[b] prepared
[b] was kind enough to recently let Rebel Fish have a preview of the upcoming [b] school. It’s looking very slick and you’ll all be lovin’ on it when it comes out. For now, you can enjoy a couple videos around the [b] School Beta BBQ!
Free Album Design Software
PhotoJunction Remixed used to be $250/year. Well, they’ve made a slight adjustment in their fees: Now it’s, well, free. All you need to agree to is a monthly emailing of Queensberry’s newsletter. Not a bad price to pay, especially if you’re good with email filtering. 
Marketing to high-end brides
Rebel Fish noticed a good discussion going on over at OSP. A photographer was asking the forum how best to market to high-end brides. Rebel Fish has taken the liberty to cut and paste Kevin Swan’s response below:
Before I get flamed, all of this is just my opinion and it’s based on my experience. Your milage may vary.
You need to define “high-end.” Do you mean $50,000 weddings or $500,000 weddings or $5,000,000 weddings? Who is your target market, because you need to shape your business to that goal. Don’t just say you want people who are spending more money than the ones you currently serve–that’s not a very concrete goal.
Bridal shows are good to get started, because they get you some gigs and you can work on your craft. Until you’re very comfortable, selling to high-end brides won’t be happening. Do not continue them after you get your start because the mediocrity of the mass of photographers at such events will pull your brand down to their level. The brides leave feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and you just become “another photographer.” All the high-end clients I’ve shot have found me through referral or through a high-end event planner. I doubt you will ever see a high-end bride trolling a bridal show (again, this will depend on your description, but I’m talking about brides who are spending at least $100,000 on their event and around $20k on photographer). Their time is more valuable than that–that’s why they hire planners to recommend them 1 or 2 of the best options, rather than sifting through 30 photographers at a show.
You should consider things like packages and how you word your pricing. Do wealthy people really want to know nitty gritty details, or are they used to someone just taking care of their needs? When you buy an Aston Maritn, do you go in because you heard about a sale going on? Not likely. Do you have the work to support a high-end clientele? Do you have references in their circles? Who plans their weddings; have you taken them to lunch or bought them a nice book?
Consider your focus (or lack of it). On your site you basically say, “I specialize in shooting everything,” which is to say, you’re not specializing in anything. That looks desperate. High-end people prefer specialists. In fact, everyone prefers specialists.
On your site, why do you separate “philosophy” from “about me?” Just to have another tab? You are your business; don’t make people have to click around more than is necessary.
Consider how you “speak” on your site. High-end folks like to get to the point. You say, “What I have found that I love with photography is the ability to showcase the power and beauty of life as it is without bias.” That’s the long way around of saying, “I love photography because it shows the power and beauty of life.” (Of course photography is biased, by the way… what you chose to shoot and not shoot an an event, how you crop something out or leave it in, the angle you select–they are all formed from your bias and perspective of the event.)
You say, “I began my artistic career nearly 10 years ago as an Interactive Designer and Art Director which transitioned into a passion for photography as my career.” You shouldn’t use the same word twice (career) in a sentence. This is also the long way of saying, “Over the last decade my passion for visual art has brought me to photography as the perfect career.”
If you want to appeal to high-end folks, you need show that you can hang with them. Wealthy people are generally smarter, more efficient, better educated, and more perceptive than the average people. If your materials, your dress, your speech, etc. don’t match up, they will notice.
Ultimately, I think the most important thing (and this is true for any level of customer) is do they trust you? Do they feel you could hang at an event that may have famous people attending and you won’t act like a star-struck little girl? Do you have the proper etiquette for their class and their event? They want to know you’ll dress and act the part if they’re putting on a million-dollar, black-tie wedding. They want to feel you understand them, that you can hang with them, and, at some level, bond with them. If you’re nervous about getting the gig, and show it, they’ll suspect you’ll be nervous shooting it as well.
You should also consider that the fewer weddings you do, even at a higher price, means you’re in front of planners and other vendors less often. The less you are seen by influential vendors, the less likely you are to be referred. The genius Jim Kennedy has made more than probably 99.9% of the photographers in the US by going after the upper-middle market bride. His company is shooting multiple events every weekend. He has wedding planners asking HIM to be put on HIS referral list. He realized early on that there is MUCH more money to be made in the mid-level market than the high-end market. So, again, define what you’re going after.
So, those are some thoughts, in no particular order. You should probably grab Mike Colon’s “marketing to the high-end bride” DVD if you’re interested in pursuing this more. He’s a master at it, as his work and client list will attest.
I’m just an Indiana bumpkin.
$.02
Rebel Fish and the iPhone 2
Now that she’s had her iPhone 2.0 for a week, Rebel Fish feels it’s time to chat about it. All-in-all, it’s been a satisfying experience; and the applications… oh! the applications! It seems about 20 a day are arriving at the store, with no end in site.
