Lessons

Lesson Info

The Business of Photography

how is today different than what we did yesterday working inside and with completely different subjects so what did you get from today and what will you take with you from today's you I love seeing the consultation oh good and all of the things she went over the amount of detail I thought that was really helpful for both the client and right for you to be able to get across all the information that you wanted her to have so I think that's a really important step that I think a lot of people don't take advantage of yes I agree and for me it was noticing how you dialed yourself down so yesterday we had kids and you were really upbeat and with thes kids they were a little bit more reserved and so you stepped right into where they needed you to step yeah thank you I think it was also helpful to see just how you went in and analyse the room where we would be shooting that you found the light where you like the light and then you can it's rearranged the room to make it work you didn't like I...

think I've felt like I'm stuck with whatever room was like whatever's behind the couch is just behind there you were moving stuff you're setting it up the way you wanted it to prop from other areas of the house and moved him to where I wanted him in the scene to fill it in for color space texture all that kind of stuff so if you're gonna work in a client's home absolutely feel free to do that mean ask you know can I look around for other props you know I'd like to fill this in because again what the client hasn't their home might not be a great background but you can create that and so that tall vase with the green vase with the flowers is great color great texture moving the couch away from the bookcase and absolutely away from the wall the couch didn't look like much of opposing prop against the wall but when moved out into the centre of the room by the door so yeah find the light work within that light and use the background then that you have available to you hey I can't believe we only have three hours left together like it just went so fast I want to thank you guys again for being here thank you guys for hosting you've been awesome it's been fun to work with you guys it's just fun to be here thank you all at home for watching we're gonna get into the business of photography a little bit now this is like card stuff you know this isn't the fun stuff this is a little bit of hard stuff so why are you in the business of photography for me I'm a career photographer I came out of school I assisted other people I worked for other studios and then I started my own business for a lot of people it was a hobby turn into a business and then you don't even realize you had a business right and then all of a sudden there was no business plan there was no pre thinking it I know a lot of moms who you know picked up a camera really loved tio take great pictures or friends like oh you have a great eye you should do this hey can you do my family portrait hey can you do mine hey can you do mine before you know it you're like sitting in front of the computer all hours of night editing friends and family photos wondering what the heck you're doing and then well wow I should really make a business out of this okay how do I charge well and so there's no real starting point so really highly recommend investing in a good business plan and it ain't my business plans were always sort of hand written I'd sit down and you kind of plan out a year two years three years five years and my goal was always how many sessions do I want to do this year and how much money do I want to make so you might want to start with that number how many hours do I want to work how many sessions do I want to dio how much money would I like to make from this business this year and start with those goals in mind and that will really start to drive your pricing in the direction of being profitable for your lifestyle so you're no you're at home mom um and you run this business part time and you don't want it to interfere with all the other things you have going on in your life will you mainly want to do thirty sessions a year but you still want to make good money so you have to charge accordingly you might be a full time studio with multiple photographers and your prices will be very different based on the fact that you want high volume of clients coming into your business with you know media lowered price point so really depends on what you want to dio but I would start with this what is your lifestyle no what where do you see yourself in five years where do you like to vacation what kind of college do you want to send your kids to how many weddings do you have to plan for if you have girls you know planning ahead for the future and how much would I like to save each year where would I like to go on vacation how would I like to you know save for retirement and then okay well I would like to have x amount of dollars this year x amount to save x amount to spend let's start there whatever it is for you then say well how many sessions would it take me to do that know how much money do I have to make and that's how many sessions do I have to do that in after your cost of sales right so that's another huge thing people forget to factor and cost of sales right I love this train of thinking well eight by ten for my lab is only two fifty so if I charged fifteen dollars at a huge markup it's not a huge markup you're going to go broke you know because it's not just the paper from need by ten from your lab it's the time invested it's the consultation it's the marketing materials it's the insurance the liability it's the equipment that you invest in it's the education that you invest in its all of those factors built into the bottom line of pricing because all that is a cost of doing business