Saw a photography business announce it’s going out of business this week and it made me sad to see. There are so many reasons that photographers choose to close up shop but one I see too often is that they get burnt out working long hours, late nights, weekends and holidays and don’t get compensated for their work. I’ve had clients say just about everything about my rates from ‘Oh, that’s not bad.’ and even ‘You should really charge more.’ to ‘Wow that seems expensive!’

I know pricing is something that is difficult for many photographers, including myself. I’m always analyzing my prices, collections, products and sessions to see if I think they are fair, valuable and profitable. While we don’t want to ‘price gouge’ our clients (fair) and we want to ensure that the product they receive is quality, unique and personal (valuable) but at the end of the day we have to also build a business and ensure we can not only cover costs, but re-invest in the business to grow and to finally to earn a living ourselves. One of the first things, us photographers overlook is actually paying ourselves, but in order for our hobbies to be sustainable businesses that’s a must!

It really made me sad this week to see such a talented photographer decide to close her studio. Now, I do not know the reasons behind the close and I only hope it’s not due to the undervaluing of their beautiful work. Ryan will be the first to tell you that I am 85% (or he might even say 95%) artist/photographer/designer and 15% business woman at heart, but a photography business must be the opposite to thrive so we often have to wear our businessperson hats far more often than we would like.

Photographers, this rant of mine today is here so that you never have to close up shop before you want to. I’m not saying you need to charge more, but you need to charge enough. And KNOW what enough is through product, profit/loss analysis. Programs like Successware can take this analysis to the next level! And know your costs… Your 8×10 isn’t just a piece of paper… It’s everything that went into it including: the prep time for the session, session time, time processing that image before the client sees it, production time (retouching, mounting, unpacking and repacking) all the way through delivery time. This is not to mention the equipment needed to create that product: camera, lighting, stands, cards, lenses, computer, software, printer, paper, desk….. You may have hours of work and thousands of dollars of equipment that you are never calculating into your cost of a single 8×10. When it comes to this, don’t just guess… know!

And clients, this post is mostly for my fellow photographers as I fear for us/them and mourn the loss of a talented photographer from our industry. But I hope you all know that more than anything I want you all to have your beautiful portraits and your dream order every time you walk through my door. And it has nothing to do with profit, I want you to have these images because I created them for you. Unfortunately, for me to continue to create them for you and your family for generations to come I have to charge you enough for them. My goal is never to ‘rip you off’ or gouge you, but to charge what I have to in order to make this my living not just my dream. And don’t worry, if I win the lottery (which would require buying a ticket), I will continue to provide portraits and follow my dream and passion and I’ll give you a TON for FREE, because if I could, I would!

So not long ago, I shared with you fellow photographers a marketing site I had stumbled upon called The Marketing Spot. Today, I wanted to take a second to recommend you all take a look at the marketing and photography business works of the talented Ms. Sarah Petty.

I’ve been a fan of Sarah’s for a few years now and love her straight forward business approach to photography because at the end of the day we all must be business-owners first, photographers/artists second, even though that often is exactly opposite of what we would all like. The fact is, if you don’t run your business like a BUSINESS, soon you won’t have one to run at all.

I was poking around her Joy of Marketing blog today and noticed her list of her favorite books. Instantly, of course, the thought of adding this to my site popped into my head and my first thought was ‘oh no, then my closet obsession with supernatural/witch/vampire/fantasy books will be reviled (AHHHH).

Those of you who know me know that you can rarely find a time when I am not currently reading at least one novel, and likely a couple magazines and of course blogs and such. I’m an avid reader and my list of favorite books would be a novel in itself! And yes, my guilty pleasure books would include quite a few vampire/witch/supernatural tales, there I admit it.

But, back to the point Sarah’s list is of her favorite marketing/business books! Much more helpful to running your business than my list of Twilight, Harry Potter and such. So, I plan to work my way through her list of 18 books and share some of my favorite bits here. I would also invite you all to do the same! Let’s do this together and learn a lot along the way! Pick a number, read that book and comment/post here to share your thoughts! No timeline, no deadline just some good old fashioned book group enlightenment and sharing.

You can find Sarah Petty’s Book list here!

I also highly suggest picking up a subscription to Entrepreneur Magazine. And all you photographers MUST have a subscription to Pro Photog Mag. 

PS, for the record, my favorite novel of all time is Pride and Prejudice (so I do love the classics).

While I specialize in the boutique portrait experience for seniors and brides, I am always willing to answer the needs of other local businesses and often this need involves corporate headshots. This could be an environmental portrait of your employees doing what they do which is a great way to show your clientele both who and what they can expect when they choose your business. Many times, however, something as simple as a business head shot can do a lot to give a face to your business and create an instant personal connection between your company and its clients. It’s also so important to realize the impact that this first look at your business can have on customers, you definitely want to opt for professional portraits so you are putting your best foot forward right from the beginning!

