catch-up: work edition
o1.) I have been working a lot with that dance studio - I love it so much.
→ I don't consider this news anymore, but I redesigned and launched their website to great reviews. The old site was a total shit show, and I wanted to redo it long before she ever even asked me to. Like I was so excited when she asked me because I'd been wanting to fix it for over a year just because it bugged me so much even though it literally didn't even affect me at all. So I did that, and she wrote me a check on the spot without even BLINKING ABOUT IT. I am still getting used to clients who don't fight me on being "too expensive". Like I still preface jobs by saying "If you have questions about this (the price) then we can talk about it" and I need to not. She has told me she has no issue with it because "she understands that you get what you pay for". ♥ I feel like I've probably mentioned it before but in her, I have landed my first ideal client. I have little clients here and there that are great, or big consistent ones that are a pain in the ass, but she's the first mix of the two, all the best parts. She always has something for me to do, she doesn't email me 50x a day, she doesn't try to "get deals" or pay with "experience". I love working with her.
→ I also designed and delivered a recital book two weeks ago, and when I got to her dress rehearsal she asked if I'd like to come back and see it in the reals. She let me take it "because I know you like to have copies of your things". So we're looking at it and she's just like, "You are so good at what you do. And I just love working with you" and sending me texts with hearts-in-eyes emoticons about how much she loves the books and everything, writing "Thank you! ♥!" in the memos of my checks, like IT IS SO NICE YOU GUYS TO ACTUALLY WANT TO TALK TO A CLIENT AND DO STUFF FOR THEM. Like this wedding photographer, she drives me nuts and constantly calls and leaves 5 minute voicemails and demands that I ~confirm~ every single email she sends no matter how mundane, she constantly contradicts herself, etc, like I want to die 80% of the time. But this dance work is so great and I am so in my element. Also she's open to new things, like I got her tweeting, you guys.
→ I shot their recitals too, she's letting me sell prints on the website. Like how much do I love this. Some previews that I posted on my Facebook page:
Also I love getting to work in multiple areas of her brand, because I get to know it and I get to control how all my work functions as a whole, if that makes sense, and how everything matches and links together. Like I put an ad for the photos in the recital book, and then I get to put them up on the website and control how it looks and functions. I like doing this "whole package" thing, and I'm thinking more and more lately that I need to rename my company from "photography" to "media and design", and also start a separate company for my fanvideos of life once I start getting more of those.
o2.) SPEAKING OF THOSE, another high school saw the dance team video I did and has called me about following them next season as well. Nothing is confirmed yet but if everything is well I'll get to work with TWO TEAMS next year. It's starting, you guys. I would be so happy if I got so many of those that I actually had to hire and train other videographers and assistant editors. Like what if I did 5-10+ of those over the winter, recitals and theatre in the spring, and weddings in the summer, and then other random projects throughout - like what an awesome calendar year making enough money to sustain and actually buy nice things and new equipment without having to think about it.
o3.) OH I shot a high school theatre production and that prompted me to start selling prints for the first time ever, I hadn't sold prints before! I was under the illusion that it was a tremendous amount of work, but I bought a Zenfolio account AND THEY DO IT ALL FOR ME. I post-process the images as I normally would, but instead of burning them to a CD for the client, I just upload them into an album. Then people "shop", add images and sizes to their cart, I approve the order and it's printed at a lab and shipped directly to their home. It's actually like less work than getting them a CD, IDK why I didn't start doing this sooner. It is also much more lucrative. The show director is leaving after this year, but asked if I'd be interested in shooting them every year for a flat rate. I said I'm interested and would absolutely talk about it, and she passed my info on to her replacement. So we'll see where that goes; if I can make more money with prints I'll obviously stick with that but if I break even or make more, I'll just do it for a flat rate, whatevs. I hope they follow up because I love shooting theatre and everyone is happy.
o4.) I bought a new lens! A 70-200mm f/2.8, it is heavy as shit and my arms hurt but it's perfection for the type of shooting I do: weddings, theatre, dance, anything dark. It better be perfect because I spent over $2000 on it lol. I had the Tamron brand for half the price but it was designed SO STUPIDLY, the zoom and focus rings were backwards from what I was used to so I exchanged it for the Nikon even at the price difference just because I was that annoyed by it.
