I Caved ...

I think all my readers know I love the ProPhoto blog theme. I've been using version 2 for awhile now and finally caved to get version 3. I'm so glad I did! There are a lot of new customizable features available in this version to make your wordpress blog standout from the rest! It took a few hours of tweaking, but I love the minor changes I've made on the blog. I wasn't looking to revamp the whole look, just add some little changes to spice things up. So for those of you who are on the fence about upgrading, I personally think it's totally worth it! If you don't use the ProPhoto them and you're looking for one (you must have a wordpress blog to use it), I highly suggest it. Big photos with lots of impact and a lot of options for the look and feel of your blog.

If you do purchase, use discount code DANNE232B for an additional $10 off your purchase.

I just returned from ImagingUSA and I'm overwhelmed from the education and the fun new products I saw. I'll be writing up my thoughts on the event in the next few weeks. I've got a lot on my "to do" list now that I'm back to continue to grow my business!!

Full Disclosure: commission on ProPhoto Themes sold via coupon code.

Great Deal on Gallery Wrapped Canvas!

I'm getting ready to run out the door this morning but there's a great deal from Picture It On Canvas right now and I had to share! It's listed under the San Diego Groupon (you don't have to live in SD) and it's for a 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas for only $39! It's not one of the daily Groupons, but one of the holiday gift offers so it's available for 3 more days! While I have never used Picture It On Canvas, I know a few photographers who have and just love their customer service and product. The best part of this deal is that you basically receive a credit for the 16x20 price and that can be applied to any size product you purchase. So if you want bigger, you just pay the difference or if you multiple smaller pieces, you can apply the price to those as well. Definitely check out this Groupon! I'll be picking up a few of them for displays I plan on hanging in 2011. You can't beat it for the price! You can only use one per order, but you can purchase multiple Groupons and purchase at different times.

How was your 2010?

As the year is quickly winding down and most of us are wrapping up our final sessions it's a great chance to look back at what we've accomplished over the last year. What were the goals for your business this year and how did you do in terms of achieving them? What unexpected events appeared over 2010? And what are your business plans for 2011?

As for me, my average sales were almost double what they were in 2009. The downside was that I had fewer clients this year. And those fewer clients were for personal reasons that I decided to not market my business as much as I should have. I've got big plans for 2011 and I've already started working on my marketing plan for next year! I'm also excited that I'll get the opportunity to attend the PPA's ImagingUSA conference in January jump start the year for me.

I hope everyone has had a great 2010 and that 2011 will be even better year!

Free Education — Lots of Learning & No Strings Attached

I love free education! I can't believe I haven't blogged about creativeLive yet! Chase Jarvis has created an online learning resource for photographers, artists and other creative types. If you tune into the website during the live classes, you can view them for free, no strings attached. If you're schedule is full on the day(s) of the live classes, you can always purchase the class and have access to it after the fact.

I'm on my second creativeLive class this weekend with Tamara Lackey's Children's Portraiture Photography class. It's been great to be able to see Tamara work with clients and share her thought process of how she coordinates a session.

There's a wide range of subject matter for the creativeLive classes beyond photography. You can look at their calendar to find the classes and topics that interest you most. Definitely check out this great resource!

I Big Puffy Heart My New Lab

Hope everyone is having a busy fall season of shooting and selling holiday orders!

I've been pretty dedicated to one lab since I started my business two years ago. I had some quality issues with that lab and decided to try out a few different labs again. I am absolutely in love with ProLabExpress! I first heard about PLE from the instructors at the Unleashed workshop last September. I had received my samples from PLE after returning from the workshop but then they fell off my radar. I decided to place an order with them last month and I'm so glad I did! PLE's customer service is great and their prints are amazing! They use Fuji archive paper and I just love the richness of it. A bonus is that their prices are a hair lower than my previous lab, so my cost of goods hasn't really changed since making the switch. They also offer some very unique and different products than some of the other labs.

ProLabExpress also offer Grand River Imaging for event photography print fulfillment services. I actually have an event coming up this weekend that I looked into using GRI for. You upload your photos to PLE and then access the GRI site to sell prints directly to the client. For a large event, it's a great opportunity to not have to deal with small print orders. GRI charges for the lab print and a percentage for credit card processing. That's it, they print and ship the order to your client and then they pay you!

I'm thrilled with PLE and will be using them for all my print orders. I've been testing out a few other labs for press printed products and other unique products for my clients.

Retouching Services from Retouchup.com

I recently had a client that wore her glasses to a session and preferred that she wore them for all the photos. Not only did I have to deal with glare but also distortion of the face where the glasses were. I feel that I'm pretty advanced in Photoshop, but editing this session felt overwhelming. I shot the session on Saturday and was leaving for vacation on Monday and would be losing a whole week of being able to edit her images. On the recommendation from other photographers I decided to try Retouchup.com and I'm happy that I did! Not only did they fix the glare but they also fixed the facial distortion behind the glasses and retouched the skin as well as stray hairs. Below is an example of the fixes they did to my RAW image. I sent in two images for retouching and I'm thrilled with their services. I'll be editing the rest of the session myself for proofing and any images that the client decides to purchase will be sent to Retouchup.com to remove glare and fix distortion.


