This week, I speak with Gavin Blue from Heartfelt.
Gavin talks about what the service does, and how the biggest challenge they face is spreading the word so that people actually know that Heartfelt exists!
I highly commend them for their work and urge everyone to  do their own little bit to help spread the word.
Stick up a status message on Facebook for a couple of hours, tweet about it, whatever works for you.

I also received an e-mail from Blake who made use of the black card technique, along with using a couple of ND filters so he could shoot 30 seconds directly into the sun!
Check out his image here.

Lorna’s next “Focus on Business” meeting (the first for 2012) is on this coming Tuesday at Dragon Image in Artarmon. If you are a Sydney-based photographer wanting to get the business side of your photography business on track, this is a must-attend event!

And the next Sydney Photographer’s meetup is to be held on Friday March 2nd. This month’s theme is Bonnie and Clyde. Venue still to be announced. Details on the Facebook event page.

Thanks in advance!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:51 — 27.4MB)

What a way to bring in the new year!
Last week, Adobe announced the public beta of Lightroom v4.
Grab it here!
Plus, we are joined by Australian Portrait Photographer of the Year, Sue Bryce.
Sue shares some valuable insights on how she approaches portrait photography.
Check out her blog or her website.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:13 — 46.2MB)

This week, I caught up with Lorna Andrikopoulos from Instinctive Desires for a chat about what she’s been up to in the last month…
which has included the Nikon AIPP event in Adelaide,
plus a double-nighter of the Focus on Business series in Melbourne the week before last,
and the same double-nighter in Sydney last week!
Topics covered were marketing (first night) and the introduction to the Emotional Sale (second night).
I would suggest that if you are looking to further your photographic sales in a retail environment (weddings, portraiture, etc), then you should definitely check out the DVD and audio CD, both available from Instinctive Desires.
Also, Elsie (aka Amberglass) sent me a message for Neil who wrote in last week asking about how to cope with hot pixels on his camera.
Elsie found Pixel Fixer (some donationware targeted at fixing images suffering due to dead or hot pixels), as well as this article on dpmag.com.
Good luck, Neil!

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This week, I caught up with Lorna Andrikopoulos from Instinctive Desires after the third Sydney “Focus on Business” meeting.
I’m off on holiday for a couple of weeks, so there definitely won’t be any podcasts for the next three weeks.
Plus, a quick chat about the status (current, and future) of Shutters Inc.

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Duration: 37:13

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This week, Lorna Andrikopoulos pops in for a quick chat about the ‘Focus on Business’ series,
what photographic projects Bruce has been involved with recently (and in the near future),
plus the importance of setting goals.

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This week, Lee (along with a surprise appearance by Lorna) joins me for a chat about just how the plans are coming along for MY photography business.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:47 — 44.4MB)

After the first of the monthly Sydney-based “Focus on Business” meetings, Bruce sits down for a chat with Lorna Andrikopoulos from Instinctive Desires for a chat about the program, and why photographers wanting to build a successful business should come along.
The next Sydney event is on Tuesday 13th September.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 14:42 — 11.8MB)

This week, Lee shares some absolutely priceless information on handling objections from your portrait clients.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 36:23 — 56.5MB)

This week, Lee discusses how in order to find your customers, you must first have decided on what style of photography you plan to offer to your customers,
the importance of a plan of action for your business (short, medium and long term),
dates for the Instinctive Desires business workshops in both Melbourne and Sydney,
Your Enquiry Manager,
and Real Portraits, Real People.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:03 — 86.8MB)

This week, Lee joins us to talk about just how important it is that you communicate clearly with your client prior to a shoot.
Make sure you know what they expect from the shoot.
Also, how to deal with it if things don’t go exactly to plan.
Also in this episode, I have a few promo codes to give away to iPad owners who are interested in trying out some of those fantastic ‘Photoshop scripts for iPad’ apps that Phillip Andrews was talking about a couple of episodes ago, and with the release of Google+, a timely reminder about just what rights you’re giving away when you post your images to any social networking site.

Google+ TOS:
“By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services.”

“You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.”

“You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.”

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This week, the first in a new series of talks for Shutters Inc.
I’m joined by Lee Andrikopoulos from Instictive Desires.
Lee has a wealth of experience to share, concerning how photographers can be better BUSINESS people.
We all love taking great images, but without understanding the marketing side of things, our photographic services business can be a little disappointing.
Over the comming weeks and months, Lee will share some of the things he’s learned about how to get your business on par with your photography.

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This week, Scott and Stacey’s wedding,
when commercial contracts go horribly wrong, and the angels who save your butt,
the CPW workshops in Perth,
composition,
and the new iPad magazine for photographers, DI-magazine.
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Duration: 45:26

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This week, just a chat as we catch up with Shelton post-Los Angeles.
Turns out, the “creative photo workshop” is an idea whose time has come.
Shelton talks about all the aspects of the trip, including the Venice Beach shoot.
Last week, I was given an Intuos4 graphics tablet by the nice folks at Wacom here in Australia. I’d never used one before, but having now done some photo retouching with one, I don’t think I could go back to photo manipulation with a mouse ever again!
Oh, and it’s pronounced Wah-com, not Way-com!
Shelton is looking into some of the plugins from Nik Software, including Viveza.
And he’s changed his mind on camera straps, after having been given a Black Rapid R-Strap whilst in LA.
He also discovered Hoodman loupes while he was at PMA.

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Duration: 48:59

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This week, David Elfering reminds us of some of the bargains that can be had on Ebay with regards to slightly older digital SLR’s,
Jim Rockewll chimed in on the ‘business stationery design’ topic with a reminder to leave some white space in your design, as well as a request for the donation button to be returned to audio2u.com (working on that, Jim),
a bit of a chat about our family holiday down the south coast (oh, and I will state here that I mistakenly claimed that the shot of Max and Aztec in the early morning light was SOOC… I realised after we had recorded that I had in fact touched up the contrast in Lightroom),
some discussion about using off-camera flash in bright daylight and the potential drawbacks thereof,
plus why having all the best camera gear whn you’re just learning is not always a good thing (the School of Hard Knocks has its advantages).

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In this episode, we wrap up the ‘going pro’ series (unless of course you ask for something else on the topic we haven’t covered yet).
The discussion includes what type of business (sole trader or company) and the pros and cons for each,
the issues surrounding coming up with an image or brand for your business, and some ideas on how to maximise the design potential,
a few tips and tricks with regards to dealing with print houses for the production of your business stationery,
a few thoughts on the different ways to market your business,
plus some of the various methods of establishing and maintaining an online presence (truth be told, we’ve probably only just scratched the surface of this one!).
If there’s more you feel needs to be discussed, then sing out!
You know where to find us!

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