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Bambi is on Fire!

Let's talk about first of all about what our challenges were yesterday and what you feel that was like your ah ha moment if you had any my hope you did and if not then you know kind of where you see you know, was there any application that you felt that you could see where you might want to go in the future so let's talk a little about that? I can't okay, so my off a moment is just I need to incorporate all these things take out the essence and the only thing my posing style because I'm I'm not gonna be able to pose in a way how you pose so I really just need to take the most important things and enhance my posing style, so because I'm a totally different type of personality can you be a bit more specific about that cause? You and I talked about that yesterday and I want you to be a bit more specific said that the audience understands where you're coming from. Yeah, the night when you call me on set and I try to be you like try to copy that high energy really engaging, posing, style th...

at's obviously not working for me because I more like a calm guy who just lay back and has this big fat accent which can be maybe my advantage or disadvantage andi I just really need toe change to my way and me, me and so trying toe copy a different type of technique I mean a different type of opposing that's exactly right? You know, and I think that's really an important thing for all of us to think about and that's why I try to teach you all concepts not laws or rules but concepts, because a concept is something that you can it's like the foundation of something and you can build your own home on top of that foundation. And so there are a few the elements that I would want you to copy me on or copy the concepts on are the art visual communication I think that's enough important concept for anyone to adopt because it means that you could move much more swiftly. You could be you can get your subject to understand what you want them to do right away creating an s curve, shifting that way to the back leg but finding a way for a non photographer to understand that in my opinion is very important. So those are the kinds of concepts that I would want you to to adopt. However, you know, being the crazy, you know, out of control woman who's like running around with a lamp shade on her head, you know, we're not all like that some people are very quiet about their approach, and I think that you can still adopt concepts like learning beautiful lighting and imposing in relation to that light source without having to become some, you know, strange, you know, person from outer space, you know, be something that you're not, so I'm glad to hear that that's good, anyone else? Um, I'm lynda hey, yeah, go ahead, linda. You have your mike for me, along with all everything that everyone else has learned along, like the posing and the lighting and all that stuff, hearing your story where you came from and how I'm sure none of us can imagine you being scared when he started out not being successful but knowing that we all come from the same place and when you almost ran away from that door, um, and just how important it is to take that step, even if you are scared and putting yourself out there because you're never going to know and so that I feel like I have a lot recurrent to do that. Yeah, you know, I tell you what I mean, you just have no idea what goes on in another person's life and what and the insecurities that they have. I mean, on the middle child of three girls and when your middle name is jelly fingers your whole childhood you're the one kid who is always in trouble. I have a two point eight g p a and high school might. My older sister was a four point. Oh, and my younger sister was this? Well, I was always the one that they were calling it school. Come get your daughter she's doing something wrong. I mean, I was always in trouble and doing something wrong. And so when you grow up in that kind of an environment on do you come from an extremely poor family where you you don't have the advantage is that, you know, that sometimes money brings in education and so forth, those kinds of things aren't there, you know, you have it can be if you allow it to be, it can be such a negative for you that it can can ruin your entire life. My father was an alcoholic that left my mother when I was a young kid. You know, when you have those kinds of really bad experiences, you know, when you have that really, you know, scary dysfunctional lifestyle, those things can define you or you can use anything can be an excuse for failure. That's just really with the bottom line is that you can allow anything to become an excuse for failure, or you can use anything that happens to you as a tool for growth and that's the way I feel about is that everything that happens in my life any bad experience, you know, I just think to myself, ok, you know, ok, so I did wrong or I screwed up, okay, what did I learn from it? Ok, what am I going to do now? From this moment forward, you know, to either redeem myself or or to you to change or alter my life in such a way that I make a positive out of a negative and I'm thank goodness I'm a least a very positive person inside I've always been very positive, and so I really believe that fear is them one of the most important qualities that holds us back or that can hold us back and that we have an opportunity to use fear it's such a good thing for us, I mean it's so good you know, I think it's such a powerful thing for us to use because it can really spur you on to great success. We talked a little bit yesterday about, you know, about the struggles that some people have in starting their businesses, and I know many of you have day jobs right now and for those of you that are cut joining us from the internet, if you have a day job don't feel that that's a curse you know, sometimes photographers that air working in this business at full time, they tend to not like the part timers because they say, well, they're the ones that are stealing our business. Well, actually, they're not the ones stealing your business. You're the one who is not working at your business effectively, in my personal opinion. And for those of you that are part time, all of us start that way on its way, I started I was part time I said the first year I did it, I did it for free because I really, really, really wanted to learn the craft of photography. But the thing that's great about those of you that have a day job, it means you never have to start at the bottom of the food chain. You can. You can create your beautiful promotional literature for your company. You can work on your craft and take classes from experts that know how to do what they do in a very highly effective way. And sometimes those classes are not inexpensive. Which leads me to the fact that you guys realize that this three day course is ninety nine dollars until