Bev's Blog

1990-a quiet and dark room…a powerful image on the screen…David Peters, a gifted photographer and storyteller was entrancing the audience with the story behind the image on the screen. As we dabbed at our eyes, we were all amazed with the intensity of emotion in a simple photograph and how the emotion rocketed out of this atmosphere simply by hearing the story behind it. For me, the experience was so deeply touching that I could not speak; only weep.

2011-Cabo, Mexico…a meeting with a young man named Ivan, a 25 year old, up and coming artist who is describing how he sees the next piece to create in dreams he has during the night. As he proceeds to show his brilliant work, he describes a motorcycle accident he was in a few years ago and how he sustained a head injury. From that time on, he says, images of what he is to create next appear in dreams. The very next day, we literally got on a bus that dropped us off a couple of blocks from his art gallery and ran to get there to pick out a piece to bring home. Why were we so excited? Of course, the work itself was one reason, but  knowing the story behind the art took our desire to have a piece of his art to new levels. We picked out a piece that was much more than we wanted to spend, but it didn’t matter any more. We just had to have it! After all, we now personally knew the artist and his story!

We take every experience we have and figure out how to use it in our business, especially something as powerful as emotion and storytelling!

Years ago, when we were creating our Relationship Black and White imagery, we knew we wanted to use the dual tools of storytelling and emotion to bring our art to new levels that our clients would greatly desire-we wanted to be the photographers that got to “the heart of the matter.” We wanted our clients to desire our art as much as we desired Ivan’s art and we wanted them to weep as they stood before their portraits like I did looking at David Peter’s work.

It was during this time that we crafted our Mission Statement, “To create what only the heart can see with the quality that only a few can produce.”  

Note that we put the “heart” first in our Mission Statement, but we didn’t leave out the foundation of quality photography. Emotion should not be an excuse for poor photography!

We wanted our clients to come to us with their stories and let us tell it through our photography.  After all, any photographer (and most clients) could take a decent photograph, but nobody was telling an intimate story through their images like we were. In order to do this, we started asking for clients’ stories during the Design Appointment. It could be as simple as an anniversary or as deeply emotional as just being diagnosed with cancer. It was our “task” to create an image that reflected the story we were told. And we did! And it was wildly successful…and it deeply affected us!

“Behind every face, there’s a story.”

We started seeing our clients in a different way that was deeper and more intimate. We became more vulnerable in the camera room in order for our clients to let their walls down. Sessions often ended in tears and hugs-it was amazing! After three years, these types of portraits became 85% or more of our business and took us from poverty to prosperity. Now, after nearly two decades, these Relationship portraits (our name for them) are still 50-60% of our business.

As Dr. Seuss says in one of his books, “Oh, the places you will go.” With this emotional approach to portraiture, we were changed as well as our business and our clients, and we have not looked back. We love the deeper relationships we have with our clients and it is so satisfying to create and sell these portraits that have so much meaning to them.

Does your photography show emotion? Are you the storytelling photographer in your community? Here are some steps to get you on your way…

1. First, is your style emotional? If not, create a segment of your business that is. For example, if you photograph babies and children, maybe you could create a “Night, night” style where you photograph kids in their pjs with mom or dad reading them a bedtime story. It doesn’t need to be the only thing you do, but simply an emotional supplement to your main style. Emotion draws people in!

2. Use emotional words in your marketing. Quotes are a wonderful way to do this. Go to www.quotegarden.com to find amazing quotes on many topics.

3. Learn how to let your walls down in the camera room. You cannot be a stick in the mud and get emotional results in your work. You have to be emotional to draw it from your clients.

4. Music is a huge part of setting the atmosphere. Use appropriate music to reach the feelings you desire.

5. Write out a plan to use during your planning sessions to get your clients’ stories. Ask leading questions such as, “What is your favorite thing about your son (or daughter, husband or wife)? Write it down and challenge yourself to capture it in the portrait.

6. Create amazingly emotional videos to show your clients during their planning sessions. Put these on your website and YouTube. INFUSE EMOTION!

CHECK OUT OUR NEW (EMOTIONAL) VIDEO HERE
Have a great, emotional and creative week, everyone!

Bev

www.timandbevwalden.com