film photography

Learn Film Photography Guides Now Re-Released

October 22, 2016 by The FCA 2 Comments

You’ve been asking for these for a while now! I had to withdraw them from sale due to uncertainty around VAT rules in the UK, but now they are BACK! and here for you right now.

These are for the photographers who want to know how to learn film photography, how to make it profitable, and how to create and deepen your creative practice and signature style.

Want to know more? Check out the books here>

This is book ONE in the series, for those new (or newish) to shooting film, where you’ll learn the most common mistakes made when starting out with film (and how to overcome them) how to develop your OWN style (for you if you want your work to stand out in a sea of pastel-pretty) and how to start marketing it so that you get noticed.

As seen on Wedding Sparrow and SLR Lounge > click here to download your FREE chapters and find out more.

Intermediate / advanced film shooter but struggling with the marketing aspect? You’re going to want BOOK TWO. Film – The Luxury Advantage.

Covering all aspects of marketing your film photography from how to blog (the right way) how to convert clients into bookings from a single email using smart copywriting, email and social media techniques. This book is an investment into your business profits > check it out here.

The Easiest Way To Make More Money From Photography

October 20, 2014 by The FCA 45 Comments

What if I told you that there is an easier way to make more money from photography?

That your bank account could still be steadily increasing while you take time off, while you play, while you relax… that you could be making money while you sleep?

We photographers work hard, right. Really hard. There is always something to be done, whether you’re out shooting or spending countless hours doing your editing, admin, packaging, website design, blogging… not to mention social media updates.

Who has time to update all of the social media sites, all of the time, with everything you are ‘supposed’ to be sharing? There just never seems to be enough minutes in the day!

That’s without even taking time for one minute to actually refuel our creative tanks – you know, reading things you love, visiting galleries + exhibitions, travelling, sketchbooking, or even just relaxing and -gasp- turning off our phones to spend time with our loved ones.

We love it though, this life of photographer. It’s a beautiful life. It’s the one we want + the one we chose.

But sometimes… we get tired – don’t we? Suddenly we don’t want to look at Pinterest boards or overly styled desktop snaps or update our blogs or wonder what the competition / our friends are doing.

We don’t want to be doing all-night editing marathons, or be glued to our phone screens. Suddenly working with tiny babies who won’t co-operate / demanding brides / model divas / ‘the industry’ feels like a lot of hard work.

Do you ever feel like this? Like you would rather just bury yourself back into your bed rather than get up and work? Even though you know that you’re lucky and you love your business and it’s all that really you ever want to do.

So… what if I told you that there is another way?

What if I told you that there is an easier way to make more money from photography? From your photography business?

That your bank account could still be steadily increasing while you take time off, while you play, while you relax… that you could be making money while your sleep?

It works like this.

There is only one of you. Your photography business can only make a finite amount of money, because there are only a certain amount of shoots you can do – unless you clone yourself.

You can of course work every single minute that God sends, but what is the point in that? No matter how much we love photography + our work, it is still work! And even then, there are only a certain amount of minutes in a day.

So if you think about it this way… there is only a certain amount of money you can earn, right?

Unless you stop trading time for money.

And you create something that you can sell every minute of the day.

A digital product.

Creating a digital product is perfect for you if you want an easy way to make more money from your photography business. It’s for you if you would like to free up a little more time – for whatever purpose you wish.

There is minimal cost and often, low competition. It can provide your business with a huge financial boost – and even completely change the direction of your business entirely, if you want it to.

You just need to believe that you can create something that people will want. And if you’re passionate enough, people will most likely want it, because your passion will help to sell whatever you’ve created.

Thinking about using social media to grow your business? Facebook Ads Academy for Photographers gives you all of the fundamentals you need to leverage the most powerful social network in the world to make much, much more money than you’re making now. We’ll teach you the tricks & secrets to create a successful Facebook campaign on your very first try.

How I Made More Money From My Photography Business

Do you think that all sounds great, but a bit impossible + unrealistic? Like a floaty day-dream somewhere in the distance?

So did I. Earlier this year I wrote a book. Well, it’s actually a guide. A downloadable guide. It’s about film photography – I love film and shoot film for the majority of my paid and commercial assignments.

If someone had said to me a year earlier that I was going to write a book about film photography, I would have laughed. I am definitely not the world’s best film photographer, and I don’t know every single thing there is to know about film photography.

