RTC PhotoWork: Featured Photographer, week 9

Tamara of RTC PhotoWork

RTC PhotoWork

Location Photographer

Online: Web, Facebook, G+, Twitter

Serves: Fort Worth, TX

Market: Maternity and Newborns

Go-to Gear: Canon 5d, Canon 70-200 f2.8, Wacom Intuos3 Tablet

Since my son (Tristan) was born this past February and my nephew (Matthew) was born a few days before him, I decided to make a switch from a focus on wedding and engagement photography to newborn photography. I’d love to say that having a baby changed the way I saw the world, and that all I wanted was to be around babies all day. That’s not quite how this last year worked for me. I was probably on a path to this change since before Tristan was born.

I had recently moved back to Fort Worth after working for an “I’ll photograph anything” photographer in Waco, and I was struggling for work. Without equipment of my own, I lacked the confidence to market in a way to book sessions and weddings. I then chose to seek out assisting jobs with other photographers, finally landing a contract position as the right-hand of a local newborn and maternity photographer. I learned a lot from her in terms of conducting a newborn session and handling newborns (being unafraid to offer to change a diaper so Mom could relax) as well as in terms of conducting business. Let me say, she charged WELL, and she did NOT apologize for it. That was a lesson I’d known in theory for a few years, but I saw it in practice with her clients.

Then, I found out I was pregnant. Thinking I was more than a contract worker, I told her soon after I found out. We spent weeks talking about it in between sessions. When we had twins in for a newborn session, she commented on how I was a natural at handling babies and that I had nothing to worry about in being a mother. Then, one day she sat me down to talk and told me that I would not be getting the full time job as expected… because I was pregnant.

It wasn’t until I went through the majority of my pregnancy (questioning every day whether I should continue to pursue photography in any way at all beyond retouching for contract) that I decided wedding and engagement photography was too difficult a market and schedule to have when I had a baby. When I spent 4 days photographing Tristan and Matthew, I got it. Newborns, they are so much easier for me. My difficulty communicating posing to clients was suddenly a non-issue. You know what? Parents are just as excited about their babies’ photographs as they were about their own engagement and wedding photographs. PLUS, the market isn’t as oversaturated as it is with weddings.

Since the decision to change my focus and really go for it, I am booking multiple sessions a month. (I was happy to have a paid session every 6 months prior to that. There is something to be said about the confidence you put out there when you market.) I firmly believe in specializing in one area, even when you are willing to do other sessions as well.

Here is my best advice when you choose a specialty:

• Pick one or at most 2 specialties. You can’t say, “I specialize in family, senior, wedding, newborn, and bridal photography.” That isn’t a specialization; it is your offering. Pick based on what you enjoy most or feel is your strength, and introduce more than 1 specialty at a time only if they go together (like maternity and newborn or engagement and wedding or children and family). You need to send a clear message to the world, and starting to pursue high school senior and newborn photography at the same time with full force, you WILL confuse the world.
  
  
  
  
  
• Go for it with everything you have. Spend most of your marketing strength on the specialty as you develop it, and go at it with confidence. Whether you offer portfolio-building pricing at the beginning or not, educate yourself to become an expert and share the information an expert would share. (In the case of a newborn photographer, I believe this was paramount to the success I have started to enjoy. If I did not position myself as an expert and if I lacked confidence, parents likely would have had difficulty trusting me to handle their newborn. When a parent is ill at ease, the baby senses it, and the session could be a waste.)
  
  
  
  
  
• Assess every part of your business for improvement. Do a SWOT analysis of your business as a whole and as a business in pursuit of this new specialty. You need to learn who you are as this new photographer and what your business is as a business with a specialty in order to convey that message in your marketing and your work.
  
  
  
  
  
• As a part of the previous point, get everything in order to maximize each session’s success and in order to make the process as easy and enjoyable as possible for your client. The easier and more put-together your process is, the faster your success will come.
  
  
  
  
  
• Make sure, now more than ever, that you are priced for profit. Strategically choose as time goes on and you improve to raise the price of your work because there are people who pay for experts in their fields.
  
  
  
  
  
• Don’t be afraid to say no. If there is any photography or styles that don’t fit your specialty or that you don’t want to do, say no. When you spend too much time doing sessions you don’t want to do, that don’t fit your brand you not only confuse people about your brand but you distract yourself from your specialty. I firmly believe in the saying, “A Jack of all trades, a master of none.” It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything but your specialty (unless that’s what you want); it just means you don’t have to do everything to be successful. I highly suggest you avoid EVERYTHING if you want to be successful. Though it probably makes no sense to most people, I decided a couple months ago to no longer do family sessions aside from twice-a-year mini session events. Family shots are included in newborn and maternity sessions, but I generally prefer not to pose several people. It is not my strength, and I believe that I and my clients deserve for me to do my best work.
  
  
  
  
  
• Last but not least, enjoy your specialty. Even if you selected it for business and marketing reasons, enjoy it. If it sucks the life out of you, find something else. I bet you’d be more successful switching.
  
  
  
  
  
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  - Tamara
  RTC PhotoWork