I can’t believe it’s almost been a month since I was in Arizona. I’ve been slammed working on all sorts of new ideas for the studio. I stopped to play a bit with one of my images form the Grand Canyon tonight. I’m still working, but here’s where it stands at the moment. Some really great stuff is on the way. 
It’s cold!
It’s cold. Mark the date, February 4, 2009. Rumor has it that this January was the coldest in 50 years here in Chicago-ish. Like many of us, I got off a plane from Imaging USA in beautiful Phoenix and was quickly greeted by flat, stinky, cold air. Later that night it was literally colder in my town than it was at the north pole. Literally. It’s cold. It’s the kind of cold that you don’t feel on your skin, but more in your gut.
There is a physics term called “absolute zero”. −459.67° Fahrenheit. At absolute zero, it is said that molecules slow down as there is not enough energy to exchange at a molecular level. Although absolute zero has never been documented in any lab the day will most likely come. It’s cold. I suppose that puts things into perspective.
Waking up in a really warm Swedish cocoon this morning got me thinking about what impact the cold weather has on our businesses. In many ways people react to the cold in a manner similar to molecules. Interaction slows down, energy decreases, and the ability to use the phone becomes quite crippled. If you pay close attention, this theory is often proven in short bursts. Every winter we get a few warm snaps thrown in the mix. A random day that is 20 degrees warmer than the rest of the week. If you pay close attention, the phone rings a bit more on those days and people spend more time out of the house. Strangely enough the exact phenomenon occurs at the molecular level. Even molecules have a way of screaming “Lord have mercy! Thank you!”.
Lest we find this article a bit too depressing let me remind you that having a slower studio is not altogether a bad thing. Not being bombarded by the phone and a studio full of clients has it’s challenges, but it also has it’s upside. For this reason I’d like to list a handful of ideas on how to use the slower winter months to your advantage:
Education: Ever wonder why Imaging USA is in January? There are a lot of larger conventions in the Winter. It’s a great time to fill your brain and work on making your craft and your studio more effective. The wonderful thing is that by having fewer clients and fewer orders it’s easier to implement changes into your pricing and into your studio. It’s a very practical time to take what you learn and immediately put it into action. By the time Spring rolls around you have already learned your new systems and are ready to roll.
Website: Winter is a great time to catch up on all of those chores you have been putting off. It’s a great time to update your website. Changing the look of your website is an amazing catalyst for bringing in new clientele and bringing existing clients back.
Studio Appearance: Remember all of those chores that you haven’t kept up with? Touching up paint, cleaning, fixing things? Now’s the time. Clients notice details. With fewer people buzzing around it’s much easier to get to all of the “little things”. It’s amazing what a half a day of uninterrupted catch up time can do.
Studio Prints: There is no better time to update frames and prints than the winter months. It’s a great time to introduce a “new look” to you images.
Product Line: It’s much easier to add new products and services to your line-up when there are fewer clients around. From a practical perspective, it’s a great time to purchase samples and use the slower time to bounce ideas off your clients and find out what they are really looking for.
Charity Events: Our studio holds a charity event every March. This is great way of giving back to the community and also it also broadens the scope of your studio. Our Annual Silly Smiles events are quickly turning into something that clients really look forward to and ask about all year. Through promotions and advertising, we are getting our clients to think about photography during the coldest time of year, February.
Pricing: Although the studio is most likely seeing less money, there is no better time to sit down and work on how to make more! Tweaking your pricing and protocol is a great way of increasing your bottom line. Working on this during the Winter months will ensure that once the “thaw” comes you’ll be ready to maximize your studio’s potential.
These are just a few practical ideas to think about. The most important thing to remember is that when it’s cold and the phone doesn’t ring as much, there is no more important time to work on our business. A strong business and a great education are the best ways of combatting any economic challenge.
I just finished this. Pardon the typos as always! Hopefully people will e-mail my mistakes to me! Ha.
Cooking and Photography
It’s February. Not an entirely exciting month, but a month that marks a period where we don’t really get that stoked about food. This, all things considered, is a good thing. Let’s face it, we go from Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Years doing little but stuffing our faces and gossiping. Well, perhaps that’s an overstatement, but I think we can all agree that the holidays involve a lot of time in the kitchen. From a foodie perspective February leaves us with the last gasp which is Super Bowl parties. These are not typically on people’s short list of culinary paradise.
With the bitter cold, lack of holiday festivities, and a slow time in most studios February is a great time for reflection and a time for change. It’s a time for renewal and business resolutions. It’s during this time that I have had a chance to reflect of food.
Ah yes, like most I overindulged over the holidays and put on a few pounds. In the process of reinventing my waste-line I have spent a good amount of time thinking about how we cook, how we photograph, and where the two disciplines meet. It may sound like a leap of faith to find so much in common with cooking and photography, but let’s take a look into the kitchen.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, it was really amazing to be around during the holidays. The holidays were a special time in which we could travel the world through food without driving more than 2 miles. It was not uncommon to be stuffed with Polish pastries, homemade pastas, and things we couldn’t begin to pronounce all in one day. It is truly interesting to see that as I get older these delicacies are still being served but by a new generation. Many years back it was the Grandparents and Parents doing the cooking. Now our generation has been left with the burden of being the Grandparents and Parents.