like, what is it till six o'clock tonight? I mean that's ridiculous, I charge over two thousand dollars for a three day class. On dh so it's it's really really an incredible bargain so it's a really good thing if you could do that so the moral of the story though is that you know we all have to start somewhere and for those of you that are that have your day jobs be patient keep your life simple if mother was going to give you some advice and I'm the oldest female photographer in the country I'm sure so mother is gonna give you some advice keep your life simple do not get in debt to become a photographer don't get a lot of debt in general I'm debt free and I love it it takes all of the pressure off my shoulders my only dead is my home and that's it that's it and so I love that feeling of freedom and then you can concentrate on your take baby steps small steps every day for growth for you know, creating beautiful pump promotional literature and really make it nice make it very, very beautiful work on one concept that you learned that you feel is a powerful or a really important thing to learn and then take that next step maybe it means that you call if you will sit at the mall and you find some cute people that you want to go take out and take pictures of and then you you approach them about, you know, maybe possibly photographing them do it in a very respectful way, you know, don't be one of the stars, this is at the mall and get the goo good, I want to take pictures of, you know, it's kind of creepy, but do it in a very, very respectful way. Um, and then, you know, work on the concepts that, you know, are going to make you a better professional photographer because the difference between a pro and an amateur is light years, and I want you not to have to start the bottom of the food chain when you do decide to do this as a profession, I want you to be able to look people in the eye, and even though you may be a little bit fearful, always about gosh, I'm charging how much that's a lot of money remember that, you know, you're a surgeon when you go to have to have an operation done, and they charged thousands of dollars that's almost validating what they're doing. Can you imagine failing charge to forty nine dollars to do that, that heart transplant you so would not be going to that one? He wouldn't, because you know that there's got to be a problem, there is a problem in houston, right, you know, that there's a there's, an issue so, you know, I like us to think about ourselves as professionals, just as an attorney or a doctor or any other person that handles, you know, finances or anything else, and so, you know, cover your bases. I know last night we talked, many of us went and had drinks together, and one of the things we were talking about in having drinks was the fact that we talked about the importance of getting are self insured, and you're dotting I's and crossing our t's from a business standpoint. Um, and for those of you that are on the internet today, I want you to think about whether you have liability insurance or not, and if you don't, I'm telling you right now, you need to get off that tomorrow morning, you need to get liability insurance. It is the most important check I write every month, and it is it is absolutely critical that we cover ourselves because you cannot afford to have your family suffer because you do some stupid and all you need to do is be out with a client saying, hey, can you back up just a little more, back up just a little bit more and have them trip and fall in a hole and break their leg, and you're the one who's stuck holding the bag and if you're working for another photographer assay freelancer if you do not have liability insurance their liability insurance will not cover you so be prepared for those things but let's go on to some other topics terry you had a comment or women and in a second to me so yeah no it actually it follows very much from what she was saying the my sort of ah ha moment this weekend has really been about having patients in two ways both with my career which I work full time outside of my work as a photographer and um and it has thus far supported my business and allowed me to grow my business but I do get that itch and right you know, this weekend being so inspired it's hard to not go back and quit my job and um but you know, I have a family to take care of and um and so you know, to hear just be patient you know you can make this happen is wonderful on dh it also goes hand in hand really with your methodology that you've been teaching us with lighting imposing you know, when you're composing a shot, it could be the pressure's on you know, the client is standing there waiting for youto take the picture and there's a lot of pressure to just click, click, click and and so you know a lot of what you've been teaching us about being efficient, not taking your time and making it painful for somebody but really waiting until the shot is set up properly and then not having to take a thousand pictures to get a couple of good ones um has been really helpful and given me better confidence in in taking my time and, you know, making sure that, um I've got it the way I want it yep, and especially for those of you that are I know that a number of you are you have children and you know there's a quite a juggling act that goes on when you have a full time job and when you have children and you're trying to pursue your your wonderful passion for photography, it is quite a challenge to be able to do all of those things and I know first stand how that is. Of course I only had one child and that's all much easier situation, but when my son got into junior high school, my husband I made the decision to home school, so that was an added responsibility. I would not change it one minute it was the best thing we ever did, and we have a brilliant, brilliant child that is, you know, an entrepreneur this very, very successful, not only financially, but in the more important ways of being ah husband and being a man and so I'm very grateful for that. But those things don't, you know there are certain things that you have to be willing to sacrifice and that's not one of them. So I'm not telling you to sacrifice your family or any those air things, because at the end of the day this is our profession, like I mentioned yesterday is not my religion. So you want to think about that. And also I want you to remember the fact that that while I am teaching you, I want you to learn good techniques in lighting and posing. Recognize that there is that this is not a right or wrong scenario, that it is. This is the best scenario for right now, and at the end of the day beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder, and I know I love that that's, my favorite quote, okay, just like this is my favorite book, but I love that one because on that, by the way, is not one I thought up that came from dean columns don't dean