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The Power of Bridal-Model Shoots! - part 4 of 1 2 3 4

Published 01/08/2010

Websites: my only caution would be to make clear lines to delineate what is from model shoots and what is from real weddings. A link called 'bride-model shoots' would work. Put the images in their own link area. If your wedding images tend to be more conservative, yet you have branched out and photographed very different imagery at model shoots, don't just mix them around your site. This can have a negative effect with brides you are used to booking. Place the more unusual styled images in their own area, together. Then the lines are drawn and the bride will probably appreciate your creativity

Your marketing: When using images for marketing you need to find out what mood you want to evoke, what ideas you want to project, who you are, what you do and many other concepts. Bridal imagery is often hard to delineate between a real-bride and a model. I see no problem using model imagery in your marketing, as long as it is consistent with the style you are capable of and willing to shoot at real weddings. If you can't replicate the model image overall style at your weddings, don't put it front and center until you can. If you have no problem telling a curious bride that a particular shot was actually a model image, then the bride should have no problem with it.

Let's say you really want to shoot a destination wedding. Travel is great, but very expensive. Having a bride hire and pay your way would be a dream! If a bride does not see any destination-style work on your site, most likely she will find a photographer who does. How do you break into that market? I would suggest picking a country or destination location you have always wanted to go to and create a goal to go there. Don't just travel to see the place, make a business trip out of it: create a model shoot at your chosen location and write some of your trip off as a tax deduction. Take a model and dress with you. Perhaps your sister, friend or spouse would model for you in exchange for the airfare costs. Or arrange with people in our industry located at your travel destination to help you with a dress and model. Some will do this for trade-out of your imagery. How much would it cost a dress shop to hire a commercial shooter to create art for the purpose of marketing? Plenty! Sell that idea to them. Or

what if you made some photographer friends in your travel destination and arranged to 'get together' for an international model shoot. I have done this many times and it is a blast!! Now take these images home and incorporate them into your marketing. If a bride asked about the images and the wedding, tell her the truth, it was a model shoot. But tell her all the effort that went into doing this and why you did it. She will most likely be impressed.

Here is a final yet simple concept: As your imagery becomes stronger, other photographers' and brides' perception of your value increases. Art is subjective, yet let me put this to the test: do an internet search and randomly cruise through as many wedding photographers' sites until you get my point: take a calculated guess at their starting package prices based on image strength and see if you are close to the mark. I will venture to say that after a while; you will see the correlation between the qualities of image/style to the perceived value of that photographer. The greater the image-composition skills, the greater the value the photographer will place on their work, thus charge more for their packages. In general, the market will not support an over-priced photographer with sub-par imagery.

How does this all tie into model shooting? The more you shoot, the stronger your imagery will become! Model shooting is a confidence builder. The more extra-curricular shooting you do, the better your actual wedding shoots will become and the more your overall value will increase!

End of story!!

Not yet...

The beginning of a passion for model shoots!

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• The Power of Bridal-Model Shoots! page 1
  
• The Power of Bridal-Model Shoots! page 2
  
• The Power of Bridal-Model Shoots! page 3
  
• The Power of Bridal-Model Shoots! page 4
  

1st Published 01/08/2010
last update 09/12/2022 14:51:57

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