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Secrets to a High End Experience

during the shoot. I find it's also that customization and the personal touches don't end before the shoot. They go on during the shoot shoot so hair and makeup on premises. This is definitely key for a high end experience. But it's not just that. When I did not include hair makeup, I cannot tell you the tragedies that walked in my door before I shot women tragedies. Now I have to take pictures of it, and it's going up on my website or it's reflecting my work. And all people are looking at is ik that is some makeup job that is some hair job or here is my favorite getting married. So I'm going to do my, um, my hair trialling my makeup trial before I come to you when they come, all done up with this like, intricate hairdo, and you're like, No, I want it down and volume and flowy and you're not communicating with them and it's just a tragedy. So now they're coming in for these pictures and they don't look good. And what do you do now? I realize it's an expense, since it was my hesitation t...

o, um, well, can I afford a makeup artist and hairdresser. I mean you, the price points you guys were talking about last night would be a dream for May. The makeup in here in New York is very expensive, so it's different. But I suck it up and I do it. And I'll tell you why, when I woke up this morning, to say I was nervous is probably an understatement. I actually don't think I woke up because I'm not sure I went to bed, Teoh. But when I was sitting in that hair and makeup chair this morning for an hour or so, it was so relaxing. It was like I was here. But I didn't need to be on yet. It gave me that buffer zone to be like, All right, I'm gonna talk to Canada for a few minutes. I'm gonna talk to the producer, and I'm gonna have my legs end moment in the studio. We're gonna connected one, and it's gonna be great. But I didn't They didn't expect me to walk in 8 55 and go. OK, John, you're on. It gave me, like a buffer zone. Yes. On occasion I have had one or two women that go? Well, I could do my own hair makeup, but I'm really good at it. And I just want to, like, you know, pinch a little money here and save a bit. How do you respond to those? Okay, I have three different responses. The first is if they're trying to save money. It's the same price either way. So it doesn't matter. I include its complementary, Um, the second response. If someone like, Even if it's complimentary, I still want to do it myself. Um, well, the thing is, that make up for camera is very different than makeup in real life. So I do believe you that you're really good in your hair and makeup, but it's a little bit different for camera. And that's really why I like to do it. And the third responses, if they're really adamant about it, well, it's not an option, because I make the rules in my studio. And if you I don't wanna have it done that I'm not the photographer for you. I like your style. But I need to know how serious I need to get with them, you know? So I have multiple yet is levels then I pull out that this is the generations just does everybody going out? Uh, okay, So again is not optional in my studio. It's not optional, and it is covered in my session. Let's talk about hair and makeup. Artists like it or not, they are representation of you. That's tricky. Mine happened to be very reliable on Awesome, so I would like them to know if they're watching. When I talk about this is is not referring to them. It's referring to the 12 disasters I had before them. If they haven't attitude, if they're late, if they're not dressed properly, if they do bad makeup, bad hair, they're bitching about their other clients. They had the day before the giving your client attitude. That's representation of you, not them. My friend Amanda Lee likes to say the fish stinks from the head to the tail, right? But it's true. It is so true, you know? I mean, I had a makeup artist that I work with. I had a bad attitude, and one day she gave me the attitude in front of the client, and that was the last day she ever worked for me. Okay, I'm not saying on, like, scary or, um, a stickler. But if you are gonna not represent my studio the way I want it to be represented and not keep it as a safe place for my clients, you are out. I told my my makeup artists hairdressers all the time that salon mentality does not belong here. You know what I'm talking about Does not belong in my studio. Leave it at the door, find somebody consistent, trustworthy and knows how to handle your clients. I need to be able to walk out of the door when I get a phone call and my client is in the chair and know that they're not going to destroy her. When I leave, they're gonna talk her up. They're gonna tell her how beautiful she is, and they're gonna mean it. Make sure you can communicate and collaborate the question Daphne. So I work with recently a small team of makeup artists. Um, and I hire them based on their availability. But what I did which I thought was so important for them, is they each had a session with