new to the business

[AdairPhotography]

Hi there! I have a photography business and I just started this year with making it official with a DBA name and also going full force with a website and shoots. We have done two little weddings so far but they were very very small ones that we did just to help the bride/grooms out. What I would like to know is what you recommend to a new company that wants to do more weddings and any other advice for us.

I have really wanted to go to a workshop(s) but I am having a very hard time find wedding workshops that I can afford that are in the Dallas area. If anyone has recommendations for workshops that would be great too.
Thank you for your time!

[Tom]

You want us to tell you how to get the customers we are going after? How to better compete with us?

[AdairPhotography]

I would just like any type of recommendations that anyone out there would want to share with a new wedding photographer. Thank you

[Tom]

Word of mouth is your best and cheapest resource.

[texkam]

What I would like to know is what you recommend to a new company that wants to do more weddings and any other advice for us.

Hang out on this forum. Look, listen and learn to use the search tool.

[bondarnes]

Slow down Thomas, it's her first post.

Ah, you are obviously new to business in general. It is not considered polite to ask your peers to do your work for you. I suggest you do a lot of reading here, before posting again. I could give you some links, but then again, I would be doing the work for you. Use the TPF search function and come back in a couple of days with anything you couldn't find an answer for.

Remember that you are a stranger to all of us and most of us have been taught to be wary of strangers. Why don't you start over with a proper introduction in the introduction section of the forum. Put a little more information into your profile, so we can become friends.

[Rson]

My .02:
Learn your camera front and back
Have quality glass and many backup plans for body failure. (Can you say ERR99)
Compete with value and skill not price, we all lose for a 300 dollar wedding with DVD
Take time to learn your craft, A person that now owns a scalpel isn't a doctor right away.
Second with some Photogs

[CaptainTom]

Make sure you business plan is a good one. I bet you don't have a written down business plan ???
A DBA is good but doesn't provide any sort of assurance of anything..except the bank usually wants one in order to establish a business account.
Make ABSOLUTELY sure your liability and indemnity insurance completely covers your business. I bet you don't have any insurance ???
It's a problem to be in business and not have enough capitol to buy the proper equipment and get the proper training.
Imagine going to your (fill in the blank) office and they don't have a desk or a chair for you to wait in. They haven't quite finished their schooling and don't quite know what to do next. But, they have a DBA and a sign up outside.
Fortunately you can get away without all of this as long as you don't care about being sued, somebody stealing you equipment, providing top notch service to your clients or putting other hard working photographers out of work.

[danchez]

ahhh, it's so sweet to watch the cannibalization of the young.

[Jeff_Green]

Adairphotography,

While the above responses may sound harsh, they are not without merit. Many of us, who have been a part of this forum for a long time, have seen many people come and go who are just looking to take from us and have us do their legwork so they don't have to. We are not saying that is what you are doing.

We just want to get to know our neighbors first and want our new neighbors to look around and the nice things we have done on our forum!

One word of advice though... Don't advertise using anyone else's pictures but your own, or your studios!

[janikphoto]

You mention having a website... we'd love to see the link! And as others have said, you'll get the most free help right here, through reading old threads, asking a bunch of questions and participating on the forum over time.

[toverman]

I recommend two magazines to subscribe to: Professional Photographer and Rangefinder. PP is $20 a year, and for professionals Rangefinder is free. Both are pro association magazines, and usually have a lot of content about marketing and promotions, technique and the latest equipment. There's also lots of purty pictures.

[Truckman]

Originally Posted by toverman

There's also lots of purty pictures.

That's fer me!......Ben

[ChristopherCoy]

oooh oooh ooh!!! Got a new one...

[FireHeart Photography]

I find that many photographers can be pompus and just plain asses sometimes - it comes from begin creative and parnoid. You see the business has changed in with the digital age and many people are getting into the wedding and photo business - some really suck as photographers and others are quite natually talented -those are the ones feared most by the "establishment" - I love that photographers speak their own language as if its some mythical thing to be a great photographer. It's really quite simple yet very difficult to obtain - 1. you have to have talent 2. you have to know your equipment and its vitures and limitations (great equipment does not equal great photographer) 3. you have to be able to sell 4. you have to be a good business person - we photographers have to pay taxes on everything 5. you have to know that there are many photographers who will give you a lot of infomation but leave out a critical step - it's like a guarded secret - so you have have thick skin and not take it personal.

Photo.net is a great forum to ask the kind of quesiton you asked here - but do a search first they have tons of information - if you want weddings join Digital wedding forum is great too - lots of good advise running around there - Lurk a bit - check out the people who talk the most and see what kind of photog they really are... then you can note as to if you want to take their advise.

Welcome to this crazy insane world -if you have the fire in your belly - you will do well - if not - get a real job and have this as your hobby...