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ANNA KUPERBERG: “What does Fearless really mean?”
It means, don’t shoot everything that moves. Shoot what moves you. Start with your gut. Trust your instincts. Take charge. Tell the client what you think is best. Don’t take charge. Embrace chaos and let it happen. Whatever it is you really really want to do, that’s probably what you should do. Climb a tree, hug the grandma, or maybe just take a photo where the action isn’t. Being fearless in photography means exposing a little bit of yourself, and that’s scary. The most confident person is the one willing to ask questions. You might fail at 100 photos to get the 101th one perfect. Keep experimenting every day. You can be right or wrong, but don’t be boring. Safe is boring.
In my presentation I’m also going to throw in some very practical advice about speeding up workflow, dealing with (or avoiding) difficult clients, as well as delegating, outsourcing, streamlining, and hiring help. An overworked photographer is not a happy photographer, and you need to be happy to take better photos. Fearless extends to everything in life and business.
About Anna:
Anna Kuperberg is a San Francisco based wedding, portrait, and dog photographer with a fine art and editorial background. She loves to help people take better photos and be happier in their businesses and their lives.
Website: http://www.kuperberg.com
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TONY HOFFER: “Making People Happy”
Did you know that last year there were 12 million new photographers in the U.S. alone? I didn’t either. I made that up. But you probably believed for just a second, didn’t you?
There is more pressure on photographers now than ever before to book clients, lower prices or to shoot in certain styles. At the same time, the simple joy of photography is thriving with new photographers. Many professionals are feeling the heat of this pressure… but there’s good news. There is a fresh, excited and new client base of willing spenders out there just waiting for us to give them what they want. Now we just need to figure out what that is…
About Tony:
I’m Tony Hoffer. Along with my wife Amy, I own Hoffer Photography. If you’ve ever wanted to meet a giant with a monotone voice, it’s your lucky day.
Over the past 5 years we’ve been shooting weddings, growing our business and trying to convince our clients to take us to cool places. We live outside of Philadelphia in a giant house that’s shaped like a 1970′s polaroid camera. We talk to each other exclusively in pig latin and at any given point we’re housing several stray horses. One of those three sentences is true.
Website: http://hofferphotography.com/
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JACKLYN GREENBERG: “The Breath In”
Open your eyes and mind to an intense level of awareness by understanding the emotional impact your images can hold. Gain the ability to harness the energy around you. Bring your work to a new level by learning to give your images an emotional charge. Jacklyn will speak about letting your “Breath In” be the guideline to photograph the constantly changing environments and emotions around us.
About Jacklyn:
Jacklyn’s edge lies in her unique ability to engage and connect with people on a level that delves beyond the surface and into the deeper realm of energy and emotion. This comes, in part, from her extensive travels and immersion in foreign cultures with extended stays overseas in Italy and Australia. After earning degrees in both fine arts and environmental chemistry, she decided to follow her passion and add her intense voice with her inherent air of hyper-realism to the photography world.
Website: http://www.jagstudios.net
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JENNY JIMENEZ: “Dance Your Way to Better Dance Photos”
Pulling from her background in psychology and customer service, Jenny explores the ways our behavior can impact our results, whether it be during an initial client consult, a family session with an uncooperative child or walking onto a camera shy dance floor at a wedding reception. Who you are and how you act influences what you will get. We want you to get great photos.
About Jenny:
Jenny believes in self-expression, love and laughing your ass off. See also: high kicks. She began her career as a photographer in 1999 shooting music & events for Seattle’s alternative weekly papers. After covering a spatter of weddings from 2001- 2004, she decided to refocus her business on unions and families. Although her approach is documentary in nature, she isn’t afraid to move a coke can or serenade a grandpa if it allows her to get a better image. She’s been published and awarded but cares more about what you think, so judge her work for yourself at www.photojj.com.
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OLIVIA VALE: “How to Kick Your Own Ass and Still Love Yourself in the Morning”
Wedding photography is no piece of cake. With a knack for playing hard and working harder, Olivia Vale has been kicking her own ass for years, honing her skills at capturing images that strike the heart. She believes in tough love spoken kindly, and will show you how to be your own best critic.
As the Foundation Workshop’s Official 2012 Photographer, and 2-year alumnus of the Foundation Workshop, Olivia knows a thing or two about a good challenge. She will share with you her own set of tools to help you learn tons from each wedding you shoot.
About Olivia:
Olivia Vale has a very large mouth and loves to use it to laugh. She embraces life fully, drives motorcycles, windsurfs, and encourages adventuring. She is an internationally awarded photographer with background in journalism, silliness, and wine tasting. Olivia’s level-headed but starry-eyed perspective will show you how to visually fall in love with the world around you, while still being one tough cookie when it comes to improving your skill. She can’t wait to talk to each and every one of you, but if you want to get to know her and her photos before that, please visit her website: http://www.oliviavale.com
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KATRINA + ANDREW: “Marketing for the Internet Age: Social Media and Beyond”
Long gone are the days of relying upon a simple, beautifully crafted website, as a key part of your marketing strategy. In order for a business to take full advantage of a comprehensive, and mostly free, set of virtual tools, an aggressive and educated approach to real time media needs should be employed as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. This includes social media, SEO, and creative networking on the local level.