me, and they each did each other's makeup, even though they themselves or makeup artists. So it's so interesting that now when they talk to the client, they're connecting to them is women, and not just as makeup professionals. Right? I've done that. Oh, yeah, definitely. Thanks. Um, make sure you can communicate and collaborate. I have a relationship with my makeup artist that if they do something that I hate, I can say, Hey, you know, do you think we should add a little bit of something over here and they know what I'm saying? And I'm not embarrassing them in front of the client. And they're not like my vision. It's, you know, because it is her vision, but it's still my pictures. And I know what's gonna look good on camera, what's not. And I want to make sure. And Plus, I had appreciate concert with the clients. I know what the clients looking for. I don't keep a mirror in the studio while they're getting hair and makeup done this way. I can't hear that. I don't know if I like this. I don't know if I like that. I want to make sure that before she sees it, I see it, and I know. Okay, this was what she was looking for. It's not Let's make a couple of changes. And you have to make sure that, you know you're not gonna get an attitude of my makeup. You know, makeup artist might serve more than one purpose. So my makeup artist, um, Diana has the same name is my assistant for a reason because it's the same person s. So Diana was working a job that she absolutely hated. And she would come to make up for me on the weekends, and she would complain and complain and complain about her job. And finally, I said to her, Haiti, just put your job. I need an assistant. What, do you come to work for? Me as an assistant? I already love you. You do awesome makeup. Now, I have a built in makeup artists and a built in assistant. And so she does both for me. Excuse me? She just both. So So. A lot of people I know other people have that situation also where? Um Julian, you have a question? My question would be how do you pay her visas? Your assistant? You'd pay an hourly rate as makeup artists? Yeah. They charge more I gotta call my account for that. Uh, what I can tell you is where I am in New York. I need to keep her salaried. I don't pay her by that. I don't. Yes, I paid her for makeup. The days you just make up on I pay her for the day that she's there. On days she's there. She only gets paid for the day. She's they're not the makeup, but as faras, like how you do it and taxes and all that other stuff. That's why I asked. Yeah, I pay her for the makeup. We have a rate for each client, so she'll get that. But she also gets a did a day rate or an hourly rate for the day. You know that she's there, and it works for both of us, and I trust her. And now I know she's gonna be better with my clients cause she knows them already. She's already dealt with them and they trust their look so happy. And I love you. Okay. During the shoot, when we start shooting, I always give my clients like a little custom swag bag. I'm not gonna live. Not always, custom. I sort of have, like my generals bag bags. But if I feel like I bonded with the client about something, I might throw a certain little something in there in there is like about a water, some pretzels or chips or something. Candy. I love candy. Candy is like my name. My clients bring me candy all time. It's really fun. I love candy, and recently I started doing these boxes of chocolates. But I gave everybody here for Valentine's Day and these air thes air branded and customized, and I'll show you what I mean. I'm really sorry to go with every box of chocolates I stole for this. By the way, it might be yours. Give it back, I promise. Um, so in it, when you open it, it has a card. And on the front of the card, it says intimate photography for the fearlessly feminine with one of my photos. And on the back, it says intimate, fearless and feminine. And it talks about the different types of chocolate, and I have custom designed these chocolates with a custom shop with a chocolate shop near me, too, represent what I believe is intimate feels in feminine so intimate is a dark truffle, which is soft Swiss dark chocolate as chocolate could be very intimate. Right? Fearless is a spiced chocolate. It's dark chocolate blended with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cayenne. High end being the fearless part and feminine. There's to their champagne. The milk chocolate ganache, delicately balanced with champagne and cherry is dark chocolate. Married with morel. And they're really beautiful. I don't know if you could get a shot of you. These are from two chicks. Chocolate and New Jersey. They're super pretty, right? Really? I put these in. Either e might put them in the bag or might send them to my clients as a gift when they already have their purchased spending. You know, every day I think to change things up. And how much of an investment would you say that that is, per client to do that little Brandon to do the little bad. Yeah, $12. Thank you. Yeah. You know, I put in a queue little