Photographer research

One of the most popular Asian photographers based in the North East is Shahed, based in Newcastle, he has changed his site to read "luxury wedding photographer", which reflects his prices.  Shahed's photography has taken him to different countries and he has also been mentioned on other sites as can be seen below, however, when I was following him on Facebook I felt that he shared very little of his own images, in fact, he was just sharing other people's general posts like everyone else.

Literature

Below are samples of some of the books I have bought on Kindle for advice and guidance on wedding photography and making money.  All of which contain useful tips and ideas.

Promotion/Publicity

Promoting and publicising a business is also important for sustainability along with good photography skills.

Below are samples of some of the most popular methods of advertising:

Asian Bride magazine, produced every quarter and full of latest wedding ideas, trends and also wedding contacts.

Star Plus is an Indian sky channel and is watched by millions of people worldwide, although the advertising rates are high, once your business is slightly established it is well worth advertising on this channel, there are also opportunities to sponsor certain programmes.

Market Demand

I think it's important to understand market needs and demands.  Having researched the market frequently over the past few years, I believe that there is a gap in the market for an Asian female photographer in the area of wedding photography.  Earlier survey carried out by myself prove that the most popular method of searching for a photographer is via the internet.  A search on Google today still provides results with a list of the majority of Asian wedding photographers based in the London area.


Below:  image of google search for Asian wedding photographers

The majority of photographers advertising are also male, from my experience of working and from previous research through surveys some of the community with traditional families still don't allow male photographers to photograph all of the celebration events such as the Nikah where the men and women are normally in separate rooms.  All of the above therefore confirms the need for more Asian female photographers, again something that was confirmed in my research and findings last year.

I feel it is important to establish a need or gap in the market if you are to be successful in any area of business.

Website

The thought of creating a website sounded pretty daunting and expensive and it was difficult to understand some of the terms.  After researching information and asking family members I decided to use 'fasthosts' as it gave me an all in one package to find and register a domain name and create a website.   The instructions were easy to follow and included links to youtube videos.

Below: image of email received after registering with fasthosts.

I used photos from my own collection and stuck to wedding photography images.  The theme is the same as my business card and I feel fits well with the collection that I have. 

Below:  My homepage is simple as I feel that the image of the flowers relates to weddings and the textbook describes what I do.

The second page displays 1 large image and several small images at the bottom with a description of the type of service that is offered and some background information for myself.

The last page is used as contact page for anybody wishing to contact me.

Contract

I downloaded a template of a photography contract from www.slrlounge.com.  The contract is designed for wedding photography and I feel that it covers everything that I would require a contract to cover my area of photography and includes: reservations, event schedule, safety, shooting time, expenses, responsibilities, venue and limitations, film and copyrights, model release, limit of liability, capture and delivery, post production and editing, payment schedule and pricing.  I have added my logo and details to personalise the contract.

Invoice and Sales Order Proforma

I created a standard sales order form allowing for the customers details, description of the services/work required and also the price.  I added my logo to personalise the form.

Below:  Sales order form

The format for the invoice was similar to the sales order form and again I added my logo to personalise the form.

Below: invoice

I found a lot of useful information and guidelines on www.gov.uk website for invoices and VAT

Below:  images of information from gov.uk website detailing what to include on invoices, requirements for companies and sole traders and also guidelines on VAT

Model release form

A model release form is used when taking photographs of a person/model and is used as an agreement between the photographer and the model to obtain permission to use and publish the images.  If a model is under 18 then a parent or guardian is also required to sign the form.
The form offers protection for the photographer and model and avoids any lawsuits from arising against either party.  I have added my logo to personalise the form.

Below:  Model Release Form

Below:  Sample content of model release form

Booking form

I created a booking form to go with my contract as it covers the venue and details of the event in much more depth with added space for second or third contact details for different days and venues, which would be ideal for Asian Weddings which tend to go on for at least 3 days.  The addition of my logo makes it more personal to me for my business use.

Below: Booking form

Artist Statement

I found it quite difficult to write the Artist statement probably because I find it difficult to express myself.  The important things for me to get across in my statement was, what my images were about, why I took the images that I took and the connection my work has to me, all of which in 150 words.
I looked at some other examples of an Artist Statement but found them to be quite lengthy and in some instances boring.

