat them, join them", instead of trying to get them to look up at me, I made sure my web site looked good where they were looking at it....on their phones.