bag with my name on it. It's a branded bag. You know, it makes them feel good, because trust me. Yeah, you wouldn't trust me. Your clients haven't eaten for five days. before they got there. It's true, I know, because I had a skirt, but, um, yeah, you want to make sure that they have water, they have a little something to eat. Um, you know, sometimes I'll find, like, little gifts, like my old will go used to have a pair of lips on it. So I went to forever 21 they had all these socks with lips on, and they were like a dollar a pair. So about 100 pairs and I would stick like those socks into everybody Swag back. You know, whatever you feel in the moment, you know, when it's Christmas time, I'll put a little ornament in there. You know anything that you feel like. Oh, you know what? This would be awesome. And, you know, my husband said to me when I ordered these chocolates Well, what if your clients don't like dark? There's no milk chocolate in there, and I'm like, No, it's all dark chocolate. Well, what if your clients don't like dark chocolate? Or maybe there's one milk chocolate and I said, Well, my clients do like dark because they like me, and I like doctor. So you know a little bit of your personality in there and you know, they're gonna like it. So that's the custom Spade bag final outfit selections. The first thing we pretty much do when a client walks in the studio will have her lay out her outfits on will decide what her final outfits are. I do that with the hairdresser in the makeup artist, so we're all on track with what she's looking for. So even though I might have pains like a purple, smoky eye, she might be wearing purple at all. You know what? That's too much purple. Let's change it up a little bit, so we'll make final decisions at that point. They like that. Help, too. Lots of genuine compliments. And don't stop talking. When I'm saying genuine, I know that you're probably thinking, Well, of course I'm gonna be genuine. I never, ever want to hear somebody say toe client. Oh, my God. Look awesome. You're doing an amazing job. If she doesn't look awesome. If she doesn't look awesome, fix it. Instead of giving a compliment, say to her, You know what? You're you're following my direction. Amazing. But let's switch it up a little bit. Let's change something because it's not working for me. You know, I don't want you to tell her something. That's not true. Because then what happens if you start looking through the pictures and just look awesome? She's making. But you told me I looked awesome. You know, that's not You need to be honest. You need to be riel genuine with them. You and you can find something you can find something to give somebody a top movement on any given moment, Um, posing help. We're gonna talk a lot about posing tomorrow, but posing help is super important. No woman wants you to say Okay, go stand there and look sexy. She will have a meltdown knowing how toe hose a woman, make her look good even being able to show her in the back of a camera. You know what? Look at what you're looking like when I pose you this way is gonna create trust. She's gonna let her wall down, and she's gonna be a really good time with you. Absolutely need to know how to pose a woman before we move on to after the shoot. Any questions for during the shoot How long would you say is your average shoot? And like, how many photos would you normally take? Average shoes. 3 to 5 hours, including hair and makeup. And how many photos? So I take it that you said Azam any as I need to get what I want. Would you say that's 20? Oh, between three and 500. Okay, great. Thank you. And Laura are 33 us for newbies. Are there any tips on where to look for hair and makeup artist? Yes. We will also talk about this on day three. Model mayhem is a great please. Salons are great place makeup counters. Often the makeup counter, especially at Mac, that you do a lot of their own work on the side. Same with salons. You know, in salon. Sometimes I do work on the side. If you don't want to have hair makeup, come to you, then find a salon to pair with at least where they do a good job there and you can trust them. Um, we're house friends, models, wedding venues. Might have makeup artist. They recommend. Yeah, there's a plethora of places. Another question is from Dave Carpenter studio. Do you limit outfit changes. No and yes. So my rule of thumb is when a client says how maney outfits. You know where I say to them. It's really up to you. But the rule of thumb is, the more outfits you wear, the more you tend to spend. Because it's true. If you wear 10 outfits you are going to probably not by a 10 page album, you're probably by a much larger album. So on average, I say my client probably were between three and five outfits. Great. And just get re asked, you planning music while you're shooting? Yeah, sure. And I do customize that a lot. Like if they have a favorite there, like you know, I'm coming from, you know, your job. Go what kind of music? And she's like, I love country music. I'll download some country music for her something. I