What is truly inspiring about the holidays is the lack of cookbooks, recipes, or any written directions. It’s not that there isn’t a stash of notecards boxes up somewhere, it’s just that they haven’t been used for a long time. It’s as if cooking were a right of passage or somehow wired in the DNA of families. There is no secret to all of this. At risk of removing the romance from the analogy (not that referring to such a sacred tradition as an analogy doesn’t do that already) is it quite simply an act of repetition. Spending countless hours watching someone slave over a hot stove makes quite an impression. One can only watch and gorge for so long without the scents and ingredients seeping deeply into the recesses of their brain.
You get the picture I’m certain. After all this IS an article about photography. Let’s examine things a bit. If we want to learn to cook we hang out in the kitchen for a few years. We eat, we clean the dishes, and we do it over and over again. We tell stories and we let the art of creating something beautiful imprint into our being. When it comes time to run our own kitchen, we invite others in to learn how its done. How strange is it then that photographers want to learn the tradition of photography without spending the same time in a studio studying the work of a disciplined photographer? Is it all that different? Let me tell you a little bit about my Gramma.
My Gramma never cooked with recipes. Great chefs don’t use cookbooks. Why? They just cook. Can anyone imagine the reaction they would get if a patron walked into the kitchen of 4 star restaurant and asked the chef how much salt was in his dish? I don’t think my Gramma ever measured much of anything. “How much?” “Just enough!” This is comical and perhaps basic at best, yet how many photographers are in search of a recipe for composition, lighting, or even business.
My Gramma never once thought about opening here own restaurant. Let’s face it, the woman could cook. She loved it, she breathed it, she understood it, she lived it. The fact of the matter is though, she wasn’t a restauranteur. There is a different between someone who loves to cook and an executive chef. Imagine a world in which every avid cook wanted to become a professional chef. Now realize perhaps that this world is not entirely different than the world of photography these days. It seems that many people have decided that the love of creation with a camera is a logical precursor to a lucrative career in photography. (On a side note, the shelf life of the average independent restaurant is somewhere around 6 months to a year)
My Gramma didn’t learn to cook in a month. It took years and several generations before she got to where she was in the kitchen. This is obvious, yet many of today’s photographers expect overnight success without learning fundamentals. It’s true technology has made the process easier, but my Gramma also didn’t cook with a microwave. Think about that one for a minute.
My Gramma could cook a lot of dishes. It’s true, we had our favorites and she had her high points, but my Gramma could make a lot of food. She knew the basics. She could cook just about anything in a pinch. It’s amazing to see how many photographers skimp out on learning the basics. It is appalling how many photographers these days can’t take a simple headshot, compose a basic shot out of camera, or know how to use a window.
My Gramma loved to share. She loved to cook for EVERYONE. She loved her culture and wanted to pass it along. She wasn’t altogether worried about the Food Network calling her and giving her a spot on prime time she just talked and shared and let others put their hands in the mixing bowl.
Gramma didn’t spend a lot of time going into debt over her knives.
To put things into perspective. A great chef becomes great not in spite of the fact they he/she has thrown away the cookbook but more accurately because he/she has done so. There is an expression that chefs use:
“Shut up and cook” - I mean shoot. . .
I’ve been trying to get in front of a computer with the internet for a bit. I’m sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton in Phoenix. I’m here for the Imaging USA convention. It’s PPA’s big national convention that is, well, really big! I’ll post more soon. Some great things going on here. We hopping in a car and hit the Grand Canyon and Sedona over the weekend. Here are some of the images. I’m still working on on getting a bunch of stuff out for you to view. It’s been a great trip. This is just a tasting. These are pretty rough. I’ll work on posting more as I get to them. Enjoy!
Ah, I’m out in Arizona for a convention. I had a chance to work up a few more images and have plenty more to go in this series. Tired of them yet?
Ah, I’ve lost count on these. Here’s a new one with more to come soon.
Wondering what to get that certain someone for Valentine’s Day? Look no further! Now available:
Indigo Action Set Volume #1
This set includes PS Actions, Digital Album Design PS Actions, Photoshop Breakdowns, Lighting Diagrams, and more. Only $175 marked down for the season. Here’s a slideshow of some of the actions. These are run on the same un-retouched image right out of the box. Please contact the studio is you are interested in purchasing this set. More products to come!
Many of you have been waiting for a full year for another chance to be a part of the Silly Smiles for Sammy fundraiser! Well, the date in near. March 7th we are holding another event at Indigo and other studios around the country. We are asking for a $40 donation in exchange for a 10 minute “Silly Smiles” session and 8×10 montage print. Can’t beat that! The proceeds will be help with the mounting medical expenses of a special little boy named Sammy Rogers. Space is limited, so please call early to reserve your spot! Here’s a link for more information:
We are also looking for more photographers to host a fundraiser at their studio on the same date. If you are interested or know of another photographer that is interested contact 630-761-2990 for more information.
A special thanks to all of those in attendence for the “Think Big!” classes in Houston, Oak Brook, Chicago, Rochester, and other lands far and near. As promised here’s a post of the class notes. There’s a whole lot of ‘em! Hopefully this helps you with that whole “carpool tunneling” thing. Enjoy! As always, let me know if I can make things better. Oh yeah, typos are always good to note too.