A few weeks ago, a company that I am proud to be a customer of contacted me for just that reason. Elite Care was in the middle of designing a new brochure for the company and had attempted to take their headshots themselves. Now we all know we’ve done it… everyone has digital cameras and a blank wall and any corporate name badge can show you these tools in action. And for your name badge, that’s a perfect solution for your portrait needs, but for the face of your company? Elite Care quickly realized it wasn’t enough and I was honored they thought of me and with such a good-looking group to work with, my job was easy!

We took these portraits (with the exception of one) at Elite Care. I know it is often much easier for companies to have me come to them for portraits and we absolutely offer that service!

Next time you’re looking to add a little punch to your business card, personalize your website, office or publications think SJP!

This is also where Ryan and I do our Ideal Protein diet so I highly suggest you check out Elite Care!!! They are Awesome.

Briefly about SLF: Many of my wedding clients know I am a member of a group of Premier Wedding Vendors called the Springfield Local Favorites. I have been a member since not long after moving to Illinois and it has been an invaluable asset for me to network with other quality vendors in the area and get to know the Illinois Bride and what she wants! For brides, the SLF is a safe and reliable way to shop for your wedding.

Just this morning I had a client email me for a wedding NEXT MONTH… now you know, this is SHORT notice and the reasoning for this is that they have run into (unknown) problems with their current wedding photographer. This happens far to frequently. With photographers, DJs, cake decorators, florists and every other vendor associated with the wedding industry. Unfortunately, the wedding industry is HUGE and many ‘fly by night’ companies and some very well-meaning entrepreneurs try to break into the market to ‘get a piece of the pie’ so to speak and very quickly find out they underestimated what goes into what we do. This can spell disaster when it comes to your wedding. What happens if you book a photographer for your wedding a year in advance and they are out of business in 8 months when they discover they aren’t making it?

The SLF is here for exactly this reason…. if you have a problem with your vendor, who do you go to? The boss, well with me, that’s ME. But because I’m an SLF member, you now have over 40 other members dedicated to your satisfaction and to stand behind my product. And as a member, I’m standing behind the work of every other member … which we do not do lightly because if they screw up, it’s on us as well.

NOW…. with that little introduction into the SLF and the bride side of things, I’m excited to talk to you about the vendor side of things. There is no doubt SLF is wonderful for brides, but it is also an asset to vendors. The group meets once a month and offers the chance to network amongst other local wedding vendors, keep on top of the local bridal trends and give/receive referrals so we can all work together to give our brides the best experience.

Last night we met and discussed the ‘trend’ and really the need to “Go Green” or greener within our businesses. As individuals we can all do our part (or some part) to help our environment and some steps we all know are very easy. But, as businesses it is also important we think about ways to go green within our business. For me, the biggest thing we do at SJP is recycle our cardboard boxes. While this is just a small step, we receive 2-5 shipments of products a week and all come packaged in a LOT of packaging (after all we must protect your valuable and delicate portraits through the mail). We recycle all of this as well as doing our best to keep the number of shipments to a minimum by placing fewer large orders instead of many small orders.

We also recycle in other ways… for example, my samples in the studio are only around for so long before we need to update them to newer images. When we update an image we offer our sample to our client at a greatly discounted rate so that these items are not being discarded. At our meeting we talked about other ways to reduce our waste including using LED lights, turning off our harddrives/computers which eat power and even looking into solar panels that could run our office equipment off solar energy. (Though will the wind at our new house, I’d say a well placed wind mill could power the neighborhood!).

I would challenge and encourage you all to find ways that you or your company can help the environment in new and innovative ways! GO… green.

LOCAL SLF: Decatur vendors the SLF will be branching off into a new Decatur Local Favorites Group and I encourage you all to get in on the ground floor here. Memberships are limited. We will be meeting May 22 at 6:00 so feel free to email me mail@sjanephotography.com for more information on how to get involved.

I’m so excited to have Shae as one of my 2013 senior models! We had a great time hanging out on her session and basically worked our way all the way across Decatur trying out some new locations. I absolutely love photographing at locations for the first time! While there are definitely some popular location options that clients love, my favorite is when we venture out of the ‘already done’ and into new spaces where we can really start to create new and unique images.

My favorite stop on Shae’s session was actually our very first one. My years shooting weddings in the Kansas City area spoiled my love of the concrete jungle and I was so excited to find that big city new building look right here in Decatur.

Our next stop was downtown Decatur where we could get a little urban grunge with some great ivy (I LOVE the ivy in this town!!). This was the perfect texture and color for Shae’s look from Shop 201. Check out this derby hat, it was so much fun.

