And if you’re like me, you’ve had friends, loved ones, family, or (the worst) your own child say “Can’t you just shut it down for the night? Can you just put your phone down? Are you still on the computer?”. And it sucks because you don’t really realize what you’re doing. You think you’re being productive. You think that if you don’t work every waking part of the day, that you will fall behind, that clients will get mad, that inquiries will go elsewhere, or that you’ll miss out on something major.

You check your work emails on your phone, in your bed. Really??

The fact that my husband leaves me little love notes on the computer, because he knows that’s where I’m sure to look? Cute, but really – a little sad.

There is no such thing as a photo emergency. This is what I have to remind myself every time I feel guilty for putting an away message on my email when I (very rarely) get away for a weekend or vaca. But more importantly, this is what I need to remember when my work day is over. Once the baker closes it’s doors, no more cupcakes for you!

Since most of us shoot weddings on weekends and portraits in the evenings, we need to make a different schedule for ourselves than the average 9-5 M-F. For me, this past season, I would mark off one day a week as my day off. This didn’t mean a day off from everything, to be fair. I simply wouldn’t shoot that day, or I wouldn’t edit, or I wouldn’t go to the office. It was a day off from one or all parts of work. I may still check email, but I wouldn’t respond until the next day. It took a LOT of restraint, trust me.

I recently posted my own, self proclaimed, office hours on my home office door. My studio office downtown is by appointment only, and I often work from home. No clients come to my home office, but this sign is a reminder to me, no – a guideline that I must follow. You know, unless I want to end up a big nerd with no family, no friends, no life, no hobbies, no fresh air, no sun on my skin, a bad back, carpal tunnel, thick glasses, and unwashed hair…

Since wedding season is almost over, and portrait season is drawing to a close all in about a month, I am busting my hump to have evenings and weekends free again. My daughter deserves my full attention. Forcing myself to take a day off in peak season allowed me to manage my workflow a lot better. I would work on one project at a time, finish it, and then start a new one. I pride myself in multi-tasking, but I now see that it wasn’t helping me; it was actually diluting the work that I did do since it wasn’t getting my full attention. A cool little app for Mac OSX that my intern Caroline told me about is SelfControl. Look into it if you have a really hard time closing Facebook, emails, etc while you’re editing.

Now that I’ve caught up on work by managing my time a lot better and writing this article without designing an album at the same time, I’m going to turn over the sign to CLOSED and go enjoy this beautiful Indian Summer day with a bike ride to the beach. The album will wait and no one will die because of it.

Enjoy!
~Zofia

First place goes to Audra Medunitza-Welton. Her image of a person crossing an intersection, through a rainy window was made perfect by the 2 red lights.

Our the second place winner is Karen Soltero’s image of a cyclist speeding down the street. Nearly gave us vertigo!

Third place is Benjamin Corey’s colorful image of a night scene in front of the Colosseum, bonus points for action and light flare.

A great big thank-you to our participants, winner and most of all our generous sponsor, Ultra Color Lab for hooking us up with a fantastic Grand Prize of a 20×30 photographic print, and a 16×20 print for 2nd and 3rd place.

Keep your eyes peeled for our next assignment series coming soon!

Our newest assignment for you is “Street Style!”!

Your assignment is to show us your best images interpreting Street Style, whatever that means to you! This might be a photojournalistic exercise or an artistic construction. We leave it up to you to define the phrase and how you will interpret it.

You are more than welcome to comb through your files for a photo that illustrates the term, but we would absolutely love it if you shot something for the assignment, special!!

We have our amazing sponsor Ultra Color Lab back along hooking us up with a fantastic Grand Prize of a 20×30 photographic print, and a 16×20 print for 2nd and 3rd place.

Our assignment series is open to everyone. We’re hoping you’ll wanna play along! The most creative entry wins!

We will post all of the entries on our Facebook page, and post a few of our favorites on our blog, complete with a link back to your blog or website.

How to enter :

Images should be sized to 590 pixels on the long side. (If you need help figuring that out, ask your favorite Shootstyler.) And by all means, slap that logo on there if you have one! You can enter up to one photo a day for the duration of the assignment. Email your entry to:

assignment@shootstyle.com

We have an album on our Facebook fan page. When the entries start coming in, we’ll post them there first. Check in with us at Facebook if you are looking for some inspiration.

www.facebook.com/ShootStyle

The deadline is October 11th! Let’s have fun doing this together!! Assignment series: “Street Style!”