mean, I have, like, standard playlist that I play all the time, But yeah, they're, like, adamant about at one time a client told me that a song inspired her to do the shoot, so I downloaded the song for her. Yeah, so you know, customize that a little bit. That's easy enough to do. Alright, So, first to comment from Cynthia Valadez says, Can someone please tell Daphne that she rocks? Thank you. Ah, question from here s a photo studio. What if you know how to do makeup and hair? Is it an awesome opportunity to get to know them better and save money at first? Could bay. I know people who have wanted to do that and have tried to do that. It's not my favorite thing. Prose cones. Um, I think that you want to have a professional photographer relationship with them. And if you start doing oh, I do the hair and I do the makeup and I do editing and I do this and I do that are they going to take you seriously as a photographer? I don't know the answer to that. I would tend to think Maybe, maybe not. I don't know why something about it doesn't sit right with me, but I'm not 100% sure what it is. And I'm not saying it's not okay. It probably works for some people, but I just think you want to be the photographer. You wanna have sort of that. Yeah, I like that So we have about 10 minutes. Let s. Yeah. You started after the shoot in person sale session. We discussed that already. You don't want to leave a girl by herself. You want dump her? At this point, you created this amazing relationship with her. You work so hard to get her where you want her to be, and you can't just dump her. So definitely doing in person cell session. I usually do my sale sessions 1 to 2 weeks after they've taken their photos. Enough time for them to be relaxed. Comfortable. It just That's how it works for me. That's the amount of time that I need under promise over deliver. Always. It's gonna take two weeks for you to get your proof that usually have it ready in a week. If I think it's going to take two weeks, I tell him three weeks. You know, you always want to give yourself a little bit of leeway, especially if you have Children, family emergencies. I've had situations where I say, you know, your proofs will be ready in three weeks with the intention of having them ready in two. And I needed the three, you know, my my kid had a virus and I was cleaning puke for three days. You know, it's just the way it is. Things happen to give yourself a little bit of leeway, but always try to over deliver, customize your products based on what your client has already told you. So if your client says to you I don't want an album, I want wall art. I want a series of five panels on my wall and I want to create this whole thing. Make sure you have samples of that handy. If you pull album samples and you're like, Oh, well, just imagine this bigger. No, it's not gonna happen. If you want to make good sales, make sure you have the proper samples to show follow up with them. My center album. I just wanna make sure you got it. Are you happy? What was his reaction? I can't wait to hear about it. Don't take silence as Mr Don't mistake silence for being unhappy. If your clients are happy, they will tell you. But your client you know when you're with them and you're saying that I just want to follow to make sure you're happy they feel like Okay, you're really following through. You don't just leave me hanging here. And even though they probably got an amazing response to their photos, they're not always gonna take the time out to tell you they might forget to tell you they're too busy, you know, making out there. Uh, I always give the referral cards to my clients at the session. The viewing session, or I don't call it a viewing session. I coulda purchasing session. Thank you. Sadly for that tip because we want to remind them they're there to buy things, not to look at things. Um, gifts, like again the chocolate I might send to them. Or maybe I'll send a more personal gift. I once had a girl, Tommy. I was wearing a scarf when she loved the scarf. I probably paid, like, $10 for the scarf somewhere. So I bought her one and sent it to her, and I said, No, thank you so much. The client spends over $3000. Maybe I'll send them a spa gift certificate or back When I used to shoot couples, I had a couple that came in. It's been a nice amount of money. I sent them like a gift certificate to a restaurant. We'll get certificate just a little. Like I'm thinking about you. Love you. Thank you. And stay in touch. And social media is great for this, my friend. My clients all the time. If they were they friend, me too, you know? And I love that. I love wishing them a happy birthday. And hey, you know, hey, sexy mama, Have a happy birthday. I mean, that makes them feel good. You remember me like there's nothing more amazing when a client is like, I don't know if you remember me. I came three months ago. I remember. You know what you wore? I know what your kids names are. Let's stay in touch. No, let's keep. We're friends now. You shared an intimate experience with them. You know, they don't