Message from the Board

Each month the AzPPA Board challenges you with thoughts on photography. Here are messages from the last couple years starting from the most current and going back...

December 2011

IT HAS BEEN AN HONOR Rochell Planty, CMP - 2011 AzPPA President

It has been an honor serving as the AzPPA President this past year. I have had the pleasure of working with a group of incredible individuals on the board this year that have committed their time, skills, knowledge and heart to continuing the success of the organization. Mid year we also said thank you to our long time Executive Director Frank Rigo and welcomed our new Executive Director Dan Hammel.

As we gear up for convention the end of January we are also in a transition phase for the current board as elections also take place at the convention.

In this newsletter you will have an opportunity to hear from each candidate who has expressed their interest in serving on the 2012 AzPPA Board. The AzPPA Board is comprised of four executive members which include the Immediate Past President, President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer in addition to seven Board of Directors.

Each board member takes on certain tasks during the year to help the association continue to move forward in providing education, networking and numerous benefits to our members. Along with the board we have several volunteer leaders assist in various committees throughout the year.

As we begin our new year I hope you will consider getting involved in AzPPA. We are always looking for assistance so please do not hesitate to let us know if you would like to get involved. The nominating committee is working on their board recommendations and there are a couple Director positions still available. If you are interested in serving on the board please contact Bob Coates bob@bcphotography.com this week.

I would like to take this time to thank the AzPPA Partners Allied Imaging Lab, American Color Imaging, Cailean CPA & Business Consultant, PLLC Studio ADT, Arizona Beef Countil, South Mountain Moulding, and Millers Professional Imaging. Without support from companies such as these we would not be able to provide the membership benefits and education programs. We hope you will be a part of helping us provide support to these companies as they support AzPPA.

We have an amazing year planned for our members and a tremendous leadership team guiding the way but we would not be able to thrive without you, our members. If you have not had the opportunity to renew your membership or considering joining we hope you will take a couple minutes to do that and be a part of a great group of professional photographers!

AzPPA’s success is in direct proportion to the success of members - it truly is a partnership. I encourage you to take advantage of all that AzPPA has to offer and let us know how we can continue to contribute to your personal and professional success!
Dive in and engage with us this year… as this membership experience is a unique one. We welcome your input and participation.

Sincerely,

Rochell Planty, CMP, CTA

November 2011

You Can Start Over Anytime - Melinda Kolker

Our family struggled with a life choice for almost a year. My husband was offered an opportunity out of state that would mean that I needed to start my fairly new business all over again. While we were making this decision, I realized that there were several areas of my business that needed to be changed. I had been really busy balancing family, business, photography, education, and part time jobs. I hadn’t really taken the time to analyze my business or my skills to figure out what needed to change. I still wasn’t sure if we were moving or not, but I was sure that I wanted to streamline and simplify things.

There were several areas I needed to address…
Workflow
Sales
Sessions
Workflow

I have used Lightroom for years as a catalog tool. I used keywords and rating systems for my personal images before I started my business because my catalog had gotten so big that Photoshop Elements crashed whenever I tried to access the library. But, I hadn’t kept up by learning the new features that Lightroom had to offer in the Develop mode. By spending time to figure out how to do more editing in Lightroom, I have trimmed down the time it takes to prepare for client presentations. I used to spend 20-30 hours preparing for a single client presentation. No wonder I was always behind!

Now I spend less than 10 hours doing that same work. I probably spent 10 percent of the time in Lightroom before. Now, I spend about 70-80 percent of the time in Lightroom and very little time in Photoshop.

Here are some questions to ask yourself…. Where do you spend most of your time at the computer? Are you sure this is a good use of time? Are there any other tools that could be used to complete this task more efficiently? Is there a meeting, workshop or individual who could help you learn a skill that would make you more effective?

Sales

My clients seemed to love their images, but they weren’t able to make a decision in the sales room. I felt exhausted after each sales session and was often disappointed with the results. I had to step back and figure out what was going wrong.

When the father cries when he sees the images and talks about how the session reminded him of watching his grandfather work in the film industry, you expect a good sale. But, it just wasn’t happening. After this particular session, I realized that I was making it too difficult by offering too many choices and showing too many images. What I thought was beneficial to my clients proved to be mind-numbing for all of us.

