We are now just four weeks out from the 2017 Societies’ Convention. With an array of Loxley Colour customers hosting seminars and masterclasses at the show, we decided to have a chat with some of them about their workshops and careers in the professional photography industry. This week, we spoke to wedding photographer Lisa Beaney.
Lightroom
Lisa will host an impressive four seminars at The Convention in January, most of them focusing on the benefits of Adobe Lightroom. She hopes delegates will learn how to streamline their workflows to make it easier for them to balance their time and avoid being stuck behind a computer editing for hours, rather than behind the lens of their camera. Lisa thinks using Lightroom offers the best way for this to happen.
Wedding Photography
Having worked in the industry for over 11 years, Lisa knows that wedding photography is very competitive. Weddings can be a huge part of a professional photographer’s livelihood and the industry is growing more than ever:
“You have to be different in the wedding market now. It is quite easy for anyone with a reasonable camera to click away all day and end up with a few good photos. As photographers, we have to show that our skills are above and beyond this and that we can provide clients with something that their friends can’t.”
Lisa also acknowledges that the presentation of finished products is just as crucial as professional behaviour. As a longtime customer of Loxley Colour, Lisa understands that being a success in the wedding photography industry means offering high quality products:
“Loxley provides me with the wall products that I supply to my clients. It is important to me to have a reliable supplier that cares about the final quality.”
Weddings are the most important days of photographers’ clients’ lives. Therefore, professionals must produce products of a high standard:
“If we expect people to part with thousands of pounds for our work we have to do better than hand it over in a plastic clamshell in a paper bag.”
Technical Wizardry
Lisa’s seminars focus on the use of Adobe Lightroom and other technical aspects of photography. Photographers are very innovative and visionary people and developing editing techniques can help bring out that creativity in their work. Lisa hopes photographers know how practicing editing skills can really improve their work:
“What it allows you to do is to take the image you get from the camera and make it into the image you saw in your head!… We all need to apply post-processing to our images to create what we actually intended the photo to look like. We can then enhance it to produce imagery that becomes unique. I would say that technical knowledge is a must for photographers nowadays.”
Inspired Advice
Working in the industry for more than a decade affords a wealth of experience. Lisa has some important financial advice for aspiring photographers:
“Don’t undervalue what you do. It is very easy when you first start to set your pricing too low then, as your business grows, you will find that all your referrals… are still expecting to pay the low price. When you increase your prices, it can be like starting your business all over again.
Many photographers have full time jobs as well as their photography business. Lisa believes this is common and understandable due to the competitive nature of the industry. Her advice for part time photographers is simple:
“Don’t get too hung up on the need to go full time. There is nothing wrong [with it], and quite often it can make financial sense to have a regular income from another job as well as your income from photography. Being a professional photographer is all about how you work rather than how often.”
Where & When
Lisa has a seminar on each day of the convention. For tickets, visit http://www.swpp.co.uk/convention/2017/speaker-bio-Beaney8658.htm. To look at her beautiful portfolio of work, head on over to her website http://www.lisabeaneyphotography.co.uk/.