Hey Girl, Nice Shot

Its Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas (Cards)....

If you are portrait photographer you know that the holiday rush is quickly approaching.  And you can take some steps now to get you ready for the holidays!

Now, it wouldn't be the holiday season without the rush for holiday cards.  Remember last year when I said that I wasn't going to do holiday cards again?  Yeah, that's not going to work for me.  Why?  Because I felt pretty sad when I got cards from clients that bought the digital files and they just weren't very good cards.  And I was always so happy sending my press printed cards out the door.  Now, they will still have the option to go elsewhere for cards with their digital files, but I would MUCH rather streamline my card process to make it easier to offer the high quality cards I would RATHER see going out with my "name" on them. 

I have a ton of card templates from previous years...but after spending so much time last year looking at them, I'm ready for something new and fresh.  So I visited my two favorite design shops and sure enough they both already have some holiday collections available:

It is no shock that I love all things Design Aglow.  And they have released two new holiday card collections this year in addition to continuing to offer their collections from last year.  Visit the Design Aglow Site see all the different card options they offer including many non-holiday card template that could easily be tweaked to work for the holidays as well.

It is so funny how our tastes can change too.  Last year I was ALL ABOUT COLOR in my holiday cards but this year I'm finding myself obsessing with their Black and White Christmas designs.    However, the "Holidays Most Wanted" collection shown above has a vintage flair that is sweet too.  Last year I used Design Aglow holiday card templates for my studio cards and for my assistants personal cards and they all printed beautifully AND were the talk of the town!

The other designer whose stuff I like is Jamie Schultz.  At one point I'm pretty sure I owned everything!  Have I mentioned I'm a graphic design junkie?  Good thing I can't design for myself of I would get NOTHING done.  Jamie has 6 holiday card collections this year!  Each collection offers a variety of styles so depending on your budget you could have a lot of variety - maybe even an overwhelming amount.

On that note, while I love having lots of variety for my clients, I am careful to not put EVERYTHING out there.  If I don't love it, I won't show it.   So sometimes I'll have the collection of cards with 6 cards but I really like 3 of them, I won't necessarily show my clients all 6.  And, I also try to give them some direction as to which cards I think will work the best with their photos!

And with the number of photographers growing by leaps and bounds, so has the number of websites geared toward providing templates to photographers.  Find the cards that have the style you want to present - there are practically unlimited options out there.   Share with us: Who is YOUR favorite template designer for photographers?

Hanging with Hey Girl

Since I started this blog I have met so many wonderful people, both online, and in person.  I'm thrilled that I have so many fans and that I can share the things I have learned with so many other people.

Recently I have had more and more requests for one-on-one mentoring.  There are lots of fantastic workshops out there for anyone looking for a structured learning experience.  However, I have created the super flexible one day mentoring session called "Hanging with Hey Girl" to provide the opportunity for aspiring photographers to come to my loft for a day to completely pick my brain about what YOU want to learn.  So here are the details...

Hanging with Hey Girl

9 spots available in August
Houston, TX
One day - 9am-5pm

Lunch & Beverages included
$695/day

One on One Mentoring covering the topics you want to cover including:

• Projection Sales
• Package Creation
• Pricing
• Workflow
• Accounting
• Shooting/Post Processing
• Using Social Media
• Online Advertising
• Preferred Vendors

This mentoring is ideal for the aspiring pro that is just not sure how to move forward, or for the beginning professional that needs a little extra information to take their business up a notch.

The following dates are available for mentoring in August.  This is a great time to learn and develop your business before the holiday rush.  I don't plan on having any availability during the rest of the Fall when I'll be focusing on holiday portrait sessions. 

Book your date by July 21st at Noon Central Time and save $200 off the retail price.

