I’ve got some forward motion to report on my wedding rebranding efforts. Like I said in my last Big Project post, a couple weeks ago I threw all my favorite wedding images (about 200 of ‘em) together in a big pile for my photo consultant to review. Out of the chaos she pulled about 70 of them that magically crystallized my style in to a coherent body of work. I’m not exaggerating when I say that seeing her edit has changed the way I think about my own work.

Please – take a look at the new portfolio and see what you think. I’d love to get your thoughts in the comments.

What’s been cool about the process is not that Selina chose a lot of images that I hadn’t selected on my own (although she did). What’s cool is that by asking someone with some distance from the work to look with a critical and fresh eye I not only got a fresh edit; I also got an outsider’s perspective on what makes my work unique, and the language to express that uniqueness. I’ve gone from the general idea that I do natural, photojournalistic, fun wedding photography to the specific core of what comes out of that practice: capturing emotions throughout the day in a different, more intimate way than other photographers. Because I’ve talked this all through with a person who has reviewed thousands of photographers’ work over the past 30 years, I now have the language, and I also have the block of images that illustrate the language. Super exciting.

Now that the work is solidified it’s on to the branding. I’ll be working with Andrew Voss, a designer here in Minneapolis. He’ll be working with me freelance, although he also holds down a full time gig at Spunk Design Machine, the agency responsible for all things marketing for the Seward Coop, one of my newest clients. I’ve also started the search for a book binder who will help me with my wedding and commercial portfolios when I get to that point, as well as potentially constructing my wedding albums starting next season.

All of this great stuff. . . it ain’t cheap. At this point I’m six billable hours in to my work with Selina. (Think lawyer rates.) The current plan with Andrew means about 50 hours of his time. (Not lawyer, but still.) Then there’s the actual printing of business cards, price sheets, postcards, the whole ball of proverbial wax.

On the other hand, at the other end of this process I anticipate doubling my wedding rates. (Which is a weird idea that I’ll probably need to devote a whole post to at some point.) When I’m there it hopefully won’t take long to recoup my investment, and be at a point where I feel like I deserve and need to be. At this point it’s a leap of faith.

I’m now a couple sessions in to my relationship with photo consultant Selina Maitreya, and the game is afoot! We’ve begun talking about retooling both my wedding and commercial branding, which basically meant that Selina took some time to look deeply at my sites and print portfolio to get more than just a feel for my style; she spent enough time with each image to understand what can stay and what has to go. Then we got on the phone and talked about where I am business-wise and where I want to go. She told me what is working, what’s not, and what needs to happen to step up to the next level (in terms of raising my price point and bookings in the case of the wedding work, and in terms of being considered for jobs by national magazines and agencies in the case of the commercial work).

Since those initial conversations, my job has been to throw ANY image up for consideration from my archive in to a big pile for Selina to weed through and include in new edits of my print and web portfolios for each business. Once we’ve got that new core, then come the next steps. For the commercial work that will mean more self-generated shooting assignments that fill specific holes in the current work. For the wedding work the next step is finding a designer to help me with identity creation, as well as business cards, postcards, and other collateral.

Since the wedding work is generating a big chunk of my income at this point, and since the new wedding identity won’t be a matter of producing any more images, that gets rebranding attention first. I’ve talked to a couple designers whose work I admire about working together, and the cost estimates should roll in by early next week.

As was the case with my conversations with the photo consultants I considered hiring, it’s been good to talk to the designers; when you hear yourself talk about what you do, it clarifies what’s important to you, and what’s at the heart of your business. Those insights are what branding is all about, and I’m really excited to mind meld with the designer I end up going with and see how they take their understanding of me and my business and translate that in to a visual identity.

Overall, things feel real good right now. There are many many moving pieces that will need to find their places for me to be where I want to be, but Selina has emphasized the importance of just concentrating on the very next thing in front of me and not looking too far ahead. So far, so good.

Over in my Big Project posts I’ve been talking about the fundamental importance of developing a personal vision/style. The whole point of that project is to deliberately (and with professional help) think through exactly what my style is, and build everything about my around that – from the way I market myself, to the way I conduct business. It’s obvious that without defining your vision, it’s hard to market yourself effectively to your potential clients. What wasn’t as obvious to me, until very recently, is that that style definition is also what allows you to negotiate project pricing effectively.

