Alli McWhinney Photography

I spent the last 5 days watching the live broadcast of Jasmine Star on Creative Live.  Creative Live is worldwide free creative education created by the amazing Chase Jarvis.  The Jasmine Star course was a five day course…all live, including the filming of an actual wedding!  It was really amazing to get both classroom education as well as to see Jasmine behind the scenes at a real wedding and then seeing her post production.  Here is how the days were broken down:

Day 1:  The entire day was a classroom session.  This session included Jasmine’s history and how she became so successful in such a short amount of time.  The main focus was branding and how there are so many opportunities using social media.  The main point I took from this session was to brand yourself online as a person, not as a photographer.  Clients are selecting a photographer as well as photographs.  If a potential client feels that they know you before they contact you then chances are they already know that they like you, and your style, because you have been so transparent on the web.

Day 2:  This day was a hybrid of classroom time and “hands-on” learning.  The classroom time consisted mostly of Jasmine taking online questions.  The second portion was the real first look between the bride and groom.  Unfortunately, I was unable to watch during this time but it consisted of Jasmine demonstrating how she uses light and posing her clients.  I sure this portion was awesome and I am bummed that I had to miss it!

Day 3:  Live wedding day!  The entire day literally followed Jasmine and her second shooter JD as they shot the entire wedding.  Jasmine would talk to the camera and let us know why she was standing where she was, what settings she was using, and why she was getting a certain shot.  Although there was some down time during the day (as there is at any wedding) I felt confident because there were many times that I could say “I do that too” while I am shooting weddings.

Day 4:  The day again began with a question and answer session with both Jasmine and JD.  The classroom then continued to Jasmine showing all her images from the wedding day and how and why she chooses certain images to show the clients.  She also spilled some her photoshop secrets which was really cool to see how she attains such a beautiful final image.

Day 5:  This was basically a full day of Q&A that dealt a lot with branding yourself and your business after the wedding is over.  She also talked a bit about her pricing as well as her business structure.  The main thing I took from day 5 was to value your time.  Time is money and you are running a business!  Keep that in mind with everything you do.

Overall this was a really good educational experience.  I have always admired Jasmine Star but this performance really proved what a hard worker she is!  If you are interested in watching this course you can buy it here!

And here is a picture of Jasmine Star and me from a seminar last September that my friend Brooke took…

Last night I had to the opportunity to attend the Michigan Wedding & Event Professionals networking event here in Ann Arbor.  It was so much fun to meet so many different industry professionals as well as to be in the presence of many awesome photographers.  It was overall a great night with a great group of people.  If you are in the wedding industry here in Michigan you should definitely join us next time!

Check out my new business cards!  After quite a few design changes they are finally here! 

I hear a lot of photographers say that you should try to connect with other photographers in your area.  In attempting to follow this advice I have contacted a few and realized that most don’t want to meet me and therefore ignore me entirely.  So, you can only imagine my shock when Aruna from Aruna B. Photography answered my email and said she would love to meet up!  I was beyond thrilled!  Although we changed our meeting time and place a few times, we finally met for lunch last Friday.  She was both kind and humble despite her awesome achievements in her first “full” year of business.  I peppered her with about a million questions and she had no problem not only sharing her personal experiences but also giving me advice.  It is so interesting hearing about how others got started on this path and how far they have come.  So thank you Aruna, thank you for meeting with me, for answering my questions, and for giving me the confidence to continue on this path!

I spent last Friday night like most girls in their 20’s do, sitting on the couch, watching CNBC, and taking notes. (Joking- I do realize that most girls in their 20’s are not spending their Friday nights watching CNBC!)  Anyway, I stumbled across a show called Swoosh! Inside Nike .  This peaked my interest for many reasons.  First, is that I love anything Nike.  When I was in college our athletic teams were sponsored by Nike.  After about the third day of triple sessions we would walk off the soccer field and into the locker room only to find bags and boxes of Nike stuff for each of us.  Uniforms, t-shirts, warm up suits, cleats, running sneakers…you name it, we got it.  It was like Christmas in August and definitely the only good thing about preseason.  Second, I have always been interested in successful businesses and how they market themselves.  Being an undergrad major in business marketing, it is always interesting to hear the history of how these now mega-companies got their start and their early marketing strategies.  Third, since I am now starting my own business it is clear how important branding is on so many levels.  So, why not learn from a company that has just about mastered their branding, marketing and advertising.  Here are some of the strongest points from the show:

1.  Logo.  The most iconic part of Nike is their logo.  The swoosh.  The swoosh is identifiable around the world.  The best part is that Nike paid $35 dollars for this logo.  So it isn’t necessarily how expensive it was to create your logo, or even what it looks like, but rather your placement of it and how identifiable it is. 

2.  Advertising.  Nike has also mastered what they call “iconic advertising”.  Using strong words and messages to get their point across and evoke emotion.  We all know “Just do it” and can all relate to that slogan.  The “Just do it” makes us think that us regular people can be just like those athletes we see on TV.  By being part of Nike we can be empowered like the athletes that endorse the Nike product. 

3.  “The Deep Dive”  Nike employs a three part system to stay ahead in the industry.  This Deep Dive can be used in any industry, including photography.  The Deep Dive is:

1. Research the playing field;
2. Create a strategy; and
3. Fiercely throw resources at it.

This seems simple enough but has been the master plan behind everything that Nike does.  When any new idea or issue comes up, using the Deep Dive, Nike formulates and executes a plan.  I believe that if this Deep Dive works for them, it can work for me too.

So, by focusing on logo placement and identification, evoking emotion through advertising (by using our  images), and formulating a plan and executing, our small businesses can too achieve greater things without necessarily needing lots of money or incredible resources.  With a little hard work and perserverence we too can be branding geniuses like Nike.  So what are we waiting for?