Stay ConnectedWelcome to The Bokeh Podcast, where we help photographers build sustainable businesses!
Host Nathan Holritz and his guests will help you build your brand, focus your marketing efforts, refine your workflows, and dial in your photographic technique – all with efficiency in mind.
In the end, we not only want you to succeed as a photography business owner, but to still have a life through it all.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Copyright: © Copyright Photographer's Edit
Are you creating headshots that truly capture the personality of your client?
In episode 247 of the Bokeh Podcast, Ben Marcum describes the importance of creating compelling headshots for your clients, and the unique elements that make a headshot stand out.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Book Recommendation: (7:57)
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: bit.ly/bp-notgivinganf
Think and Grow Rich: bit.ly/bp-thinkgrowrich
Building a Storybrand: bit.ly/bp-storybrand
Advice for Photographers: Get out and talk to people to get yourself seen. (12:56)
The Gear Bag: (17:45)
Nikon D850 w/ 70-200mm
Tethered with Capture One - youtube.com/watch?v=Vp2uq4UBLYI
Paul C Buff Alien Bees
Elements of a Compelling Headshot: (35:51)
1. Connection
2. Confidence
Links:
The Secrets to Creating Amazing Headshots - Peter Hurley: bit.ly/bp-Headshot
How to Win Friends and Influence People: bit.ly/bp-winfriends
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Are you struggling to develop a pricing model that not only pays your bills, but also reflects the value you place on your business?
In episode 246 of the Bokeh Podcast, Nicole Bissey shares how she partnered with another photographer to create a business model that allowed them to combine their individual prices and still book clients. Listen in as she explains how you should create a unique value proposition in order to increase your prices and charge what you're worth.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Technique for Time: Create a routine and set boundaries. (1:31)
Staying Present: Meditate with the Calm App (5:57)
Book Recommendation: How to Win Friends and Influence People - bit.ly/bp-winfriends (9:58)
Advice for Photographers: No opportunity is too good for you. (15:08)
The Gear Bag: Nikon D850 (16:20)
Brand Position: Wedding photographers who want the real shit. (18:46)
Price Increase with their Merger: When merging their separate wedding businesses, they had to double their prices to compensate for the merge. (24:50)
How to Increase Your Prices: (28:56)
1. Find a mentor who can help you review your work and review your finances to understand what you need to make.
2. Figure out who your client is and how they want to be served.
3. Figure out the level of service you want to provide.
Links:
Matt Odom’s Episode: bit.ly/bp-245
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Have you considered a career in commercial photography, but aren’t sure how to prepare for the change?
In episode 245 of the Bokeh Podcast, Matt Odom walks us through five concepts that commercial photographer require. Listen in as he highlights the importance of how efficiency and connection can help guide your success in commercial photography.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Technique for Time: Set aside a day to do everything that is paper related. (2:27)
Staying Present: Find a way to stay relevant. (6:31)
Book Recommendations: Photography Q & A by Zach Arias - bit.ly/bp-photographyqa (9:43)
Advice for Photographers: Learn to hear the word no, because you will make mistakes. (15:26)
Brand Position: A commercial photographer who works efficiently. (18:20)
The Gear Bag: Godox AD600 (31:26)
5 Concepts to a Great Commercial Photographer: (42:06)
1. Patience for success
2. Learning every single day.
3. Shooting to practice.
4. Outgoing personality because you’ll be dealing with people daily.
5. Learn how to handle criticism.
Links:
Jab Jab Jab, Right Hook - Gary Vaynerchuk - bit.ly/bp-jab
Verbal Judo - bit.ly/bp-verbaljudo
Mentioned in this Episode:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Are you looking for ways to avoid burnout during your busy seasons?
In episode 244 of the Bokeh Podcast, Kelly Berry shares how incorporating personal projects into your workload can help combat burnout and fuel your passion for photography.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Technique for Time: Getting up early to focus better. (2:06)
Staying Centered: This can be different for everyone, but for Kelly, riding horses and spending time outdoors. But also, just be inspired by what your clients are doing and saying. (07:05)
Book Recommendations: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - bit.ly/bp-bigmagic (11:45)
The Lesson: Connect with as many creatives in your field as possible. (15:46)
Brand Position: Fine art photographer capturing editorial, engagements, and weddings.(18:36)
The Gear Bag: Canon 5D Mark III with ZEISS 50mm & Contax 645
Why Passion Projects? It fuels you and allows you to be creative without the pressure of work. (43:34)
Vero Workshops: A workshop that brings out the artist in you. (50:27)
Links:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Have you optimized your website content to help you rank on Google?
