PhotoMerchant: Tell me about yourself and your photography business.

Brandy Roels: I contract to an amazing company called JS Photography that specializes in weddings.  I have shot hundreds of weddings for them over the last 10 years. I also have my own portrait, wedding, and commercial photography business, Lifetime Images by Brandy. I met Jason, the owner of JS Photography, when we worked together in the automotive mechanical design field and we became great friends. He was into photography and thought I would be good at it. I caught on quickly and before I knew it I was shooting weddings full time.

I started Lifetime Images by Brandy a little over year ago and I focus on maternity, newborn, baby, and family portraits. I wanted to get repeat business from my wedding clients by offering studio portraits, so I made a home studio.

Now that I have a family, my goal is to do more portraits and fewer weddings to free up the weekends for family time. Before wedding season starts at the end of March I plan to finalise my portrait portfolio and get my website in order. Then I can formally announce my portrait services and hopefully get repeat business from previous wedding clients.

PM: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business?

BR: It’s extremely time consuming, and so time management is important. I’m a perfectionist and am constantly thinking about how to make things better, or new, or unique. Sometimes I don’t sleep much, especially since I’m also the mother of two. Luckily my husband is very supportive, but it’s still hard to manage my time.

I’ve also learned it’s important to be firm with my pricing, particularly with weddings. I don’t negotiate the quality of work I deliver, so I won’t negotiate my prices and what I know I deserve for my work.

In my portrait work, I find pricing challenging. There are a lot of franchise and amateur companies in my area that do low quality photographs for low prices. My service is more expensive, but my clients are paying for excellent quality, which includes all the time I spend editing to make things perfect.

PM: Why do you think your customers like working with you?

BR: The biggest and most consistent compliment I hear is that my photos look like they’re out of a magazine. They’re unique.

People have also said they like that I’m professional but still fun to work with. In the photography business, it’s important to be a good people person. Social skills and how you relate to people are so important to business. I’m easy going, approachable, and I try to create a relaxed environment for clients.

When people are relaxed they take better photos. I’m not working with models; I’m working with everyday people who worry about how they look in front of the camera. It’s part of the job to tell them how great they look and how well they’re doing.

PM: Is there anything you’ve changed about your business since you started?

BR: Including portrait photography in my service is the main change. There are a lot of similarities between weddings and portraits – you’re shooting people. Portrait photography can be less time sensitive, although staying on schedule is still important because a small child could freak out at any moment!

Having my own kids has made it so much easier to take photos of children, especially newborns. First time parents are so worried about every little move. Women I work for say it’s such an advantage that I am a mother because I relate to and understand children.

I’ve also changed the way I charge clients. I used to charge for the session and then wait for people to order and pay for prints. I found that people were busy, and it took them a long time to make print orders and pay for them.  I wasn’t making enough money from a portrait session to justify the hours I spent editing.

Now I charge one fee for the session and prints, and clients can take as long as they want to order. That way I get all my money up front.

PM: How do you manage your workflows and calculate the costs of running your business?

BR: Running my own business as opposed to contracting is definitely more stressful. I like to do everything perfectly, and I question myself constantly. Am I showing the right pictures? Am I advertising and marketing correctly? With contracting all that stuff is done for me. Weddings are brought to me; I meet with the client and book the date. On my own, the business side is a challenge.

With costs, I don’t have high overheads because my studio is in my home.  I’m a careful saver; I budget and set my earnings aside to buy equipment. My only advertising so far is word of mouth and I’m getting enough work that I’m passing work on to other amazing photographers who work in my company. So far I haven’t had to do any formal advertising at all.

PM: What do you do to stay competitive with other photographers in your market?

BR: There’s a ton of competition in my market. I think my success comes from a combination of the quality of my work and the way I am with people. I set very high standards for myself and expect the same from those who work for me.

I compete against a lot of men and I think being a woman is an advantage. I see photography from a different point of view and have a keen eye for detail. Having been in place of a bride before, and now having had children, I can relate to my clients.

I take so much to heart. I have a great love for what I do. A wedding is one day you can’t bring back and it means everything for me to do a perfect job.

PM: If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

BR: I would try not to take myself too seriously and try not to be such a perfectionist. I feel like I miss out on my personal life worrying about business so much. Then again being a perfectionist has got me to where I am today!

PM: Do you have any tips for new photographers?

