Master Photography
Master Photography Team
5 photographers (Brent Bergherm, Jeff Harmon, Connor Hibbs, Erica Kay, Brian McGuckin) take turns covering listener questions, photography news, and the famous photography “doodads” of the week with each round table discussion episode. This is the podcast for enthusiast and professional photography nerds who want to level up and master their photography–without the fluff of a “talk show.” The team has a special skill for covering advanced level photography techniques in a way that less experienced photographers can understand. They don’t talk down to newer photographers yet provide tips that help advanced photographers. Come join us as we all work to master our photography together!
Categories: Arts
Listen to the last episode:
Tips For Finding Photography Clients
It is hard for me to believe, but there are some people who can very naturally approach and talk to people. On top of that, some of those may also have the advantage of being well established in their community. Those people may not need the tips offered here. For everyone else, here are some ideas you can use to help you find photography clients.
Practice Working With People
It starts with being willing to practice working with people. It may not be comfortable for you. Believe me, I get it if you don’t find it easy to talk to someone you don’t know. Not only do I feel totally uncomfortable doing that, the other person often feels that, making it doubly awkward.
Don’t give up on it. Just like you can learn how to make good images, you can learn how to work with people. Think about what it took to learn how to use your camera. Maybe you feel like you are still learning how to use your camera (I know I am), but learning how to do anything requires effort and practice. Some have a natural gift to learn something and excel at it, but most of us have to work hard and practice to become proficient with a skill.
Talking to perfect strangers and working through to the point where they may become your clients may never become easy for you. It may never be something you look forward to. But no matter how challenging you find it as you get started, everyone can get good enough at it to win clients.
Start With Kids
One of the easiest ways to get started practicing with people is to reach out to those around you and ask if you can do a shoot with their kids. Parents are usually very happy to have someone make pictures of their children as long as the camera is not pointed at them.
Plus you get to work with the kids. Kids may bring some of their own challenges in being able to sit still enough or follow directions, but they generally are not worried about how they look or get anxious just because you point a camera at them. Adults tend to freeze up considerably as soon as a “real” camera is pointed at them.
Ask your neighbors, the people at your church. If you aren’t completely confident in your photography skills yet, let them know you are practicing but they can have any of the images they want for free if you can practice with their children.
That said, DO NOT PRACTICE ON YOUR KIDS! There are only so many pictures your own kids are going to let you make of them. You don’t want to waste them as you are learning how to do lighting or have the right settings on your camera. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, but the neighbor kid seems to be fine with making a lot of pictures and sort of having fun with it while your own kids find it a chore very quickly.
Farmer’s Market
It may not be called this, but every town has some kind of weekend gathering place where people come together to sell various goods. You can usually buy an inexpensive spot at the market, set up a photo booth of sorts, and then just practice your skills at talking to people and inviting them to come and make a picture with you.
You don’t have to be perfect with your lighting or camera settings. You don’t have to be great at talking to people. This is a chance to practice with a wide variety of people and improve all of these skills at the same time.
