Pet photography workshop. Any thoughts?
Posted 04-07-2010 at 04:38 PM by gizmofizmo
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmofizmo
Hey there, Jamie here, owner of Cowbelly Pet Photography, and teacher of aforementioned workshops. I found this post when my statcounter links forwarded me here, and it also comes up in google. (This forum isn't private FYI).
I wanted to post a link to the workshops website, as opposed to my regular business website which DANAATTHEROCK posted above, which, incidentally, contains no detailed information on the workshops.
2009 Cowbelly Pet Photography Workshops/Traveling Roadshow
For those who have landed here during a google search, I wanted to provide more information for you.
I can tell you guys who this workshop is right for and who it's not right for. I can and do turn people down if I feel they aren't a good fit, so I will be the first to say who should save their money and get their info on forums and in books and other photographers instead. There is nothing wrong with the latter! Some people are looking for appetizers in the way of information, and some need the full meal deal.
To those looking for a quick seminar on how to snap better photos of pets as a hobby, my workshop is not what you are looking for.
It's not designed for amateur photographers looking to improve on a hobby, but still wanting to keep their 9-5 job.
It's not for those who enjoy photography but aren't ready to dedicate 110% of themselves to it and create a full time career making a living doing it.
It's not for those wanting to take pet photos of their friends and relative's pets, or do mini-shoots at malls or stores (which is a completely different business model).
Lastly, it's not designed for those who wish to start a business doing high-volume, studio portrait type work, or what I call "sears portrait studio/yuen lui pet portraits".
It IS designed, from the ground up, for those wanting to start, and grow, and operate a full-time, profitable successful photography BUSINESS, specializing in high-quality, artistic documentary-style pet photography, provided through a boutique type photography business. Photography that is most similar to modern portrait photography of children and families, in natural light outside of a studio. Modern pet photography as it were.
It's for photographers who are completely ready, in every respect, to devote 110% of their lives to building a career doing what they love, with the sole intention of making a good full time living at pet photography.
It's 3 full days of 9 hour days overflowing with information. It's exhausting and exhilarating. 30 hours of the best information on the market on pet photography, taught by a successful career pet photographer.
To that end, only 1/3 of the workshop (day 2) is on actual photographic techniques and working with domestic animals and animal behavior (and working with the owners- the human clients).
The second 1/3 of the workshop (day 1) is on business- marketing pet photography to the pet industry, writing business plans and marketing plans specific to pet photography, the power of networking in the local pet industry, branding types that impact pet owners, legal requirements and model releases and the complications of working with pets, (note: the workshop includes a sample 2-page pet photography contract and all legal forms that one needs to legitimately run a business- these were drawn up by a lawyer for the workshop- the forms have a $300+ value). It also includes free lifetime membership to a forum for professional pet photographers, where they can get individual help and have questions answered by me personally.
Also on Friday, we have a guest speaker either on the topic of branding specific to photography, or the practical use of natural and auxiliary lighting working with pets (both indoors and out), or networking experts who have extensive experience in the pet industry. The last workshop we had a successful popular dog magazine editor speak to the group for 90 minutes about getting published and many of the attendees are now working for the magazine in different cities, which I think is so cool!
Then, on the 3rd day of the workshop (the last 1/3rd) we go over PP (post-processing) and workflow and tips on how to make images look amazing with software. We process a shoot from the day before from start-to-finish in Lightroom2, and use Photoshop CS3/4 to do final edits and practice quick-tips that I have created that work in less than 2 minutes. It's *really* easy to make pets look funny in PP, and I talk about all of the ways to avoid this, and move beyond the 'amateur' processing look that just screams 'newbie'. Along with processing we extensively cover setting pricing, different pricing strategies, and different 'tiers' of pet photography in terms of pricing and branding and experience, we talk about constant revenue streams and how to increase revenue by getting a photographer's rep and/or selling stock, what companies buy pet images and what the differences are between doing commercial assignment work and doing private client portrait work. We extensively cover different product options and the best products to sell to our clients, printing, and in-house/DIY for printing/products VS outsourcing. Last but not least, on day three we extensively cover web stuff- the #1 most important part of a business. We talk about SEO and good web design, and incorporate what we learned about branding into our web talk.