In episode 243 of the Bokeh Podcast, Karen Julia discusses what you need to know about SEO in 2019. Listen in as she shares the five biggest mistakes that photographers are making in their SEO efforts, and how to avoid them!
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Technique for Time: Schedule everything in your calendar in time-slots. (01:58)
"If you don’t have 10 minutes a day to meditate, then you need to make some significant changes." - Tim Ferris (00:07:22)
Book Recommendation: Start With Why - Simon Sinek - bit.ly/bp-startwithwhy (00:08:09)
Advice for Photographers: Your focus should be on systems rather than your kit. (00:11:10)
Brand Position: A boutique, personalized SEO experience for photographers. (00:15:47)
Hummingbird - A Google Algorithm Natural Language Processor that crawls the content of a site for topical relevance. (00:30:46)
Google Search Console - Google’s way of communicating if your site has penalties. (00:35:34)
Example of Penalties for Google Search:
1. Creating content that is similar to keywords targeted throughout your site without a lot of text. Having too many low quality pages can hurt your search ranking. (00:36:32)
2. Not having a mobile friendly website with a fast load time. (00:37:54)
Recommended Load Time for Mobile Site: Less than 2 seconds. (00:39:41)
Load Speed Time Tool: GTMetrix.com (00:40:00)
Utilize the Algorithm Technology: Talk about the types of weddings you’d like to shoot, including details. (00:42:44)
Quality Over Quantity: Writing short 2-300 words articles doesn’t cut it anymore. (00:43:27)
Mistakes Made In SEO: (00:44:08)
1. Putting too much priority in the homepage. At least 75% of your search traffic should come from blog posts. (00:44:42)
2. Creating content that doesn’t match what people are searching. Use Google Trends to find what people are searching for, then mix in what you want to talk about with what a user wants to know. (00:49:57)
3. Waiting to blog about a wedding until after the wedding. If you go ahead and start blogging about a venue/wedding, after it is booked, you can drop the images in the post after the wedding and by then it has had time to gain traction with Google. (00:53:08)
4. Including dates or names in your title or url. This causes you to rank for those as keywords rather than the primary topic. (1:00:00)
5. Hoarding old blog posts. Prune your website of old, irrelevant content. (01:03:27)
Everything on your site should be within 3 clicks of the homepage. (01:04:08)
Karen’s Recommended Post Count: 100-120 posts (01:06:23)
Mentioned in this episode:
Links:
Are you ready to run your business, rather than be run by your business?
In episode 242 of the Bokeh Podcast, Stacey Krolow of Meet Pepper explains how delegating work in your business will help you become a better CEO. Listen in as she shares what a virtual assistant can do for you and your business.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Time Technique: Set an end time to your day.
Being Present: Meditation and Morning Routines
Book Recommendations:
The Lesson: Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Photographers
The Gear Bag:
Nikon D750
Sigma Art 35mm 1.4
Sigma Art 85mm 1.4
Sigma Art 24mm
Fujifilm XT2
Fujifilm 23mm (equivalent of 35mm)
Zonguey Speed Master .95 (equivalent of 50mm)
Brand Position: Virtual Assistants for Photographers and Creative Entrepreneurs
Tasks to Hand Over to Virtual Assistants:
1. Email Management & Communication
2. Contracts & Invoicing
3. Creating Workflows
4. Scheduling & Planning
5. Bookkeeping
6. Newsletters
7. Blogging
8. Social Media
Links:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Does your client experience suffer from slow turnaround time?
In episode 241 of the Bokeh Podcast, Caitlin & Luke Bachtold share how they manage to deliver client galleries to clients in just over a week after their weddings. Listen in as they share the benefits of outsourcing, and what their full workflow looks like from the wedding to the final delivery!
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Technique for Time: Get you day started really early.
Book Recommendation:
The Bible
Luke: This is Marketing Seth Godin -bit.ly/bp-sg-marketing
Caitlin: Worth Every Penny by Erin Verbeck & Sarah Petty- bit.ly/bp-everypenny
The Lesson:
Caitlin: It’s about the people you’re photographing, not just the craft.
Luke: Always keep learning; don’t stay on cruise control.
Brand Position: A husband and wife photography and videography team loving and serving couples.
