This tutorial will show you how to create a photoshop action that will resize and watermark your images to make them blog ready.

Jen Shannon Photography

I am SOOO excited to be doing this installment of ROP! In my pursuit of turning my midwest depression into art, I decided to search for fine art photographers. After TONS of digging I came across Rhondal McKinney who has done a similar project with Illinois landscapes. Fine art, as it relates to photography, is a project or photograph series that is created to fulfill the creative vision of the artist. With that said, see below.

Rhondal McKinney

1. What inspires me about his work?

We’re not talking about the 3 C’s here. I love Rhondal’s work because it evokes a feeling that I’ve long dealt with. It evokes the rolling land depression, the surrounding depression of cornfields and farmland, and the nothingness that is the boonies of Illinois.

2. What inspires me about him?

I don’t know Rhondal personally and I couldn’t find a blog.

3. What is your favorite blog article?

Though I couldn’t find a blog, I wanted to mention that Rhondal has his work displayed in many exhibits including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Historical Society, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, and the Illinois State Museum.

4. How did you find Rhondal?

I found Rhondal after doing an exhaustive search for fine art photographers. I can’t believe what comes up when I search fine art photography. I see these wedding photographers calling themselves fine art photographers, yet they have no fine art on their site and their work, well, I hate to pass judgement because it is subjective, but their work just isn’t anything special. It looks like something taken with a point and shoot by Uncle Bob’s cousin. With the definition of fine art as it relates to photography, I can think of very few ways wedding photography could be considered fine art, but again, art is subjective.

5. If you could ever meet Rhondal, what would you want to learn from him?

I would want to learn what inspires him and where he gets inspiration for his work.

Jen Shannon Photography, Fine Art Photography

For future reference…. One of the things about the e-learning sessions that make it harder to blog is that a lot of the questions are similar to ones I’ve posted to my blog before. So I may not post 3 questions from each session a week.

1. How do you handle pricing for family, friends, or people that you know? Do you give them a discount?

I’m going to answer this question from a blogging standpoint instead of just saying what I said to her, because I think there is more to it that the outside world may not understand is implied if I only type what I said to Lindsay.

For family, friends, and people I know pricing… I DO NOT DISCOUNT MY SERVICES! Here’s why. I have found that they will not take you seriously or respect you as a professional photographer if you’re always discounting yourself. So instead I will do one of three things. If I am very close to someone and feel compelled I will gift my photography services. I never gift wedding photography services because no one else (except maybe the parents of the bride or groom) is giving a gift worth as much as my wedding packages so why should I? If you are someone I know but I am not close to I will negotiate a deal so I am getting just as much out of it as the other person. For example: A friend of mine has a boyfriend who needs head shots done. Instead of charging her my portrait rate of $250 I negotiated a deal with her so I get something out of the deal that is close to my portrait rate. This is not something I do for everyone I know. Lastly if it is someone I know, if I feel compelled I might add a value added service to their package but I will not discount my prices. For example: I might add an extra hour of coverage or throw in a trash the dress session, but I do not discount my prices.

One thing I’ve said over and over again (feel free to use this) is I AM NOT WORTH ANY LESS JUST BECAUSE I KNOW YOU! If someone I know asks me for a discount or expects it I will not do any work for them. That’s a classic sign of someone that doesn’t respect what you do. Ultimately I will not do any work for people I know unless I am gifting it or getting something that has just as much value as my charges out of it. It’s not right or fair to expect someone who has built something from the ground up to work for free or cheap just because they know you. There is so much work that goes into each session/wedding. It’s not just a “show up at this location and shoot for an hour then send me a disc with the images” kind of thing. I went into detail about this in an earlier blog post that you can read about here.

2. It’s sad that so many photographers charge so little and include the disc of images with it.

While this wasn’t a question, I thought it was a statement worth talking about. So we spoke about it. Any regular consumer has access to a digital camera, a cd burner, and a printer. Because of this they think a disc of images shouldn’t cost them anything. Here’s the problem. We spend hours upon hours and days upon days editing your photos and creating artwork. If you bought a canvas and some paint and created a painting that took hours/days to create would you turn around and sell it for the cost of the canvas and paint? No. Photography isn’t any different. Photography is an art form. Even though we are taking pictures of your family, we are still creating art so you are purchasing the art from us, not just point and shoot pictures printed on your quick printing HP printer at home. You’re paying for skill, quality, experience, and artwork. This is a very hot debate in the photography industry among photographers and the photographers who give the discs or images away are hurting the industry.