BR: Any time you’re working with people, have patience. Also, don’t let your ego get the better of you. I’ve met so many photographers who think they’re superior and it’s a bad way to deal with customers and to do business.

PM: What do you think is going to happen in photography in five year’s time?

BR: There are a lot of amateur photographers these days. People say, “My uncle has a great camera and he can take photos.” They don’t have a clue what it takes to photograph a wedding. You need patience and time management skills, not to mention the ability to take great photos. You need style, talent, and a skill that can only be gained with experience.

If you expect a quality job, hire a quality professional. I hate to sound clichéd, but you do get what you pay for!

PM: What do you do in your spare time?

BR: I enjoy my time with my children. I don’t have much spare time to be honest. Work consumes me and I spend the rest of my time with my family.

Brandy Roels runs Lifetime Images by Brandy, a Detroit-based portrait photography business.

Back by popular demand* the PhotoMerchant crew are putting on another informative-yet-cruisy meet up at the Loop Bar in Melbourne, VIC. If you’re a PhotoMerchant customer or you’re curious about how you can grow a successful photography business on the Internet, then you’re welcome to join us as we walk you through some of our cool new features.

Learn how you can use PhotoMerchant to increase the profitability of your photography business. Meet the team behind Australia’s premier website publishing and e-commerce solution hear how other local photographers are using PhotoMerchant to grow a successful business online.

We’ll show you how to:

• Sell photographic prints and digital files online
• Build and manage your own website brand
• Show you how to use our latest features: social sharing and animated sliders
• How to automate your workflow with packages, direct fulfillment and digital products
• Build a profitable photography business online

Details:

Wednesday 8th February 2012
6:30 – 9:30 PM
The Loop Laneway Bar
23 Meyers Place, Melbourne, VIC, 3000

Meet the team, chat with other local photographers and enjoy some food and beverages on us. To RSVP by add your name below or via our facebook event page.

_{* We just happened to be in Melbourne that day}

One day an old colleague of mine was sitting in his office admiring the beautiful view of the Sydney Harbour. The sky was blue and the sparkling water was dotted with sailboats and yachts. Moored in front of the Park Hyatt Hotel was a massive white yacht that clearly belonged to someone who led a very fancy existence. He decided he’d like to meet that person, so he a had a bottle of wine sent down to the boat with a note that went something like this:

Welcome to Sydney!

I looked out my window this morning and saw your boat. I wanted to thank you for improving my view. If you need anything while you’re here, please give me a call.

Enclosed is some fancy wine to help you be more fancy on your fancy boat.

Impressed, the boat owner called my colleague and invited him for dinner, and just like that, my colleague had a new business relationship.

While the specifics of the story may not apply to a photography business, the spirit of effort and creativity is relevant to anyone trying to develop their network.

Here are a few easy ways to improve your networking skills:

Always carry business cards. This one might seem obvious, but I’ve met a surprising number of people who don’t carry cards. Short of writing their number on my arm with a Sharpie, they’re forgotten by the next day. There are plenty of business card companies online. MOO does good quality, affordable cards, but you can even have cards printed at your local Office Works or Staples. The most basic card is better than nothing.

Set yourself goals. If you’re going to an event, a party or attending a trade show, make a goal to meet a certain number of people, and don’t let yourself leave until you’ve met that goal. Every person you meet is a possible business opportunity. Don’t let loose your inner pushy salesperson, but be aware of the opportunities.

Nurture what you started. The day after you meet someone, follow up with a short email. This reinforces your meeting in their mind, and anyway, it’s good manners. If you think they’re a promising contact, think of an excuse to take them to coffee. If that’s too forward, email them a link to a news article, or a flyer for a music festival you think they might like. If you remember someone’s interests and make them feel special, they’ll remember you and your business.

Be brave and creative. If you want to meet someone, do something unique that will catch their attention. What do you have to lose? The price of a bottle of wine?

You’re going to come across all kinds of people in your day-to-day. Maybe you’ll exchange details with a gregarious woman who has five friends getting married next year, or a seasoned magazine editor with an enormous network of their own. You never know who you’ll meet, and the more people aware of you and your business, the more potential customers you have.

Pilar Mitchell

When she’s not writing her blog, Cult of Clothes, Pili is a corporate advisor working with businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to stock-exchange-listed companies. She is fascinated by the evolution of small businesses and loves to combine her passion for writing with the opportunity to help entrepreneurs grow and learn.