→ I also bought a 28-75mm f/2.8 from a photographer who was selling it for a decent price. There's a local film/gear swap group on Facebook which is where I saw his posting. So I messaged him and then we spoke on the phone, he was super nice, etc. So I drove to his studio which feels farther away than it actually is, it's about 30 minutes. Anyway, he was VERY NICE - he was an older guy I got zero creep factor from, and we just talked shop for an hour! It was so fucking REFRESHING to be around someone who actually knows their shit and is just bursting at the seams to share it. When I was testing out the lens, he asked if I always shoot with my right eye, like he just noticed that and then told me I should re-train to my left eye because cameras are designed that way and all the reasons why. He's been doing photography for like 40 years so he told me all this history stuff too, showed me all his old lenses, and other random tricks like how if I ever want a model to look sweaty to spray them with cooking spray. He pulled out this bag and asked me if I had "one of these". I said no obviously because I didn't know what it was and he took my camera, locked up the mirror and cleaned it for me! Like he is so NICE and you can just tell he LOVES photography so much.
o5.) Relatedly, we've exchanged emails after the fact and have talked about shooting fitness models and "glamour", meaning classy boudoir-type, which I've always wanted to do. He says it's important that he has a female to work with so his clients feel more comfortable. It's new to him so he wants to do a couple shoots to see if he can make a proper marketing kit, and he talked about me assisting and said he'd pay me to post-process and also pay me for referrals. He also asked if I do video work, and then after I showed him that dance doc he asked if I could do his daughter's wedding!! And he offered to pay me to do it even though it's my first wedding video. Do you know how huge that is to me? For the past 2-3 years, all I can REMEMBER is new creative people trying to pay me with experience points. I have to give up a really fun scavenger hunt date with Jas to do the wedding, but such is life. He also mentioned there'd be no better wedding to make a sample with than one that is geared toward photography - meaning he helped his daughter plan around what would make good photographs, I can't deal.
o6.) Just talking to him for like three days has given me less of a tolerance for my other wedding "client", which she has made clear by legally defining that we are independent contractors and not employees. Not like I ever felt like I WAS an employee, but I just referred to her as my "boss" because she books everything and tells me what to do. ANYWAY, she mailed us all this ~contract~, which pisses me off in GENERAL because when we she and I were arguing over pay and how she contradicts herself at the end of last year, *I* asked for a contract. And she said she wasn't a big contract person or some dumb shit. OH but now I get a contract. The other two shooters just signed it immediately without thinking about it, which pisses me off because even though they have issues with it too, it just makes me look like a pain in the ass when I actually stand up to her. So when I took more than two days to sign it, SHE MAILED ME ANOTHER ONE. AS IF I DIDN'T GET THE FIRST. No I'm thinking about it, and it's been two fucking days, chill.
The thing is, I'm okay with 90% of it. I'm mainly concerned with her non-compete section. "It's unacceptable to promote any other photography business, even outside of weddings." Um. What? What does that mean. Obviously I'm not going to promote myself or anyone else on the premises of her weddings, but the way this is written I can't promote anything else anywhere. And even if she means "outside of weddings" as "other photography besides weddings", that's still bullshit because all she DOES is weddings. Why would she CARE if I promote dance photography? She doesn't do it! And not only does she not advertise anything else, I've heard her tell people she doesn't do anything else. So that's issue #1 I have. Issue #2: She says we can't "render professional services" to anyone who has been her client. Okay I would have already broken that when my friend Katie asked me to shoot her business seminar. Like it's just stupid, AND I do a fuck ton more than she does - what if someone wants a website done? What if someone wants design work? What if someone wants a video? I'm not going to vet all my future clients to make sure they've never worked with her, and it's not breaking a non-compete if it's competition over stuff SHE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW HOW TO DO EVEN IF SHE WANTED TO.
There's other little things too - like it only terminates upon 45 days written notice, and "despite any termination of this Agreement, I agree to fulfill all assigned weddings". No. It terminates when it terminates, and if you're going to continue to make me work for the rest of the year anyway, why terminate at all. Like there is nothing in here that protects or supports me so there is literally no incentive to sign it. So I'm not going to? And if that means I can't work with her then good luck finding a replacement for the 15 weddings I have on the calendar this year. Because it's not like you'll have a signed contract to hold me to. She just stresses me out, it might be time to gtfo.
So yeah! That's where I've been and what I've been doing most of the time. I've reached a point where I am legitimately working at least four hours a day, which doesn't sound like a lot but it's huge for me. Jason's doing well too, he got a job offer at a new company but didn't take it because his current company gave him a nice raise to stay. He's also booked an independent consulting job for some guy's new iPhone app. So we've been so busy with work stuff lately but it seems to be really pulling together for both of us.