being here being online this time you're spending is a cost of doing business the money you spent buying my program is cost of doing business so you have to factor these things in every year well how much will I spend on education this year how much will I spend on new equipment this year how much is my insurance what kind of occasion do I want to take how many hours do I want to work it's a plan it's a riel a plan that you have to sit down and do for me with weddings I wanted to photograph thirty weddings a year that was my number and my first year out on my own the studio is paid me two hundred fifty dollars to shoot a wedding by myself I'm going back to like nineteen ninety four ninety five ninety six so the studios would pay me two hundred fifty dollars to go out and shoot a wedding all my own no assistant that's pretty good money for a day for a young person their twenties so I decided what I wanted my own business that what I wanted to do was uh make more than that so I decided to make my fee for the day seven hundred fifty so it's five hundred dollars more than I was making at the studios and that's it include any albums or prince and then I figured I multiplied that by thirty how much money was not going to give me than based on potential sales how much was acting to me and so I kind of figured out where my pricing needed to be and once I hit thirty weddings I up my price because everything after that was gravy right so well when do I raise my prices when you have more work than you want that's a quote you raise your prices when you have more work than he want like okay my session fee for weddings or my full day coverage fees now a thousand dollars okay so everything after thirty weddings was gravy in the following year my prices were already up once I hit that thirty weddings again now get this the following year in order to make the same money I had to do last weddings at my new prices so say the following year only needed to do twenty six weddings to make the same one he had made the year before just saying based on you know prices so where I do when I got to twenty six legs I raised my prices because everything after that was gravy and on and on and on and so and then we got to the thirty weddings and I was still doing what I wanted to dio but once I was out where I know I needed to be I raised my prices because everything after that was grieving the war still going to come in and book I was good with that so I kept raising my fee for the day for weddings until somebody said to me you're out of your frigging mind and it never happened by the time I left new york and moved to arizona my fi to show up and shoot a wedding was four thousand dollars and that didn't include anything was just from my time so went from seven hundred and fifty two four thousand dollars from my time because I incrementally went out when I had more well one had more work when I am a work when I'm more work and then you know based on how I sold my prints in the album was different story that's true knock wood you want honest that's honest people like you get what for who what now in new york weddings khun b twelve to fourteen hours long you're not to mention the time involved with post and you know and even then it was negatives but still it just gives you an idea of you know don't be free to raise your prices because you have more work than you know what to do with having more work than you know what to do with well actually stress you out you don't have to take it all because a lot of people look they're making a call like I take it I got it take it take the business I'll take it well uk if you'd taken more than you can handle raise your prices were american dream work less get paid more right yeah okay so you're in the business of photography to turn a great living it's something that we love to do or you can just give it away right and then be frustrated how many I know there's raise your hand out there if you don't charge enough get very frustrated because you're not making money doing something you really love to dio are you here anyway no that's pretty good are you kind of there that's okay that's good that's good to know um for me I want to make a great living doing what I love and leave something behind for children and families that will be treasured long after I'm gone you'll end up on death card the next hour is all about the death card sorry okay so this is the brochure that I discussed with you guys earlier that it was giving to trudy during our conversation our consultation this is a marketing piece that I will send out to prospective new clients I'll give to the new claim to come in and other mount pizzo like kind of oh I haven't extra one of these from my photographer take this you know work is really good now it took me a long time to sit and write this and it was extremely thought out the nice thing about this is that for those of you who bought the workshop this pdf will be included with it there's a lot of good creamy chunky crunchy information in here so it's a six by six or five by five uh brochure little booklet actually can you hand me that and I'll just pull one out thanks so it's what you can see what actually looks like so so looks just like this and you know I showed it to trudy earlier be turned the pages and it's all about you know what to expect when coming to see me and so I'm going to read some of this is really important but uh this says thank you for your interest in my photographer my portrait photography these pages are filled with information that will help guide you through the portrait process so here I am saying and help guide you through the portrait process and I'm going to read this because I'm going to stop and describe and tell you wide there's certain language where there is you are about to embark on a truly enjoyable journey for you