last lap lime and value.

lime verb \li-ime\
transitive verb
1: to hang out and chill with friends
etymology: of caribbean origin

recently Dr. G makeup artist and i shodiphoto hosted a lime for our past clients and friends. we went to a union hall for a bit of bocci, beers and socializing.

for my non west indian friends, a lime is defined as a hangout for friends and depending on the region it can be a bit more complex. it was a lime with a bit of twist, pun intended of course.  the twist was that we did it without "west indian music" (reggae and soca.) and food. instead we had beers and attempted to play bocci  and offered lollipops... we had a great time.

never miss an opportunity to advertise or market.

no matter how skilled you are at your craft or good of a product you offer, your business will drowned without solid marketing and advertising. does macdonalds still need to advertise and market? they are global already, so why advertise? a few months ago i was driving down interstate 81 and i kid you not i believe i saw a macdonalds billboard at every mile. market and advertise!

value

always remember people like value. if your friends or past clients are coming out to hang with you. ask yourself what is the value in them being there? different people attend social gatherings because they find different forms of value. those values may range from something as simple as socializing, having a good time, friendship, food and drinks, potential business or potential romantic relationships... but if people see no value in attending most people won't waste their time.

this is the same for service or products you offer. ask yourself, what value am i offering to clients?  value is subjective in regards to products, time, and perception.  high end business spend a ton of marketing dollars in creating a perceived value for their products. there are many reasons as to why consumers view a product as having value. here are only two of those many reasons 1) part of it is based on how well the service or product is presented.

a few years ago i was in paris and at the louis vuitton store they serve drinks (champagne, orange juice, water) while customers shop.  2) the amenities that surround that product also gives the product perceived value.

keep kewl!

six steps to creating a unique client experience

"people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." - mya angelou

your unique client experience should be geared towards making clients feel positive emotions.

i once shot a wedding at the watermill and one of the honored guest who was already married was assisting the bride, i lightly teased about the size of her wedding ring. and for the rest of the wedding i referred to her "the lady with the big ring" she enjoyed it, the bride enjoyed it and to this day she is known to me as such.

when the bride contacted me a few months after, she mentioned "the lady with the big ring" enjoyed herself and the photos." as well as she [the bride] enjoyed herself by extension of my interaction with the honored guest.


6 steps 


1. website: the experience begins with your website. before clients  meet you, they should be visually stimulated by your work. as well as your website should be easy to navigate and give an introduction to your personal and/or business identity.

2. before the consultation meeting: respond promptly to emails and calls. thank them for contacting you and make a connection via telephone or email if possible as well as establish a bit about your personal identity.

3. consultation meeting:                                                                                   
a) dress for the occasion:  this could mean many things.  i wear a pair of shoes, jeans, a blazer, and button down shirt. i smell great, my nails and hair are properly groomed.

b) engage all the clients' senses: the meeting place should smell good. therefore i recommend any of the following as a background accented scents: candles, scented oils,  incense, food, brewed drinks, fresh flowers (smell). hug, shake hands,  if possible go through a mini posing session and this point you can show them how to pose by holding hands, hips, shoulders (touch).  offer a tasty beverage (taste.) have a beautiful ambiance, lighting, and great prints, albums etc (sight and touch.)

c) credibility: speak to clients as friends, truthfully, joke lightly and laugh. most importantly listen to their needs and expectations. set client's expectations and connect with them.

4. after booking/ after consultation meeting: send a thank you email or if booked send a custom gift, which they aren't expecting and a thank you card, business cards, custom folder, containing other custom items: contracts, promo cards etc.

5. wedding day/engagement session: be early, light complements for the bride, groom, guest and wedding party. engage briefly in conversation. attend to their needs and make their family and friends comfortable. you want to be viewed and treated as a guest at the weeding and not a vendor. 

