the in-person ordering session: how it works and why it will make you happy!

After we have our photo shoot together and I disappear for a couple of weeks to edit your photos, we will get together to view all of your new images.  You will also get a chance to purchase all of your prints and products.

Here are all the need-to-know details about the in-person ordering session :)

Why you’ll love it:

• You will be able to ask your photographer tons of questions about the prints and products and get the answers right away!

You won’t have to deal with communication problems from email or delayed responses in sending messages back and forth.

• You will get guidance about the perfect products to fit your needs!

I deal with prints, canvases, and albums all the time, so I can help you decide which size print you need for your entry way or if a photo book or an album will be better for your senior. I am there to give you any advice, information, and/or guidance that you would like.

• You will get the best viewing experience for your photos!

Computers have all kinds of different monitors that work at different resolutions with different color displays. My computers are color corrected to make sure that they match the lab I use for printing, so your images on the computer screen will look just like the prints you order.

How does it work?

• The in person ordering session will take place about two weeks after your photo shoot.

• We usually meet at your home. I absolutely love meeting at a client’s home. I get such a wonderful glimpse into your life and your style, which helps me give you better advice about the prints and products that are perfect for you!

Don’t want to meet at your home? Not a problem! We can go out and grab a cup of coffee as we go over your photos and choose your products.

• You will actually order and pay for your prints and products during the meeting. You won’t have to send checks through the mail or deal with ordering sheets. We will handle all of it right there as we look at your photos.

• Still want an online gallery? Upon request, I can set up an online gallery for a limited time so other family members and friends can view the photos and order prints.

P.S. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments or send me an email. I would love to talk with you!  Click here if you would like to read through the rest of the Client FAQs!

P.P.S. Interested in booking a session? Please visit the contact page or send me an email directly. :)

Abram :: Newborn Photography Sneak Peek Melbourne, Florida

There is just nothing more adorable than a newborn baby, and little baby Abram might just be the most precious newborn ever!  I can definitely tell you that Abram's life will be so full of love and happiness. 

I can't not wait to show you all of the pictures of Abram and his family.  Their story is just amazing.  But for today, I am just going to give you a quick sneak peek! 

[for photographers] Website Design for Non-designers Part 1: How To Figure out what you want

I spent a lot of time trying to create a website and a brand without really knowing what I wanted. And when I say spent a lot of time, I mean wasted! I just fumbled around for hours trying to come up with a logo, then a blog background, then packaging, but I had no focus. I didn't know what I wanted, and I didn't know what I wanted my brand to communicate to my customers.

I needed to have a little talk with myself. My business would not grow without a brand (at least not into something I liked!), and a brand does not just show up out of thin air. It was time to get to it and get intentional about my brand and my website.

So, here's what I did to get my butt in gear...

1. Make a list: What do I want (and definitely not want) in a website?

I can’t even tell you how much lists help me. It is the only way I can organize my thoughts and keep all of the things swirling around in my brain under control. I used a lot of lists in the initial planning stages of my website.

If you’re anything like me, you probably stalk photography websites all the time, assessing and deciding if you like the design. We can use that to our advantage.

First, write down everything you think you might want in a website. A great way to do this is by focusing on everything you definitely DO NOT want your website to be.

Maybe it’s just the kind of person I am, but I like to start with all of the things that annoy me :) Try creating a big, old list of everything that drives you crazy about other people’s photography websites. It is way easier for me to figure out what I want if I can solidly define exactly what I do not want.

So your list will start out something like this…

• I don’t want it to take forever to load
• I don't want information to be hard to find
• I don't want electric colors that send me into an epileptic seizure

Then, start adding other things that you think you might want in a website...

• A clean, uncluttered look
• Light colors that don't over power the photos but can be seen easily

Do not sensor yourself too much. This is just to get all of your ideas down on paper. We can sort and prioritize things later :)

2. Make a list (yes, another one!): Things I love…

I told you I like lists ;)

This list is much easier and will make you much happier. Just list out all kinds of things that make you giddy, that really just make you sigh with contentment.

I would try to keep this in the design realm. Go a little shallow with it. List objects and visual things that just make you happy. List textures, colors, shapes, collectibles, things in nature, inspiring places anything that you think says something about who you are and might connect to your brand.

A small business brand, especially one in the arts like photography, should really be about who you are as a person. Taking some time to reflect with these lists will help you understand who you are and help make your brand and website super personal.

3. Create an inspiration board

This one changed my life! Seriously, this is the thing that let me move past thinking I had to hire a designer. Once I created an inspiration board, all of the pieces started to come together. I even heard about it from lots of great sources (like Promise Tangeman), but I still ignored it for forever!

Just grab a bulletin board, and start tacking up every tangible thing that you can find that matches your Things I Love list. Pictures, fabric samples, patterns that you like, throw it all up on the board.

I would also include a few of your absolute favorite photographs from your portfolio. This will help you make sure that your design flows with your photography style which will create the ultimate brand.

What are you going to do with all that stuff? That is for another post :) which will be out next week.

Try sitting with your inspiration board and lists for a while before you move on to any more designing steps. Moving slowly through the process may actually help you build a better connection to what you want in a website and a brand.

Seriously, take some time and just stare at your list and your inspiration board. See what happens!

P.S. Questions, comments, concerns? I would love to hear them all! Just leave them in the comments!

P.P.S. Digging all this branding talk? Sign up for the email updates in the sidebar and get the posts sent straight to your inbox. Also, check out last week's post on The Best Time to Brand Your Business.

Looking for 5 super awesome 2012 Seniors!