“How tight are you with your wedding clients and vendors?” This is the BIG question that I’ve been asking myself when hearing about struggling businesses.

The not so surprising answer has been a resounding – “Not so tight. I don’t like to mix business with pleasure. Once the contract is up, I’m on to the next one. It takes too much time. They live too far away to matter for referrals. They were difficult, why would I keep contact? They don’t scratch MY back, why should I do them any favors? I can’t waste the money.” Etc…. etc…. Not one of those sound valid enough to excuse the loss of referrals that these businesses are losing out on.

My #1, hands down, absolute favorite way to get new clients is through people I have already worked for, whether they are current clients or vendors. They know what to expect! *Note how I don’t call them PAST clients, because that finalizes our relationship. They’re not “past” if they come back for portraits, or if I photograph the bride again as the bridesmaid in another wedding. Many of my wedding clients come return with their little ones on vacation, and book a session every summer. I WANT them to come back.

These are all of the guests at a wedding of a friend that I photographed 2 years ago -

In this group, I can see a couple other brides/grooms of mine and a handful of portrait clients. I didn’t know them all upon getting there, but I maintain friendships with many of them via Facebook and in person. So what if they live faraway or I may never see them again? You simply never know. This particular bride I knew from VT years ago, lived in CA at the time, but flew me to Costa Rica for her wedding. From this one group of friends, I have gained dozens of clients and NONE of them are local.

One particular couple has booked me 4 other weddings, sent me countless portrait clients and I’ve now been photographing their growing family for 4 years. They started out as simply another wedding client and are now my most frequently photographed family, and my close friends.

So, how can you build and maintain a good relationship with clients and vendors to assure that they will hug you back by sending business your way? Treat them as you’d like to be treated. Chances are, this is their first wedding. They don’t know that you’re not a miracle worker, so if they ask for something above and beyond, don’t grind your teeth and belittle them – educate them. Help them. Gift them. Get to know their family. Call mom by her name, help her order her album. Don’t assume she knows how to use a computer. Walk your clients through the process by establishing professional boundaries, (get paid, stick to the contract), but help them make the most of their time with you.

I live and photograph in an area with mostly destination weddings. I may not get clients whose friends or family ever come back here again, but they’ll talk me up to the local vendors which will keep that cycle of referrals spinning. Don’t work with many of the same vendors often? One bad experience and they’ll sure to bad mouth you to the next inquiring bride, but treat them well and you’ve got potential clients.

I’m not going to tell you to send your clients chocolate, or to treat them to dinner, or give them free sessions. I won’t tell you to send your vendors albums and buy them martinis. There is no formula, it’s just a hug. It’s giving and receiving. Do what you feel would work if the shoe was on the other foot. If it’s too daunting to do so with every client and vendor, pick and choose, but do so with the right motives.

If you’re not receiving referrals from clients and vendors, ask yourself if you’re doing anything other than your job, to make them remember you, recommend you and friend you…. in real life. And go read Jack Mitchell’s Hug Your Customers, just the first couple chapters alone will change your business.

To want, and to be ambitious, and to want to be successful, is not enough. That’s just desire. To know what you want, to understand why you’re doing it, to dedicate every breath in your body, to achieve… If you feel you have something to give, if you feel that your particular talent is worth developing, is worth caring for, then there’s nothing you can’t achieve. – Kevin Spacey

~Zofia

She photographed me in angles I’ve never seen of myself, that are so similar to old images of my grandmother. She made special care to capture every detail that we spent so much time and energy on, collecting in antique shops and having custom made. She forever froze moments of my daughter and I that I know she will absolutely cherish and pass down to her own children. She photographed my handsome husband in the way I want to remember him when we’re old and gray.

The most important thing that she did was capture the day the way that I truly remember it, and beautifully. She took her time with us during the portraits and made us feel at ease. We would have held our breath and stood on our heads, had she asked.