and your family commissioning a custom design portrait is one of the best ways to celebrate the love of the family that's like right here on the heart right I'm telling people this is going to be a fun experience it's going to be enjoyable something that you know you're leaving behind for your family this is going to show your family that you love them there's nothing logical about this my vision is to create an amazing experience for you your fam and for your family and to design a portrait that will not only be a part of your home to core but a treasured memory so he not only wanted to be a part of your home I wanted to be a great memory get this there is no perfect times have a portrait created you will never regret having a family portrait done but someday you may regret not having one I say it up front his people always waiting for the perfect time on away till you lose some weight on it until I fainted my face lift on a way to have my mommy makeover I wanna wait until my kids are a little older I wanna wait till the braces come on I can give you one hundred thousand reasons why a mom would put off having her portrait's done but the truth of the matter is there's no perfect time just do it you never know when it's going to be too late and you what happens you know maybe this happens you guys I get quite a few calls every year saying we really need a book a family session because my husband was just diagnosed with cancer so as soon as we find out we're sick were booking a a session because now we know how important it is for the kids to have a portrait right why do I have to wait that long let's do it before it's too late so I'm already I'm pre empting so many of the arguments that people can give me about having a family portrait done on the next page is an image and it says an artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision james mcneill whistler I'm not paid for my labor from my time on paid from my vision I'm paid for what is up here that I can put on here that you can take home you know it's that full wow your camera takes really great pictures really okay here's my camera you take a picture let's see oh it's not the camera yeah I know it's not thes tools build a really great house I can build a house you know what I mean so is not cracking up when people say that to you meet the artist so I wrote this a couple of years ago and uh this is uh what we talked about now at the bottom of this I have photographic craftsman actually a photograph photographic mastery and explorer cannon can explore of light and here's the weird thing up until a few years ago I didn't feel I needed to use any of this right I didn't because people knew I was a professional photographer but as the hobbyists crop came up more and more and the economy went down and the hobbyists were like hey I could make some extra money taking photos I really had to start to differentiate myself as an expert as a craftsman as somebody who really knew what they were doing I wasn't just a hobbyist trying to make extra money this is my career this is my livelihood this is what I do I'm gonna get it right so meet the artist after twenty one years of experience michelle's passion for transforming a photography and the works of art on lee continues to grow michelle was awarded a craftsman degree and this really I'm not going to go down the whole thing is lori said it like nine times already but it says what I was published in and it says I'm a cannon explorer of light this says I'm professional I'm accredited this says board certified plastic surgeon because would you goto a non board certified plastic surgeon would you go to the hobbyist hey I do plastic surgery for a hobby come on down to my basement I don't think so right it's messed up I'm sorry it is not what you look at that matters it is what you see henry david thoreau it's now I'm sprinkling artist quotes in I'm giving my work an element of art I'm speaking to the side of people that's emotional and clarifying who I am is a professional choose an experience portrait artist is one of my favorite things creating classic unique and timeless portrait's is truly a skilled art being able to reproduce consistent quality and style comes with experience most hobbyist don't have so I'm saying consist sit quality hobbies get it right some of the time I get it right all of the time not some of the time all of the time it sounds a little like in your face and it is but it's a confidence I have I'm going to get it right you're gonna be happy with the portrait's I create or I'm going to give you your money back that's how confident I am I know you're gonna love them michelle has spent more than twenty years studying and perfecting the art of posing people in a natural relaxed way I've studied it of practice it I know how to make you look natural and relaxed even though you're posed that's what mom wants to hear I want to look natural and relaxed I don't want to look posed I'm all right I'm not negating that whole like I don't know look over host I won't do that michelle's expertise and composition facial angles quality of light camera position correct lens usage and color harmony are a few of the reasons her portrait's is so special and sought after color harmony camera angles right I'm telling you why I'm the expert I mean really does what we have to do if you really want to separate yourself rise the cream of the crop this is how we have to educate our clients we cannot expect our clients to look at this eight by ten and this eight by ten and tell me which one they like better and they're in a hire a photographer based on two I don't know they both look pretty good to me why she hired this photographer a za result of photographing hundreds of families she understands family relationships and the developmental stages of children making your portrait