Xposure is designed to take up the full width of a standard PhotoMerchant template giving your photos maximum impact. Image thumbnails run along the bottom of the main preview pane and animate beautifully when sliding from one page row of thumbnails to the next.

Xposure also comes with a full-screen slideshow option which you can enable in your account website/layout settings. It also looks great on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad and Android handsets.

We hope to enhance the Xposure theme even more in the future and we plan to enable the full-screen slideshow option on the other gallery layouts.

To activate this gallery layout on your website, log in to your account, click the ‘website’ tab and then the ‘layout’ button and choose ‘Xposure’ from the Gallery panel.

Please note: the Xposure template is classified as being in beta as it uses some new technology that we haven’t used a lot of before and it may cause some unpredictable results. We suggest only using this layout for galleries that have less than 250 images as performance may slow down with more photos.

_{* The name for the new template “Xposure” was imagined by Rob Hadfield Photography and was voted in by the folks on the PhotoMerchant Facebook page. Nice work Rob!}

We’ve given your website galleries an overhaul with a massive speed boost, new layout options and design tweaks, new background textures, easier to use buttons and whole lot more. Plus, new social sharing options mean your customers can share and post your images to Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Tumblr!

Log into your account to see the new options, look at your website to see the latest changes in action or learn more about the specific enhancements below:

Buttons and social sharing

Now your customers can “Like” your photos and share them across the major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus+ and Tumblr. When an photos is shared the image title and description are included with the thumbnail and direct link to the image. So make sure you’re diligent in renaming your photos and adding useful descriptions to your photos. You will need to activate the social sharing option in the Settings tab.

We’ve made it easier for your customers to buy photos and navigate your website by improving the button styles on your website. The small flat rectangles have been updated to bright, shinier buttons that provide better feedback and are a stronger “Call to Action” for your customers to interact with your photos. New icons will also make it easier for your customers to buy photos and navigate your website.

You can activate social sharing in “settings” or follow the online tutorial.

Updated gallery layouts

We’ve tweaked and refined the design layouts for the Maxis and Grande themes so that your images look bigger, brighter and download a lot faster. We’ve fixed a few bugs that were causing some galleries to load slowly so now your customers should have a super-slick experience. Preview image size has increased, thumbnails and typography have been tweaked and both layouts are now optimised for social sharing buttons.

Better photo navigation

All photo galleries now allow to navigate to Next and Previous photos on the main preview image! When you move your mouse over the main preview image the left and right sides of the photo can now be clicked to progress to the next photo. Plus, you can also use your keyboard arrows to move forwards and back!

63 New Image Backgrounds

Each theme now has an additional 9 new background textures for you to change the look and feel of your website. Each new texture works across each of the 7 base colour themes.

Other notable updates:

• Image Tag’s now are more easily visible with tag icons
• Comments are collapsed for tidier page presentation
• Text typography is more consistent between layouts
• More options for tweaking gallery layout styles
• Speed tweaks, database performance and minor bug fixes

But wait, there’s more…

In addition to the upgrade listed above we’ve also released a brand new gallery template called Xposure, added animated sliders for embedding simple sideshows on your custom pages and enhanced “My Favourites” functionality.

* Please note: Social Sharing is only available on the Plus+ and Premium plans. Upgrade your plan today.

A “Slider” is a way to show off your photos with an animated object that you can add to the pages on your website. The slider animation fades between each image in an order and time interval determined by you. Take a look at the video example below…

Making a slider is easy – simply insert the photos from your Galleries and arrange into the order you want using the new drag and drop function. You can create your own custom sizes or use one our pre-designed templates. You can create as many sliders as you want and you can creating interesting effects by adding multiple sliders to your page.

This new feature has only just gone live at the time of writing this post. Check back here later for some examples of how other PhotoMerchant users are animating their photos into sliders. Better yet, share your creations in the comments below!

To add an animated slider to your PhotoMerchant website, just log in to your account and follow the steps in our Add animation to your custom pages with Sliders helpdesk tutorial.

* Please note: Animated sliders are only available on the Plus+ and Premium plans. Upgrade your plan today.

Photos courtesy of Sam Harnack Studios.

PhotoMerchant: Tell me about yourself and your photography business.

Eddie Flores: I started Strange Kulture Photos just over a year ago. My camera got stolen, which almost led me to quit photography, but because of a challenge from my friends, I decided to give it another try. I got a new, better camera and started the business.

