Making it as a business and sticking with it
Philip Ebiner, Will Carnahan
Lessons
What this course is about and how to succeed
01:48 2Why you should become a wedding photographer
01:32 3Business Section Intro
00:28 4Building your kit
06:00 5Where You Should Invest Your Earnings
04:30 6Will's Wedding Photography Kit
09:57Choosing Your Business name
04:50 8Action Item - Choose Your Name
00:25 9How to build your Wedding photography package
06:58 10Setting Your Wedding Photography Prices
10:16 11How to Get Your First Clients
06:54 12Talking with Clients
09:41 13The Importance of Contracts
04:27 14The Wedding business workflow
06:34 15Good Accounting Practices
02:26 16The philosophy of a well run business
03:38 17Wedding Day Overview - Schedule of Common Events
13:32 18Taking care of Business before the shooting day
02:37 19Tips for working with a wedding coordinator
03:31 20Action item - List out the key moments - Try to memorize
00:31 21Know what you will be photographing ahead of time
02:23 22Conclusion to section/ recap
01:32 23Introduction - The meat of the course
01:11 24Equipment checklist/ cleaning lenses and cameras
08:24 25Do you need an Assistant/ 2nd shooter?
05:07 26Being a second shooter
08:32 27What to wear as a photographer
05:09 28How to shoot: Getting Ready/ Hanging out
05:18 29How to Shoot: Dress/ Rings/ Bride details
10:41 30How to Shoot - Groom Portraits & Posing
09:11 31How to shoot: Groomsman
12:51 32How to shoot: Bride Portraits & Posing Interior
04:49 33How to shoot: Bride Portraits & Posing Exterior
08:14 34How to shoot Bridesmaids
12:56 35How to shoot: First Look
03:28 36How to Shoot: Posed Couples Portraits
06:34 37How to shoot: Walking down the Aisle
10:17 38How to shoot: Ceremony Coverage and vows / ring exchange
09:17 39How to shoot: First kiss and walking out
05:39 40How to shoot: Formal family and group Photos
12:26 41Action Item: Save your fav pose
01:14 42Action Item: Find inspiration
02:07 43How to shoot: Reception intro and Grand entrance
01:34 44How to shoot: Reception Details
04:55 45How to shoot: Reception Speeches and toasts
04:41 46How to shoot: Reception First Dance
06:23 47How to shoot: Reception Bouquet and Garter toss
04:46 48How to shoot: Reception Dancing and Partying
05:58 49Recap of “How to shoot”
02:47 50Introduction to Editing Section
01:25 51Photo applications and Profesional Apps
03:42 52Organize, rate, and cull
28:21 53Editing detail shots
31:42 54Editing bride getting ready
29:23 55Editing Demo: Editing Outdoor Ceremony
23:10 56Editing single portraits
52:10 57Editing Demo: Black and White editing
09:39 58Editing Demo: Stylized Editing/ Finding your editing Style
12:20 59Advice on how to edit hundreds of photos efficiently
06:01 60Exporting your photos for client/ portfolio/ print
10:05 61Delivering Digital images to your client
07:06 62Intro to Succeeding in Wedding Photography
00:48 63Being happy as a wedding photographer
07:05 64Making it as a business and sticking with it
03:14 65Getting Testimonials
01:35 66Using Social Media and networking to expand business
02:08 67How to deal with unhappy or difficult clients
04:37 68Competing with mobile phones and family/ friend photographers
01:58 69Working with other wedding vendors
03:16 70Section conclusion
00:53 71Thank you!
01:29Lesson Info
Making it as a business and sticking with it
You can make it as a business and as a wedding photographer, you just have to stick with it and understand your value. Now, what do I mean by that? Sticking with it? First of all is something that requires patience. And I definitely had said this earlier and I will keep repeating it because I do believe that it is very important. I've been doing photos. I have been freelancing. I have owned my own business for uh you know, a full decade of owning my own business being a freelancer for almost two decades. I've been doing this for a very long time. So sometimes it may seem easy what I'm doing, but it has come with a lot of time and a lot of experience, a lot of failure, a lot of success and a lot of different situations. The thing about it is that you have to stick with that. This is not gonna happen overnight. You are going to have worries, you're going to not have clients, you're gonna worry when your next job is gonna come. But I can promise you that if you give it your all and you do...
all these things and you stay consistent with it. Things will start to snowball and add up over time. Part of my rule was originally that it takes a minimum year to make things work. Now, given the last few years when this class is recorded, it's become increasingly difficult when people are forced to stay inside, but it will change and it will get better. You just have to be patient and you have to work hard. I don't know who said this saying, but the saying was the harder I work. The luckier I get, it's very, very true. And with wedding photography, freelancing, entrepreneurship, a business, wedding photography know is a viable business, it can succeed. So we know that it will work but you have to put the time in and you have to do it. Something that helps with that is valuing yourself. A lot of times people wonder why do I have to pay so much for someone to come and take pictures? Well, they're not necessarily paying for the photos themselves. They're paying for the person behind the camera and their experience. You have to hold that value in you. You have to understand that what they are paying for is the education and the time that you have put in to learning how to take those photos and you are worth it just by you making it this far in the course, you have put so much time and effort into being not only a wedding photographer, but a successful business, human business person, you are worth all that money that they want to pay. And not only that on top of that, your creativity, your art is one of a kind and it is yours alone and there's no one else like it. And that's why there's so many different photographers and we can all be successful because we all carry something different and unique in us, especially creatively. So if you add in your creativeness, your artistic vision, who you are uniquely as a person and you add in all the time and money and effort and education that you put into that and combine those, you're worth it all. So remember that when you go in, you are important and you are a wonderful photographer and business owner and you can be successful, the only person that's gonna help you out and the only person that's gonna stop you is yourself.
Class Materials
Ratings and Reviews
Student Work
Related Classes
Wedding Photography