3. Do you shoot in RAW or JPEG? Why?

I shoot RAW. RAW files are more forgiving on over and under exposed images (even professionals have a few of those). It also makes color balancing easy. I’m not the type of photographer that likes to worry about white balance issues on the front end. If something ends up not being color balanced properly I can take care of that very quickly on the back end and apply it to all of the images affected. It’s easier for me to worry about controlling the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed on the front end and color correct on the back end.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Movie 7 from Jen Shannon on Vimeo.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

1) Do you use Lightroom or Photoshop?

I use both. For bulk editing I use Lightroom because I can apply my presets to all of the photos. Then I select my favorites and do some further editing in Photoshop and post those to my blog.

2) I’m new to using Lightroom. How do you create a preset?

To create a Lightroom preset, edit the photo the way you want it to look. I suggest NOT playing with the brightness or exposure because that will vary from shot to shot. You want to apply the preset first then adjust the exposure. To create a preset in Lightroom, once you’ve edited the photo to the effect you’re trying to achieve, go to “Develop” and then “New Preset.” A new window will appear. I suggest creating a folder for all of the presets your create. For example I have one labeled “Jen’s Presets” and another labeled “Jen’s Mix.” Once you’ve created the new folder, name your preset, choose your folder from the drop down menu and save. A helpful hint for those who don’t know, to apply the same effect to multiple photos, select the photo you already have the preset applied to then hold the shift key and select the last photo you want to apply the preset to and under the “develop” mode, select “sync” and press ok.

3) What is your lighting set up for receptions?

I use one of my backdrop stands and attach a flash to it and use Pocket Wizards to trigger them. I also use another flash for my camera to get more even directional lighting. Because equipment is really expensive and I don’t believe in going into debt for more equipment when you have what you need to start with I rent extra flashes for the events. Until I have the extra money to spend on really expensive equipment I’ll continue to rent.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Because cameras are accessible to everyone people have the misconception that they can be professional photographers. Sometimes I just want to say, “Here, you take my camera and let’s see what my end result it compared to yours. I guarantee it’s going to be better.” Why? Why would it be better? I’ve been doing photography for 6 years. I’ve been in business for two years. I have an education in graphic design and photography as well as various certifications and a degree in business. Not only do I have the technical education to run a business and understand photography but I’ve studied under two amazing photographers and have learned to develop into my own photographer. Not only that but I’ve developed the “eye” for it. Sure, anyone can take a photo, but it takes skill behind the camera to make an amazing photo. It’s not how good the camera is, it’s the skill behind the camera that makes a good photographer.

Ok, now that my little rant is over I want to post something that many many many people came across yesterday that has become a bit of a viral thing in the photography community. I’ll share my thoughts below. You can read it directly on the link by clicking here. I might add she must not value photography very much. If you look at her site, she rants about the below yet her and her fiance’s photo is out of focus…

I feel like my second post SHOULD be on something still more broad-scale about my wedding – our venue or color combos or something – but there’s a topic I need to discuss first: photographers. Because I have a lot to say!

For background: I was at a bridal fair this weekend – the Davenport Jaycees Bridal Expo, which I believe is the largest annual bridal show in the QC area – and it was really great, overall. My mom and sister went with me and we gorged ourselves on cake samples and cream puffs dipped in the chocolate fountain and even a mini wine tasting so obviously it was fun! I got to wear a sticker that proudly proclaimed me as “The Bride!” and 100 vendor booths later, I left weighed down with a large bag of pamphlets, price lists, DVD samples, and even a candy ring (score!). Now that I have a date and venue secured, I found it very helpful to ask some of my specific questions about that site to some potential vendors (like “Hey, DJ, would you also be able to hook me up with sound for the ceremony if it’s taking place in that courtyard area at Black Hawk State Park?”) Good stuff, invaluable really.

So I came home and started sorting through all my newly acquired information, dutifully separating everything into its appropriate category in the wedding planning binder that my cousin Susan very thoughtfully made for me. But the binder wasn’t shutting well and I realized the biggest culprit was the bulging photography section. I realized I’d received many more photography brochures than any other type of vendor so I decided I should sort through them briefly and weed out the ones that were obviously not going to be a good fit for Mike and I.

And I learned this: I should have become a photographer.