The prices at Retouchup.com are really good: $2.50 - $10 an image depending on how much and what type of retouches you are in need of. My images were retouched and sent back to me for approval within 24 hours of submitting them as well. Even better - the first 10 retouches are free when you sign up for a new account. And those 10 free images can be any type of retouching from basic to extreme. I'm really happy with the results they produced and when an edit seems a little too time consuming for myself, I'll be sending my files to Retouchup.com!

Images for a Cure 2010

Registration is currently open to be a participating photographer for the 2010 Images for a Cure (IFAC). If you participated in last year's event, you'll notice that the logo had a cute upgrade and Kristen and her team are working on a brand new website for this year as well. Last year 239 photographers in 44 states and 3 different countries raised $12,900 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. If you're new to this great cause, IFAC lets you determine any special pricing, themes and session date(s) and only ask that your session fee is donated. Your client donates directly through the IFAC website to "pay" their session fee. If you're interested in learning more you can read the Photographer Media Kit here: imagesforacure.com/register/ and be sure to follow Images for a Cure on Twitter @imagesforacure and Facebook facebook.com/imagesforacure.

Protest New 1099 Requirements!

I just saw this on the ASMP website and wanted to pass along the link. There are new provisions in the healthcare reform bill and long story short: they will be requiring to send a 1099 to every vendor that you spend more than $600 with. If spend more than $600 with WHCC, YOU have to send them a 1099. If you spend more than $600 with OfficeMax on office supplies, YOU have to send them a 1099. Who has time for all that extra bookeeping? Not me! Here's the link to ASMP's post http://www.asmp.org/strictlybusiness/2010/08/help-asmp-protest-new-1099-requirements/ and below is the sample letter you can make edits to to send out to let the IRS know you don't want to see this happen.

(SAMPLE EMAIL)

TO: Notice.comments@irscounsel.treas.gov

RE: Notice 2010-51

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a professional photographer and a small business person. I have virtually no administrative staff to handle my record-keeping and reporting responsibilities. The new requirement under Section 6041 of the Internal Revenue Code would place impossible burdens on me. The exemption for credit card transactions was a great step toward reducing the impact of this change in the tax code. Unfortunately, it does not go far enough.

I often pay for computer and camera equipment, studio and equipment rentals, catering services, and other items by check or cash. Those expenditures often total more than $600 per vendor in any given year. Having to keep separate track of each of these items — and then to issue Form 1099’s to each vendor — would simply take more time than I have as the owner of a very small business operation, and it would require back office support that I do not have and cannot afford.

Please change the requirements so that they apply only to larger business entities, such as persons or entities that employ more than 25 people.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

Inexpensive Email Tracking

I've had some email issues lately. One client I email with frequently called me to say a few of my emails had ended up in her spam folder. Also my online galleries are limited to 7-days — I wanted to be 100% sure clients were getting all the info and receiving any answers to questions during the live gallery. I decided to find something that would let me know when my emails were read. I came across ReadNotify and decided to give it a try especially since they have a free trial period or 2 weeks or 25 emails. They offer a plugin for the tracking, but I'm on a Mac and the plugin is for the PC, so I haven't had any experience with that option. But, there is a manual tracking option that is easy to use. You just add .readnotify.com to the end of the email address. I was notified when the email was opened by the receiver. So easy! And there is also an online personal tracking page that shows the date, recipient, subject and when the email was opened. There are a few other bells and whistles ReadNotify offers that I haven't tried out yet.

I opted for the 1-year basic subscription. For $24 I can track 2000 emails. There is also a monthly option for $3.99 and a premium for $36. The basic subscription works best for me. I won't be tracking every email I send, but I will track anything that has time sensitive information that I want to make sure clients read. If you're looking for an option to track some of your emails, I think this is a great product. Sign-up for the free trial at ReadNotify and try it out for yourself!

PhotoVision - Learning from Home

I've been feeling somewhat under the weather lately and have been spending a lot of time camped out on the couch. In hopes to be somewhat productive, I've finally had a chance to watch (and re-watch) a bunch of my PhotoVision DVDs that had been piling up. I think in the last few weeks I've watched every episide from 2010 that I have so far. It's been a great mix of shooting techniques, marketing ideas and inspiration in general. I'm totally in love with Julie Klassmeyer's natural light studio and her giant, revolving set display which was beyond cool! And I also enjoyed watching Gary Box pose his seniors with my senior season to be in full swing shortly. I raved about PhotoVision about this time last year while watching the 2009 series that you can read about here.

PhotoVision is offering a nice promo code for the 2010 series: $39 instead of $149 using the promo code: PFAN. So if you're not watching photovision yet, you might just watned to check out this great deal to find some inspiration!