If you are interested in coming with a friend the second person is half price - just let me know in the special instructions field when you pay for your day and I will contact you to complete the payment for the second person.
Monday, August 3

Thursday, August 6

Tuesday, August 11

Friday, August 14

Monday, August 17

Thursday, August 20

Tuesday, August 25

Friday, August 28

Monday, August 31

Questions? Contact me: jessica [at] bubblegumtree.com Please note that the mentoring fee is non-refundable but may be applied to a future mentoring session should an emergency arise and you are not able to make your selected date.

How I use my Shootsac

I officially love my Shootsac.  I bought mine a few months ago with the yellow and white polka dot pattern cover. 

I store my spare lenses in the inside pockets.  I keep the center pocket empty so I can fit my Canon 5D Mark II body in there with no lens on it.  In the outside pockets I usually keep my cell phone, some little toys like a pez dispenser and wooden block that I can use during a shoot.  Today I figured out that I can also stick my hand puppets in there instead of having them hanging out of my pockets.

I do a LOT of running and squatting during sessions and the nice thing about the ShootSac is that it totally stays put on my hip.

Updating my Online Proofing System

I've been using the same online proofing system for over two years and it hasn't been updated in those two years.  So I have been looking around for a new solution.  Originally I had filtered out most other systems because many have very limited support for multi-pose print packages (seriously, what is up with that?) but with the change in my business model to be more digital focused I actually realized I don't really need print packages anymore so that opened up more options.

I checked out NextProof and was really impressed with it.  It has a bunch of different templates for your gallery but you can also completely customize it yourself by editing the template files.  They also offer premium templates AND custom template design services.

I am still in my 30 day free trial.  I signed up on their website and was able to go in and add in my pricing very easily.  I've only done some basic editing of the template but I am using a custom template.  You can download the template code for any of the standard templates and then customize them the way that you want too.  If you have any coding experience it is pretty easy to follow.  I will surely go in and do more customization in the future.

One of the things I really liked about them was the ability to use my own domain even though it was a hosted solution.  I created a sub-domain for placing orders then worked with their customer support to get my digital certificate setup for the secure ordering.  They were responsive and helped me get it setup. If you decide to use your domain (orders.bubblegumtree.com) instead of their domain (bubblegumtree.nextproof.com) then I strongly recommend buying a digital certificate.  I was able to order mine though GoDaddy (also where I manage my domain name).   If you don't get a digital certificate for yourself your site will still be secure but your customers will probably get a message from their web browser telling them that the certificate does not match the website address.

Currently the support for packages is limited.  You can put a package in as a product but they wouldn't be able to choose the images for the items in the package through the system...I assume they'd just pay there and then contact the photographer directly to determine which images to actually print.  I can say that StudioCart (which I have been using and which I am still using for some of my pre-existing clients that still order mainly print packages) has awesome support for packages.  Honestly, that has really spoiled me because of the level of package customization...it is probably also why it hasn't been updated in a while - too complicated to update.  I will be phasing it out though as I move more towards digital files and ala carte print orders.

I'm choosing to continue to do my own order fulfillment through the various labs I use but they do offer order processing through ProDPI if you'd rather have that part streamlined for your business.  And I like that I can create discount codes that expire - a great way to boost sales by forcing ordering in a certain window of opportunity.

If you are looking for an online proofing system check them out: http://www.nextproof.com.  If you enter the coupon code "BUBBLEGUM" when you sign up for your account, you'll get 25% off your plan. SWEET!

NextProof is a product by the same folks that put together BigFolio for templated photography websites.  I checked with Jen Thompson and her coupon code (JEN150), good for $150 off a premium template, is still active so if you are looking for an alternative to the other template sites for photographers, definitely check them out because they are doing some great work.  Also, Jen is now working through them for the logo design services they are offering (Jen designed my new logo for my rebranding of my business and did a FANTASTIC job).  They also offer some SEO services which I have heard they are really awesome at making that magic happen (search engine optimization for those you not familiar with the term).

One of the founders is going to be speaking at a workshop early this fall called Bent in Suncadia.  The location looks beautiful and the speakers includes Bambi Cantrell (who hasn't heard of her?), Jim Garner, and Erik Dungan (of Big Folio).