Wedding packages that START at $2,500 – and go up to $7,500 or more? Are you serious? Now, let my be clear: I’m not trying to undervalue the skills that a very good photographer must have and the extreme importance of having a very good photographer (as, after all, there are no ‘do-overs’ on the moments they are capturing!). I also understand that their equipment is expensive, they are sacrificing their Saturday night, and it is a job that requires a high level of mental focus and intensity. So I could understand paying them a couple hundred dollars an hour for this job.

But something like $500 an hour, or more? Hey guys, my job requires a lot of mental work and precision and sometimes I work on Saturday nights too. So I’m just saying.

On the other hand, I don’t really blame them for their high costs because, clearly, they wouldn’t have those prices if brides weren’t paying them. And with the average cost of a wedding at something like $22,000, I guess it actually totally makes sense since all my wedding planning guides suggest putting between 10-15% of your wedding budget toward your photographer. But I think every part of that is just entirely insane.

Anyway, once I’d weeded out the insanely expensive photographers (about half), then I started actually looking at what packages the rest offered. And sweet Jesus, here’s the second point of insanity with photographers: I don’t need your fancy leather bound books and $300 print credit and three 8 x 10s and eight wallets. No thank you. Photographers, listen: I want you to come to my wedding, take a lot of really good pictures, and then give them to me on a CD with a personal use copyright release. It’s that simple. Hell, I don’t even care that much if you color correct them and crop them and fancy them up for me – I’m a 21st century girl who is pretty computer-savvy, so I know my way around editing a photo. And I know of about 700 places where I can get them printed on my own, almost always with the aid of an online coupon code. Yes, it would be nice if you offer an online gallery so my family and future in-laws can check them out and order the ones that they would like to have prints of. And I’ll order some from you, too, in all likelihood – like the big ones that I want to frame for my future house. But I definitely don’t want your coffee table leather-bound book that costs $400. I want to print my own 4×6s and go to town with my scissors and my stickers and my massive collection of scrapbooking materials. Many aspects of my wedding will be Do-It-Yourself projects, which I like, so why would I not have a DIY picture album? I like scrapbooking and I like personalization and I want a hand-made book of love to be what’s on my coffee table, even if it’s not quite as fancy-looking as the one you’d “give” me as part of my $7 million photography package.

In conclusion: Now that I’ve weeded out the Wedding-Packages-For-Billionaires and the Wedding-Packages-For-Uncreative-People (no offense intended to billionaires or uncreative people!), I am left with about three potential options that all seem pretty solid. So I’m actually very happy with that process of elimination! I feel less overwhelmed and now am able to more deeply investigate what these three can offer me and what would fit best. And, as a bonus, my planning binder now closes as it’s supposed to and my trash can is instead a bit more bulging

Next up: Caterers. I’m putting it off because it’s so overwhelmingly beyond me… but I gotta suck it up soon and take care of it. I’ll keep you posted, Engagement Diary!

This is a common thought and frustration among brides. They don’t understand what goes into doing their wedding photography. Let me give you a little glimpse of end-to-end processes that justify why we charge so much.

1. First we get the phone call or email of interest which of course takes time to responsd to (this is more of a minute detail but is important).

2. We drive really far to meet with the bride and groom (or whoever she brings) on the chance that they might book us. There’s the gas cost of a gas guzzling SUV that get’s 14mpg city and 17 mpg highway.

3. At this meeting we lug all of our studio samples to them. These studio samples are not free. Sample albums still run several hundred dollars. Folio samples also run several hundred dollars. Gallery wraps run several hundred dollars. We usually buy our clients coffee which is only a few dollars but that is still an expense we incur on the chance they might book us. We also have print samples that can run us around $50, business cards that cost several hundred dollars (I like quality cards, you can get them cheaper but in my opinion a cheap quality card is an indicator of someone who doesn’t pay attention to detail or care to show quality in their business).

4. After the meeting the bride books you. Yay! That’s fabulous. To book we drive way out yonder to meet our clients again (more gas), we print off two copies of the contracts (paper costs), we print off our pricing sheets for their references (more paper costs), and we give them a nice shiny black folder to keep all of the info they need in (we keep the other signed contract but again, cost of the envelopes). Then I come home, scan everything, and back it up to an external hard drive and an online server. Then I enter the info into Quickbooks (a software expense and time).