I focus on event photography in San Diego, California. I do weddings, birthday parties, kids’ parties and family portraits. I take pride in the fact that I’m a well-rounded photographer. I’ve done fashion, nature and even pet photography, but my business is mostly events and portraits.

I’ve been working with my fiancée Elizabeth so that we can run a husband and wife business together. I’m training her in photography and operations and would like her to be my business partner and a second photographer to help me out with shoots.

We don’t have any staff yet, but I’m in the process of hiring people. We plan to hire a couple of designers and photographers.

Right now we do everything ourselves, which can be hard because I also have a regular job in sales and marketing. I used to do graphic design and they hired me after I designed and photographed their website.

PM: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business?

EF: The most important thing is planning. There’s a saying I learned in school: “Proper planning prevents poor performance.”

Planning is so important because if you’re targeted and organised with your business, you’ll get better results. If you want to start a photography business ask yourself what kind of photography do you want to do? Who will your clients be?

I didn’t choose my target market until I’d done a bit of portfolio building. I looked at where there was money to be made and what I enjoyed. I‘m pretty good with people and really enjoy event photography, so that’s where I decided to focus.

My graphic design background helped because I already knew how to use Photoshop and had developed my aesthetic and how I liked to frame things.

At the beginning I did free work and practiced with friends.

PM: How did you transition from doing free work to paid work?

EF: That was really hard, but it’s about confidence and believing in what you’re worth. I was fortunate enough to have good friends and family to tell me my work was good enough to be paid for. At the beginning you’re kind of self-conscious, so it’s hard to put a value on your work. You have to realise that you’re providing a service that people need, and if they could do it themselves, they wouldn’t be paying you for it.

PM: Why do you think your customers like working with you?

EF: Personality. I’m very animated and can make people feel comfortable really quickly. I try to create an experience that’s unforgettable while also listening, paying attention to detail and understanding what clients want.

PM: Is there anything you’ve changed about your business since you started?

EF: I changed my business model to make things simple and efficient and to spend my time where I could get the most value out of it.

I’ve automated a lot of things. At first I tried to do a lot of things myself. I did my own website,  edited and uploaded pictures, made web galleries. It was a great time for me to come across PhotoMerchant because it made everything simple and saved me a lot of time.

I’ve also automated email campaigns and use HooteSuite to manage my social media campaigns.

With technology, I use a lot of action scripts in Photoshop to automate editing and filters so I don’t have to do it manually.

PM: How do you manage your workflows and calculate the costs of running your business?

EF: I sacrifice a lot, including sleep! Yesterday I went to bed at 3:30am and had to get up at 7:00am. That’s the thing about running your own business, especially at the beginning. There’s going to be a lot of sacrifice.

I try to stay motivated and be efficient. Rather than going out and partying all weekend, I take advantage of the fact that I don’t have a family and kids, and focus on the business and my goals.

When I come home from work, rather than give myself time to doze off, I do things right away and don’t leave myself gaps. That keeps me energetic and pushing along because I can lose motivation when I delay.

It’s hard to know where to start with pricing when you don’t have industry experience. I did a lot of research on Google to get an idea of what other photographers in my area were charging. I looked at competitors and my own costs to figure out how much I needed to charge to make a profit.

The main thing I wanted to do was upgrade equipment, be able to expand and afford things like PhotoMerchant without breaking the bank. I’ve noticed a lot of my photographer friends worry about pinching pennies where ever they can and I don’t like that.

PM: What do you do to stay competitive with other photographers in your market?

EF: I’m not shy; I go to mixers and am constantly meeting people. I’m actually working on a series of video blogs to give photography tips. I’m a bit of a digital ninja and try to use media like Twitter and YouTube because I’ve noticed San Diego my competitors are old school photographers who are set in their ways, have their client base and don’t use technology. There are a lot of photographers in San Diego but technology gives me an edge.

PM: If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

EF: Whatever you want in life, go do it and don’t pay attention to what other people say. When I started out, a lot of people told it would be hard to make money as a photographer or that there was too much competition. You can’t care about the competition. You’ve just got to go out there and do it and carve yourself a niche.

PM: Do you have any tips for new photographers?

EF: Be prepared from the beginning. Have your website, business cards, marketing plan, and your sales approach all ready before you talk to clients. A photographer could be really talented, but if they just focus on their art and not their business, and they won’t succeed.

