Since moving to Concord, I have felt like a failure in my photography. I'm not a good business person. I'm not pushy and I don't like to bug people. I don't know how to sell myself. So needless to say, I didn't have many sessions at all.
Thanks to my friend Jane who let me take pictures of her family in March, which gave me a boost. Then a big drought for 6 months where I desperately tried new tactics like a "Model Session" where I had kids come and be my model and as a thank you, give an image of their parents' choice. I thought that was an awesome idea, but only got 2 families.
Then I tried a Student Photo Session because the schools charge way too much for school pictures. I only charged 25.00 and gave them one image and copyright. I contacted friends who did preschools and told them with only one booked session, I would give their teacher a free class picture. No one was interested.
Thank goodness for my other friend, Stefanie, who booked a session with me and I ended up taking her family's picture too!
I also tried to get some Fall Sessions because that is when everyone is doing their Christmas cards right? A friend awhile ago suggested I put my Photography on Facebook. No way did I want to set myself up for some more failure and rejection. I finally gathered enough courage and I made a flyer and sent them to everyone I knew on Facebook who lived in Concord or Alameda. That was a big deal for me. Then. . .I waited. Then. . .Nothing.
Defeated, I finally accepted the fact that maybe this wasn't for me and decided that I just needed to be happy with taking pictures of my family. Turns out, I really missed taking pictures of others. I love making people happy with the photographs that I take. I also LOVE processing them and bringing them to life. So then, I decided that I would do some more of my "Model Sessions" and do it, because I love it.
So finally after I thought I had things figured out, that's when things started to pick up. Doesn't it always happen that way, when you least expect it?
Another friend (Hallelujah for friends!) asked me to do some Senior pictures for her daughter. My first ever and I have to say, I absolutely loved it!
My friend posted her pictures on Facebook and I sent a Senior Session flier out to people she suggested might be interested. Since then, I have had several people ask me about getting pictures. I have two more Senior Sessions to do and 3 of my friends from Alameda have asked me to take their pictures.
Four Sessions scheduled this week!
One thing I learned is to not set such high expectations. If I look back at my attempts, each time, I got at least one person to respond. One person should be counted as a success, right?
Have I figured things out yet? Nope. But I am getting there.
7 comments:
Good Job Val! Way to stick with it! I seriously love your pics!
I think Senior Pics are the best kind of business. Those are the people who have the most friends.
I love your pictures. I think Dave and I and Jonah should fly down and have you do our family pictures. I am sad that we haven't had a family photo since Jonah was 2.
Valerie is also a whiz with kids. Our Anderson was not happy to have his picture taken (he cried the whole time). I was skeptical that we'd have even one picture when he wasn't screaming, but we had so many that it was hard to choose which one to print! You're going to do our family picture again this year! I love how you gave us the "rights" to the pictures so that I've been able to use them several times in books to family, on cards, etc.
Those pics look amazing! I'm glad to hear that things are working out!!
Nice work Valerie! I sure miss your talent and enthusiam! We really need to get a family photo done!
You are super talented and I think that you are someone who could even get Michael to relax and take a natural picture. You might even get my daughter to stand less than 10 feet away from him, too. It doesn't sound like you got any takers from my FB blurb about your photos of me. It's because most of those people haven't seen me in a long time and have no idea what a wizard you are. I'm sure they assume I actually look that way. : )
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