What was reinforced to me as photographer, by being the bride on my wedding day, was that we really need to remember to photograph what’s important. Don’t skimp the details just because you’re a photojournalist, they are part of the story. Your couples have worked very hard to get everything in place, sometimes shopping and DIYing for a year or more. (Ask them what’s important – in my pre-wedding questionnaire, I ask my couples to tell me if any jewelry, etc has been passed down and anything out of the ordinary that I may not know about.) And if you’re an editorial photographer, don’t go nuts on details and portraits alone, you’re not shooting for the inspiration blogs, you’re shooting for the couple, for their family and for historical posterity.

Your goals as a photographer should to make the couple cry when they see the photos, out of happiness. To allow them to relive their day over and over. To see themselves just as beautiful as they were.

Here we are, the ShootStylers and our friend Kristin, taken by New York photographer Angelica Glass at my wedding. I love them. To see many many more amazing photos from my wedding day, go to Angelica’s blog here : Zofia and Mark’s Wedding

Enjoy!
Zofia

While wedding days are filled with exciting candid moments that are fun to capture, sometimes the portraits can be more of a challenge.

In this workshop, ShootStyle members will take you through their favorite methods for creating great portraits. With a strong emphasis on composition and posing, workshop attendees will benefit from clear classroom instruction with specific examples and techniques that are proven in the real world. After the classroom portion, participants will have the chance to work with ShootStyle instructors and models (both “brides” and couples), in an interesting urban environment putting the new techniques into practice.

Participants will then have an opportunity to review the day with the instructors and other attendees. Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your portraits as the wedding and portrait season shifts into high gear!

Portraits with Panache, a workshop on composition and posing, will be held June 14, 2011 from 12-7pm at the Manchester Radisson (700 Elm Street, Manchester NH).

Click here to sign up!

Sponsored by Ultra Color Lab

A few years ago, I dropped off the big forums and stopped reading other wedding photographer’s blogs. Shocking, I know! I decided to draw my inspiration from the sources I’ve loved all along; fashion magazines like W, Interview and Vanity Fair – movies by Pedro Almodovar, Michel Gondry and Sofia Coppola – music and videos by Radiohead, Modest Mouse and Jenny Lewis – books by Augusten Burroughs, Chuck Palahniuk and David Sedaris – and traveling absolutely anywhere.

While asking around, I found that most of my fellow photographers also get inspired by these things, and here are some interesting answers : personalities, self growth and learning, architecture and love.

I’m naturally influenced by my peers here on ShootStyle, and fellow wedding photographers Fer Juaristi and Angelica Glass. Other photographic influences include Avedon, Sally Mann and Newton. Their photography encompasses all these things that inspire me. The moody, colorful, quirky and loud. I may not easily carry over these loves into my work directly, but it’s what my eyes and my heart are drawn to. It’s where my personal work would go, if I had the time. (one day…..)

Emotion, light, composition – my 3 must haves for a perfect photograph. Probably the biggest inspirations that I do use and carry over into my work everyday are nature and relationships.

Right now, with spring teasing to show it’s face any day, I’m inspired by color.

I prefer to shoot environmental portraits, that show the subject among the landscape or surroundings. Out here on Nantucket it’s usually the beach, but with spring comes flowers and color. And that creates an emotion – happiness and peace. My portrait work is mainly a combination of drawing inspiration from the light, the relationships and composition.

With the start of a new wedding season I’m continuing to use these elements in my couple’s portraits.

What makes YOU click?
~Zofia, Nantucket Wedding Photographer

Weathering impending storms and stomach bugs, we ShootStylers held our second reception lighting workshop in Worcester last week. The sold out affair was attended by a great group of photographers from New England and NY. We want to send out a HUGE thank you to all of our participants. It’s especially lovely to see repeat attendees from previous workshops of ours! We love the love!!

Each of us went over how we do our thang at wedding receptions, when the lights are low and the pressure to produce killer images is high. An informal lecture followed hours of hands on shooting and gear explanation.

Whether it’s Andree’s light on a stick twinkie technique, Jamie and Earl’s studio light bonanza, Stacey’s one light mood lighting, or Michelle’s  and my bounce-a-thon, we all manage to skin our cats our own ways and get the job done.

Joe Ciarca from Gamut Prints, the workshop’s sponsor, was on hand to display examples of his ridiculously awesome fine art prints. A big thank you to Mark Crosby for taking these behind the scenes photos!