experience fun and stress free is that not a true statement I can back that up hundreds of families I know how to deal with your children I understand developmental ages I understand family dynamics and I'm really good at making your family feel comfortable which is what mom wants my client is mom period amen client is mom every portrait that is created for a client is personally enhanced and retouched by michelle with great attention to detail enhancing portrait's khun include smoothing skin removing blemishes softening lines enhancing eyes in removing dark circles the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things but the inward significance aristotle the portrait experience this stuff good are you guys enjoying this it's powerful right and it's so you know how hard it is to write that stuff it's hard you have to find it within yourself to put on paper why it is you want people to do business with you why why choose me I'm telling you why and not like overly boastful way but I'm giving you my credentials I'm telling you why I'm an expert I'm telling you I'm going to make you look like I'm telling you make you feel good feels oh good the portrait experience each beautiful portrait michele creates beginning with the portrait planning consultation this is a great time to get to know michele for her to learn about your family what you have in mind for your portrait at this appointment you will discuss location options locations for family or generally outdoors but could be in your home clothing is essential we talk about that you may out for brighter colors from more playful look at this time we'll set up scheduling most sessions take play coat close to sunset due to the amazing quality of light at that time michele explained products and pricing and details so you will have a good idea of what kind of investment you will be making for your family portrait I'm the more information that you can give people the more you can hand hold them the last thing come back so we didn't tell me that I didn't know that and I have a great story about all this ok prior to your consultation look around your home and think about where you might want to display your family portrait portrait sessions generally last sixty to ninety minutes the most important thing is to have fun this experience should be one the whole family enjoys that's what I said to trujillo she was sitting here just have fun enjoy it simplicity is the ultimate sophistication leonardo da vinci if any of you fall asleep on me and be really mad just kidding fine aren't portrait's air not expensive they're not they're truly a gift you give yourself and future generations of all the gifts you give your children portrait with you will be their most treasured possessions are normal weekday family session is two ninety five for ninety five for larger extended families additional one twenty five will be added for limited saturday appointments what does that say I don't wanna work saturdays so if you really have to have me on a saturday it's and I don't always that's like that's a negotiating point well really I'd love to work with your family of saturday's only day you can do it I'll do it just for you classic wall portrait started to ninety five a signature museum campus portrait starts at four ninety five on and on and on right so we also offer family albums a tremendous amount of time effort expertise and pride going to creating an art piece for your home that will be you will be thrilled to display for years to come a tremendous amount of time effort expertise and pride I really take pride in my work I want to tell you that previewing your images and my good story of a couple of t I told somebody remind me a story later oh new techniques yeah that's good ok your image will be ready to preview approximately one week after your session the first preview appointment is held in michelle's home studio in most cases they will the thirty two thirty five images to preview together we will narrow them down to your favorites you can make your final selections at this time or set up an additional appointment for an in home design consultation I'm already planning the sea for an in home design consultation I guarantee you I can absolutely sell bigger and more wall portrait's by going to the client's home there is no way I can sit here and gas well I don't know and some women know somewhere and measure out the wall I have a sixty foot wall data I want this this and this on it great and then I have other women I don't know I don't what do you think you know what size that is I don't know what size that is instantly right there on the spot before it gets any worse because she's already in stress that stress I don't know what do you think I should know what I think I think I'll come to your house I'll measure the walls you will yes that's important there are no paper proves to take home online viewing is not an option for previewing portrait since monitors make vary in color and brightness online viewing is not the brett best representation of how beautiful your portrait sar each order is custom and therefore paid in full of time in this place I usually don't do half that's fine we accept most major credit cards for your convenience all decision makers should attend the preview session that's why I say tomato who's the decision maker it does dad need to have a hand in this as he wanna be a part of making this decision does he you know and you sometimes like yeah you definitely want to be here he likes you know holding or no I'll make all the decisions working moms working moms generally tend to make all the decisions it's my experience and not like pigeonholing but stayed home arms generally like to collaborate with their husbands working moms like I spent my money however I want just saying okay we accept most major