5. Then we correspond back and forth with the bride on anything she has questions about. We also reach out to her other vendors to introduce ourselves and understand the order of events for the day (that way we don’t have to stress out the bride with these kind of questions). That involves a lot of time. Let me make a statement here. Time is money. Heaven forbid we should get paid for our time. Well, we need to get paid for our time just like everyone else who works any other job gets paid for their time. Moving on… We also scout out the location (which involves more gas for driving) and do research on great shooting locations.

6. Then there is the complementary engagement session. It’s free for the bride and groom and the package doesn’t cost less if they don’t want it because it’s complementary for them but for me it’s another cost that I eat out of pocket. I do this because I like to get to know my couples before their wedding and it builds my engagement portfolio. I drive out to where they want to do their engagement photos (again, more gas) and spend an hour or two taking engagement photos of the couple. I drive back (more time and gas) and I spend hours on the back end culling the best photos and editing them. That takes about 4 hours of work. Then I spend another hour posting them to my blog, facebook, an online gallery (which is paid for monthly), etc and then send an email to the bride and groom letting them know the photos are ready to be viewed. Then we back up all of the images to DVD’s, an external hard drive and an online server so we don’t lose any photos should something happen (so there’s the cost of our online back up service which is a monthly fee, the external hard drive expenses, and buying DVD’s to back up to).

7. The week before the wedding we finalize all of the details of the wedding with the bride. Again, time is money and it can take quite a bit of time to finish all of the last minute details.

8. The night before the wedding we spend an hour or so cleaning all of our gear, charging our batteries, and getting all of our equipment ready to be loaded into the car.

9. The day of the wedding we wake up super early, pack up the car and head out to the location I need to be dropped off at to catch the girls getting ready. That’s more in gas. Then my husband, who second shoots for me, drives to where the guys are getting ready and starts getting photos of them. Again, more gas. Oh, and don’t forget the fact that I have a second shooter that typically comes with all of my packages that I have to pay for his time. Just because he’s my husband doesn’t mean he doesn’t get paid for his work. Not to mention the gas we use going all over the place to get pictures.

10. We spend all day at the wedding working hard to get the great shots our brides expect of us. Whether that’s 8 hours or 10 hours they still get the day. We get a 30 minute break to sit and eat and that’s it. Yes, we need to be fed. We can’t spend 12+ hours prepping for your wedding, traveling, shooting, and traveling back home without getting fed. We also use this time to create a small slideshow of a few of the best images from the day to play on a screen at the reception, so we are still working despite it being a break.

11. After the wedding we pack up all of our gear and head home to relax after a long day. That’s only the half of it though. Every other vendor (except videographers) get to render their services at your wedding and that’s that for them. After the wedding, for us, begins the other half of the work we do for your wedding. First, we back up all of the images to DVD’s, an external hard drive and an online server so we don’t lose any photos should something happen (so there’s the cost of our online back up service which is a monthly fee, the external hard drive expenses, and buying DVD’s to back up to). This takes a day or so. Then we cull all of the best images from your wedding. This can take a few days in an of itself to do because we take thousands of photos (literally 3-4k) at the wedding between the two of us. We cull them down to under 500 which is challenging and takes a long time. Then we find the ones we like the most, edit them and post them on the blog which can take a half a day or so. Then we go through and edit every single photo to reflect our style of photography which can take a week or two. After that we export the full set of color images into a folder, then reload them into a new Lightroom folder and turn them all to black and white, again this takes about a half a day. Then we export those and burn them to discs. Again cost of time, discs, programs, etc. Then we upload them to an online gallery (which we pay for monthly) for you to view the images. If your package includes a disc of images we then order the DVD folio (the DVD folio itself costs quite a bit because they are hand made) and burn your images to a disc. Then we print the image on the top of the disc. We also include a set of watermarked images for online use. Then we mail it to you. That’s a cost for shipping materials and shipping costs.

12. If your package includes an album then we start the album design. Because I have a background in graphic design I custom design all of my own albums so you’re getting a unique album. Not only does the album cost us hundreds of dollars but the time to design an album takes about a week. So right now you’re looking at around 3-4 weeks of work already, averaging 40 hours per week. You might ask why we say the photos will be ready in 8 weeks. You have to remember your wedding isn’t the only wedding we’re doing all of this for so it may take some time to get to yours.