This location is just a few steps away from a location I used all the time last year and deciding to ditch the old locations and take on the new and unfamiliar with Shae was a fantastic idea as I absolutely fell in love with these white walls and ivy and little tucked in doorways. If you’re in decatur and photographing indoors, you’re crazy!

If you follow me on facebook you may have seen last week that I was editing a family session and couldn’t stop grinning at my computer screen. I think I had a smile on my face (alone in my office) the entire time I edited this family’s images. I met Traci at a Breastfeeding/Baby event held at St. Mary’s Hospital about a month ago and she won our gift giveaway just seconds after talking with me about having newborn images done of her new little one.

I am so happy that Traci was the winner of our gift as this family has been an absolute blast to work with! If you can’t see all the love in this family, it’s time to see the optometrist.  :) Enjoy!

It’s the time of year when we finally get to focus on Mom, for one day. If your mother is anything like mine, the woman deserves at least 360 days of celebration a year (she might even deserve the whole year!). But this day, this one day, is just for her. To celebrate what she is sure to tell you is the best job in the world, being your mother. And what do you get Mom on this special day? Aside from time with you, I hear time and time again from the mother’s who walk through my doors how much the love and adore the portraits of their children. Whether you are 1 or 51 (or older), your mother would love a portrait of you more than dinner, a dress, even a diamond.

I’ve given my mom many things over the years for mother’s day. From handmade floral arguments when my little kid pockets were pretty empty to self portraits of myself and her grand puppies when my college pockets were pretty empty! It was always these personal gifts that held the places of honor in our home or on her desk for the longest time. And if you look at her desk now you will see a literal shrine of Sarah through the years. (Yes, I get to relive the glasses, braces and all the hair do mistakes EVERY time I go to visit). While there may be stages of our lives we would rather forget (like a bad-idea blond year in high school, I just do NOT have the complexion for blond), these are all the times of our lives our mother’s want to remember.

So this year, gift mom with a one-of-a-kind portrait experience. Yes, not just a portrait but the entire experience. Let her work with us to design a session that capture’s her families personality and love. Then spend the time with the whole family in the beautiful spring weather creating these beautiful images and then sit back with a cup of coffee to view her family on the big screen during her image premier. Finally, let us send her home with a designer art piece for her wall where she can walk by her family every day. Or let us pamper her with custom image jewelry, because you know she wants to show these off to all her friends! Make your mom the envy of all the girls with an SJP mother’s day session, gift card or product.

Just call, we will help you pick out the perfect item to make your mom remember she is appreciated the full 365 days a year! Afterall how can you not walk by an image like this without smiling every time.

Hey ladies, I hear you all talk all the time about wanting to do a boudoir session but being a little unsure. Trust me, EVERYONE who walks through my door the day of their boudoir session is a little unsure still. Don’t tell, but I secretly love to open the door and see what facial expression I will get when my lovely ladies show up for their session. It’s usually some mixture of shock, fear, excitement, with a little adrenaline.

Most client’s may not realize that I actually have a great way for you to ‘test the waters’ so to speak with a boudoir session. While it’s not a normally offered session (you won’t see it anywhere in a catalog), I have a radio-only special Mini-Session which is auctioned off through the WSOY radio auctions each month. This is exactly what it sounds like… a MINI boudoir session. It’s only 45 minutes in the studio with 2 outfits, but its a great chance to get a little trial run and create some beautiful images of yourself, for yourself or your man.

While I can tell you that 99% of the ladies who walk in the door have some degree of fear and nervousness, I can also tell you that 100% of the ladies who walk out of my doors after their session (and again after their image premier) are beaming with confidence and smiling from ear to ear. And that is exactly why I love my work, with every boudoir session my goal is to remind you of the gorgeous woman you are, because YOU ARE!

(And yes, I know, you want to wait until you lose 15 more pounds. Man you should see the list of amazing things I’ll be doing after I loose those same 15… it starts with losing the next 15!)

Happy Friday Ladies!

PS: If you’re thinking you need to lose those pounds first, come on in and talk to me about how you can get an ‘after’  boudoir session FREE. But you have to LOVE IT first with a ‘before’ session and then when you LOSE IT I’ll take your ‘afters’ for FREE.

| Sarah Jane Photography | Senior Portraits | Decatur/Oreana IL

Jason is graduating this year and with both of our busy schedules we had been trying and failing to get him in all year. When you play as many sports as he does, and keep doing so well, it’s bound to create some scheduling whoas with game conflicts and such. And we even had mother nature out to get us on this one, having to reschedule once for rain. But, we never gave up and early this spring we got a sunny (although chilly) day and were able to create some great senior portraits for Jason.

He did great at toughing out the cold (yes there is snow in the background of a few… I’m not kidding it was cold). Check out a few of my favorite images from his session! And check out our facebook for a chance to see more (throw some LIKES his way so we can post more!).