Don’t get too wrapped up in yourself as an artist. It’s not about you. It’s about the customer and providing services to them.

Communication and people skills are so important. I’ve noticed some photographers make people feel awkward because they don’t know how to talk to people. You’ve got to show confidence beyond the lens by giving strong direction. A communication class would be really good for people who aren’t that good with their people skills.

PM: What do you think is going to happen in photography in five year’s time?

EF: Accessibility of technology and the ease of taking a photograph will inspire a lot of people to enter the industry and try to be a photographer.

It’s going to make it harder for professionals because people will be undercutting on price, so you’ve got to separate yourself by being a leader in your own niche. I feel like being a digital ninja is what will to separate me from the competition.

PM: What do you do in your spare time?

EF: I know this is going to make me sound like a nerd, but I read blogs a lot and I take pictures. I love shooting pictures and that’s my relaxing time. The only time I feel like I’m working is when I’m retouching and editing.

I also like to shoot people, and when I say that, I mean paintball! I love it and use it to de-stress.

Eddie Flores Jr. runs Strange Kulture Photos, a San Diego-based wedding and portrait photography business.

PhotoMerchant: Tell me about yourself and your photography business.

Seth Rubin: I started photography in my third year of university when I opted to take an oil painting class. The professor inspired us to take photographs for a project entitled “Another Look” where we approached things in a different way – different light, different angles – and we painted from those photographs. That was still largely in the day of film cameras and with my Yashica 35mm point-and-shoot camera in-hand, my interest in photography was sparked. After graduating, I took a darkroom class at the Newport, Rhode Island art museum school, followed by a few classes at the Rhode Island School of Design.

I started the business in 2003 when I was shooting a lot of landscape, nature and travel photos as I went on vacations.  Shortly after, I had my first of several private shows where  I started selling prints and found that people took to my photographs very well.

In 2005, I agreed to do my first wedding after a few years of getting requests, and I really came to like it.  To this day, I enjoy many elements of shooting weddings and developing relationships with clients.

Now I operate in Washington DC and the surrounding areas and over the past year,  I’ve photographed weddings from New York City to Virginia Beach.

In addition to weddings, I photograph engagement and family portraits, a bit of fashion and still pursue landscape and travel photography. In 2008 and 2010, I was recognized by National Geographic and Nat Geo Traveler, respectively, for my nature and travel photography. Keeping my photography versatile helps me stay fresh and creative. Shooting travel and nature and being able to recognize strong backgrounds and pleasing light really helps with my wedding and portrait work.

PM: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business?

SR: Running a business is surely very different from the technical aspects of photography. The business aspect is often the harder part, and if you’re not committed to putting the time into the business, getting yourself exposed and bringing clients in, then it’s not really a business; it’s more of a hobby.

An advantage these days with social media is there are so many more tools for photographers to get exposure, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on advertising. It’s important to start by developing the identity and image of the company.  Design is also very important to a business, especially in the wedding and portrait market where it’s beneficial to present your photography with strong accompanying elements. As photographers, we’re selling a product to consumers, so we need to think about the art and the packaging.

PM: Why do you think your customers like working with you?

SR: Predominately for my strong images and my vision. My client testimonials talk about my creativity and the great rapport I develop with them.

Before going to a shoot I always talk with clients about what sort of photographs we will take and then I scout the locations and visualize unique images.  When we arrive, we already have several ideas for the shoot and I think the clients feel comfort and excitement from that.

This year, I’ve started offering two engagement sessions, both “his” and “hers”. Often clients will have different desires for locations and the style of the shoot, so we’ll meet twice to represent them both.

I find at the first session there’s a little bit of nervousness, but by the second session they’re over it and can fully engage in the moment.  This also really helps us further our relationship so by the time the wedding comes, we’re more like friends. I know how they like to be photographed, how they look their best, and they know how to pose and really feel confident to look their best in the images.

PM: Is there anything you’ve changed about your business since you started?

SR: It’s likely more about what hasn’t changed. Not having a business background, that aspect has been a lot of experimentation. I’m constantly learning and evolving, taking business workshops and adjusting the areas of the business that could be better. That might be advertising, marketing, packaging or pricing. As mentioned earlier, embracing social media and design and developing an identity for the business are all things that are important to make the business end of things work.

PM: How do you manage your workflows and calculate the costs of running your business?