Let’s start with the hardware of the phone, itself. Rebel Fish got white, because it’s different and beautiful. It does scratch, but so does black. The basic feel of the phone is a little sexier, due to the slight bevel Apple has introduced to the back of the phone. The overall dimensions are roughly the same.
The bevel, while feeling nice in the hand, is a bad idea when on the table. Rebel Fish loves the rock-solid feel of the 1.0 phone when using it as a calculator, texting, or whatever she happens to do. With the new bevel, the phone rocks and slips when you hit the edges of the screen. Bad.
The audio quality of the speakers and microphone are both improved. It’s much easier to hear and people seem to enjoy better microphone pick-up. The metal buttons are pretty, but otherwise unchanged from the original.
The battery doesn’t last as long as the 1.0 phone, but Rebel Fish suspects that’s more due to the addition of the 3G capability, which she’s glad to sacrifice some battery life for. The 3G requires more power! And, while it doesn’t last as long as iPhone 1.0, it still lasts longer than any other 3G capable phone on the market.
The addition of the GPS is fantabulous! Rebel Fish frequently turns on the Google Map program, activates the GPS-follow mode, and turns on the satellite image. When you’re driving, you can zoom in and see the buildings you’re zooming by in real-life mirrored on the phone. Your little, pulsing, blue dot moving on the road you’re on–even showing it on the correct _side_ of the road. It’s so fun!
But really, the heart of the upgrade has been the software. Rebel Fish has downloaded many of the available applications, and she’s screenshotted the ones she’s decided make the cut–just for you! Click the thumbnail to see them all.
Rebel Fish loves Loopt, a little application that auto-detects your location, allows you to take a photograph, and post a little note. It then updates Facebook, Twitter, and more!
The language learning applications are fantastic. From flash-cards to native speakers, it’s becoming much more practical to learn a language.
The games are great, of course. In the iPhone, we’ve got the world’s best gaming platform–and you can expect folks to start developing some awesome titles for it. Texas Hold’em, by Apple, is perfect. You can play against other folks on your wifi network, or in single mode. It’s a blast to sit around a table with 4 or 5 friends, still chatting, tossing insults, and playing a great game of poker–without the cards or chips!
Rebel Fish also enjoys Twitterific, a simple app to keep tabs on her friends that Twitter and Tweet.
There is, of course, a down-side to all this joy. The push applications (which, Apple has admitted, aren’t exactly push applications) seem to take more of the battery life out of the phone. Syncing and backing up the phone takes longer, as there is now more to sync. Essentially, we have been enjoying the iPhone’s speed because we’ve had way more processing power than was required to run the basics of the phone. Now, with hundreds of third-party applications arriving, the little processor is feeling it’s limits.
Rebel Fish heartily suggests that anyone with an iPhone who hasn’t (is there anyone?) upgraded, dive in; the water’s great!
Go go gadget Apple!
RF
Use Alsoft When it gets Hard.
Rebel Fish has had 2 drives fail on her recently. These drives didn’t just have “problems”, they plain didn’t mount or show up on any computer she tied them to. Tough to run Disk Utility when a drive doesn’t register with the OS.
Never fear! Alsoft is here! (trumpets)
Rebel Fish was in a bind and quickly ran out to the web to download Alsoft’s amazing Disk Warrior 4. After paying the pathetic $100 for the “Download and CD” option, she quickly slurped down the software, launched it, and the silly thing immediately discovered the drive that couldn’t mount with a little message that said, “This disk’s directory structure needs to be rebuilt.” Rebel Fish clicked “rebuild,” and about 10 minutes later, the drive was purring along, no data lost.
Click here for more info on this fantastic, simple, and powerful disk saver. Thanks, Alsoft!
David Allen on GTD
We’ve talked a few times about the GTD system. Here’s a 45-minute video of David Allen (author of Getting Things Done) going over the GTD system at Google.
Intro to Lightroom: NEW!
If you’re still using Bridge or (gasp) Photoshop to edit your images, step out of the stone age and into the future with Adobe Lightroom. Kevin Swan walks you through the basics to get you up and running by the time you’ve finished the video.
Kevin can edit a full wedding from 2000 images to 600 in less than 2 hours. That includes all sorting, final effects, crops, file naming, everything! This video shows you how it’s done.
The video is 45 minutes long and covers the following:
Go checkout Lightroom, free trials available!
Order Now: Click HERE!
Hire a Professional
Lots of photographers think they have the stuff to make their own logo. Usually, they are disastrously mistaken. Fortunately, Rebel Fish will share with you all a fun resource for getting a logo done GOOD and CHEAP.
It’s called Logosauce. You put up a description of what you need a logo for, you commit some cash (minimum $200) to the winner, and then it’s open season. Whoever wants to invest the time to design can, and the submissions are all voted on. You can give feedback and the designers can respond. You award the winner with the cash you proposed.
It’s smart, and you get some pretty savvy designers jumping on your brand, which can be a good thing.
Check it out!