credit cards for your convenience all this isn't maker should be there is highly recommended that young children do not attend there is nothing wrong there is nothing worse and trying to sell mom of all portrait while a two year olds climbing over her and then they poop in the stinks and you know and it did no they're like my want to go want to go on and she's just like I can't make a decision that's when I lose my patience with two year old uh when you purchased to our more wall portrait's michelle will deliver and place them on your wall I'll do it for one but in there it's it's giving the actual sense of customer service but on this note it's how many people have had a hard time really sticking to the no proofs thing or no not online okay so years back I had uh an extended family portrait group come in was right around the holidays I met with the mom the matriarch of the family one of her daughters and it was three children their grandchildren it was huge family and the matriarch and one of her daughters came in and we talked about all of this all of it we need a saturday appointed for them because some of the people out of work this was an in studio portrait at the time I explained the viewing session how it works I showed him the slide show I went through the whole thing just like I did with trudy and we do the session it's great the families really happy and after the session uh the I guess the grandfather the patriarchal family wanted to come and see them as well and he uh he he couldn't make it so I kept what we'll do an evening appointment you need a saturday hey even if you need a sunday be happy to come in for you on a sunday and we kept going back and forth like a couple weeks not being able to make an appointment and two of the girls working for me were like oh you know mrs so and so called again she can't get in and so she says hey you know is it possible for you to just make us proofs so we could just look at him at home and I was like I'm really sorry I don't do that um I can accommodate you any other way you want to come to your home I will come to your home I will bring my computer I will bring the projector I will bring a screen I will come to your home if that's more convenient for you however we need to make this happen but I absolutely do not make proofs and so she's a quote can just make an exception in this case and I said I can't because I will be pissing off a whole line of people that were before you and will be very difficult to then maintain that policy for people going forward because what are those people going to do if you really push her she'll give you proofs and I know for a fact that if I send proves home with them my sales lost it's just lost every day those proofs air in their hand on those images they're available online the interest goes down there's more chefs in the kitchen why don't like that when I like this why do you like that one of your hair's not good in that one so what they loved in my studio in my office they now like well yeah my sister really liked that one I don't really care what your sister thinks so as soon as I lose that control I've lost control of my business couple days later mr so and so calls I want proofs I'll pay for them make me five by seven of everything and I'm like no my girl's like well if he's willing to pay five by sevens no it's not the best way to serve my client if I send them home with a bunch of small pictures and not going to know what to do with it I know in my heart one I can't change my policy for one client because if I do I'm screwed on the back end and I'm screwed going forward and so mr so and so calls back and he's like er now he wants to speak to me he doesn't want to speak to anybody who works for me and he says to me he says you know michelle I'm very disappointed really want to see these family portrait I know mr so and so I'm really looking forward to you coming in because they're beautiful you're gonna be so thrilled so well you know I run a multi million dollar corporation I don't have time for this I don't time for you and your little presentation he says to me and I don't need your sales pitch I just want to see my pictures and pick what I want the hair is standing up on the back of my neck and I'm like oh you run a multimillion dollar business which is so much more important than my little business that I happened to run and have I'm busy too but I've made every attempt to make this convenient for you and so I said well I'm really sorry I will come to your home it's not what I do it is not my policy is how I've structured my business and I just can't change the rules for one person I'm really sorry and he says to me well then I guess we won't be doing business together and I said well then I'm really sorry to hear that I guess we won't because that's not the way I run my business and I hung up I said a lot of f bombs I was cursing like running through my office how dare that who does he think he's like my businesses and important dead and you threaten me with you you little multi million dollar business and like my stuff's not important and you had time to come in for the session but you have time come in my little sales christie and my girls like just giving the proofs and like no no now it's principle my daughter came to these people this is my business this is how I run my business if I just caved every client that wants me came I'm not gonna have a business no no no by the way draft a letter mrs so and so and say I'm very sorry that I'm not able to help your portrait's beautiful and since you have no interest in buying any of that portrait I'm happy to refund your session fee and I will be destroying all of your files type it up no joke my girls like what the hell the same in the morning that moment the bell rings in another client walks and after like recompose myself