You will be shooting a wedding day tomorrow and you have everything under control, you know all your weddings are taken care of, in time for their deadlines and you have nothing to worry about. ShootZilla or your workflow chart is giving you all the nice green traffic lights. Your bag is packed and all your equipment is clean and checked, your cards are empty, your camera’s are synced so the timestamps match, you know where to be tomorrow and you know the details of your bride and groom and how they look, you are comfortable with your photography skills and you know you can rock any shoot, you are READY!
And yet you are still feeling a bit nervous… anxious even…
I have had this so many times. It made me want to quit photography. This passionate job of me that I loved so much, it should not be this painful right before each shoot, right?
Lately I realized I have lost a lot of the nervousness before a shoot. I thought it was just because I was spending more time on ShootZilla now, but giving it a bit more thought I knew there was another reason.
I am faking less and less and being more and more authentic and open in all my communications.
You know when you just start out you want to get booked so you show your best work to your potential clients and hope they will book you. You have a basic website with at most a happy personal post on ‘how you want to capture people as they really are’ even though you have no idea how to trigger that with people.
Fake it until you make it.
Which is a good way to get started, don’t get me wrong.
But when you get the booking, you have to live up to the expectations that you have set. People expect nothing less from you because they have seen only that.
Within 2Rings we are more and more open about how we do business. For example I like to leave early so I can spend time with my family, Marco doesn’t mind photographing late nights so we just split up after 6pm, we kind of made it our rule and couples are fine with it. We always, always, always have the couple see a full day wedding coverage. We are proud of every image we select, however not every image makes Facebook or our Blog or even our Portfolio page. Making them see the full coverage will show them also the candid photos of family and friends and give them a much more real impression of what they will get when booking us, no surprises.
Manage expectations
Know that most couples only see your portfolio page when they decide they want to meet with you, it’s your job to manage the expectations in a way that there are no surprises.
We also show our selfies and images of each other in our behind the scenes Facebook album. We tell our couples we love cake, and we love having fun at their day, so we are not exactly ‘flies on the wall’ type of photographers. We make the same jokes in their presence as we would when we are together.
Create a true picture of you
All this helps to create an authentic image of you as a person and as a photographer with your clients.
I feel we are still very modest in this, if you take Jasmine Stars example, there is really no limit in to how much detail you can express yourself!
And I think the more you tell about yourself, and the more you are willing to share in your Facebook or blogpage, the less nervous you will feel.
Because you are painting a real picture, the real you. And thus you could never let them down on their big day because they were expecting exactly that!
Well… a little psychology from me today.
How does it work for you? Are you showing the real you in your communications? Love to hear it in the comments!
I’m always showing the real me :) For me it works out the best when I feel completely free. In the first meeting with couples, I’m very open about everything and I’m never thinking, I want this shoot for money. I always think, do we like each other? Then a week before the wedding I’m always calling to check all kind of things. I’m getting nervous if I know that parking my car on the weddinglocation is a problem, or if I only can make pictures in church if I have to stay on my chair. I always discuss those things, to manage expectations and look if their are sullotions. Doing this like this way, being yourself, asking a lot, I feel myself very comfortable with my wedding couples.
Very cool Isabelle!
Great post! I started realizing the same thing last year! It’s so nice to have it confirmed by another group of awesome photographers. I also notice that the more open I am about my workflow and what clients can expect from me, the more comfortable and “in control” they feel. When I started my business I felt really overwhelmed by everything and what was expected of me (even though I didn’t really even know myself!!), but as you say, being authentic and doing things the way that best suits you, is the best way possible!
Awesome to hear Nadine! Thanks for sharing!