Ever since I started shooting professionally I’ve hated pricing my work, as does every photographer out there, I’d imagine. No matter how much you research what the market rates are, how many scenarios you run in fotoQuote, how many other photographers you consult, in the end it always feels a little bit arbitrary. After all, any pricing is just a matter of what someone is willing to pay for a product or service. As a result of that slice of arbitrariness, I’d enter negotiations sheepishly, because I couldn’t confidently convince myself why I was asking the price I was; it felt like a best guess, not a true measure of value.

That changes when you have a clear understanding of your photographic vision. When you know and can verbalize the value that you are able to deliver to a client, it’s much easier to assign a tangible number to it. You know why the client contacted you specifically, and you believe in your ability to deliver. When you can speak your vision you can explain clearly to a client why you’re worth the amount you’re asking and not be reduced to a commodity to be purchased at the lowest possible price.

Turns out that knowing yourself and being true to that isn’t just the core of creative discussions; it’s also the core of negotiating.

Check one more task off the Big Project list! I’ve chosen the photo consultant who will help me tweak my portfolio and web site, then help me launch my first full-scale promotional campaign. I interviewed five consultants, talked to probably a dozen photographers, and read countless blogs along the way, and I’m excited to say that for this phase of things I get to work with Selina Maitreya. Yep, the author of the book I’ve been reading to get my thoughts together and set me off on the right foot; and yes, the one whose name popped up in the blog entry that got me thinking seriously about the absolute necessity of the project in the first place. As it turned out, of the people I talked to, Selina was the one that seemed to get (and be excited by) the work I currently do to the highest degree, had the right mix of experience to inspire trust, and the approach that I think will give the most flexibility and efficiency. Plus everything she’s done just speaks professionalism and confidence, two necessities in a coach.

The funny thing is that I actually thought about canceling my introductory phone call with Selina; she was the last of the five that I talked to, and I had already had a couple other conversations that really excited me, with consultants used by some photographers who I really admire. But I kept the appointment, and I’m so glad I did.

Now that it’s behind me, I can say that I enjoyed the process more than I thought I would; each person I talked to gave me at least one insight in to my work and its presentation, or ideas for personal projects. I did my best to find the consultants out there with the strongest ties to the photo community, with the strongest backgrounds, and I truly believe that any of them could help me along my path; but it’s such a personal chemistry thing in the end.

Another side benefit of my conversations was to get a gauge on where my work stands here at the outset, in the eyes of some people whose job is to know the photo industry and help guide us to where we want to be. (Granted, there’s some incentive for the consultant to overstate their opinion of your work. But on the other hand, the photo community is smaaaaall, and trust is a big chunk of the basis of a consultant’s business. So there’s equal, or probably more, incentive to be straight and realistic.) To my slight surprise, what I learned is that in the eyes of these people, my portfolio is a little closer to prime time than I thought it was. It’s what I hoped people would think of my work, but that’s different.

Next comes Selina giving my work an in-depth look through, both online and in print. Then we talk about a lot of the things I’ve already blogged about in this little series, and come up with a plan to start getting me some of those assignments I’d kill for.

To close the book on this chunk of the Project, I’ve got a couple recommendations for those of you thinking about starting your own consultant search, based on what felt right about my process:

• Do lots of research before calling anyone. APhotoEditor and Agency Access have lists to start you out. Look for clues as to who has helped the photographers that you admire (but don’t put too much stock in that; each client/consultant relationship is different, and you’ve got to go your own way). Pay attention to who speaks nationally, and if there is a predominant style associated with a consultant’s client list.
• Be very clear with yourself what you’re objectives are for working with a consultant.
• Make sure you have the budget to pay your consultant for the size project you have in mind.
• When the time comes to start talking to people, contact everyone on your list and ask for an introductory phone call. The point of the call is to get a sense of each other.
• Prior to the calls, come up with a short list of questions to guide the conversation. You can plan on a 15-20 minute phone call, so it doesn’t need to be a huge list of questions, but they should address your biggest concerns. For me that was getting a sense of each consultant’s process, and how they work with their clients. Not only will the list help the conversation get rolling; you’ll also present yourself right off the bat as someone who is serious and motivated.

Today there’s a profile of me over at the Lighting Essentials for Photographers blog. It’s a site that covers all kinds of topics, way past the realm of lighting. I’ve had it bookmarked for a while now, so it was pretty fun to be contacted out of the blue with the interview request.