13. Here are some things I’d also like to mention that are a cost to us but a benefit to you. We must carry liability and equipment insurance. This costs around $350 per year. We also must maintain a proper business license. This costs about $100 every year. We must have good equipment. Just for the basics with an “alright” camera costs $5,000 and some equipment only lasts a couple of years. We also maintain several professional memberships such as Pictage, the [b] school, etc for continuing education in order to provide you with the best products, experience, and photos you can get. We also have monthly fees for our websites so you can see our portfolio and read about us so you can get a good feel of what you’re getting before you even meet with us. We also have to pay to advertise which is thousands of dollars a year. We also pay entrance fees at bridal shows. That doesn’t even include our overhead costs for office supplies such as batteries, ink, paper, folders, staples, etc.

Many times we don’t get to spend time with our families because we are busy editing photos and processing images. We spend more time in front of a computer than an average 40 hour a week IT support person, we spend less time behind the camera than we thought we would, etc. But these are all things we do because we love what we do and we want to succeed. Oh! Don’t forget taxes! Those are a killer!

And please feel free to leave a comment if I missed something here! You can also read a similar article from another photographer, Kathryn Lymburner, here called, “You want me to pay you how much?”

Basically what I’m trying to say is even though many of these costs are smaller costs, they still add up. Sure there are people who will eat these costs to build their portfolio and there is always someone out there who will do it for less but just like any profession, you should get paid what you’re worth. When all is said and done we profit very little. If it were enough for us to live off of I would have quit my day job a long time ago, but I’m not at that point just yet.

Going to what the bride said, she’s right. I understand not every bride has the money to spend a couple of thousand to $7,000 on a wedding photographer, but before you go telling us we are crazy for charging what we charge, I think you should have a little more insight to how things have to be done and what our costs are in order to run a successful photography business. Not everyone can do it. Most people who think it’s easy and jump into it right away are out of business in a year. In photography you get what you pay for.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

Colby and I were heading home from dinner at Williamson’s the other night and he whips out his phone and says, “I want to read something to you and get your opinion.” He proceeds to read me some blog article from a blog talking about customer service. I call it Client service because I like Client better than customer. Anywho… The article talks about this guy who goes into Starbucks and was waiting in line to get his coffee. The lady in front of him who has already purchased her tea explains to the cashier that she over sugared her tea and wants to know if they’ll give her another one at no charge. The cashier says she needs to get a manager and let the manager decide. Basically the blog article criticizes the cashier for not being able to make a decision to eat the 10 cents and give her another tea bag, cup, and water. Instead she had to get a manger. He claims it should have been a no brainer decision to just do what it takes to make the customer happy. It is a minimal cost to Starbucks and keeps the client happy. While I agree that the best thing to do would just be to give her another tea bag, cup, and water at no charge I don’t think the guy criticizing her for getting a manager realizes that many people who are not on a management level that work in retail do not have the authority to give away a product.

Beside my criticism of his observation this brings up something I wanted to talk about for our industry. How do you decipher when you should just eat a small cost to make a Client happy or when you should say no? It’s a tough question. On one hand if you do eat the cost you could have a Client for life, referrals from that Client, etc, but on the other hand you might just make that person happy and not get any additional benefits of it. Is it enough to just put an extra skip in our Client’s step without getting something in return? I’d have to say it is. Sometimes it’s just about putting a smile on the Client’s face. If that lady ultimately got another tea for free from Starbucks would it generate referrals from her to Starbucks? Probably not. If they wouldn’t do it for free, would she never go to Starbucks again? Probably would go to Starbucks again.

That brings me to another question. How do you decipher if a Client is just complaining because they’ve learned that if they complain about things they get what they want? That’s also a tough question. Last Friday night my husband and I went to Chili’s for dinner. I have an intolerance for corn kernels. I don’t know why corn in things like corn syrup and such don’t bother me, but corn kernels tear me up. I ordered their BBQ chicken salad with no corn. They bring the salad out and it has corn all over in it. I send it back. They bring me another salad that does not appear to have corn in it. I start eating it and look down to find corn hiding throughout the salad. I just picked the corn out of the salad, brought the waitress over and instead of complaining told her that she needed to just let the chef know that he could cause serious harm to people if he isn’t careful. The manager came over, apologized, and took my meal off of our bill. I had every intention of paying for it but it was good customer service that the waitress, instead of just relaying my message to the chef, relayed it to the manager who then came over to “make things right.” It made me happy and I still love Chili’s. In this instance you see that the fault rested on the restaurant for not providing me with what I ordered. With photography it’s more complicated because art is subjective. If you deliver what the Client ordered and they still aren’t happy, do you try to place blame somewhere? Many times a Client will complain just to get something for free and place all of the blame on you. Yes, you might be hurt by it, you might not like what they have to say, and what they’re saying may not even be true, but ultimately the Client is who needs to be happy. That doesn’t mean you need to give anything away for free but I do think we need to get past the blame game. Sometimes it doesn’t matter who’s fault it is. We should want to leave a positive lasting impression on our Client’s. As a society we’ve turned Client services into something where the Client almost feels like they have to apologize when they ask an associate to get something or do something for them. Why is that?