I spent many hours simplifying my sales materials. They are now more streamlined and interconnected. I have a specific document for each step in the process – Consultation, Session, and Sales. I start the message early and consistently so there are no surprises. I also do as much of the sales research up front so that I can go into the sales meeting knowing what the client wants. I can still offer a ton of customizations and products (at my suggestion and already factored into the price), but they are grouped in a way that is easier to understand.

Our customers need for us to be the expert. They need help making decisions. They want flexibility, but need us to guide them so they feel like they made an informed decision.
Try simplifying your price list and combining several options into one category. I think it will make sales easier for you and will also increase your sales numbers. Don’t forget to use the PPA Benchmark data to help you determine your cost of goods sold and price for profit.

Sessions

I had been doing mostly location sessions because the space I used as a studio in my home was also our family room. It was difficult and time-consuming to clean the room, move furniture and set up equipment each time a client came over for a session. I usually spent more time preparing for the session than I spent with the client. I knew this needed to change.

When we looked for homes out of state, we looked for ones with basements that could be used as studio space. When we looked for homes in the Phoenix area, we looked for ones with large Arizona rooms or formal dining rooms or guest houses that would work.
We ended up finding a home with a 1,000 square foot guest house. It has a long, skinny room that I use for client meeting and presentations as well as for my office. It also has a large room that works great as a studio. A small storage room, bathroom and kitchenette also add functionality to the space.

Studio sessions are very different from location sessions. I’m still getting the hang of it, and am looking forward to being able to easily combine indoor and outdoor spaces during sessions at my studio. Some additional tweaks are needed, but I look forward to continuing the process of improvement.

Our business might be small when you look at the number of clients served or the number of employees, but we need to adapt the thinking of larger businesses. We need to look for ways to continually improve, streamline, and enhance our client’s experiences. We shouldn’t just be selling prints on paper. We need to provide a special experience. Our customers should leave wanting to tell everyone they know about not only the amazing images we produced, but also the amazing experience they had.

You shouldn’t wait for a major upheaval in your life or business to evaluate things. The areas you need to improve may be different than mine. And, mine will change over time. I challenge you to discover what needs to change in your business and take the time and effort to implement the changes. Reach out if you need help or want to talk ideas over with someone. Or, look for educational opportunities like the upcoming meetings or State Convention. Networking, Education, Support. AZPPA is here to help you succeed.

October 2011

Education 2012 - Lisa Schaaf

As the Education Chair for the AZ PPA, I decided give you a preview of our 2012 Education plan. We have worked so hard to create an education plan that will hopefully offer you something you haven’t seen before.

I attended my first AZ PPA convention last year. I love conventions because you get to see a lot of different speakers and learn a lot of different techniques and business styles. For me, it helped define which direction I wanted my business to go. Conventions and workshops also help reinforce the direction I’ve chosen, as well as highlight some new opportunities for me to consider. The AZ PPA Convention is January 28-30 2012 and has an amazing speaker line up.

My favorite way to learn new photography styles and techniques is to attend a specific photographer’s workshop. I always learned something new. I think it’s important to learn different things and genres of photography, even if they are not your specialty. We hope our All Day Workshops offer you something you can use in a new way, without having to travel! For instance, we have the fabulous Boudoir instructor, Danny Rabalais, Norcal Boudoir, www.boudoirtraining.com, coming in September for a hands on workshop. Even if you don’t do boudoir, some of the dramatic lighting techniques might translate to some interesting high school senior photography. We also have a hands on workshop with Art Suwansang, Wedding 64, www.wedding64.com in May called Urban Brides, where we will look at unique perspectives and lighting in downtown Phoenix. This could translate into looking at the downtown area in a new way for family portraits. And we finish the year with the master of high school senior photography, Kirk Voclain, Kirk Voclain Photography, www.kvphoto.com. He will talk about photographing and posing the high school senior, photoshop tips and techniques, and increasing the speed of your workflow. His tips on photoshop and workflow may save you hours in editing, no matter what you photograph! And if you haven’t heard Kirk speak, you need to. He has a motivational style of speaking that will keep you at the edge of your seat! Colleen Miniuk-Sperry, CMS Photography, HYPERLINK "http://www.cms-photo.com" www.cms-photo.com is an award winning travel photographer and writer. She will be leading our Fall Fest in Prescott in October 2012. It will be an amazing experience, a way for portrait photographers to expand their horizons and try something new, and for landscape photographers to photograph something different. Stay tuned for more information!

