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Becoming Industry Approved

If you do make friends in the industry, you then become industry approved where people in the industry are now reaffirming your brand now let's just say for example, if I wanted to buy a very expensive bottle of wine for for a friend whose house I was going to dinner party and I didn't know too much about wine, so I go to the wine merchant specialist wine store and I would walk in there and I'm going to ask the guy behind the counter which wine do you recommend then if somebody's inside the room there and that person is you know another another customer and the customer is going like oh, you know I had this chardonnay or I had this merlot the other night it's fantastic I'm like yeah that's nice, but I want to know what the guy in the industry had for dinner last night I want to know what they drank for dinner, so if you're getting affirmation from within the industry, then your brand is that muchmore enhanced it holds so much more weight if people in the industry are recommending you s...

o it's not only about sending you direct referrals it's about the whole concept that surrounds your brand about he's such a nice guy to work with, okay, which brings me to something which can be a little bit controversial this waiting industry hierarchy it's almost like the film production industry where there's this quite like a hierarchy that's that's been established, and I think that this is often very much something that, first of all, it doesn't exist in my mind, but there is some sort of hierarchy that that somebody has perpetuated within the industry that you know, it's venue first and then photographer and then caterer and then coordinator or whatever, depending on what you are in the industry of you. If you're the makeup artist, do you think we'll make up artist then? So this wedding photography industry sort of the wedding industry hierarchy is such a mr norma it's. Ridiculous, because to me, like I said to you a little earlier, that makeup artist is trying to be the best make up artist that they can possibly be. I'm trying to be the best photographer you're trying to be the best videographer he's trying to be the best deejay, so I am not above anyone, you know, everybody has to work together to give the client the perfect product, so I've heard ofthe photographers that will only supply images two people who are above them in the wedding hierarchy. So well, first of all, we don't even know what this hierarchy is, and if you're going to only give pictures to the wedding venue you'd make. You know damn sure that the wedding venue sending you a lot of a lot of work because the other people are not going to want to work with you if I supply images too. The florist, the wedding coordinator, the caterer as I'm shooting the whole time as I'm shooting. Okay, that look, I could get that that image too the candle thie candle people, the people that make the candles a ll sorts of different things, I'm going to constantly think about getting images to those people regardless away that off where they are on this perceived hierarchical letter. Uh, yeah, okay, so as we know, we will arrive at a at a wedding. Perhaps the function is it's really close to where the bride is getting ready and you want to go there and take some nice shots off the wedding venue before you go to the ceremony or whatever? How many times have you seen this type of thing? That florist who's working at the same high end waiting that you're doing? The florist is frantically getting everything together. And, you know, she's got the the part with the scissors and the wire and the clippers up the stepladder and doing this and that and then finished the wedding and we're finished of flowers and alright, just made it in time, okay, uh take a couple of pictures for their own portfolio what do you end up with this is the real deal this is a lovely lady she's she's a fantastic florist very high end waiting yeah the shot that she shot with on camera flash point and shoot camera that's what she shot okay okay we are all offing but we can't make flowers like she can right? Okay so you have a look at her finger is in the shot direct flash composition is a joke lighting is not very cool but that if I never supplied her with images that's the only image she's got to promote her work so she'll put that image on her web site she'll put that image onto her she might print it out put it into her portfolio now I am going to then send her ofthe exact that image there that means they're so those flowers there that centerpiece for the table is that centerpiece exactly that centerpiece so I'm going to shoot images like that and I will send them to her all the images for the coordinator the venue all that kind of thing I will send it to them even in a collage like that if I if I wanted to make up artist we've seen this before I'd make up artist beautiful bride high end pride great venue great make up artist wonderful makeup artist and and that's the shot that she shot with the on camera flash point and shoot camera that's what she is going to use for her marketing and if I send her pictures that's what she's going to get and you saw yesterday it's set up it's a it's a mark shot off the getting ready because I do not want to interfere with her rhythm. I don't want to be the one who's stopping her working because it's irritating when you're busy shooting and somebody standing next to you going, let me see that what we're gonna do next it's like I'm working here leave me alone once you've done, then do that when the makeup artist done. Then you can do a little mark shot like this and I'm going to give her those images like that. What I will do then is I will email those images to the supplier. I will get a list ofthe images sorry, I will go get a list of vendors from the bride. I will write an email to the bride. This this bride's name was tanya. Dear tania, thank you. Sorry. If please could you supply me with a list of your vendors? I would like to send them images and I know that the questions coming from the internet and you guys right now are what if your clients don't want you to send them images they will say that to you and you respect that I've had an incident where I wanted to send images to all of these people are self got images that I'd like to send to all these people and the bride says great thank you very much but my dick or person was a disaster I don't want you sending images to them that call thank you thank you for letting me know that so I don't recommend that dick or person so she will receive images from us and can you see the appreciation coming back from the suppliers thank you so much most photographers don't do that so I really appreciate it I've made an impression there we go again thank you for the lovely photos it's lovely to see our bride how are our bride? Looked on a special day after all the meetings