want to just break up with you after that. They love you. So it's true, though, you know, So keep in touch with them. Don't be afraid. You know, don't You don't have to separate out like I'm the photographer. You're their friend. Now, some thoughts about customizing. Yes, it takes a little bit more time and effort but it's gonna make you more money. It's gonna make you more close to your clients. It's worth it. Creates value, creates trust. That's what you want. Your sessions will be better, your cells will be better. And your referrals will be better. Because, like I said, people won't just say what John was a great photographer when I walked engendered this gendered that John heard me. She heard what I had a say. She knew me. We connected Jen's graded this. If you're gonna go to anybody, you have to go to her because she will get to know you the different type of referral you're creating evangelists, not just people saying, Oh, go check out Gen. Chances are all of this is better. Clients are gonna be happier, and you're gonna be happier. And that's really where it comes down to at the end, right? You want you want to be happy. That's why I do all this. Um, we're gonna talk about laundering extra, just Superfund and definitely intimate. Any rescue, I a couple of questions. Do we have any in the studio? Yes, Um, you said that you do your, um, purchasing sessions about 2 to 3 weeks after the session. I'm wondering, um, if you've ever played with that time frame because I was thinking about doing them on the same days. Secession? Yeah, I used to do seem a day. I don't think that you can. Really? Um, yeah. It didn't work as well for me as it sounds. I think that if you give your clients a little bit of space, they look forward to seeing the pictures more. They're getting a little excited. It comes a little bit more valuable. There's sort of a mystery there and and excitement, and you're building it up. My clients are really tired when they leave, like, really tired, and probably they complain that they're a little sore because I made them, you know, move so much and and they want to eat or they have things to do other things on their minds. So I would suggest trying out a different way. I know we have this conversation last night, and I'm not going to say the way you're doing it is wrong, because I did it that way for a long time. But it wasn't. I really didn't get to tend to the photos the way I really wanted to. And every once in a while there is a woman or a problem with, like, an outfit or something that you really need to spend some time fixing and post that you really don't have time to dio fairly if she's coming back the same day. And if you're showing her like half asked proofs, that's supposed to point of that because you're not gonna make the sale you want to make. I haven't done it yet. I'm still doing online sales. So I wanted to transition. Um, I feel the same way that they're a little tired after the shoot was gonna give them an hour to an hour and 1/2 to go eat. Why? I was editing, you know, I used to do that, too. But then the thing is, when somebody does that to me, you know what I do? I end up like sitting in my car and talking to people on the phone and, like, just being like, visit an hour. Yet they're not really gonna go eat by themselves somewhere. Maybe it'll sitting like a Starbucks or something, you know? But they're not really gonna go do that they're just You're just basically wasting an hour of their time. That's what as how I feel. I'm not saying that it's not right for you or that maybe wouldn't work for you. Maybe try it both ways and see which way it works. Better for you. I'm gonna try it. I'm finding that, um I'm I've gotten busier since 3 to 4 weeks for them to get their proofs back, and I'm there really, really excited when they book it, and they're really, really excited the day of and three weeks later, they're kind of not all of them. Most are still excited, but I've lost their interest a little bit. Well, there's other ways to go around that to, like, you might want to send a little tease or something halfway through, like, Hey, I'm working in your gallery, and I just thought you might want to see this little hot number. Can't wait to see in a week that's gonna like rev her up a little bit. Um, you know, make sure it's like low rez and watermarked and all that other good stuff, but, you know, yeah. I mean, definitely send her a little something um I try not to go over two weeks with my gallery's, you know, for that. Yeah. Can you hand? That's allies. Thank you. Okay, so in the process, you've shot them. You're setting a date for two weeks away. How many photos are you presenting at the purchasing, and are they totally finished? Good question. We're actually gonna show you actually, the process the third day on Saturday, but they're not totally processed. They're processed enough that they look really awesome. And the difference between that process and the final process is probably fairly minimum. Um, I'm showing anywhere between 7525 photos, and I know that sounds like a lot, but for me, if I wanted, my goal is to sell an album with about to 35 photos. That's really my goal. And to do that, you can't really show 50 photos. That's not enough. So I almost want to overwhelm them a little bit. And, like, say, Oh, my God, look at how many shots you have here. You know, I realized that people sometimes they will. I only want to show 40 or 50 pictures because it's confusing, but I can't lie. If it was me, I'd be like, what? You took 500 pictures and you join me 50. I must be really ugly. And the other heart? 