Of course, we are also packing our monthly meetings with amazing speakers and presentations. Our January meeting is an open meeting, invite all your photographer friends to check us out, even those who might have attended a meeting in the past! It will be a lot of fun and very interactive! Allison Tyler Jones will be with us in March talking about The Business of Family and Children Photography, Art Suwansang will talk about Lightroom Workflow in May, we will have a joint meeting in June with the American Society of Media Photographers. This is an amazing group of publication photographers and it’s always an interesting meeting. In August, we’ll cover some Photoshop and ProSelect tips and techniques to help your business. And in September, Danny Rabalais will being doing a live boudoir shoot! October is all business again with a roundtable with Bob Zimmerlich, Click Chick Photography, and Amy Fraughton of Photo Business Tools. They will cover “Selling Digital Files”, and “SEO & Social Media.” And Kirk Voclain will finish our year with his thoughts on Pricing and Marketing to High School Seniors. He does it different that most everyone! You’re sure to learn something new. Print competitions in April and November round out our monthly meetings.

I hope this motivates you to make a commitment towards education this upcoming year. Membership renewals are starting this month and we have a great package for renewing early! I look forward to seeing you at the meetings!

September 2011

Thinking Outside the Box - Rochell Planty, AZPPA President 2011-2012 CMP, CTA

As artists we occasionally need a change of scenery or something that gives us that little motivational kick to inspire us to think outside the box. We have such a great opportunity here in Arizona to be able to attend some amazing programs which come to town that inspire us, provide us with new ideas, tips and tricks we can use in our business and give us that extra motivation to try something new or incorporate into the specialty we focus on.

I recently attended the Boutique Studio for Private Schools seminar presented by Britney Kirby Fullgraf. If you did not attend this event you missed an amazing program. Britney has designed a unique business model for private schools which has really elevated her business. She provided several tips which anyone could incorporate into the specialty area they focus on. In addition to the information she shared over the eight hours, I found her really inspiring as she shared her story of how she became a photographer and became involved in PPA. It was comforting to know that just as recent as 2008 she really started to expand her knowledge in photography and how far she has come in the past four years.

AzPPA hosts a variety of programs through out the year from monthly educational seminars to full day programs. There has been an amazing line up of presenters since we kicked off our new year with several more to go before we hit the culmination of our year at the AzPPA Convention the end of January.

We hope that you will make an investment in your career to dedicate time to attend these educational programs and take advantage of the benefits AzPPA has to offer. Where can you get so many benefits for your career for under $20 a month?

I challenge you to think outside the box while attending these programs as there are always tips you can incorporate into your business. I encourage you to visit www.arizonappa.com to learn more about the upcoming programs and stay tuned for the convention highlights.

We all need to continue learning, networking and thinking outside the box to continue to grow and succeed in our business!

August 2011

The Best & Worst of Times - by Bob Coates M. Photog.,Cr.,CPP

We live in the best of times from a photographic technology standpoint and I personally thank goodness for it every day. I also curse it!

We now have almost all the capabilities we ever asked for in regards to our camera equipment and software to work on the images. It's now possible to create almost every type of image that you have in mind. It enables us to stretch the boundries of creativity only dreamed of five years ago. This is fabuloius!

The only problem is that that same technology has made the cost of entry into the business to be extremely low and allow 'properly exposed' images to be captured easier than ever by almost anyone. That has led to a glut of photographers and a groundswell of competition. And, as more people get into the business and don't realize what they need to charge in order to stay in business a couple of years from now there is constant downward pressure on pricing making it more and more difficult to sustain an ongoing business. With this new model the consumer is conditioned as to what pricing should be as charged by a 'professional' photographer even though the image offered may be less than professionally posed, lit and processed. Sometimes good enough is good enough and consumers are happy with that.

Make sure that your images are more than good enough. More than ever, we as true professional photographers need to continually educate ourselves, in order to produce the best images we possibly can and we also need to educate the public on the difference between an image that's 'good enough' and one that has been created by someone who studies continually to bring out the best in the subjects he or she is photographing.

In addition, we need to make the experience of having a professional photograph made into one that consumers will recognize right away. Separation is the key and the way to do that is through education, and practice, and more practice. Please try not to practice on paying clients. Learn your craft before charging for it.

The Chinese have a curse and a blessing, "May you live in interesting times." I believe we photographers are living in interesting times. I assure you it will be a blessing for us if we work hard.

Respectfully submitted.