The Gear Bag:
Canon 5D Mark IV
Sony A7 III
Walkie Talkies: bit.ly/bp-walkietalkie
The Post Production Workflow:
Saturday
- Shoot the Wedding
Sunday
- Day Off
Monday
- Luke Culls the Wedding with No Distractions in Photomechanic
- Caitlin Adds to a Lightroom Catalog and Edits 100 Photos for the Blog and for Reference for Editors
- Caitlin Uploads the Edited Photos to an Online Gallery to send to their Virtual Assistant
- Caitlin Downloads the Images and Uses Blog Stomp to Prep for Blogging, Creates Vendor Credit Links, and Drafts the Blog Post
Tuesday
- Caitlin Reviews the Draft and Adds Content About the Wedding Day
- Luke Sends the Lightroom Catalog to Photographer’s Edit
Friday
- Images Arrive Back from Photographer’s Edit
Monday
- Caitlin Uploads Images to Gallery and Send to Client
- Virtual Assistant Delivers Images to Vendors
Tips for Faster Culling:
- Do It As Soon As Possible
- Don’t Get Emotionally Attached to the Photos
- Pick Instead of Delete
Why a Faster Turnaround Time?
It provides less liability for your business - the shorter the amount of time that the images are in your hands, the less likely something will happen to them.
Backups:
- Harddrive
- NAS - Cloud Based Storage (Used only to access image on the go as needed)
- External Harddrive in a Fireproof Safe
- Online Gallery System
Links:
Are you ready to make your photography business a full-time career, yet unsure of what challenges you may face?
In episode 240 of the Bokeh Podcast, Keith Layne shares how he prepared to turn hide side-hustle into his primary source of income. Listen in as he describes the concerns you'll need to address before going full-time in order to set yourself up for success.
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Time Technique: Starts his day with meditation, but it’s a work in progress.
Book Recommendations:
Steve Harvey Jump - youtube.com/watch?v=kILVFRlUtT8
The E-Myth Revisited - bit.ly/bp-emyth
Storybrand by Donald Miller - bit.ly/bp-storybrand
The Lesson: I’m working to create a lifestyle that my family can enjoy, but if I’m not there to enjoy it, what’s it worth?
Brand Position: I help clients celebrate life, while strengthening they love and deepening the bonds with their loved ones.
Concerns Addressed Before Making the Move to Full Time:
1. Family
2. Finances
3. Brand
Mentioned in this episode:
Shaun Austin
Montana Dennis
Chad Diblasio
Tim Hussey
Links
Tim Hussey’s Episode: bit.ly/bp-86
Shaun’s Episodes: bit.ly/bp-shaun
Chad Diblasio’s Episode: bit.ly/bp-7
Kiss Books: kiss.us
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In an age where video is becoming more and more popular, have you considered what hybrid shooting could do for your photography business?
In episode 239 of the Bokeh Podcast, Julianna J discusses the opportunities that videography can offer for your clients and your business. Listen in as she shares the challenges and rewards that come with learning video, along with how you can get started in videography!
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Time Technique: Outsourcing editing to Photographer’s Edit
Staying Focused: Create a morning routine.
Book Recommendations:
The 4 Hour Work Week: bit.ly/bp-4hr
Reawaken the Giant Within: bit.ly/bp-reawaken
Book Summary Companies:
The Gear Bag: Compact Sony RX105
Challenges of Adding Video to Your Workflow:
1. Understanding Your Gear for Video (Frame Rates and Basic Terminology)
2. How to Make a Switch in a Timely Fashion
3. Understand the Workflow for Post-Production
Rewards from Shooting Video:
1. You’re Offering Something Different and You Stand Out
2. Making More Money from the Same Event
3. Developing a New Skill for the Marketing Future
Moving in the Direction of Video:
1. Do Not Charge Until You Are Confident - Practice, Practice, Practice with Your Existing Customers
2. Get an Organized System for Handling and Naming Files
Links:
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Are you constantly struggling to create new content that's worthy of hitting publish on your blog?
In episode 238 of the Bokeh Podcast, Vanessa Hicks walks us through how she plans an entire month of content in just one hour. If you’re ready to consistently add content to your website, then listen in as she shares her process to planning out content and a few pieces of content you may have not considered sharing!
The Bokeh Podcast is brought to you by Photographer’s Edit: Custom Editing for the Wedding and Portrait Photographer. You can also subscribe to the Bokeh podcast on the Apple podcast app, follow on Spotify, add to your playlist on Stitcher, or listen on Overcast.
Benefits of Blogging:
1. SEO
2. Permanent Resource for Clients
3. Consistent Social Media Content
How to Consistently Blog:
1. Create a Blog Series that Benefit Your Clients
2. Add Your Work Around the Series
3. Stay Ahead of Blogging
Series Ideas:
1. Friday Five
2. Monday minutes
3. Tuesday Tips
4. Wedding Wednesday
5. A Day in the Life
Links:
instagram.com/vanessahicksphotography
Session Mentioned in the Episode: vanessahicksphotography.com/hawaii-engagement-photographer-leah-dave
Vanessa’s Month of Content: hvanessahicksphotography.com/tips-creating-month-worth-blogging-content-hour-vanessa-hicks-photography
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