SR: To start, I’ve been good with time-keeping for my various jobs which has aided in understanding how long tasks such as reviewing, editing, uploading, developing albums and archiving takes. I can then work out those elements on a per hour basis. That helps me figure out how many jobs I can book and how much time I’ll need for post production.  Regarding job specific costs, it depends on whether we’re talking about weddings, landscapes or commercial work.

For the most part, I follow a three step process. For understanding what my base operating costs need to be, I’ve determined this hourly rate which for weddings, equates to one hour of shooting and associated post production and image delivery. Then there are specific expenses incurred for each job, for example building a wedding book. The last part is doing market research. What are photographers at my level in my area charging? I make sure I can stay competitive.

PM: What do you do to stay competitive with other photographers in your market?

SR: Partially the aforementioned competitive pricing, as well as not taking on too many jobs so that I can offer a personal experience to each client. I deal with the clients personally from the start to finish and I think that’s important if you’re able to do it in your business model. Your images will show that personal relationship and how comfortable clients feel with you.

I plan to expand the business in the future and I anticipate compromise of the high-touch model with clients will be supplemented with personal questionnaires and extra time for relationship building prior to beginning to shoot.

PM: If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

SR: Look at the big picture. When I started out ten years ago, software wasn’t what it is now. I would spend a lot of time painstakingly editing pictures, and the pictures didn’t need to be edited; they weren’t really going anywhere. That’s just one example of looking at the big picture and not getting bogged down with the things that aren’t important; the idea certainly holds true in many facets today.

Set goals, determine your priorities to reach those goals and then cut out the things which aren’t moving you in the right direction so you can be more productive and pursue the things essential to move you forward.  I know with doing various types of photography myself, it can get a bit daunting as my focus is often split. You really need to understand what the priorities are and where you’re making your money.

PM: Do you have any tips for new photographers?

SR: Really learn the fundamentals of photography and spend time in the darkroom. It’s so easy for photographers now to go out with a digital camera and click the shutter as many times as they need to get the picture without truly understanding the craft. It’s a wonderful thing to be in the darkroom and see the image appear in front of you. It gives you a different perspective as a photographer to know where photography came from.

From a business point of view, create an identity for yourself, figure out who you are and learn how to market yourself. Determine your client base based on the kinds of images you’re producing, or aim to produce.

PM: What do you think is going to happen in photography in five year’s time?

SR: Technically we’ll see the cameras continue to get smaller with more megapixels, less noise and better dynamic range.

I’m interested to see how professional photographers’ roles are going to change with competition and greater access to create even semi-professional images. These days it’s hard to support yourself by simply taking photographs. A lot of wedding and portrait photographers supplement their income by holding workshops. It will be interesting to see how more photographers and better, cheaper equipment really change the entire business.

PM: What do you do in your spare time?

SR: I very much enjoy travelling and I’ve done a lot of personal, humanitarian, and business international travelling over the last few years. I also enjoy simply hanging out with friends, seeing live music and being outdoors, hiking and biking.

Seth Rubin runs Seth Rubin Photography, a Washington DC-based wedding, portrait and travel photography business.

Hi all,

just a quick post to put you in the loop regarding our support scheduling plans for the Christmas, New Year holiday period.

We will be scaling back to recharge and spend some chillax time with friends and family over the break. Essentially we plan to wind down from Wed 21st of December.. and then expect to be back to full speed by Wed 4th of January.

We will of course still be monitoring the Help Desk closely to support you with any high priority issues that you come across during this period.. So stay in touch via the Help Desk with any questions or issues you have over the break but please be a little patient if your question is not hugely urgent.. =)

http://helpdesk.photomerchant.net

support@photomerchant.net

Also be sure to check on the holiday break dates for your direct fulfillment labs

http://www.photomerchant.net/christmas-cut-off-dates

Wishing you and your family a fantastic Christmas break and a prosperous start to 2012.

The PhotoMerchant Team.

PhotoMerchant: Tell me about yourself and your photography business.

Neil Gates: I was born in London and moved to America when I was 12 when my dad was transferred. That Christmas I had a choice: I could have a remote control car or a camera, and I chose the camera. That’s when it all started. In high school I had a photography teacher who made me enter a photography contest, and I won. After I won, I decided photography was what I wanted to do.