I think the key is to be able to suck up your pride, set aside who’s fault it is, and service your Client the best way you can. If you feel a Client is just trying to complain to get something for free, then consult a photography community and get their opinion. If generally they agree that your work and products represent what you sold to your Client, chances are they might just be complaining to get more out of it. The question then becomes do you give in? I don’t like to look at it as giving in. I like to look at it as an investment in my Client’s long term satisfaction with the job they hired me to do. Unfortunately there is no one answer to how you should deal with your Client’s but ultimately I think it comes down to one principle. Put yourself in your Client’s shoes. Try to understand, from their perspective, what they are telling you. Set aside pointing fingers or placing blame, and do what is in the best interest of both your Client and your company. Sometimes it’s doing nothing. Sometimes it’s giving something. Ultimately, even if it is the Client’s fault, sometimes sucking up the cost of the tea bag, cup, and water will put that extra skip in your Client’s step.

Jen Shannon Photography, Chicago Wedding Photographer

As a new photographer, I completely understand how hard it can be to figure out how to get into the business and the most economical way to do that. Start up costs are not cheap but it can be done without breaking the bank. More importantly, it can be done over time. Here are some Q&A’s from tonight’s session. Again, these e-learning sessions are FREE via Skype. If you’re interested in an virtual coffee e-learning session use the contact us form to send us an email with your information. Again, this is all just my opinion so take it or leave it.

#1) What types of equipment and programs are essential when you’re starting out?

Here’s a myth buster for you. You don’t need all sorts of fancy equipment to start a photography business. If you are passionate about being a photographer and you  have the drive to do what it takes you will succeed. You don’t need a D700 or that Nikon 2.8 70-200mm lens. I started out with a D80 (which I’m still using) and two Quantarray lenses. You don’t need popular name brand lenses to make good images. I have the 18-55 and the 70-300, all for just under $200 at the time I purchased them. You need solid branding so make sure you have a clear vision before you invest in a designer for your logo. Again, I’m lucky that I have a design background so I can do all of my own work but that doesn’t mean you can do the same thing. Hire a pro! Lastly you should have either Lightroom or Aperture. You don’t need Photoshop to start off with. Lightroom is my preference. It makes life so much easier and will run you about $200. You DON’T need Photoshop actions like Totally Rad Actions or Kubota Actions. Define your style before you buy these then use these to make your life easier. Don’t let these actions define your style like so many other photographers do. Then your images will look like everyone else’s images that have purchased these actions. Instead learn your style then learn to manipulate the actions to suit your style. Also, while a Mac is nice, you don’t NEED a Mac. A PC will work.

True story. Many photographers are under the misconception that they have to have all this fancy gear to be a good photographer but in actuality I can hand my fancy hear to you and your pictures won’t look any different than what you’re used to shooting. It’s the skill behind the lens that makes an image great, not the equipment. I know someone who was under this misconception, went out and racked up over 10,000 in credit card debt for fancy gear, a computer, etc. Now this person is facing working at their full time job for a VERY long time to pay off the debt and won’t be able to be a full time photographer because they’ve been swallowed in that debt. I’m very lucky to have started out with what I had and not racked up any business debt but it’s sad to watch your piers drown in their bad decisions. PLEASE don’t go rack up debt.

#2) What’s in your camera bag?

I’m a bit embarrassed to say that I still shoot with a D80. That’s right. My camera back has two D80′s, my Quantarray 3.5 18-55 and 3.5 70-200, my Nikkor 5omm 1.4D, my Nikon 3.5 18-200mm, my macro rings, a Lensbaby, and an SB800. When I shoot weddings I rent pocket wizards and a couple of additional SB800′s. I also carry a bunch of spare batteries, sometimes my Lightsphere (though not really necessary for weddings), and my ShootSac! Who can leave home without a ShootSac?