→ I don't consider this news anymore, but I redesigned and launched their website to great reviews. The old site was a total shit show, and I wanted to redo it long before she ever even asked me to. Like I was so excited when she asked me because I'd been wanting to fix it for over a year just because it bugged me so much even though it literally didn't even affect me at all. So I did that, and she wrote me a check on the spot without even BLINKING ABOUT IT. I am still getting used to clients who don't fight me on being "too expensive". Like I still preface jobs by saying "If you have questions about this (the price) then we can talk about it" and I need to not. She has told me she has no issue with it because "she understands that you get what you pay for". ♥ I feel like I've probably mentioned it before but in her, I have landed my first ideal client. I have little clients here and there that are great, or big consistent ones that are a pain in the ass, but she's the first mix of the two, all the best parts. She always has something for me to do, she doesn't email me 50x a day, she doesn't try to "get deals" or pay with "experience". I love working with her.
→ I also designed and delivered a recital book two weeks ago, and when I got to her dress rehearsal she asked if I'd like to come back and see it in the reals. She let me take it "because I know you like to have copies of your things". So we're looking at it and she's just like, "You are so good at what you do. And I just love working with you" and sending me texts with hearts-in-eyes emoticons about how much she loves the books and everything, writing "Thank you! ♥!" in the memos of my checks, like IT IS SO NICE YOU GUYS TO ACTUALLY WANT TO TALK TO A CLIENT AND DO STUFF FOR THEM. Like this wedding photographer, she drives me nuts and constantly calls and leaves 5 minute voicemails and demands that I ~confirm~ every single email she sends no matter how mundane, she constantly contradicts herself, etc, like I want to die 80% of the time. But this dance work is so great and I am so in my element. Also she's open to new things, like I got her tweeting, you guys.
→ I shot their recitals too, she's letting me sell prints on the website. Like how much do I love this. Some previews that I posted on my Facebook page:
Also I love getting to work in multiple areas of her brand, because I get to know it and I get to control how all my work functions as a whole, if that makes sense, and how everything matches and links together. Like I put an ad for the photos in the recital book, and then I get to put them up on the website and control how it looks and functions. I like doing this "whole package" thing, and I'm thinking more and more lately that I need to rename my company from "photography" to "media and design", and also start a separate company for my fanvideos of life once I start getting more of those.
o2.) SPEAKING OF THOSE, another high school saw the dance team video I did and has called me about following them next season as well. Nothing is confirmed yet but if everything is well I'll get to work with TWO TEAMS next year. It's starting, you guys. I would be so happy if I got so many of those that I actually had to hire and train other videographers and assistant editors. Like what if I did 5-10+ of those over the winter, recitals and theatre in the spring, and weddings in the summer, and then other random projects throughout - like what an awesome calendar year making enough money to sustain and actually buy nice things and new equipment without having to think about it.
o3.) OH I shot a high school theatre production and that prompted me to start selling prints for the first time ever, I hadn't sold prints before! I was under the illusion that it was a tremendous amount of work, but I bought a Zenfolio account AND THEY DO IT ALL FOR ME. I post-process the images as I normally would, but instead of burning them to a CD for the client, I just upload them into an album. Then people "shop", add images and sizes to their cart, I approve the order and it's printed at a lab and shipped directly to their home. It's actually like less work than getting them a CD, IDK why I didn't start doing this sooner. It is also much more lucrative. The show director is leaving after this year, but asked if I'd be interested in shooting them every year for a flat rate. I said I'm interested and would absolutely talk about it, and she passed my info on to her replacement. So we'll see where that goes; if I can make more money with prints I'll obviously stick with that but if I break even or make more, I'll just do it for a flat rate, whatevs. I hope they follow up because I love shooting theatre and everyone is happy.
o4.) I bought a new lens! A 70-200mm f/2.8, it is heavy as shit and my arms hurt but it's perfection for the type of shooting I do: weddings, theatre, dance, anything dark. It better be perfect because I spent over $2000 on it lol. I had the Tamron brand for half the price but it was designed SO STUPIDLY, the zoom and focus rings were backwards from what I was used to so I exchanged it for the Nikon even at the price difference just because I was that annoyed by it.