Below:  Artist Statement - final

Below:  Artist statement guidance

Below: samples of Artist's statements

Below: samples of Artist's Quotes which I believe that people are more likely to read as they are short and make a quick statement, possibly something that is going to hang around in your mind for longer

Skills CV

I used and amended by CV to a Skills CV, focusing more on my technical and personal skills rather than my qualifications.  As I don't have too much photography experience I have used my technical and personal skills and experience from my current job as a Community Centre Manager and highlighted them giving examples of how I have obtained the skills or experience.

I am lucky as my job is varied that I have been able to incooperate management and leadership, communication, ability to work to deadlines and under pressure and good interpersonal skills into my C.V.  I have also inserted a photo as my old CV didn't have one.

My website and email address are included and I feel that this makes the C.V look more professional.


Below:  Images of my C.V

Flyer

I created a basic flyer to advertise my photography services, flyers can be useful for mailing out or displaying in shops to advertise services and will stand out.   For me a flyer is a medium between a website and a business card.  I highlighted the main services on the flyer but didn't deliberately put any photographs or personal images on as I wanted to just advertise a service and didn't want to stick with the same images on a flyer, as once it's printed it can't be changed and rather would need to be printed again if changes were to be made.  Prices are also cheaper if flyers are printed in bulk, so it does make sense to get a large batch printed at the same time if possible.

Below:  final flyer

Image below: prices for A5 leaflets

Labels

Standard address labels with your company details already printed are an easier way of mailing out, especially when they are merged with a database of clients as they save both time and money.

Below:  A sample of a label sheet, these are available in a standard 8,10 or 12 per page

Cash Receipt Proforma

The purpose of a receipt is to acknowledge that you have received payment.  It is used to record the name of the person making the payment, the type of payment i.e cash, cheque or money order along with details of balance due and balance outstanding and is signed by the person receiving the payment.

I have used a basic template to create the cash receipt as it contains all of the necessary information.  An alternative method would be to purchase a cash receipt book which is available in the shops or online.

Letterheads, Compliments slip

Once I had designed my logo and downloaded it was much easier to create my own letterheads and compliments slips using the logo and Microsoft word.

I didn't want to clutter the page with too much information or advertising and therefore stuck to just the basic company information and logo keeping it simple and elegant.

I had originally put a watermark on the letterhead but then felt it was too much and when writing a letter it might actually be difficult to read the writing so therefore decided to leave it out.

Below:  Final images of compliment slip and letterhead

Logo Design

My final logo design.

I wanted to keep it simple, without images of camera's or anything in particular so that it was more universal and versatile and could be used in the future for other products or business use.  The colours of the image have been deliberately used as reddish brown, gold tones, as I feel they reflect the colours traditionally used in henna hand painting for Asian Weddings which is the theme for my photography business.

I trawled through hundreds of ready made logo's but found when trying to search under a particular heading i.e. photography, there seems to be either random designs or images of camera equipment, again just like the business card I feel that you have to spend time on a design and the colours to get exactly what you want.

The final design was edited and downloaded from Vistaprint which came with a few options as you can see below:

Below - a typical example of photography logo designs:

Partnership/Commissioned Work

It was pleasure to work with a Henna Artist from Ankara-Arts, based in Leeds.

It was an indoor studio shoot using two lights and a Canon digital camera with the subject against a black background, the final images were to be used by Ankaa-Arts on their website to promote henna designs.  Ankaa-Arts are based in Leeds and have good connections with the Asian Beauty and Wedding industry all over the UK.

I was really nervous at first setting up and taking the first few shots but after a while I felt that the teamwork really kicked in as Natasha guided me more and informed me about what she wanted.

Overall Natasha was happy with the shoot and the final images which have been used on her business cards and website and we are in the process of planning another shoot in the summer.

Above - Ankaa- Arts business card



Below:  Some of the images taken during the shoot for Ankaa-Arts

Below:  this image was edited as it was originally against a black background and then edited and put against a sand image image to give it more of an ethnic feel