Chris Christoff

Santa Fe Workshop, Part 3

Location, location, location”¦ after a great first day in studio and a bombardment of lighting know-how from Joe it was time for us to go on location. Our class of fourteen was divided into four teams of three and a team of two. Tuesday’s location was a Masonic Temple in downtown Santa Fe, this place reminded me of the set of The Shining, a big kitchen, a ballroom and except for us, not a soul around, yet plenty of interesting places to shoot. Wednesday’s location was a beautiful bed & breakfast just outside of Santa Fe, located on an eleven-acre horse farm. As I took a brief break, I looked out over the farm and off in the distance was a wall of snow-capped mountains, just beautiful. (more…)

Why People take Nature Photography Workshops

Over years of first taking and then giving photographic workshops, I’ve come to realize that there are a number of reasons people attend. Understanding and responding to those reasons is critical both for marketing my workshops but also for creating the best experience for my workshop participants. (more…)

Splash and pour shots

One of the most fun types of shoots we get asked to do regularly is the pour shot. I personally like the pour shot because it’s technically challenging, visually arresting and sometimes unpredictable. (more…)

How many is too many?

I read somewhere recently that the fewer images you show your clients, the more sales you will make.

I think about this a lot. I think about it pretty much every time I’m putting together images from a session to show a client.

Let’s say that we shoot an engagement session together and from that session I have 200 images. On the first pass I’ll probably narrow that number down to about 80. On the second pass I’ll begin to drop images that are in the same style and the same pose ( there’s no reason to have 12 images of a couple sitting the exact same way.) By the time I’m done I might have 30 to 50 images left to show.

Is that too many? I think that if you asked a lot of photographers most of them would say “yes.” But, here’s my problem: I don’t think I have ever shown a selection of images to a client where the client didn’t pick out at least one image that I personally think is not good. (more…)

Selling for Photographers – Part 2

Preparing for the Sale

The next step is to actually make sure you’re ready for the approach, and the ultimate sale. Do you have business cards ready? Contracts? Your calendar? Nothing turns off a potential customer quicker than an unprepared salesperson. They are trusting you to take their money and deliver a product – and if you seem “off” or flaky in any way, they would prefer to not give you money.

You should develop scripts – for the phone, and for in person. You will stick with these scripts as much as possible. You will refine them over time, yes, but for now you practice them until the words roll smoothly.

“All the world is a stage “¦” – Shakespeare (more…)

Scheduling the Oregon Workshop

One of the more mundane aspects of giving a photographic workshop is scheduling what days it’ll be given. Usually several considerations, both logistical and artistic play into the decision, and the workshop I’m currently giving in the Bandon, Oregon area is no exception.

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Social networking for photographers

Most of the posts here so far have been done as articles, in other words one sided lectures as opposed to discussions. I’d like this to be more of an open ended discussion, please share your experiences and ideas for making social networking work. (more…)

Scouting the Oregon Workshop

(This is the first of a series of posts I’ll be making from the road during a workshop I’m giving along the Southern Oregon coast. It’s my hope that this series will be of interest both to photographers looking to take workshops in the future, as well as photographers giving workshops.)

For me, one of the most important parts of giving a photo workshop is the scouting, spending (depending on the workshop) one or more days scouting. (more…)

What clients want.

Photography from the clients’ point of view.
by Jen Buchanan, Design Partner of Buchanan Studios, Inc.

I’m not a photographer, but I do work with them. I’m a Graphic Designer and I occasionally get the chance to hire photographers. It doesn’t happen very often, usually due to budgets. In my time as a designer I’ve learned several things about creative professionals and how they work. I’ve got a few tips for photographers on how to make the whole process run more smoothly and help ensure repeat business. True, I’ve dealt mostly with commercial photographers, but I think these tips will work for most anyone. (more…)

Kathakali: Kerala’s Dance-Drama

I’ve just returned from Kerala, India where I’ve been leading a 2 weeks photo-expedition, and I’m already suffering from acute withdrawal symptoms. No matter how many times I travel to photograph in South and South-East Asia, I still feel such symptoms when I return home, and I realize that the intensity of my photography, whether during festivals and rituals or just plain-vanilla street photography, is drug-like. (more…)