I know the world of wedding photography. I live it. But family portraiture, now that’s a different story. I have worked for many many portrait studios in my life, and I was very selective in the studios I worked for. But until now, I have not attempted to run a family portrait business on my own.
If you follow my work at all, then you would have noticed a change in my site over the past two weeks. A big change. I recently ran a special with The North West Houston Mothers of Multiples. The special was given in an effort to populate the new portrait division of my site with images, and over the past two weeks I have done just that.
When I have finished photographing a family, I inform them that their images will be online in less than 24 hours. This is something that I have always thought that studios should do, but they never seem to make the effort. Why do I get the images online so fast? Because I know that the mother is super excited to see those images, and she wants to use them to communicate with her friends with as soon as possible. And my guess is that when those other mothers see the images they will be calling to book their own sessions for their families.
But recently, I have been getting asked the same question over and over by the families I have photographed. What do we do now?
Every detail was important in the creation of my first family portrait. The lighting, backgrounds, lens selection, the web site….. The list can go on and on and I would only bore you. But, as it turns out I have forgotten the business side of family portraiture. I failed to inform my clients how to order their portraits! I didn’t make an order form for my clients to place their order. What a rookie mistake.
It’s quite humbling actually. Back to square one kind of thing. But it’s all mine and I am very proud of the images I have created thus far.
So, the patch to the problem will be an email sent out to the families that have participated thus far with instructions on how to order via email. The permanent fix for future family sessions will be to create an order form or packet for the families to take home with them.
Aric C. Hoek
The Master of Shadows
Houston Wedding / Family Photographer
Want to receive notification of updates to my blog? Look to the right of this post and subscribe.