I need a team of five awesome, outgoing, photography-loving girls from the class of 2012! I want you to help spread the word about Kathleen Frank Photography. Join my sales team and get lots of cash, photos, and fun presents!

Why join the team?

Beause you earn cash and get to be a model with lots of free photos of yourself!

Who is perfect for my team?

If you are outgoing, crazy fun, and you love all the pictures on this website, you are perfect!

And... you need to part of the 2012 graduating class and live somewhere near Melbourne, Florida or the surrounding areas ;)

What do you have to do?

Spread the word about Kathleen Frank Photography! You will be part of my sales team, and all you have to do is talk up Kathleen Frank Photography in any way you can!

What do you get?

• A free mini portrait session with 5-10 images of your awesome self!

• $50 for every person you send my way who books a session! $50!!!!!

• Get 5 people to book a session with me, you get $50 for each referral ($250!) and a full senior portrait session for yourself with $400 in free print products!

• Get 10 people to book a session with me, you get $50 for each referral ($500!) and a full senior portrait session for yourself with $1000 in free print products!

• Special prizes and presents just for having fun with the sales team! Think awesome gift cards to things like Starbucks and itunes!

• A team of new friends! You will have lots of chances to hang out and model with the rest of the girls on the team, who are just as awesome as you!

I am only accepting 5 girls, so contact me ASAP if you are interested!

Just send an email to kathleen@kathleenfrankphotography.com, and make sure you tell me your name, high school, and send me the links to your facebook, myspace, and/or twitter pages

.

Ilea :: Maternity Portrait Session Melbourne, Florida

Brett told jokes, Ilea laughed, and they both swooned over that adorable belly!  I had such a lovely afternoon photographing Ilea's maternity session, and I am so excited to see their family grow.  They are already so in love with Liam that I can't imagine them loving him any more when he is actually born!

Since little baby Liam will be the star of all of the photos soon enough, this session was all about Mom and her gorgeous baby bump!  We found some fun props, a great location to give it an edgier feel, and Ilea rocked it like a seasoned model!  Brett even did some rockin' modeling himself!

Enjoy :)

This is Ilea and Brett's first child, and I am telling you, they are going to be amazing parents.  Please leave them some love in the comments and let Ilea and Brett know how excited you are for them!

[for photographers] the best time to brand your business - or - 5 ways to find your photography style

My brain has been in processing mode lately, which is pretty much a hazy cloud of muck. I have been running full steam ahead for so long now, trying to finish the website design.  But now, the marathon is over, the website is live, and the hazy cloud is starting to lift and some clarity is shining through.

Mostly, I have been learning about branding, not just design.  I wanted to overhaul my brand. Not an easy task!

So... What did I learn first? I learned that step one of branding your business is deciding when it is the right time to really brand your business.  

When should you brand your business

I hated this first lesson. I fought it tooth and nail. I wanted to jump out of the gate branded. Weeks after I got my dSLR, I wanted a custom logo, perfect business cards, and a killer website. 

The problem was that I didn't know what my brand was yet. I was unable to make any real design and branding decisions because I didn't know what I wanted to portray to the public. I had all of these kind of, sort of ideas of what I wanted my business to be, but I could barely communicate them to myself. How on earth was I going to create a brand!?

So, if you can't brand your business right away, when should you brand your business?  

Brand your business when, and only when, you have found your photography style.

Otherwise, you will waste a ton of time and money. 

You will still need to have a website or a blog and business cards, but you can keep everything fairly simple and cost effective.  Then, when you have figured out your style and what you want your business to say, you can put some good money and time into branding.

So... how do you find your style?

1. Master your camera.

Your style won't be able to emerge if you don't know what your camera can do. Know the limitation and capabilities of your camera. Get an understanding of aperture, shutter speed, iso, and light. Learn how they all work together and how your camera handles each one of them. Learn all of the technical stuff so your vision and style can grow.

2. Shoot and Edit Constantly

And I mean constantly! With both your camera and your editing software! You will have a crazy fast learning curve if you are using your camera and editing every day or almost every day. The more you play, the more you will start to see yourself falling into trends of what you prefer and what you dislike. You will also learn how to fix things you don't like and cultivate things you do.

3. Think about what you love

Spend some quiet time thinking about what you love in a photograph. What is it that you want to capture? What makes your heart sing when you look at a photo? Write down notes about what you like and don't like in other people's work, and then write some notes about your own work. Put some good mental energy into finding your style.

4. Look for trends in your work

Once you start producing a lot of photos and start building a portfolio, sit down and really look at your body of work. What stands out? How do you edit color? How do you use light? What types of poses do you love? What images do you consider your best? What does all that say about you as a business and as a person? Even if you haven't perfected using your camera and your editing process, you should start to see some trends, some path of where you are heading as an artist.

5. Trust the process

Not knowing my photography style made me feel so frustrated and lost. It also made me incredible impatient. I wanted to figure things out now! Not in six months or a year or five years.  Knowing that it takes time can be a creatively lonely place to be in. But it will happen! You will find your own path to your style and your vision!

When I could look at my gallery of images and see a distinct style, a distinct style that I loved, I knew it was time to brand my business. Before then, I didn't know what to brand. I didn't have a clear message. Eventually, I saw my style start to emerge. The pieces started to fit together, and while my style is certainly not finished evolving, I finally felt good about moving forward with the branding process.

Don't be afraid to be patient with your business.  Give yourself some time to discover the style and message that you want to show with your business.

P.S. What do you think photographers? Does this resonate? Or did I totally miss the mark? Where are you with your branding process?  I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

P.P.S. If you want blog updates sent straight to your inbox, sign up for the email subscription in the sidebar. :)