Lessons

Lesson Info

Shift your Thinking

what is fine art to find it for me come on get the audience here joan just call us if you raise your hand I'm gonna call you I think it's something different to everybody okay but for me it's something that is um it evokes emotion in me and it's and it's beauty that evokes emotion I mean it could be it doesn't have to be a picture on the wall it could be a lot of things yeah yeah allie it's not just slapped together a lot of time okay stop promotion time takes thought yeah ok what about evenly to me it's it's something that's unique it's something that only the creator could have created so it's like not anybody could go out and just do what you just did yeah yeah that makes sense I think of textures whenever I see fine art pieces um you see lines and find different I guess different mediums that show within the campus think of campuses huh of course yeah fine art is a moat it evokes something in us you look at something visually but art can be music too right there are many great musi...

cians who are artists and that music evokes something in you doesn't it right you have to change the way you think about newborn photography to become an artist your client's take pictures right pictures pictures you t shirt you are an artist okay the camera is simply your paintbrush you have to define what that our is to you you have to show it in your work you have to do what they cannot do that may mean growing your technical skills to a point that's beyond everyone else it may mean learning things like painter digging into photoshopped a little deeper you know studying other art mediums one of the things heather taught me so much was to look at other art she said gonna museums go look another art don't get your inspiration from photography find it and the other the rest of the world and all of a sudden things start to change we're talking about a lot about stealing from others and a little bit okay yeah I know it's crazy talk about that creating uniquely I think is is one of the things we hit we hit the nail on the head with this does encompass being able to see and make artistic imagery now you all are photographers except for tracy but you will still talk to you as if you're a photographer because I know if you're here that's enough trust me you can see it you have a what I call visual literacy it's a term from one of my mentors tom rouse um visual literacy is you know that kind of get instinct to just you can see it oh I just sing it I just know it when I see it that kind of phrase you've all experienced that before having you steve have you experienced that it's kind of a neat feeling isn't it it's like oh yeah I saw that you didn't know what I mean so things that go into seeing on a very technical scale level our line okay there's lines on the floor there's lines in the carpet there's secure lines on the table there's lines everywhere okay composition where those lines are placed okay color how colors relate to one another perspective what's close what's far okay an emotion combining all those elements so that they all unify to create or evoke feeling gosh that sounds complicated isn't it kind of do that yeah it's not but you have an innate instinct about it you're a photographer it's natural that you do you may not be able to sit down with a piece of paper and go bam line line circle draw like a true convention artist but boy with your camera when you see it you know it step light is another one in there that I actually forgot to put in there so becoming an artist means seeing these things in different perspectives on artist technically is a person who's creative work shows sensitivity and imagination a follower of a pursuit in which skill comes by study or practice keywords study or practice yeah we're all going on not practicing enough e don't practice enough either trust me mark get line on the six activity services or functions of a contemporary artist to create places for some human purpose architecture okay his art create extraordinary versions of ordinary objects we are creating an extraordinary version of an ordinary thing aren't we recording commemorate give tangible form to the unknown give tangible form to feelings and his newborn photographers and we got it easy mama's more model she'll cry a drop of a bat way could tap in those emotions no problem okay wait no I'm just teasing I'm a teacher so please forgive me if it bothers you tell me after class and I won't do it again um art helps us refresh our vision and helps us see the world in new way so what does that mean as an artist you have to see the world in a new way and convey that communicate that right that's all it really is if you break it down ahh great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels in the deepest sense about what is being photographed ansel adams greatest one of the greatest photographers alive so shift the way you think about creating the art shift the way you think about final product delivery okay the negative is comparable to the composer score the digital file was ansel adams yeah long time ago the print is the performance is not a beautiful way of describing the art the negative is comparable to the composer score the print is the performance do I sell digital files you betcha I saw my score no problem you can go create the moment you're near that the music yourself but the prince I'm going to make you is the performance from the artist okay so yes I have something called a hybrid product hybrid model and I'll explain that just a minute but I want to stress to you how important the printed product is today's digital file is yesterday's eight by ten when I started photography at fifteen years old and I got my senior portrait taken don't look at those well all I wanted was a pretence right that was like the big thing people would call you back in the day oh how much is in it by ten I mean that's the common thing we heard all the time photographers lamented over only louis put pins nowadays all I hear is oh I want