and don't try to blackmail me or what he'd call that's not blackmail it's uh well you know that other word extort don't try to extort me to change my business for you because you're a multi millionaire and I'm just the pee wee little photographer I think so I told you raw today I was one of my biggest moments so coming out of the session I'm calmer now and I go in I'm like did you write that letter mrs so and so on again well mrs so and so called and she she'll be interview her pictures next wednesday gotta stand your ground sometimes I know there's a lot of people there so well I would have just told him you know set approves for thousand dollars it's not the way I run my business I'm gone I'm not gonna change my policies and do oddball things that one don't feel right to me because it would have never felt right to me to just send them home with five by sevens and anyway she comes in all of the families ordered so each of the door daughter's ordered portrait's for their walls she ordered portrait for her wall it was like in the end of four five thousand dollars sale I would have lost had I not stood my ground right because it was five by seven to be sitting in an envelope somewhere nobody would be doing anything with him and I got the sale and I delivered the portrait to her house and I hung them on the wall I was terrified I was so terrified to go to that house that there's like a lot of hope is no I was at home because I just didn't know I don't want to have that interaction and when she came in she said to me I really apologize for my husband's behavior you know that wasn't right I'm really glad we're here to order our pictures you know you know what I was thinking in my mind right ah ha room hung with pictures a room hung with thoughts it's hard I'm going back right it's hard to maintain that policy when you feel like you're being pushed and you want to please your client but that point that wasn't my client anymore and I said to him on the phone I said mr so and so I explained this to your wife so well I wasn't there for that consultation I was not aware of this information I sent her home with this information it's in my literature why didn't read that well I'm sorry yeah you know but little old me I'm mighty mouse whoa I am woman hear me roar okay additional information due to the limit I know there's gonna be a whole lot of comments about out there people are blowing out she didn't want I can't we break for yeah people have to say about my addict they're small they're like this is also all cabs they're like oh she is mad love I was gonna say I love your moxie have you done your ground I've gotta stand your crash and it's so great it's your life your business it's your life is your business do what you want to do okay cool so all right I had another question lined up but I think I'm in a reese steer that question to another one s o z e h from a question from trenton new jersey oh yo what's up in jersey with the current market do you share atleast one photo in facebook or twitter for your clients to view absolutely okay theo after they've seen images right I've got to come in and meet with me first but yeah and sometimes like now I'm doing a little bit more blogging now I was good about blogging for a while and I'm getting back into it but I do like walking about the sessions and okay listen this is really fun because so many people love to see this on the blogging topic and then I'll come right back to you but so many people love the fact that I show my old work and it encourages people so much that I thought you want I'm going to start by block post now for I don't know however long it takes me then and now so I'm gonna show then and now images either really bad old images and then like new images and how I've improved over time a little story about them or then and now people like five day old babies and now they're sixteen or whatever right so then and now so anyway so really fun little blob check it out it's on my site and shell celentano dot com but yeah I will often put new sessions on my block and then I would you put my logo on it and then I'll tag people and put images on facebook and also because I want to know what maybe which one is their favorite so yeah awesome we have a few questions from people that are beginners and I want to know how you got to where you are now mu nose from maryland some of us are beginners for those of us that are putting in the work to learn and practice before we take on a pot paying client how do we present ourselves to clients professionally but without lying to them about our experience level what's your stick to clients when you were starting out wow that was so long ago I don't even know if I remember um yeah to go quiet I'm trying to think how was I talked to the woman who was kissing a pumpkin head like what what I say to her like how did I sell her um I usually you know uh obviously I'm a professional photographer I created a business car this is what I d'oh mostly I practiced and gained a portfolio with friends and family like the way most of us do and started showing my work that way and then getting clients you you can't be afraid wait until you feel your work is perfect to get a client you know you kind of need clients to practice with and to grow with and so you know create a portfolio based on personal work go from there you don't have to say hey I'm a newbie but what I used to do when I go to conventions or learning experiences the workshops back in my day we did live workshops with the instructor because I didn't have the internet I'm sold but we do like five day workshops with an instructor and be like small groups twenty thirty people awesome I would just be like telling all my new wedding clients I just came back from this amazing workshop with this world class photographer and I learned so much