So it's 28+ hours of instruction. Which amounts to what I estimate as being several hundreds of hours saved in research by each attendee. I have already done all of the hard work! LOL.
The workshops also include a resource CD, with links to every valuable bookmark I have saved over the past 7 years- organized by type- from labs and vendors and products, to options for web designers- both html and flash templates, to legal requirements and how to file your business structure (including information on how to form an LLC), photography tips and photography blogs, and loads more links. The CD also contains the sample legal forms- the non-compete contract, the NDA, the pet photography contract, all of my email templates that I use when sending emails to clients (i.e gallery notifications, shoot confirmations, etc), discount codes for products (this year we have Kevin Kubota, Borrowlenses.com, simplycanvas and there will be more), recommended readings, price pdfs from the popular labs, excel worksheets for tracking business and personal goals and profit and loss statements, the list goes on and on and on.
So you could look at it like it's 3 workshops rolled into one-
1. 'how to start a pet photography business' with all of the business stuff (which is FAR more important than the photography. You can be an amazingly talented photographer but without a filled pipeline you merely have an expensive hobby, not a business. )
2. photographing animals, and how to get awesome shots of them and everything that goes into the shoot and working with the owner and on location, and
3. post processing and software and creative post-shoot techniques, and increasing revenue after the shoot.
In the case of photography workshops, you really do get what you pay for. The more research you do on this the more apparent it will become. Saving money on education only means you will spend more in the long run, either in time, money or stress (or all of the above). This workshop is designed for those looking for the highest quality pet photography education they can get. Nothing is skimped on here.
Anyhoo, hope that helps someone out there reading this.
If you have any questions pertaining to the workshop feel free to contact either me or my assistant Christina through the contact page on my workshops website.
For those NOT looking to start a business but would love some free advice on pet photography, check out my Q & A page on my blog here:
Q & A FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | Cowbelly Pet Photography Seattle Blog
Cheers!
Jamie Pflughoeft
Owner/Photographer
Cowbelly Pet Photography
Seattle, Washington
I wanted to post a link to the workshops website, as opposed to my regular business website which DANAATTHEROCK posted above, which, incidentally, contains no detailed information on the workshops.
2009 Cowbelly Pet Photography Workshops/Traveling Roadshow
For those who have landed here during a google search, I wanted to provide more information for you.
I can tell you guys who this workshop is right for and who it's not right for. I can and do turn people down if I feel they aren't a good fit, so I will be the first to say who should save their money and get their info on forums and in books and other photographers instead. There is nothing wrong with the latter! Some people are looking for appetizers in the way of information, and some need the full meal deal.
To those looking for a quick seminar on how to snap better photos of pets as a hobby, my workshop is not what you are looking for.
It's not designed for amateur photographers looking to improve on a hobby, but still wanting to keep their 9-5 job.
It's not for those who enjoy photography but aren't ready to dedicate 110% of themselves to it and create a full time career making a living doing it.
It's not for those wanting to take pet photos of their friends and relative's pets, or do mini-shoots at malls or stores (which is a completely different business model).
Lastly, it's not designed for those who wish to start a business doing high-volume, studio portrait type work, or what I call "sears portrait studio/yuen lui pet portraits".
It IS designed, from the ground up, for those wanting to start, and grow, and operate a full-time, profitable successful photography BUSINESS, specializing in high-quality, artistic documentary-style pet photography, provided through a boutique type photography business. Photography that is most similar to modern portrait photography of children and families, in natural light outside of a studio. Modern pet photography as it were.
It's for photographers who are completely ready, in every respect, to devote 110% of their lives to building a career doing what they love, with the sole intention of making a good full time living at pet photography.
It's 3 full days of 9 hour days overflowing with information. It's exhausting and exhilarating. 30 hours of the best information on the market on pet photography, taught by a successful career pet photographer.
To that end, only 1/3 of the workshop (day 2) is on actual photographic techniques and working with domestic animals and animal behavior (and working with the owners- the human clients).