#3) I see a lot of logos that are just a graphic, some that are a graphic with text, and some that are just text. What do you recommend?

In all honesty I don’t have a preference. Either way your logo will be your face to the world and, like every good brand, will be recognized over time. The Nike swoosh is something everyone recognizes but has no text. You have to decide what fits best for you and run with it. Hire a good designer who will understand your business and create an amazing logo for you. PLEASE DO NOT go to Vista Print or Overnight Prints and do one of their logo designers…. You’ll be doing yourself a favor. I recommend Into the Darkroom and Infinet Design.

Now a little note about my Rock On Photographer installation. I think it is TOTALLY AWESOME that two of the photographers I’ve featured in ROP have started installations of their own about people that inspire them (not necessarily photographers). It just goes to show you that even me, the little person, can inspire the people who inspire me. That’s just wicked awesome!

Phew! Now that that’s done, I introduce you to my ROP #7! I’m really excited about this one! I introduce to you the one and only Becker! Or [b]ecker! Or my ROP [7].

[b]ecker

My little disclaimer: This photo was NOT taken by me. I have no clue who took this photo. I took it from one of his blog posts. You might be wondering why I decided to use this photo. Well, to me, it represents him really well. Funny, ambitious, and he has the look of success in his goggles! lol!

[b]ecker’s Blog

[b]ecker’s Website

Follow [b]ecker on Twitter

Fan [b]ecker on Facebook

[b]ecker is one of the funniest wedding photographers I’ve come across. I’ve been following his blog for about a year and just love it. I joined the [b] school (which I’ll talk about later) last year (I think November) and have been super happy with it. See below for more info. Also, I just realized, [b]ecker is the first male ROP I’ve done. So congrats for being the first [b]ecker!  Maybe you’ll win a ROPy award for that! j/k!

1. What inspires me about his work?

The three C’s. If you follow my ROP series, you know what that is. I also love his ambition. He has clearly taken some huge risks that have paid off in huge ways. More on that to come. His work inspires me because I’ve been able to see how he interacts with his clients (on the [b] school) and through his bubbly personality he’s gotten some amazing portfolio work and that bubbly personality shows in his work. It’s fabulous!

2. What inspires me about him?

As I mentioned above, he seems to be a risk taker, specifically with the [b] school which has been open about a year. He saw a need for a photography community that isn’t snarky, that doesn’t pick on the “newbies” and that doesn’t tolerate the “grumpies” (read Fast Track Photographer to familiarize yourself with the grumpies). He also started a series called 10x10x10 which is a series where he talks about what he’s going to be focusing on in 2010. They’ve been really informative and helpful. One of my favorite videos on the [b] school is the Branding 101 video. It helped me to solidify my branding and give me a focus on how to create the logo I’ve created for myself (which I love!) and all thanks the the [b] school/[b]ecker.

3. What is your favorite blog article?

Definitely his post about Jessica Claire’s wedding (she’ll be one of my ROP’s in the coming weeks). For those of you who don’t know, [b]ecker and Jessica dated for awhile. [b]ecker wasn’t the official photographer for Jessica’s wedding but many of her guests were professional photographers who took some great photos. They are definitely my favorite photos he’s done.

Click here to read the article.

4. How did you find [b]ecker?

I believe my friend Monica told me about him (she was my ROP #3). She’s been a member of the [b] school for a long time.

5. If you could ever meet [b]ecker, what would you want to learn from him?

I hate to admit this, but I had the chance to meet [b]ecker when I was in Colorado visiting Monica last April but it just so happened I was spending the day with my in laws who live in Evergreen (a little over an hour outside of Denver). It was a 2 hour drive from Monica’s to my in law’s house and then we spent the day going to Denver, doing some shopping, etc. And by the time we got back to their house I would have had to make the drive to Denver again in rush hour traffic, which just wasn’t happening, not to mention the 2 hour drive back to Monica’s I was going to have to make that same night. So I opted to spend more time with my in laws and have dinner with them (a nice home cooked meal I might add). Sorry [b]… I know, I know.. You see how it is… lol! But Monica had a great time meeting him! It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that I’d like to learn from [b]ecker but I think ultimately I’d like to learn more about networking.

So to [b]ecker, thanks for being such a huge inspiration to me and so many other people! You have found tons of ways to be innovative and spread “photographer love” to other people! Thanks for not being a grumpy! Rock on!