FAQ: school portrait guide for photographers

happiest of February’s to you! I kind of love February because I can officially start wishing for spring, because when it was December 15th and I said “I can’t wait for spring/summer” my husband sweetly replied “uhhmmm It’s not even officially winter yet!” I am not a fan of winter, not ONE bit . . . so I just want to say HAPPY FEBRUARY. I think the perfect valentines gift would be the Get Schooled : School Portraiture Guide. Give yourself the gift of growing your business, making moola and being the only boutique school portraiture photographer in your town! Ok so I know it brings up lots of questions and here is the place for the answers. If you find that one of your questions about Get Schooled : School Portraiture hasn’t been answered below, please simply leave your question in the comments section and I will add it into the mix.

I want to start with a little inspiration – don’t you just LOVE these little strips of paper, found them on etsy – click and it will take you to her store!!!!

Ok without further ado:

1. what the heck is Get Schooled : School Portraiture?
I could give you the LONG version but I will spare you. It is simple; I was new to town, I didn’t have a client base, I wanted to generate some cash flow, I wanted to generate a good client base, I wasn’t yet involved in the community and didn’t know anyone to help me by refering clients. I had to find another way. I decided to start shooting medium size preschool [student count around 80]. What I found was…. NOTHING on the business side of school portraiture. So after lots of trial and error. I have a system, I know what works and basically Get Schooled : School Portraiture is that avenue. The place/way for me to share what I have done and learned!

2. why would I want to start capturing school portraits? Standing in a stinky gym, pressing the shutter release 300 times in an 8 hours shift sounds horrible!
Seriously, I feel you. Right there is what I want to change with Get Schooled : School Portraiture. I want families, photographers and school staff to view the school portrait experience totally different. I want families to expect amazing images, instead of crossing their fingers and praying that a decent image comes home. No way, Get Schooled : School Portraiture is all about the modern, fun and beautiful school portait. Yes, you will take a tiny bit longer on each child then a typical big franchise studio, but that is the point! You can be creative, you can capture stunning imags, you do not have to stand in a stinky gym for 8 hours a day/5 days a week! What I found is contracting even just a few small private schools or preschools each year has opened up door in my business like nothing else. You are basically being paid to market to these families . . .

3. what do I get?

the guide: is a 48 page pdf guiding you through the entire process of developing and running a successful school portraiture division of your business. We have posing tips, marketing, workflow, set design, and more. Along with the guide you will also have access to a private blog, a continuing education home of sorts. It will be a place to share prop ideas, shooting tips and success stories from other photographers trying to change the face of school portraiture. Also included amazing coupon codes from our favorite vendors totaling over $110.00 in savings from vendors like Shootsac, totally rad actions, ProDPI and more! On average a medium size preschool will bring in $2800.00 following the guide will bring the same success to you! We can do it, we can change how families view school portraits, join me?

marketing and forms: here is were I give you EVERYTHING I’ve written and designed. From school contracts to the little tags for magnets! If it goes in a presentation folder or goes home with a family it is in the marketing and forms packet. Do not waste needless hours designing your own marketing products and froms when you can simply customize mine!

Say, Stinky Cheese: It’s a simple book created for teachers to read to children before YOU the photographer arrives. There is even a layered psd page for you to put your own picture in. Follow Max and Molly as they get ready for PICTURE DAY.

The Lunchbox: Is EVERYTHING you see above at a significant discount.

4. what is this super secret private blog I hear about?

It is a continuation of education of sorts. If you have purchased the GUIDE or the LUNCHBOX then your have been added to the password protected blog list. The blog will launch Feb. 14th, the blog will feature guest bloggers, inspiration, Q&A, member highlights, success stories, marketing ideas, videos, editing tutorials, product ideas, selling tools and more.

5. what is your favorite part of school portraiture?
I actually have two – I have a hard time choosing just one. 1. when parents are genuinly happy about the images I’ve presented to them. Parents loving that they now have an option! 2. when families call me months after a school shoot and say “Sally, had so much fun with you at school and we loved the portraits, we would like to book you for a family portrait!”

6. how do I get the goods.
well that is super easy, click the ‘purchase’ link at the top of the blog!

ADDITIONAL FAQ

7. emily said…

these questions were super helpful…i have one too. i don’t know if this is something you would share (or if you only share it with people who have boughten the whole shebang)…but, what do you charge the school for your time? i am going to be taking pictures for my sons school (a very small private school—45 families) and i just don’t know where to price my “fee” at…i want it to be reasonable…but i also would like to be paid for my time…etc.
any thoughts?

Hi, Emily – that is a great question. However it is something I do discuss in the guide. One thing I will say about pricing is, be sure and really put thought into it. Think about ALL the costs involved and make sure you are making a profit!

Any further questions will be added to the end of this post.

Thank you so much for your kind words, I am so happy the Get Schooled : School Portraiture tools are helping so many of you.

Looking forward to an AWESOME 2010 for all of us.

Courtney

thank you : school portrait guide for photographers

Oh my goodness – we have some awesome vendor sponsors! uhhhmmm totally cool. And those listed above aren’t the HALF of it. We will be featuring each vendor next week. Tell you why we love them so very much. The discounts are OUT OF CONTROL! each person who orders the guide or the lunchbox will see towards the end of your pdf is a page full of coupons codes!!!! THANK YOU VENDOR Sponsors.

TOTALLY RAD ACTIONS
DROP IT MODERN
PRO DPI
STUDIO CLOUD
PAISLEE PRESS DESIGNS
ROCK THAT OCF
SHOOTSAC

thank you for the emails: school portrait photography guide

Because I feel a blog post is NOTHING without a cute image – I share yet again some CREW CUTS lovelyness.

I purchased the get schooled lunchbox yesterday and just finished reading the guide and looking over the files. All of the information is super helpful! I photographed a small preschool last school year and was not as organized as I could/should have been and was a little scared off of the idea of school portraiture. I recently started to think about the possibility of going after a few more preschools in my area more seriously to help grow my business but was a little hesitant. This guide couldn’t have come at a better time for me, THANK YOU!

Morgan

www.morgamosimanphotography.com

Little Gifts!

You are all signed up for our Homeroom Newsletter! Here are some little gifts for you.

Click the links below to download some fun little gifts from Get Schooled Photo.

Get Schooled Photo blog templates

Year of Sessions PDF

Thank you so much, be sure to check out our upcoming course

The Senior Blueprint: 5-weeks to an awe-inspiring senior portrait business that makes your heart leap with joy and your bank account yell, Ohhh YAY!!!