and decisions you see how ladies like to go on and on a zagat I I would just be like thanks for the photos we take our own photos every wedding but we're but we arranged for me not you what is it? But we are unable to always see the bride so it was a bonus to receive them thank you very, very nice and then what happens is that they use those images in their advertising and they will give me a byline you can see in the middle there britt florence photography now, if I never gave them images and if I refused to give the florist images because she was below me on the wedding hierarchy, this is this is you can pay for advertising like this because what you're really doing now is saying this this coordinating company is called by word of mouth, very high end company what the message you're sending out is that they're high in company and that they appreciate my art enough to use my images in their advertising. So it's brand association so I'm associating myself with another luxury brand facebook. What a cool place to send people cover images if I send this to a d j this is one of durbin's top djs, david yep, I'm going I'm going to create images. Sorry, I want to create a facebook cover photo. You just google the dimensions and you know that there's a space over here with a profile pic goes so you know how it's all gonna work and you created a cover photo for them and you send it to them and it's almost impossible for them not to use it as they cover photo. You know, here is a cover photo for you now can you see on the day? How my mind is working that I'm going to shoot a shot off the deejay playing I'm going to shoot a shot of his hands at the dick I'm going to shoot a shot of him announcing the fact that what I've got going on here is that there was a really cool party everything was happening for him that he's going to be loving that and he will then put it on his facebook page here again this is part of the same company a guy by the name of daniel israel great deejay and I'm doing exactly the same thing this is my gorgeous wife she was a guest at that wedding I was working she was against god love that hay and then what happens immediately daniel daniel israel puts it up on his timeline onto his web into his facebook page and I'm getting the brand recognition there because I've said images created by brett florence hey breck I threw out a quick question yes awesome so along with this do you guys also do testimonials for each other publicly yes yes we do a lot of the times you will receive I mean especially with sites like lincoln you know that kind of thing but yeah definitely you know in terms of reciprocal testimonials without a doubt however you really need to remain true to yourself and I I had I had an incident with the makeup artist once great make up artist make it was flawless, but I arrived and all the bridesmaids were really in the bride was not ready and I said to you, but I had a meeting with the bride and we specifically discussed this, you know, it was it was it was specifically about the fact that you need to be on time, so I get there and I said, but what's going on and I said, pull the, you know, sit to the bride. What happens now? She told me that I had to be done last, so she got bullied into it by the by the makeup artist on dh. Then I said to the make up artist, you know, it's not right to do this on dh I think that you really need to think about where you are, you know who you want to befriend in the industry, who don't want to befriend because your makeups great, but I don't want to work with you again. I don't send her pictures, I want to send her pictures if she asks them for me, if she asks me for them, then I will say you have to pay for them because I don't want to work with her again, just like if I am an idiot, the videographer is not going to want to work with me again so we have to understand that you're part of a team, and what happens here is quite interesting because you end up working with the same people, and I've even heard that when you arrive at a winning, I've heard some of the guests saying they've got the a team, you know, they've got the eighteen waiting, the best eat the same, d, j, the same videographer and you're working together often, and why is that? Because you all looking after each other, okay? So once again, this waiting here when I'm shooting, I'm thinking about the venue I'm thinking about. Like I said, the deejay, I'm shooting his hands, I'm shooting all sorts of things that are going to enhance his brand. This is a great venue in south africa. I was married there in fact, one of south africa's top wedding venues, and I'm going to shoot images that might not necessarily necessarily even go into the book, but it's going to enhance their brand. And then I seen them a cover photo. They put their cover photo up online, and they've got one thousand four hundred fifty likes which in the grand scheme of things, might not be huge. However, they are one thousand four hundred fifty perfect exact target market likes for my brand and it's, a small boutique venue. And they're going to then see that image, it might not necessarily mean that they're going to phone me and book me right away, but I've planted the seed I've planted that seed. Um, what you can also do is, um, create vendor cards, so what you do is you can print it out on tio six by eight you can you get a really nice sort of apes and printer at home or send it to the lab, you know, because you're only making, like fifty or sixty of these at a time, so I don't know in terms of the bulk amount that you're going to be using, but, you know, in terms of the price is that you can get but fifty, sixty at a time, and I'll get hotels phoning me. This is a great venue in, uh, it's a place called longer, which is a little bit foreign for you guys, but it's it's, a really exclusive hotel, five star hotel, great venue, and I've got that hotel emailing me and say, you know, can you bring us some more vendor cards? You know? And I'll go and drop off a couple more vendor cards, and what happens then is they'll take that vendor card and put it into the pack that they hand out to the bryants now other photographers could be doing that, but they're not. So I've put myself in advantage because that pack that they hand out, you know, that nice folded brochure that they give to potential brides, I'm in there, you know, so that's the kind of thing that you need to do to start thinking about how you're going to interact with with the industry and with other people in their questions from you guys? Yes, sir, do you update that image once year, maybe, or for the vendor, what do you use the same kind of image off at the next wedding at the next wedding from that's from one waiting at that particular venue, so from vent from that winning, I'm going to go and give them a card if I even I even make a full portfolio. If I've worked with a wedding coordinator