450 of them, you know? And I tell them ahead of time, like I'm gonna show you around 75 proofs and then I'll be like, Oh, my God. So many amazing ones. We have, like, pictures to look at. You blew this out of the park. I'm not lying. It might be manipulating a little because I only I told her she was only gonna see 75. But I'm I'm over delivering. Right, right? And so when they do the purchase, you probably talk about this later, though, when they do the purchase, then you're ready to just put the order in. And then is it another two weeks before the product shows up? Then it depends on my product they order. But usually if they order an album that I custom design, it'll take a week to two for them to see the proof. Do you meet with them to deliver that product? No, I ship it because again, I'm in New York and my clients roll over the place. And it could cost me, like, $30 tolls just to deliver something and that I don't have time for, But I will let them come pick it up from the studio if they want to. But most of time, they just wanted checked. Thanks. Yes. Do you show Any images at the session are just from the back. The camera kind of from the back of the camera. Only if they look awesome. If for some reason I'm like, she might feel a little paranoid about the shot or something is not working for me and they say, Can I see it? I go. No, it's top secret. You only get to see it at the end, you know, And typically, how long does it take? Like it sounds like a two month process for each. I tell my clients to come 8 to 10 weeks before they need their okay. Not to say that I couldn't do it sooner. I could probably do it all in three weeks if I needed to, but I don't want to put that pressure on myself. Some months or so busy, I literally can't do it in less time. But if a client calls me and it sounds like an awesome client, I'm connecting with her. And she's like, Listen, I need this in three weeks, we'll make it happen. And we were questioned from Renee from New Jersey, And she asked, If someone doesn't want to purchase at the time of the sale session and wants to think about it, what do you say? Or Dio? Why would they think about it? They had two weeks to think about it for a caveman I've never really had that. I'm not gonna lie. No, that's, uh, I've never had that happen. I think if there has to be at least something that they like, okay, so I tell people that I erased their guy, erase their photos within a certain period of time. Also, that's the other thing. So she says, I want to think about it. I might say, OK, that's fine, but I only keep your photos for 30 days or 60 days. I'll let you know before I delete them, but that would really be unfortunate, because that's really where you're making your money. So I would like, make sure you're using your words and setting them up to know that this is where their purchases coming from. This is where they need their photos, you know, to pre set them up for that. And I do delete people's photos because if I'm not use them for anything, what's the point of storing them in keeping them? It's a liability, so I will erase their photos. I'm not lying about that. What can you What do you mean by saying that it's alive? It's a liability tohave woman half naked on my computer because if somebody stole my computer, let's say and decided that that was an awesome picture to uses a billboard on Fifth Avenue. She consuming because I don't have a model release for that. I do make my client sign a liability released by the way that if that happens that they won't sue me. But that would probably won't hold up in court, but least plant the seed for them. I also have people sign a consent agreement, saying It's OK for me to take these pictures, and by the way, I don't allow alcohol in my studio because I don't like when women are drunk and I know that one day some crazy chick is gonna be like she got me drunk and told me to take off my clothes that I never would have done that if I wasn't drinking. So I choose to avoid that completely. What they do before they come to the studio is their business. But I have them sign this consent agreement because I want to make sure that there is written consent that I'm allowed to take these photos of them. You know, like even men could be sometimes be crazy and say, Well, you must have gotten my wife drunk because she would never do something like that. I want to just be really clear. You're over 18. You're agreeing to this. Please sign away. So yeah, that's what I mean, As far as the liabilities concerned,