We hope everyone had fun and we’re looking forward to seeing you all soon during our Facebook Assignment Series, social events or workshops throughout the year!

~ Zofia, Nantucket wedding photographer

As anyone with a Facebook account can attest to, more and more people are creating interesting images out of everyday mundane happenings with their phones, using such apps as ShakeIt, Hipstamatic, Camera+, etc. Personally, I think it’s great. I love having a pocket sized camera on me everywhere I go. From time to time, and certainly not often enough, I leave my DSLRs at home and travel with only film cameras and my iPhone.

Last year, I started taking photos with my iPhone, in the mornings and evenings, of my daughter getting up from or going to bed. Doing so was much less invasive for her (not that she’s not used to the camera in her face alllllll the time), and it allowed me to get her really natural. I called these photos Morning and Evening Snuggles and posted them on Facebook. I was overwhelmed by how many people said they looked forward to seeing them everyday. A simple series of phone photos, who knew?

On our recent travels, my boyfriend and I brought nothing but film cameras and phones – no digital, otherwise. The black and whites produced on the iPhone with certain apps, are really lovely, I think.

We brought a Diana with a Polaroid back, Holga, Fuji Insta wide camera, Hasselblad, Mamiya 6×7 II, and a Polaroid SX70. For those old timers who started off shooting film, long before the days of megapixels and RAW files, digital may now be the only way you fly. I’ve missed the smell of fixer, the anticipation of getting film developed, finding a random roll and wondering what’s on it. It had been so long since we’d played with film, it was really nice to have that nostalgic feeling back.

I did it for 9 years, but my days of shooting film at weddings is LONG gone, and though busting out my phone during the ceremony just looks a tad bit tacky, I would love to shoot one this way. Somewhere I have a few rolls of black and white 120mm ready to be hand developed, with random photos of wedding couples from the last few years. I kind of like knowing they’re sitting there waiting to be processed.

Next time you leave the house, why not keep the big guns at home and step out of your element? You might be surprised what you come up with.

~Zofia

I photograph about 40 portrait sessions and 25 weddings a year. My season is short, from May-Oct, generally. So, I have to cram in a lot of man hours in that small amount of time, meanwhile having a daughter at home from school in the summer.

What gets me through the crazy editing season:

Two offices- Best thing I ever did was to rent a space outside of my home as a second office. It’s mainly just where I meet clients, but it’s also a quiet place with little distraction that I can go knock out a bunch of work. My home office is where I can be a bit messy and disorganized, but my downtown office space needs to stay neat and tidy. It forces me to stay on task. Worth every BIG penny.

Two computers- I have a desktop computer and a laptop. Mac or PC, whatever your preference, it’s all about getting those 2 to talk to each other. When one computer is mad at me for having every program running, and wants to stall and powder it’s nose, I don’t get mad, I just use the other one. My laptop is my workhorse though. I find the portability to be indispensable, the 8 hour battery life is a plus. My favorite use for having two computers is working on the laptop, yet having the desktop entertain me with Hulu or Pandora for some much needed distraction. I thrive on multi-tasking, so 2 computers is a must. Moving that laptop over to a higher counter and working while standing is also a good way to stretch my back and give it a break from being hunched over a computer desk all day. My laptop and external hard drives easily pack into a purse-like computer bag and travel in between my offices.

A consistent backup system- I use Lacie Rugged Hard Drives. These little guys are such a life saver. Every work in progress, that means the folder of RAW files before they’re even culled, gets put onto 2 external hard drives before I even touch it. After culling and editing, that final folder then is copied onto 3 drives and 2 dvds. One dvd goes to my downtown office, one stays at home. At the end of the season, a set of backed up hard drives will also go to the downtown office. Once I wrap my head around a good online data storage company, I’ll use that too. Seems excessive? Nope. Lose one file and you’ll start backing things up in droves. Fact.

Multiple card readers- Why isn’t there a big multi card reader already invented?? I have 7 USB CF card readers all connected to one hub that then connects to my computer. I can put all 7 cards in at once and import them all while I’m pouring myself a glass of wine and cleaning out my camera bag for the next gig (no pun). I used to use Firewire 800 readers, but a side by side showed them to be not a smidge faster yet 5 times as expensive. Using 8GB cards has really sped up my downloading process as well. Right now, I feel like they’re just the right size to not freak me out entirely if anything goes corrupt, but they’re still plenty big.