Social media is playing a crucial role in keeping real time novelties in the eyes and ears of your internet clientele. But, it’s merely a portion of a well-rounded and comprehensive approach to reaching all aspects of your viewership. The days of a single blog post per week, or day, are gone. Clientele now demand nearly daily, or real time, updates and insights into your world. What’s more, a strong internet presence is futile without the support of a strong base of local, regional, and national vendors who can give prestige to your efforts. This is backed up by paper publications, and networking group meetings in your locale. Print and magazine publications have leant a huge source of prestige to our studio on a state level.
About Katrina + Andrew:
After dropping out of Pre-Med at Indiana University, and ending up with a degree in Spanish and Sociology, Andrew Mejia put himself through technical school gaining certification in Microsoft Network operating systems in 1997. The lead to a lucrative career in California in LAN and WAN development with Microsoft’s arche-enemy SUN Microsystems in California, managing SUN.com and writing SUN’s standards for use of HTML, Java Script, PERL, and CSS across 150,000 pages of their website. When Andrew’s contract came to a halt, it was time to shift focus onto Katrina Wallace Photography, and leave CA for the AZ desert; Sedona. Andrew purchased the domain name SedonaBride.com on the notion that it would someday make a great name for a magazine. But alas, Sedona Bride Photographers was formed, and here we are today, 300+ weddings later…
Website: http://www.sedonabride.com
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CAT BENNER: The Business & Art of Letting Your Clients Love You
Cat Krantz Benner from Next Exit Photography in Southern California will help you define your business practices and create images that your clients will love AND purchase. Whether you have a budding wedding photography business or you have been doing this for years, Cat’s practical tips and sales techniques will help you define a unique personal plan for shooting weddings, leading to happy clients and healthier profits.
Tip #1: Fall in love with your clients every time.
Even though Adi, Cat Krantz Benner’s husband, makes up 49% of Next Exit Photography, clearly at FC2012, Cat is the one who matters. (She still loves you Adi!) Now that we have that out of the way, let’s talk more about Cat. Published in a gazillion bridal magazines and a bazillion blogs, with beautiful images full of heart and emotion, Cat has perfected the business and art of wedding photography. Having shot about 500 drool-worthy nuptials, she feels taking photos just wouldn’t be enough; she really loves selling, negotiating and even working with red-flag clients. By the way, she has no idea how to use Photoshop.
At weddings, clients appreciate Cat’s humor and camaraderie. She combines an artistic eye with an acute awareness to capture the most spontaneous and genuine interactions. She knows how to make any bride or groom feel good na na na na na na nah.
Her Southern California studio has ten years of unmatched quality of service and familial devotion. She and her hubby are five-time winners of the Best of the Knot Award (one of their proudest accomplishments!)
Please visit the Next Exit website http://www.nextexitphotography.com and become a fan on Facebook!
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DAVE GETZSCHMAN: “Motion, Emotion and a Little Something Special”
Dave learned this formula early in his photojournalism career and it continues to inform his approach as he now shoots weddings around the country and the world for Chrisman Studios. He’ll explain why each element of the formula is vital to the success of a photograph and how you can apply this method to achieve award-winning results.
This lecture is an image-making master class focusing exclusively on strategies for making arresting, story-telling images. Dave will share insights he’s learned from some of the world’s best photojournalists, as well as conclusions he has reached during his own decorated career.
Dave will discuss how to apply the principles of documentary photography to weddings, why authentic behavior is more appealing than static, posed subjects, and how an understanding of human psychology will help you create meaningful, multi-dimensional photographs.
Weaved throughout the talk will be Dave’s personal philosophy on photography: if your audience is human, your pictures must reveal something about what it means to be human.
About Dave Getzschman:
Dave Getzschman is a contract photographer for the Los Angeles Times and an associate of Chrisman Studios. In 2012, Dave was named one of the Top Ten Wedding Photographers by American Photo magazine. In 2011, Dave was listed among the “Rising Stars of Wedding Photography” by Photo District News and “The New Guard of Wedding Specialists” by San Francisco Brides Magazine. In 2010, he was selected as Photographer of the Year by the Wedding Photojournalist Association. His editorial client list includes TIME, Newsweek, Businessweek, Forbes and Fortune, and his work has been commissioned by Apple, Inc., Sun Microsystems and LinkedIn.
I LOVE that these speakers already have mentioned what they’ll be speaking about. Can’t wait!
I am going to make it for Anna Kuperberg talk no matter what!