But I am passionate about it. I knew enough. I researched the rest. And I added in my own personal experience to my the subject that I love.

Think about it! What areas and aspects of photography do you absolutely love?

Are you brilliant with newborns, at keeping them calm, at posing them?

Perhaps you are amazing at creating your own presets.

Perhaps you have a specialist niche like equine or pet photography, or ballet photography.

Perhaps you have worked out how to SEO your site to make it on to page one, every single day of the year despite any Google zoo updates.

Maybe you are brilliant at styling product shoots, or creating your own fashion sets, or making your own newborn props with your awesome knitting skills.

Whatever it is that got you into photography in the first place, whatever aspect of photography that keeps your heart burning and alive every time you do it – you can use it to transform your photography business.

My book has sold – over and over and over again. It paid for the deposit on our home. + lots more. It got reviewed on some amazing websites. It completely revolutionised my business.

And all I had to do was sit and write it. A process which was completely enjoyable + engrossing + satisfying.

How long do you think it would take you to write a book?

It took me just under 3 weeks.

I do love to write, but more than that, I was passionate about what I was writing about.

ANYONE can do this. I’m not anybody special. I don’t have an English degree. I don’t have super-powers. I just decided that one day, I was tired and there must be an easier way.

You can do it too.

Not a writer? There are so many other digital products that you could create, that will help you to earn money while you sleep, free up your time, and transform your photography business.

It just needs to be something that you can create and then distribute online.

What about actions/ presets? websites? courses? what about a series of podcasts? What about a video course? Downloadable guides and courses? Even meditations + visualisations for photographers would sell to the right audience, the right group of photographers!

A lot of photographers think that the next logical step after mastering their craft that the next logical step is to run a workshop. But although workshops are fun and beautiful and help to raise your profile – again, you are still trading time for money. There are only so many workshops you can run, only so many hours you can squeeze into one workshop, only so many tickets you can sell.

This model of making more money is SO much easier.

A little bit more about how easy it is to create a digital guide –

I didn’t even need to find a publisher. You won’t need any special equipment – I wrote mine on google docs because I don’t have Word on my laptop. I used a free trial version of Acrobat to edit it when it was finished. I pay $5 a month to host my book online, used a wordpress template that I already had to set up a website for it.

How does this sound to you so far? Does it get you feeling excited about the potential and possibilities? It should do – because if you do it right it can be such a great way to make more money from your business.

Why My Book Is A Success

These are the reasons my book has sold – and continues to sell – so successfully. You can use these tips to help create your own digital products.

– I was truly passionate about my subject

– I wrote conversationally- the way that I talk- meaning the book is easy to read and digest

– I explained almost everything on the sales page – why I wrote the book, and more importantly what you can expect to gain from reading it (check it out here to view it as an example)

– I could demonstrate that I knew what I was talking about through my past experience. So if you can provide evidence to your readers or buyers that you truly know what you are talking about, they will be more likely to trust you – and buy from you.

My (film) photography has been published in leading online + print publications – (Style Me Pretty + Magnolia Rouge amongst many others) so my readers trust that I know what I am talking about.

My other credentials include that I am a writer for the film photography blog 35to220.com, I was selected as a Beta tester for the wonderful UK Film Lab when it opened its doors, and the four years I spent studying fine art photography at University.

But you don’t have to have all of this – don’t be put off if you feel your credentials don’t look similar. Testimonials are equally as powerful – I gave away a few copies when the book was first launched in the hope that I would gain some positive feedback if they enjoyed the read, which I could then use on the page.

– I give away a free sample. On my sales page I have a link where anyone can download a free sample of the book – and it’s quite a big section, not one piddly page or anything like that. If people like what they read, they buy the book. Sometimes buying online can be a bit scary for customers if they don’t know what they are going to get, so I take this fear away by showing them via the free sample.

Want to know more? Don’t miss these recent posts:

If this post has been useful, please leave us a comment! We would love to know if you’re planning a digital book, course, guide or other product!

How Film Photography Will Transform Your Business

September 1, 2014 by The FCA 5 Comments

Why Learning Film Photography Helps Your Photography Business

The butterflies in my tummy were more like dinosaurs on a rampage. I sat in the car, too nervous to get out, delaying my arrival for as long as I could.