teo files it's just the classic bane of our existence right children are growing up on hard drives I'm guilty too I am the shoemaker whose kids have no shoes I have a couple images of my son the wall on the restaurant hard drives okay thank god for books to me which is pro dp eyes instagram feed thing where you just send them your instagram feed and they'll put it into a book every quarter for you and it's like forty bucks a quarter and they just send it to you automatically well thank god someone's making albums for me in my own stuff and I have to worry about that was to me was genius okay so children are growing up on hard drives and it's important for us to educate our clients about that very important printed portrait's are proven to instill childhood self esteem I moved a lot when I was a kid I moved to switzerland when I was seven my father started a medical device company over there and we lived in a small european apartments and I love europe I have a huge affection for europe so all europeans out there watching blessed is your place but it's living is a lot different in europe it's small you know the kitchens are tiny little refrigerators you go to the grocery store every day it's not you know we lived in a little three bedroom apartment and it was like the biggest thing my dad could find we didn't put photographs on the walls growing up I don't remember any family portrait on the walls a couple of my mom's piano here and there but that was about it and that affects me deeply and I'm sure for those of you who have the same experience it affects you as well digital files are a transitory medium they're not archival they will corrupt they will fail and you cannot make a print from a corrupted file but you know what you could make a new negative from a print I tell that to my clients and they go oh you're so better print print the last one hundred fifty years a digital file negative ten if you're lucky okay so you know obviously backing up medium is a huge message to send your clients but my point is to get through that the print is the art okay so um it's important to stress the print in my opinion now I do have digital files and you know everybody who comes through my studio walks out with digital files that's a given but I'll explain you kind of how and why we do that a minute but one of my favorite quotes is from richard evans it says children will not remember you for the material things to provide but for the feeling that you cherish them again about feeling when we die all we have is experience feeling knowledge and the love of those around us that's all we get to leave this earth with so as photographers our role is to take those tenth and give them to our clients what a powerful thing we have to give think about that power experience a photograph gives it to you a feeling photograph gives it to you knowledge a photograph can give it to you and experience a memory a photograph could give that to you a photograph can give you everything that you leave this earth worth with isn't it amazing how important is what we do just incredible so yeah we do have a higher o'donnell all my clients leave with digital files aspect of life okay they don't want him there all twentysomethings thirtysomethings right mom's having babies they grew up in the digital age if I don't offer them digital files they're gonna go somewhere else so I got to do it my terms I'll give it to you but you got to do it my way okay so our hybrid model is yes every client comes through and get digital files we have something called create a collection and that they have to choose an art piece to they gotta go back home with art and it starts at sixteen twenty okay we don't do give prince anymore in my studio just doesn't happen the client can take care of that so my point is you can provide both okay our product plus digital files is what we do create your own collection clients want those files so let's just give it to them on their terms all right so one of the most important things when it comes to doing art um with your clients is to consider ni shing think of this as being the ultimate specialist in something if I have a german car a bmw do you think the guy who fixes mercedes can fix my car no maybe better than the ford dealer right so if I have the option to go the mercedes dealer or the ford dealer to fix my bmw who would I go to I'd probably go to the mercedes dealer right it's funny how when you specialize in something somebody thinks you're good at everything which is so not true I couldn't I couldn't do a wedding to save my life are you kidding me it would be a disaster I do babies okay yeah a girl called me for our wedding day and you know we'll go to ben go to bed and we'll take care of you I promise when you try to be everyone's photographer you end up being no one's first choice leah rebellin who is now a good friend of mine I met her after the last course that she's a doll and I this is what she said and on one of those emails that she sends out every month or so but it's very true if when you try to be anyone's photographer you're being no one's first choice right I'm the new born photographer in my town now if you have a baby you come to me do you know I'm saying and that establishes that relationship in that clientele and then they keep coming back to me for the baby plan and one year and two years and family sessions and beyond okay so just because you on lee put babies on your website doesn't mean you don't have to do everything else too I do families you better do I do on location you betcha I don't show it on my website because I want those babies initially in the in the door and I want people to know me as a specialist my business doubled when I specialized crazy to think that crazy I was scared to death I was talking to tiffany and like tiffany should I really do this so I just take everything off my website and all family is everything and jenny my sister on the phone her and middle of the night going my way you know how it is so I did it I just did