collins but is true. Because sometimes what we think is perfection is not perfection to the client I can't tell you how many times I've taken a picture that I thought was like the unbelievable photograph of the universe and it was perfectly composed and perfectly executed and the client look they will tell you that's nice okay and they moved about and then they pick something that I almost took and threw away, you know, because they go oh, but that's my sons look, you know, so so at any rate, those kind of things are you know, you have to think about that that beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder and that at the end of the day this is our profession that we want to make it one that works and that is that is financially profitable for us and I really want you to be financially profitable a couple of things regarding that but I think are important for you to have you, in my opinion it's important to hire an operations officer, somebody to handle the finances unless you're married to somebody who is who can handle that for you. My husband owns his own businesses and very, very busy and very successful so does not have time to handle my finances, so I have one person that is responsible for my finances I don't even know how much money is in my checking account I don't care I just know that if it drops below a certain amount that I get a phone call from her thank you just I don't get very often and she says bambi, you need to get busy and that's really a good place to be I don't have to worry about paying my bills they're paid on time and she handles all of the numbers because I don't like talking about numbers I don't like that aspect I'm an artist and many of us that our photographers, our artist mentality and we don't want to talk about that the m word we don't like that if you're not good at selling yourself man, hire somebody to do it for you and pay him well and if you do hire people to work for you, pay them well to do their job and they won't leave you do you know my the gentleman who hired me? I asked him I worked for him for five years and I asked for a twenty five dollars raise not a twenty five dollars an hour raise a twenty five dollars raise per wedding. Now what would you do if you had an employee that was really good that had the only work that hung in the studio is their work and they wanted just a twenty five dollars? Well, I'd raise my my price is twenty five dollars to cover for it right because at the end of the day you lose them you lose you know you lose and they had a track record right so he wouldn't do it in his mid his thought process was well I don't think anybody should make that much money to photograph an event with silly just absolute crazy and so I left and yet today and I have to tell you I have had never had any desire to own my own business and for all of you out there in tv land let me tell you I can be bought I so good he bought I can I'll come to work for you in a heartbeat he pay me enough money I would so do that because because you know having with that stupid workman's compensation can I just tell you that is seriously annoying? I ate it and you know all of that you know, the taxes and that sales tax having to collect sales tax and and all of those things that cause our business is to be a real drag are no fun so if you just pay somebody really well to do their job then they're going to be happy to be with you. My senior photographer michael van auken is absolutely brilliant with little kids and has been one of the best investments I've ever ever made and I pay him a very, very nice premium to do my sales for portrait's for me so they just said that I don't have to do that. I mean, I know how to sell, and I'm actually really good at selling, but I don't want to do that. I want to be the friendly person that they love. That is their family photographer. I don't want to be the bad guy who is like here, it's going to cost you x amount of dollars to deliver there. So I prefer to delegate and I really believe that's part of humility over ability is learning to delegate. If you learn to delegate, then you know you're not trying to be everything to everybody. And I think that that's really important in knowing what your strengths are. I am not organized at all. If you came in my studio right now and you walked into my office, you'd see an explosion on my desk. It is absolutely chaos, but I know where every stick of paper is on my desk. I know where everything is. It's, just messy, that's just the way I just I like that little that my little nest is like all of it. So, um but hire people to do all of the other things that you don't want to do and then you're going to be you'll be so much happier and you might say, well, gosh, me, but I don't have to money to do all of those things and it's crazy it's been my experience that we have money for what we want, you know, it's not true if we want something, we find a way and isn't it silly how photographers will spend thousands of dollars on cameras and then when they go to their first bridal fair or they have somebody comes to them, they say, well, could I have? Could I get some information about your company? They give him a little stupid piece of copy paper or nope of paper like this here's a piece of paper, okay? And they give that to them as there is to represent their company as though that's going to make that person in all woozy. You know who I'm going to really hire you now? You give me this will pink piece of copy paper with, you know, with, you know, you know, we just your prices on it, so I say it's important to spend our money wisely, spend it on things that represent you that scream in your behalf, we want things that absolutely scream for us hello I gotta have that person and that's exactly why those people like gucci and armani and louis vuitton and delta gabbana are all in business if you look at the way that they market their businesses such it is absolutely brilliant and it's absolutely perceived value it is not a riel it's not tangible as though you know eight hundred dollars for a canvas of leather purse I mean come on and it's got lvs on it I'm sorry but if your name is lil birnbaum maybe that may be so but I mean louis vuitton come on what's the deal with that and yet many of us you know iona louis vuitton I have haven't I love handbags and I'm addicted to I love designer labels I love and I think they're really very nice and I love fashion anyway so I don't mind paying for quality and for things that are a bit nicer and I wouldn't buy one of the fake the fake ones I wouldn't do that I would do it for many reasons but the moral of the story is is that if we start looking at those kinds of companies and the way that they mark it um then we're going to be in a much better position to we're going to see what they spend millions and millions of dollars trying to do is attract the same person that I want to attract it's a really cool thing