and so excited like share what I learn and new use some new tech sneaks on you blah blah blah which brings me the technique story but again I just get really excited about my work if you get excited about it you know I'm telling you fake it till you make it you've got to be like yeah I love it I'm great let's do it let's go on to make something special and again remember if they have a good time and they like you they're going to like their images almost course you've totally screwed up to have another question could tell another funny story well hopefully this will lead to another story your energy is totally contagious people are eleven you right now all right next question I think this kind of goes off our conversation from first thing this morning before we aired about working for family yeah I don't want a thing so this is from timeless memories photography that's exactly what happened to me starting my business because everyone loved my work and would ask me to shoot their family and want their pictures for free of course of my question is I've been in business for over two years now my family still expect everything for free how do I handle that how can I make them understand the price of equipment et cetera right yeah what you can do is start a friends and family program listen I can't do all this work for free obviously there's costs involved with running a business I'm sure you can understand that any time you throw back I'm sure you can understand that people like oh yeah I understand that you just nod at them you understand that right there is a cost of doing business there was cost I have lab costs I have equipment costs have insurance cost so you know I'd really love to keep doing this for you for free but I'm going broke doing your work for free and I know you don't want that to happen right so I have a friends and family program my friends and family program is twenty five percent off my normal prices just for friends and family good so you don't want me to go broke taking your pictures for free right good point and we have a lot of I want to point out that we have a lot of people in the chat rooms thank you chat room people for just commenting on your energy and your power and there and there I'm familiar with their your fear and they're just like I'm having scared teo you know everyone's talking about how they're scared they're scared of charging the skirt of having face to face consultations and so you bringing it and explaining what that looks like I got to get him cause really get comfortable you got to step into the uncomfortable pool before you learn to get comfortable you know what I think about it think about when you can't remember but think about little kids they're not afraid to stand up and take a step they're excited they have no fear they they have no preconceived notion that if I get up and take this step I might fall down and hurt myself because if they did no kid would ever start walking so you have to be a little fearless you have to sort of get outside your mind get uncomfortable because what kid is comfortable when they first start walking that's what kids looked like when they first start walking right that cannot be comfortable boom on there but right but they get back up they keep going they keep walking for they know it they're running do they know if they weren't so fast they're going to fall down and hit their head and they probably have they get back up they do it again you have to think a little childlike because as adults we learn to let our fears over run our life and children don't think that way what happens if I do this what happens if I do that it's a big mystery so let's check it out you know but little kids think about it no one would ever walk if we all lived in constant fear of something uncomfortable or new that was powerful I'm feeling it like right out of my chest so my technique story this is brilliant and so many people will be able to relate to this back in the day when I was using veronica sq aye aye medium format film shooting this big wedding gorgeous venue in new jersey and so you know one of my first big higher and clients and have gotten assistant with me and you know they're doing all kinds of stuff I'm doing my thing and it's after portrait and I'm in the reception room doing individual room shots and details and tables and glasses and napkin holders not you know good stuff that ugo and it's all on film so I my big format camera and I'm using my hundred fifty millimeter lens you know kind of long out of focus shots and because it's in the dark I met four seconds now if anybody knows old cameras it was little knob on the side of your camera you click click click and like anything in red is a second and anything in white is a fraction of a second and so I'm hurrying up and do my thing and you know major d says okay okay there get ready come in are we know one of the doors people were coming okay great we go run over to the equipment slap the camera on a brackett slapped a flash on change my lens real quick and then we're shooting the reception people start walking in you know I'm like and the music's loud like didst instance and ladies and gentlemen introducing for the first time as husband wife jessie jerry click click click click click click role and you click and roll click and roll click and roll click right because there was no automatic right and so they come in and I'm shooting them all and you know it's great and then the first dance starts in the music quiets down and I hear a click thank you I look down I shot the entire entrance at four seconds I am in a panic mode I'm having a flipping heart attack I'm like oh my god now keep in mind I'm clicking and cranking faster than four seconds like literally could click crank click crank one second right the shutters open for four seconds so every