→ I also bought a 28-75mm f/2.8 from a photographer who was selling it for a decent price. There's a local film/gear swap group on Facebook which is where I saw his posting. So I messaged him and then we spoke on the phone, he was super nice, etc. So I drove to his studio which feels farther away than it actually is, it's about 30 minutes. Anyway, he was VERY NICE - he was an older guy I got zero creep factor from, and we just talked shop for an hour! It was so fucking REFRESHING to be around someone who actually knows their shit and is just bursting at the seams to share it. When I was testing out the lens, he asked if I always shoot with my right eye, like he just noticed that and then told me I should re-train to my left eye because cameras are designed that way and all the reasons why. He's been doing photography for like 40 years so he told me all this history stuff too, showed me all his old lenses, and other random tricks like how if I ever want a model to look sweaty to spray them with cooking spray. He pulled out this bag and asked me if I had "one of these". I said no obviously because I didn't know what it was and he took my camera, locked up the mirror and cleaned it for me! Like he is so NICE and you can just tell he LOVES photography so much.
o5.) Relatedly, we've exchanged emails after the fact and have talked about shooting fitness models and "glamour", meaning classy boudoir-type, which I've always wanted to do. He says it's important that he has a female to work with so his clients feel more comfortable. It's new to him so he wants to do a couple shoots to see if he can make a proper marketing kit, and he talked about me assisting and said he'd pay me to post-process and also pay me for referrals. He also asked if I do video work, and then after I showed him that dance doc he asked if I could do his daughter's wedding!! And he offered to pay me to do it even though it's my first wedding video. Do you know how huge that is to me? For the past 2-3 years, all I can REMEMBER is new creative people trying to pay me with experience points. I have to give up a really fun scavenger hunt date with Jas to do the wedding, but such is life. He also mentioned there'd be no better wedding to make a sample with than one that is geared toward photography - meaning he helped his daughter plan around what would make good photographs, I can't deal.
o6.) Just talking to him for like three days has given me less of a tolerance for my other wedding "client", which she has made clear by legally defining that we are independent contractors and not employees. Not like I ever felt like I WAS an employee, but I just referred to her as my "boss" because she books everything and tells me what to do. ANYWAY, she mailed us all this ~contract~, which pisses me off in GENERAL because when we she and I were arguing over pay and how she contradicts herself at the end of last year, *I* asked for a contract. And she said she wasn't a big contract person or some dumb shit. OH but now I get a contract. The other two shooters just signed it immediately without thinking about it, which pisses me off because even though they have issues with it too, it just makes me look like a pain in the ass when I actually stand up to her. So when I took more than two days to sign it, SHE MAILED ME ANOTHER ONE. AS IF I DIDN'T GET THE FIRST. No I'm thinking about it, and it's been two fucking days, chill.
The thing is, I'm okay with 90% of it. I'm mainly concerned with her non-compete section. "It's unacceptable to promote any other photography business, even outside of weddings." Um. What? What does that mean. Obviously I'm not going to promote myself or anyone else on the premises of her weddings, but the way this is written I can't promote anything else anywhere. And even if she means "outside of weddings" as "other photography besides weddings", that's still bullshit because all she DOES is weddings. Why would she CARE if I promote dance photography? She doesn't do it! And not only does she not advertise anything else, I've heard her tell people she doesn't do anything else. So that's issue #1 I have. Issue #2: She says we can't "render professional services" to anyone who has been her client. Okay I would have already broken that when my friend Katie asked me to shoot her business seminar. Like it's just stupid, AND I do a fuck ton more than she does - what if someone wants a website done? What if someone wants design work? What if someone wants a video? I'm not going to vet all my future clients to make sure they've never worked with her, and it's not breaking a non-compete if it's competition over stuff SHE DOESN'T FUCKING KNOW HOW TO DO EVEN IF SHE WANTED TO.
There's other little things too - like it only terminates upon 45 days written notice, and "despite any termination of this Agreement, I agree to fulfill all assigned weddings". No. It terminates when it terminates, and if you're going to continue to make me work for the rest of the year anyway, why terminate at all. Like there is nothing in here that protects or supports me so there is literally no incentive to sign it. So I'm not going to? And if that means I can't work with her then good luck finding a replacement for the 15 weddings I have on the calendar this year. Because it's not like you'll have a signed contract to hold me to. She just stresses me out, it might be time to gtfo.
So yeah! That's where I've been and what I've been doing most of the time. I've reached a point where I am legitimately working at least four hours a day, which doesn't sound like a lot but it's huge for me. Jason's doing well too, he got a job offer at a new company but didn't take it because his current company gave him a nice raise to stay. He's also booked an independent consulting job for some guy's new iPhone app. So we've been so busy with work stuff lately but it seems to be really pulling together for both of us.