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This April’s Shoot the Centerfold seminar for the first time offered a third-day option for those photographers intent on improving not only their photography skills but their ability to make more money doing what they love. Sixteen attendees availed themselves of the opportunity to get practical photography business advice from Jarmo Pohjaniemi, Gary T. Cole and David Gallagher from Capture Integration.

The only obstacle encountered by the day’s attendees was finding the meeting room hidden within the bowels of Tower Two in the Icon Brikell complex. After a few stops and starts and at least one attendee stuck in a stairwell for a few minutes, the meeting got underway.

While Jarmo had laboriously prepared a slide show outlining what turned out to be an MBA course in the business of photography, there was also lots give and take between Jarmo and myself as we discussed how to set up and focus your business, all the things one needs to think about to protect yourself in terms of model releases and liability insurance, the overhead syndrome photographers often find themselves in, how to evaluate your potential markets and find customers and a hundred other valuable tips to being able to support yourself as a photographer.

Gary Cole talks about publishing

Dave Gallagher of Capture Integration also made an extremely informative and practical presentation about not only the incredible equipment and software his company offers, but also insights into how important having the right equipment can be as part of a marketing effort. It was sort of a “if clothes doth make the man, then surely the right photography equipment doth make the photographer.”

No one at STC would ever recommend that anyone spend more money on equipment than necessary. It’s determining what’s necessary that often separates success from failure.

Dave Gallagher demonstrates Capture One and camera workflows

As we all know, taking photos these days is very easy. Everyone has a camera on their phone or ipad and almost everyone can take a good photo now and then. However, taking great photos on a consistent basis, taking photos that meets or exceeds a client’s expectations, that’s a whole different matter. And that’s what STC attempts to address in every seminar, in every business session.

Jarmo Pohjaniemi and Gary Cole take turns during the business seminar

A reminder that Jarmo and I are available on a one-time or ongoing basis to help you with everything from your lighting and posing, to finding the right models, to evaluating and improving your photography and ultimately to getting you published. Give Jarmo a call 305 510 3938 if you are interested.

For those of you who missed this last seminar, make certain you don’t miss the next one as they just get better and better. And it seems the models only get prettier. And if you didn’t sign up for the business session this time around (many of you mentioned that you wanted to stick around for it but simply couldn’t), be sure that it will be offered again in the future.

Stay tuned for a complete seminar summary coming soon…

~ Gary Cole

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