Outsourcing album design- I used to design my own albums. My thinking was that 1) I was saving money, 2) I had complete control, 3) I was saving money. Boy, I was wrong. First of all, time is money. Once you really really get that, you’re no longer afraid to outsource. Does it cost me a lot of money? No, because if I were to do it myself, and charge myself by the hour (which is how you have to think of time), then I’m doing more than great by outsourcing. I also save myself hair pulling, which is a bonus.My designer, Willow Album Designs, is exactly my style. I may get a bride wanting a swap or two here or there, but they never complain about the overall look because it’s what they see in all my samples. I keep my albums consistent and using the same designer for all my albums is a HUGE time and money saver. Thanks Britney!

My intern- Though he’s left for the season for snowier pastures, Brian was a big help with culling, editing my RAW files and prepping my online galleries. I highly recommend getting help. It’s not rocket science, but it does help tremendously to have someone with a photography/color theory background and a good eye. I would hand him over a Lacie rugged hard drive with a wedding or portrait session and have it back within a few days. Genius. He was such a help that I’m putting him to work again next year as well as a second or even third intern. Thanks Brian!

Lightroom and Photo Mechanic- They’ve been talked about here before, but seriously, if you’re still using Bridge to cull and edit, then I don’t even know you, mister. Photo Mechanic saves me years of culling time and Lightroom saves me years of RAW editing. I use Photo Mechanic to cull RAW images and rename files. Lightroom’s RAW processor is lightning fast. I also use it to resize images for my online galleries, to create contact sheet pages for my Proof Books, and to make online slideshows. If I need a set of 4x6s, I use Lightroom to resize them since it’s so much faster than Photoshop and doesn’t take over my computer screen while it’s rendering. All I ever do in Photoshop is final edits for skin softening, stray hair removal, etc, and to prep my images for my blog.

Blogging- Speaking of, here’s what I love about blogging. My clients, as everyone’s, are anxious to see at least ONE photo from their wedding or portrait asap. By blogging the week of the event, I satisfy that need and can then take my time editing through the rest of their proofs. I feel like if I didn’t blog the event right away, I’d be rushed to get the proofs out to the them, and wouldn’t do a great job. It’s a psychological thing, I’m sure, but it helps!

Paper and electronic copies- This might be a no-brainer, but having repetitive client worksheets and contracts in print and on my computer is something that is so super important to me. If, by some freak chance, I lost all my data, I’d still have it in print and vice versa. I have folder with each of my clients’ names in both places. Each containing a copy of their contract, notes about their event and their pre-wedding questionnaire. I can pull up the notes on my iPhone when I’m at the wedding and see that I need a photo of dad with the ring bearer in the dark reception hall. Awesome, except guests might think I’m Twittering, or something… but what can ya do? I have payment schedules on each client’s folder and on iCal. Having these in multiple places assures me that nothing gets lost, forgotten and everything can get cross checked. I also still use a paper calendar book as well as iCal which is also synched to my phone.

Drop shipping- I think about this every time I drive by the post office. I used to receive all my print orders directly, check them out (they were always great because I only use pro labs), repackage them all pretty, and mail them out to the client. Not only was this a waste of time, it was also a big waste of trees. In an effort to be more environmentally conscience, I drop ship all my small print orders now. It may be more expensive than sending it off myself, but the plastic, paper, oil and gas saved on not repackaging and driving to the post office is worth it, in my opinion.

Things- I can’t survive without lists. I write them on everything I see. I put them on my phone. I email them to myself. I put them on Post its and on Stickies. My favorite list program is Things. Instead of a messy handwritten note where items get crossed off and it gets thrown away, Things lives on my computer and I can log completed items. I can keep track of what there is to do and what I’ve done. There’s even an iPhone app that will sync to the desktop version. Brilliant.

Let’s face it, when we’re not actively being photographers, we’re office managers, editors, designers, secretaries, troubleshooters, etc. I’m sure I sit at the computer 10 times longer through a year, than I spend with a camera in hand. We’re busy and we need timesavers.

Happy editing season everyone!

~Zofia