Calling St. Louis home has its advantages, 1 of which was being within driving distance of the annual Digital Wedding Forum Convention this year. The DWF is a private online wedding photographer forum, where all us photo geeks get together to talk about the business, art and technology of wedding photography. It is a great place to learn and grow, and I have learned so much online over the years.
Each year they hold a convention and workshop, and this year they were in Nashville Tennessee! Since Nashville is only a 5-6 hour drive from St. Louis, it was an opportunity I could not pass up. Of course, I packed and traveled with nearly all of my camera gear…and it didn’t make it out of the bag once! I literally spent 4 days soaking up great information and making new friends (or rather, finally meeting in person people I had been ‘online friends’ with for quite a while), without once taking a photograph.
I came away from the week with 3 solid goals and strategies to implement for Alecia Hoyt Photography in 2010, and am on my way to accomplishing them already!
1. Making it personal. Letting more of my personality shine through in my work. Don’t get me wrong, I do quite a bit of this already. But I am finding that as my business grows and becomes more successful (more so than I ever could have dreamed when I started this venture 5 years ago), I am attracting clients who love that my photography is beautiful and unique. I am working on embracing what is unique about my style. The three words that have become my new mantra whenever my camera is in my hands? Romantic, Modern, Sexy. On that note, I will soon be adding sexy boudoir photography as an a la cart option and to my wedding photography packages (hot couples session anyone?)
2. Albums. I have always done and will continue to provide clients with full resolution digital negatives with all of my photography sessions. There is some debate about this practice in the wedding photography community, but for many reasons this suits not only my business practice by my personal philosophy as well, I provide this service to all of my clients. That being said, I am discovering more and more the value of a printed wedding album. An archival storybook album is such a beautiful way to tell the story of your wedding day, in a way that a disk of images just cannot do. And what an amazing family heirloom to be able to pass down to future generations. Thankfully my preferred album company recently started offering a new album that is both beautiful and cost-effective. And with the same quality and handmade craftsmanship as their more traditional albums. I am so thrilled to be able to offer these beautiful albums to my clients, knowing that they will have a treasure to pass down to their children and grandchildren.
3. It is about the fluffiness! Ok, so most of you who know me know that I am not a very fluffy or frilly type girl. I love to play dress up sometimes, and I love weddings, but I also love to get dirty and camp & hike and tend to lean towards the practical rather than the extravagant. On that note, I haven’t ever really created a unified brand for my business, and my packaging is rather blah. One of the workshop presenters really made me realize the pleasure that comes from unwrapping a beautiful package. I LOVE to unwrap things myself, and I love presents. So, rather than a plain disk in a plastic cd case in a boring brown envelope, I’m going to try and fluff it up a bit this year. The practical girl in me will still be looking at costs, ease of shipping, etc…but I know I love to open a pretty package, so of course I am going to start sending pretty things (maybe even with pink bows, watch out!) to my clients.
Most importantly, however, looking through my blog and website portfolio, you will see that at the end of the day it is all about the images for me…I will continue to strive to grow as a photographer and as an artist, while providing the kind of customer service that I admire and enjoy in the preferred vendors I work with.
And in case you are curious, here are the links to a couple of the amazing photographers I had the opportunity to learn from while in Nashville. Seriously some amazing photography~
Jerry Ghionis Photography
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