Intro by Skip Cohen
Last year Suzette Allen shared a blog post about the importance of having video in your skill set. She gave some great examples of additional work their business has picked up simply because people saw they did video, even when their needs were for still imaging.
Over the years the lines between still imaging and videography have become more and more blurred, and it’s not just in the skills of the artists involved, but virtually all of you are working with cameras that have video functions and wedding photographers like Jordan Bunch and Matthew Sutherland, also Panasonic LUMIX Ambassadors together with Suzette and Jonny Yoshinaga, like many of you are shooting 4K video and then doing frame capture for additional still images.
And here’s my point – business is changing more and more every day. The Internet and social media have changed how we share photographs. Mobile technology has changed how we communicate, and imaging technology has added completely new levels of service you can offer your clients.
Business is definitely out there, but you’ve got to make yourself different from your competitors. Diversity in your photographic specialty is no longer just about bridging the gap between different specialties like wedding photography and family portraiture, it’s about the different levels of capture and the media you have the skill set to work in!
By Suzette Allen
Well, it’s been a super long day because we filmed about 7 fireworks booths today (about an hour each) for TNT Fireworks. But the notable thing about that is the fact that we got the gig BECAUSE we shoot video. It’s simple interviews and we just hand over the files- no need to edit into a finished video because they want to do it themselves.
Seriously, it is purely a testimonial marketing tool for them, and we make it happen because we know how to coach people and make them comfortable and help them do the job without pain and worry! Most of these people are Little league coaches and Pastors and good-hearted helpers!
But the surprising thing about this is the jobs we get because we do video, DON’T want video! The last few commercial jobs were purely from clients seeing and loving our Talking Business Cards! They didn’t want to do it for themselves, but they wanted us to do their business headshots! Of course, we can do that!
So, for those of you who say “Oh, I don’t do video”, you should really reconsider and make an effort to learn the tiny amount required to start adding it to your skill set. I will bet 90% of you already have a camera that will shoot video! …and you own a tripod!