but the bullet I'm one of those people jump off the cliff I know there's water all swim okay so we did it and within six months we had doubled bookings okay because people thought of me as a specialist in my town she must really know what she's doing with babies if that's all she does okay so consider that nation will differentiate yourself it will make you the person do you guys remember who the first man on the moon was who's the first man on the moon neil armstrong who's a second michael collins theo theo is the name is who was the first man to fly across a large body of water yep who's a second who's the second was the first woman amelia earhart exactly she needs you get it you remember the first you don't remember the second but if you remember the first with a twist you remember it right so a wedding photographer in town could be like the it classic fine art wedding studio anyone else would be like what you know what should I d'oh well what if you're the photo journalistic studio in town then all of a sudden you've needed into french of yourself right so nation will differentiate you and make you that it place to go you can charge more for higher quality work it fuels your creative in herself because you're doing work that you love on a subject that you love okay it creates a deeper connection to your art both in yourself and in the community it brands yourself in a higher market because obviously you're specialists you do this therefore you can charge more okay and it's a heck of a lot easier to market because you don't have five different websites for five different things you d'oh right it was always a struggle from seniors I had kids I had babies I had families it's like uh just one please it's amazing how much easier it is to market newborns are an incredibly valuable and profitable area I'm sure you all know this but I'm going to reiterate there's a y it's the start of my fresh life with this baby there's a how I've got to record this and there's a timeliness factor to it they're never going to be this small again right so you've got that going for you kind of like a wedding if you don't do it now you're not gonna get it and this is the only thing you're gonna have when it's all said and done okay there is timelessness and emotion innit huge emotion in newborn babies it is more heartfelt than a wedding I'm not divorced yet I'm getting a really bad joke anyway I mean there's a lot more divorces out there than there are you know disowning of your child right so my point is that sometimes the birth of a child is more important than the reading okay it cannot wait and it's a once in a lifetime event we have any questions before we move on internet questions susan anybody fired away yet we can start what about you yeah ebony I decided after yourselves a marketing I decided to nish I took down all the families maternity um and then the phone calls stopped they stopped yeah interesting I haven't had a newborn in like two months um you make a good I appreciate that you say that because you make a good uh point I met that I missed um ni shing makes you an expert marketing brings them in so your if if they're not coming in the chances are your marketing has a weak spot somewhere or they're not seeing enough of you now you're also in a really unique place here in the bahamas and I don't know your market that well um but assessing your market figuring out where the babies and moms are and marketing to that is going to help your brand how you appear how you feel to the consumer uh I'll plays a role and that we're going to talk about on saturday when we get heavily into branding jannie my sister is going to be joining us and she's going to talk about her business we're sisters we do the exact same thing if you look at our web sites we have the same template on our website for pete's sake I mean we look exactly the same you think we're the same photographer we're sisters there's genetic thing they're going on we couldn't be more different than black and white we brand different we market different we price different I mean she's I'm a stubborn little billy goat she's sweet and soft okay we run our businesses with decisions differently we're still spoke of us are very successful I mean she's shooting probably twenty thirty babies a month in the high season okay so we're both successful it's just how the business model comes together does that make sense so it's more than just nation your business model your brand your marketing all that has to come together in the last class I talked about it being a circle and you have to have all your peas in place outside the circle to make it all come together and there's probably a weak spot and you've got to find that weak spot okay help a little bit you know we didn't answer the question but we probably will by the end any other questions before we move on yeah from the internet yeah somebody is asking when you're talking about me shing could that include both the newborn and maternity ahs a bundle or should you just choose one thing oh yeah no I I I do maternity too I don't like it I'll do it okay I just do it to get the baby yeah really it makes sense as a bundle right yeah yeah for sure most definitely and she asks a good question because you know I'm sitting here saying only babies no I mean the things that come with babies are maternity and you know yeah I've just shoot return it you get to get the baby that's really I'm just you know nobody wants a huge picture of themselves pregnant on the wall I mean really I didn't my sister had to talk me into taking attorney images I'm so glad she did but I was so ready to not do that but my point is is that a woman who does come in and warm attorney images yes that is all part of that baby newborn brand baby plan I have a baby plan and that's totally something that I market constantly okay but it sticks with in that room I think nation means sticking within a certain realm like if I said okay babies and weddings babies weddings and families that's getting out of the realm