time I click and craig it's actually cranking closing the shutter faster than four seconds but it's still dragging right okay just don't worry about it move on fix it just move on from there images come back and it's time I'm still proof lis get all my negatives back I had this old machine called a photo vics which was a little video camera attached to a light box and I could record my images onto a videotape so I could create a slide show with negatives right and so now I come to these images and I'm like I like nauseous right ivor I've ruined the whole like entire walking in like that's a big deal when you look at it luckily the flat ash froze the subjects so the subjects are like walking in and their tax sharp but all the room light is like you streaks of light going through the image crazy and I'm like what do I do what my how'm I can explain this and then I'm like I got it so I put him in the show I get him ready client comes in my I'm so excited to see you like you're going to love your images they are amazing and I can't wait for you to get to the reception because I tried a new technique called dragon the shutter and it's like I can feel you guys walking in the door like there's such an energy to these images you're gonna love him my heart is pounding out of my chest pounding like literally and the like ok cool so we're going to the sideshow through the images come up in like oh yeah that's really cool and it was kind of cool actually right this thing that was a major mistake did kind of look cool because I really did drag the shutter and the room is lit up the subjects of frozen because of the flash but there's these cool streaks of light and there's because they're moving there's there's almost that streak of light coming out from their arms and stuff so you literally feel like they're walking toward you and I was like two is that not the best they're like yeah two page spread all eight images in the album sold at thirty five bucks a piece sometimes a mistake is not a mistake sometimes you just gotta go how can I turn this into a positive I'm telling you I sold him all I hope to god these people are not watching you know she became a photographer after she had kids and she's watching me now she's that's my photographer those are my that's this book would not just be horrifying it would be so bad I'm gonna get an email like later this week saying that I just know it it's good stuff that's why I'm saying you got you gotta learn to be uncomfortable I could have done this like okay here's the other scenario I'm really sorry I made a huge mistake in your wedding and I have to refund all your money and then they feel bad she made a mistake she ruled she ruined our pictures walking in now instead of ruining raf pictures walking in I created something pretty cool truth is like yeah whatever okay due to the limited number of sessions available sessions are scheduled three to five weeks in advance what does that say I'm busy you better get ahold of me while you can love this celebrity discretion is always respected have I shot celebrities I can't say I never talk about it because they asked me not to I'll never show an image I respect my celebrity's privacy never ever talk about it and I have not many sports people but I'm not gonna talk about sessions are available nationwide please inquire for praising we'll travel anybody out there if you're really looking for a family portrait just kick you're guaranteed to love your portrait's if for some reason you are not happy with the images from your session the session fee will be refunded give them back their money if they're not happy because then they can just kind of move on or if they're really not happy you can offer to do it again but get this there's some people in the world that you're never going to make happy there will always be that p I a customer that you you wish will never come back because it's not you it's them they're just not capable of being happy and it's okay to let that go so if I know it's that type of person it just kind of gotta let it go because it's not you let go of the negative energy get rid of the driftwood since every client's unique portrait needs we offer all our pricing ala carte there are no restrictive packages thank you again for your just my portrait work I look forward to seeing you soon michelle kid in north valley just minutes north of the one oh one we value your time and understand how busy family life khun b portrait should be is convenient and stress free as possible which is why we offer various consultation appointment options your consultation could take place in michelle's residential studio your home or during a scheduled for meeting fold meetings or for who returning clients right location's location should never stand in the way of hiring the right photographer well here's the last objection oh they're too far away the best plastic surgeon in town is too far away I don't drive that far not gonna happen right our family's experience with michelle celentano it was an amazing a counter of artistic expression professionalism and beauty were so pleased with every phase of our family portrait experience michelle made the actual shoot a time a family bonding and not on ly captured a beautiful moment on film is really digital but I love that he said that but created a great memory in our hearts her skills is a photographer combined with her eye for artistic creativity sets her apart in her field she is a true artist and we are so proud to have her as our personal family photographer ted and peggy baird I couldn't have written it if I tried and that's so having testimonial and your stuff something really heartfelt that you know people can identify with that speaks to all the things that are important to me to sell to my client how do you feel about that that's hard stuff right