These markets tend to be in the middle of the day when there is very harsh sunlight, so you will need some kind of structure to shoot under. You could ask around to borrow a pop up shade,
Previous episodes
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528 - Finding and Communicating With Clients Thu, 14 Apr 2022
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527 - Making Good Headshots With Levi Sim Mon, 01 Mar 2021
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526 - How To Get Your Photography Website Noticed Thu, 11 Feb 2021
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525 - 5 Reasons Every Photographer Needs An L-Bracket Thu, 04 Feb 2021 - 0h
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524 - Luminosity Masking and Lumenzia v9 Thu, 14 Jan 2021 - 0h
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523 - 2021 Photography Predictions Thu, 07 Jan 2021
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522 - Stretch Your Photography Skills in 2021 Thu, 24 Dec 2020
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521 - Color Space Workflow Thu, 17 Dec 2020 - 0h
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520 - Getting Started With Team and Individual Sports Photography Sat, 12 Dec 2020
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519 - White Balance – AWB, Presets, Gray Card, or ExpoDisc? Thu, 19 Nov 2020
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518 - HIGTS – Fall Family Portrait Thu, 12 Nov 2020 - 0h
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517 - Shutter Actuation Count Thu, 05 Nov 2020 - 0h
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516 - What Can a Photographer Do With $200? Fri, 09 Oct 2020 - 0h
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515 - Our Creative Spaces Thu, 01 Oct 2020
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514 - How To Price and License Your Photos Thu, 17 Sep 2020 - 0h
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513 - Sharing On Social Media, Vibrant Sunset Colors, and Choosing a Laptop Screen Fri, 11 Sep 2020 - 0h
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512 - How To Take Photos Using a Telescope Thu, 03 Sep 2020
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511 - What Does image.canon Mean For Photographers? Fri, 28 Aug 2020
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510 - Get Ready For 2020 Changes to Google Images Search Fri, 21 Aug 2020 - 0h
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509 - Most Fun With Photography Thu, 13 Aug 2020 - 0h
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508 - How I Got The Shot – Details About The Creation Of 5 Landscape Photos Thu, 06 Aug 2020
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507 - Sony A7s3 and other Sony tips with Juan Pons Thu, 30 Jul 2020
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506 - 9 Tips For Young Beginning Photographers Thu, 23 Jul 2020 - 0h
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505 - Shooting Comets Like Neowise Fri, 17 Jul 2020
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504 - Canon Announcements with Mary Malinconico Thu, 09 Jul 2020 - 0h
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503 - Lens Filter Talk with Matt Bishop Thu, 02 Jul 2020 - 0h
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502 - The Curious Case Of The Decaying Photo Thu, 25 Jun 2020
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501 - Ideas To Get You Shooting This Summer Thu, 18 Jun 2020 - 0h
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500 - Guide To Screen Calibration Using DisplayCal Sat, 13 Jun 2020
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499 - Overcoming A Failure To Save A Shoot Fri, 05 Jun 2020 - 0h
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498 - 5 Things Photographers Need In A Computer Monitor Fri, 29 May 2020 - 0h
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497 - 5 Things That Should Be On Every Photographer’s Pre-Shoot Checklist Fri, 22 May 2020 - 0h
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496 - Shoot Your Fruits and Vegetables! Thu, 14 May 2020 - 0h
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495 - Creative Juices Contest Winner – Dee Cusick Thu, 07 May 2020 - 0h
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494 - Creative Juices Photo Contest Winners Thu, 30 Apr 2020
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493 - Canon R5 Confirmations and Rumors Thu, 23 Apr 2020 - 0h
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492 - Raw Defaults in Lightroom Classic 9.2 Thu, 16 Apr 2020 - 0h
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491 - Different ways of shooting macro with Levi Sim Fri, 10 Apr 2020
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490 - Quarantine Resources For Photographers Thu, 02 Apr 2020 - 0h
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489 - 20 Steps To a Professional Self Portrait Thu, 26 Mar 2020
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488 - Six Creative Portrait Images With Connor Hibbs Thu, 19 Mar 2020
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487 - Wet Scanning Developed Film Thu, 12 Mar 2020
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486 - Six Fine Art Photography Business Tips Thu, 05 Mar 2020 - 0h
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485 - Photoshop Has Turned 30! Thu, 27 Feb 2020
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484 - Photography is all about ____? Thu, 20 Feb 2020 - 0h
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483 - Challenging Portrait Shoot Thu, 13 Feb 2020
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482 - Software Updates Stats and Listener Q&A Thu, 06 Feb 2020
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481 - Photoshop for iPad with Aaron Nace Thu, 30 Jan 2020
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480 - Back Button Focus Irrelevant in 2020? Thu, 23 Jan 2020 - 0h
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479 - Portraits, Locations, and Gear with Connor Hibbs Thu, 16 Jan 2020