for three or four weddings, I will go and make them a full portfolio storybook album off their weddings that I've worked with there it's gonna cost me two hundred fifty, three hundred dollars, how much money I'm going to make in return? Ok, any questions out there? Questions from the internet for you? Ah, this first one is from o b photo, how do you give the photos to the vendors? And a follow up to that is from andrea one and sandy who are asking how you actually send them the files do you provide them with a digital coffee do provide them with the disc do you give them a j peg a tiff with resolution lots of questions and yeah okay so with regards to supplying the the the venue's or the florists the actual images there are sent to them watermarked you saw the lord to market the not watermarked branded at the bottom there and I will then send that via email to them and again it's unprompted it's it's ah you know it's proactive so they don't ask for them because we don't want our clients to be asking us for things we supply it to them I send it to them as a medium raise jay pig so we're not say medium raise I'm talking about medium sized I'm not talking about save theirs and put it there you know three search like super low in terms of the size it's a nice resolution you know three hundred d p I a small size so that the client can use it on their website and it's not deteriorated in terms ofthe the in terms of the visual appeal andi in that email our I will write to them and say to them if you need images at a higher is for your print advertising please let me know and I will send you the higher is images often never hear from them again. They're very happy with what they've got because perhaps they not print advertising, but if they are and I will get a male back from them peace can I have this image? That image, this image at higher is and then I will send that to them as the full res image. If they wanted as a tiff, I will send a positive I'm is as accommodating as possible. Okay, just to show you an a an example of a vendor card, it would be something like this where it's it's like this it's exactly. You know, it's this big on dh you gonna send it to your to your vendor? This was at the same hotel, so, yeah, they love me there and I'm going to get referrals from them. You know, the thing that happens with weddings is the bride gets engaged like, like I was saying, we're all on a level playing field. Brian gets engaged on a saturday night she's all excited she's got all this information going on in their heads you're so many decisions to make. She goes off to the mall and she walks past a florist and she's like now she's in buying mode now, she's thinking about her wedding so off she goes to the florist and she'll be like okay wow when if these guys do waiting flowers walk in have a look through the portfolio or perhaps online but let's talk about it tangibly she's she's looking through the portfolio and she's seeing a ll those homemade images with the fingers in the shot and a direct flash and all of that so she's looking through all of these images and it's all these bad images and then every now and again a beautiful shot that are shot pops out of her so she turns a page and pop it's there with my name on it it doesn't mean that she's going to go oh my gosh this is the photographer for me it just means the seed has been planted she's heard great florence off she goes thank you that's very nice off she goes to your dress designer she's just shopping around for dressed for her dresses so she'll go to address design and say can I have a look at some of the work you've done before the same thing we are under the impression that dress designers have you know a lot of disposable money and if they wanted to go and do a fashion shoot for their work that they could go and do that you know they struggling artists as much as we are you know I think your higher end vera wang's I don't think various struggling too much but you know you never know you know any liver was when bankrupt and that she's still working but you know she went through some trouble as well sometimes you know it's not it's not all what it seems so um you think you're under the impression that you know I don't need to collaborate with these people and I don't want to go in supply these people of images because but the thing about them is that when the bride arrives for a fitting they have a great wedding on saturday can I just take a couple of pictures just for my portfolio so they're going to take a few images with the with the cell phone or with the point and shoot and what is a dress designers designing studio look like have you ever bean what does it look like it's a mess and what what's in the background like fabric and yeah it's horrible when the bride comes for her dress fitting what does she look like just come from work so what does she look like not fantastic I mean she's going toe good because she's our target market but she's not looking her best she's gonna have a due her little dress fitting is going to be standing there take a photo okay thank you. Turn around thank you open up that portfolio and it's like these home made home taking in images turn the pages second bread florence bread flour where have I heard that name before? Uh oh, okay and then she goes off to the make up artist same thing's happening they're everywhere she's going my images are popping up come on, you're gonna have teo even just go look at my website, dr, you know, and so is that kind of thing, your relationship even even to the point, even to the point of I'll work with the videographer and, well, the video videographers out there that are that are listening. I know how hard you guys work videographers work a lot harder than photographers they shooting the whole time, you know, we're bang bang, take a couple shots, sit down that still not as, uh it's still difficult, but we're doing a lot less work than them in terms of constantly working, they can't miss a beat because they filming the whole thing. So I know that my friend alan, when we should weddings together, I know that he always likes to have a coke first, and then his second drink will be a lime and soda because he doesn't want to much sugar, and I know that because I've worked with them so many times, so when the speeches start as we walk into the reception venue, I'll sit down at my table and I'll order him a coke he comes to the table there's this coke and he knows our thanks red you know, and I know that my, my other videographer friend, paul, I know he likes to drink ginger beer and it's. Just, you know, it's, common sense, it's. Just that kind of thing that you need thio, incorporate into your and listen, listen, you know that, like, I was talking about that dale carnegie advice, showing interest in other people. And, you know, it's, just being a people's person and wanting to progress and be a better person with your brand.