6. post wedding: send a custom thank you card or another thank you gift. deliver their images, albums and other products before the allotted time based on the client expectations set in the beginning. 

one of the main keys to your unique client experience is to under promise, and over deliver in a way that's unique to your business and by extension your personality; do not promise or deliver like another business, find your own niche that works for you. 

take a look at this video from ninja new york restaurant and get an understanding of a great client experience, then google and read the reviews on yelp.

keep kewl!

seeing with my heart

as i grow as an artist; i begin to see more with my heart.

when i was a boy, no older than ten years old, i kept a sketch pad.  i would place one of its pages over an image and use carbon paper to trace the outlines of animals, then color the image that i replicated with colored pencils.

one day i decided to do something different, i tried to draw freehand, the three little pigs it was... needless to say, when i finished coloring them, my pigs were brown, the legs were disproportionate, they wore hats unlike the original. but most importantly they were my pigs: different than the original. from that day on, i never traced again.

in my wedding photography, i have started to look more for moments between client and photographer as opposed the old photographic model i operated on i.e. of maximizing the number of photographs between lens and client. this new model has begun to make a profound positive difference in my relationship with clients and development as an artist. i connect more with clients and my eyes, lens, and heart find and see more moments.

in regards to images, my heart envisions lots of images that look and feel vintage. so how do i as an artist balance my nostalgia for things vintage: jazz, old photographs, vintage fashion, black and white images, deep textures etc... with modern wedding photography? i don't trace, i create little pigs that are my own; i see with my heart.

note: see with your heart as well as find balance between you and your client's needs, yet you must come to the point of deciding "this is how i shoot, this is my style," and hold steadfast to that notion. it sounds a bit counter intuitive but its not. and stay away from trends. "two roads diverge in a yellow wood" you can't travel both if you want to have a legacy.

keep kewl!

find the light and match the light

photography begins and ends with light

this particular blog post is personal: it comes from a place of struggle, frustration, hard work, calling my friends on the phone after many weddings and belly aching about how much i hated my work, and from a place of never giving up.

you want to be a better photographer? learn to light! study it, practice with it and master it. n.b. mastering light like is akin to life, it is a journey, it is a continuous life long process. there are many nuances to lighting and on your journey you get an understanding of basics and then the advanced. however, there is always much more to learn.

with portrait and wedding photography for the most part, light the face. when viewing a photograph our eyes are drawn to the lightest part of a photograph and you want the eyes to be drawn to the subject's face.

most people who say "i am a natural light photographer" is generally code words for i haven't yet practiced and mastered flash, other color lights, mixed light situations, and light sources other than outdoors.

nevertheless, these rules aren't written in stone, they are some basic rules:

find the light 

speckled light

• in wedding reception photography, set the stage and let the actors walk on to it.  i shoot receptions using both on and off camera flash at the same time, as well as separately. find a sweet spot where the off camera light is just spot on and hits your subject beautifully and let them walk into that spot and photograph them.

• outdoors

open shade

1. backlight. always turn their backs to the sun or you will end up with harsh shadows and squinting eyes. 
2. open shade you absolutely cannot screw this up, this light is gorgeous. do not confuse the shade of a tree as open shade, many trees create speckled light (bright spots and shadows) open shade results from the side of a building, an under path etc. it is one soft light across the body
3. window light: use it to your advantage, its free and gorgeous like open shade.

• indoors

1. in wedding photography, keep lighting as simple as possible because of time constraints. therefore, maximize the use of room lights. use it to light the face.
2. if there isn't any light, use a video light, use flash, a room light

match the light

use of room light, to light the face 

i can't tell you how many photographs i have seen ruined because of the in ability to match the light by myself and by second shooters who have worked for me. when the light is one temperature through out the room, most cameras do a good job of matching the light by the use of auto white balance. i don't trust it. i custom white balance all the time, with practice, it takes about 30 seconds to custom white balance and note you can use almost anything to do so, from placing cheap tissue paper over your $1600 lens or the expensive,  expodisk or the cheap whiteblance caps . it dosen't matter, white balance even when the light is consistent. i custom wb for window light, and in open shade and as well as when using room lights.

for receptions i gel my flash to match the the room temp, if i need to add a flash or video light i gel them too match the temperature of the light.  and set my camera to the preset temperature. take for example if the light if the reception hall is tungsten. i set my camera to tungsten, gel the flash using a CTO gel and then shoot.
if you don't match the camera and flash to the the room light's temperature you will have awful colors that cannot be corrected in post.

the goal is to always get the skin tones as close to as they look in real life by matching the light.

keep kewl!