I walked to the door and rang the bell, feeling like I desperately needed the toilet (does anyone else get that when they are nervous, or is it just me). The glowing new mama opened the door and welcomed me into her home, all smiles and hugs.

There, in front of me, was the source of my nerves. A tiny, pink, kicking bundle of little legs and arms that I had no idea what to do with.

Help. How do I photograph this bundle in all its beauty, perfectly.

How can I make my shots good enough.

How can I possibly capture each precious eyelash and her gummy grins and tiny fingers and little rolls on the back of her neck like I see them, how can I use my equipment to show the world how wonderfully + perfectly she is made.

Of course I had my Pinterest inspiration boards. I had posing guides and lists and I knew my equipment like the back of my hand. I even had 2 years studio experience.

But this was so different.

No big umbrellas/ lights to hide behind. No confined studio space that was so familiar to me it felt like my own home. Nobody else around to ask for help or assistance.

Help.

When I first set up my photography business, I had a degree in Photographic Arts, a ton of marketing experience, and not much of a clue about how to photograph weddings. Or babies, or boudoir, or bridal portraits, or engagement sessions, or anything at all really.

I could completely handle complicated lighting set-ups or generating in-depth fine art conceptual shoots. But put a wriggling crying baby or highly stressed bride in front of me and I was virtually clueless.

Of course, experience helps you to grow. You learn what works and what doesn’t. (Shooting newborns, and maternity sessions, are now my absolute favourite things to shoot). As well as experience, my marketing background helped my business to expand + grow. It took a little bit of knowledge and some smart business moves to succeed. But as well as that, I attribute my business success to one other thing.

Learning to shoot film completely transformed my business. It sent my profits sky-rocketing and enabled me to step away from the money + profit fears that occupied my thoughts. It enhanced every area of my life.

Learning to shoot film worked as a huge part of my strategy and it can work for you too. Here is how I used film photography to grow my business- and how you can use it to grow your business profits.

1. It enabled me to increase my prices.

Because film is an intricate, marvellous process, it has that same stamp of authenticity, heritage, and history that accompanies it as, like records played on a record player, wine that has been left to age, and couture clothing.

It is a luxury process. Film isn’t disposable. You don’t have safety of a screen to check your shots. Film is developed and processed by hand. Because it is relatively expensive to learn and create film images (note- relatively) due to the time it takes to learn the skill, buy your equipment, and then the time involved in the film itself being processed, film is a luxury medium with all of the connotations of a luxury product.

Because film can be costly and time consuming and because of its luxury connotations (+ because I worked hard to make my film photography good, the same as you do if you are a digital shooter) I was able to increase my prices to cover those costs- and to increase my profits.

2. It gave me a unique style

Because there aren’t too many film shooters around, even now it’s becoming more popular again, in my local area (and far wider) I was able to use the fact that I shoot film as a unique selling point. Not all clients recognise the benefits of film and many of them were curious, which meant a great opportunity to open up conversation with them about its unique feel + my style- and why they should book me.

Being unique in my area meant that most of my clients come to me saying – I love your style! When your clients tell you that they love your work because they haven’t seen much other work like it, you know that you’re on your way to a successful business.

3. It freed up my time

Because of the little amount of editing required when shooting film and using a great film lab, I was left with free time on my hands that I could only dream of as a digital shooter. I mean literally, days. Whereas I used to take an entire day (and more) to edit a full wedding, now my wedding edits are done within a few hours.

I then found that I had much more time to spend on my marketing strategy instead of being chained to lightroom + photoshop; although for me the true value came in the amount of time it freed up for me to spend with my family.

* * * * * * * * * *

Learning film is a beautiful and exciting experience which enables you to create such beautiful work and completely transform your business at the same time.

It wasn’t just being able to learn to photograph screaming newborns or pose stressed-out brides or encourage new models that made the difference. Learning to shoot film really did transform my business, and it can work for you too.

Autumn is the perfect time to learn new skills or to deepen your understanding of specific areas and so we want to help you.

Checkout our Learn Film Photography guide for your FREE chapters (about a third of the way down the page, click the add to cart button to download for free, instantly and don’t worry – no payment required)!

And that’s it! Our guide has had amazing reviews as well as being featured over on Wedding Sparrow and 35to220; it will be an incredible boost or beginning to your learn film photography journey.

film photography

Learn Film Photography Guides Now Re-Released