The second 1/3 of the workshop (day 1) is on business- marketing pet photography to the pet industry, writing business plans and marketing plans specific to pet photography, the power of networking in the local pet industry, branding types that impact pet owners, legal requirements and model releases and the complications of working with pets, (note: the workshop includes a sample 2-page pet photography contract and all legal forms that one needs to legitimately run a business- these were drawn up by a lawyer for the workshop- the forms have a $300+ value). It also includes free lifetime membership to a forum for professional pet photographers, where they can get individual help and have questions answered by me personally.
Also on Friday, we have a guest speaker either on the topic of branding specific to photography, or the practical use of natural and auxiliary lighting working with pets (both indoors and out), or networking experts who have extensive experience in the pet industry. The last workshop we had a successful popular dog magazine editor speak to the group for 90 minutes about getting published and many of the attendees are now working for the magazine in different cities, which I think is so cool!
Then, on the 3rd day of the workshop (the last 1/3rd) we go over PP (post-processing) and workflow and tips on how to make images look amazing with software. We process a shoot from the day before from start-to-finish in Lightroom2, and use Photoshop CS3/4 to do final edits and practice quick-tips that I have created that work in less than 2 minutes. It's *really* easy to make pets look funny in PP, and I talk about all of the ways to avoid this, and move beyond the 'amateur' processing look that just screams 'newbie'. Along with processing we extensively cover setting pricing, different pricing strategies, and different 'tiers' of pet photography in terms of pricing and branding and experience, we talk about constant revenue streams and how to increase revenue by getting a photographer's rep and/or selling stock, what companies buy pet images and what the differences are between doing commercial assignment work and doing private client portrait work. We extensively cover different product options and the best products to sell to our clients, printing, and in-house/DIY for printing/products VS outsourcing. Last but not least, on day three we extensively cover web stuff- the #1 most important part of a business. We talk about SEO and good web design, and incorporate what we learned about branding into our web talk.
So it's 28+ hours of instruction. Which amounts to what I estimate as being several hundreds of hours saved in research by each attendee. I have already done all of the hard work! LOL.
The workshops also include a resource CD, with links to every valuable bookmark I have saved over the past 7 years- organized by type- from labs and vendors and products, to options for web designers- both html and flash templates, to legal requirements and how to file your business structure (including information on how to form an LLC), photography tips and photography blogs, and loads more links. The CD also contains the sample legal forms- the non-compete contract, the NDA, the pet photography contract, all of my email templates that I use when sending emails to clients (i.e gallery notifications, shoot confirmations, etc), discount codes for products (this year we have Kevin Kubota, Borrowlenses.com, simplycanvas and there will be more), recommended readings, price pdfs from the popular labs, excel worksheets for tracking business and personal goals and profit and loss statements, the list goes on and on and on.
So you could look at it like it's 3 workshops rolled into one-
1. 'how to start a pet photography business' with all of the business stuff (which is FAR more important than the photography. You can be an amazingly talented photographer but without a filled pipeline you merely have an expensive hobby, not a business. )
2. photographing animals, and how to get awesome shots of them and everything that goes into the shoot and working with the owner and on location, and
3. post processing and software and creative post-shoot techniques, and increasing revenue after the shoot.
In the case of photography workshops, you really do get what you pay for. The more research you do on this the more apparent it will become. Saving money on education only means you will spend more in the long run, either in time, money or stress (or all of the above). This workshop is designed for those looking for the highest quality pet photography education they can get. Nothing is skimped on here.
Anyhoo, hope that helps someone out there reading this.
If you have any questions pertaining to the workshop feel free to contact either me or my assistant Christina through the contact page on my workshops website.
For those NOT looking to start a business but would love some free advice on pet photography, check out my Q & A page on my blog here:
Q & A FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS | Cowbelly Pet Photography Seattle Blog
Cheers!
Jamie Pflughoeft
Owner/Photographer
Cowbelly Pet Photography
Seattle, Washington
We now have a 2nd professional pet photographer on board, also a full time successful professional, who will be co-teaching the NYC workshop. Check out the info on the website!
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