I went to Columbia College in Chicago and then did an internship with a local photographer for three years. After he retired, I decided to start up on my own. I don’t have any employees but I hire assistants when I need them.

Lately I’ve been doing more product work and fewer portraits. Product work just fell in my lap, which I was very grateful for because I’ve found the portrait market has been tapering off. Although we know better, some customers feel they can do it themselves.

Recently I attended a seminar for high dynamic range (HDR) imaging and I absolutely loved it. This year, I’ve been working on HDR to bring it to market.

PM: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business?

NG: Adapt to change. Nothing ever stays the same, as much as we would like it to. One of my downfalls is that I don’t care for change. If everything is going right for me, I’m happy to stick with it.

I really feel like HDR will be good for my business because I haven’t seen much of it. You photograph the subject in the studio with three edge lighting on a white background and then you put them on a HDR background. The key with it is to make it look as real as you can in a surreal way. I like that there’s a consistent theme and style to the images. I’m hoping that theme will make my HDR pieces recognisable as my work.

To come up with a totally new idea is really challenging, but you’ve got to adapt to change and keep things new like I’m trying to do with HDR.

PM: Why do you think your customers like working with you?

NG: They like my work, and I’m definitely a friendly, easy-going person to work with. I’m known in my market as being a bit more expensive, which is difficult because these days some clients value low prices over quality work. The, “Oh, it’ll do,” mentality seems to be taking over.

I think that’s been hard on my business. I don’t want to be the cheapest guy around, but it seems like there’s new photographer every day. Now I really have to compete, and I didn’t have to so much before.

I stumbled on a website the other day with pricing that was so low I couldn’t believe the photographer could get photos printed and shipped and make any money. There is a market for cheap photography and another market that values good photography and will pay for that value. I’ve got to focus on those people more, and forget about the other group.

Another part of my business is shooting family portraits for people who are ill. I have worked with people who have cancer and I know that every image I did for them was cherished and appreciated. I get a lot of enjoyment out of helping those people, even though those situations are heartbreaking.

PM: How do you manage your workflows and calculate the costs of running your business?

NG: It’s a juggling act. When digital first came along, I learned a lot of tricks to help with workflows, and because I’ve been working for so long, I’m quite efficient.

I need to catch up on my marketing. I fall into the trap of being too busy to market, and then when jobs finish, I find myself with a lull in work during which I have to market hard to catch up. I rely on Facebook quite a bit for my marketing, but I need to do other things regularly as well.

PM: What do you do to stay competitive with other photographers in your market?

NG: That’s a tough question to answer. I’ve been frustrated lately because the market has been saturated with new photographers. I try to offer things others don’t and when I commercialise my HDR work I think that will really stand out. I don’t want to reduce pricing because I need to make a living, so I try to stand apart based on the uniqueness of my products.

PM: If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?

NG: My kids are in bed now, so I can say this: skip college. I’ve learned way more from going to specific seminars that captured my interest and from my internship than I ever did from going to school.

PM: Do you have any tips for new photographers?

NG: Don’t give your work away, and don’t be the cheapest; no matter how much you charge, there will always be someone who charges less than you.

It’s very hard to build a business after you’ve given your work away for free. A friend of mine wanted to start up a photography business. She had children at home, and friends with young children, so she photographed her friends’ kids for free. Then she had a really difficult time trying to charge them for the portraits and ended up never having them as customers.

With my HDR portfolio, I’m asking for people to come in so I can practice, and I’ll give them a free 8×10 as a thank you, but anything more they have to pay.

PM: What do you think is going to happen in photography in five year’s time?

NG: I’d be really surprised if I didn’t see this HDR thing get bigger. It’s not easy to do which I like because it creates a good barrier to entry. The three edge lighting is a challenge to get right.

Lighting techniques and skill will set the professionals apart from the others. I think maybe we’ll see more studio portraits coming back because it creates competition with amateurs who don’t have lighting skills and as a result have to do outdoor portraits.

PM: What do you do in your spare time?

NG: I have a wife and two kids who are 9 and 11 and we do stuff that families do. Hanging out on the weekend and doing family things.

For many years, I was able to control my hours pretty well. I wasn’t working evenings and weekends, but these days with competition and with modern technology making people constantly accessible, I’ll compromise on my hours and work when necessary. Luckily my studio is in my home so I’m still able to be near my family.

Neil Gates runs Neil Gates Photography, an Illinois-based commercial and portrait photography business.