Never say never...

[AndreaBFS]

I should never have said I didn't want to do this for a living. I honestly just can't help myself. After Bellies and Babies the other night, I felt so energized. I created a site... first step. I have my first real try at shooting a stranger on Monday.

I think that if I take the fall and winter to practice, I might be ready to give this a real go when spring rolls around next year. Right now I'm just going to worry about building a portfolio.

I spent the weekend working on a logo and site. This week I'll work on some "model search" cards to tack up in local businesses. I can't stress enough how ready I am to sell my current business and move on to something else. I didn't think this would be it, but I really have nothing to lose by trying.

Yes, the site is Flash. For now, I'm OK with that. I don't necessarily want to be in search engines right now and I don't see an issue with that down the road.

http://www.andrearubash.com/

Soo... let me have it. :)

[PhotoJourno]

Hey! Congrats. Great improvement, and gutsy move!!.. Will go very well, undoubtedly.

checked the site and galleries, and only had two comments (deserves more detailed attention, but I did not want to go to bed and wake up tomorrow having forgotten to comment, as I thought I had visited your site once before, a while back).

Rates and Specials - Personally (just because I can't tell you it's the righ thing for you, I have no clue) I would keep the portfolio building and free session thing to myself, and simply add a note along the lines of "Please contact us for a limited time Special Offer" or something like that. Then you can say "tell you what, I will do your session for the price of printing, and give you a voucher towards future portraits". This is because I like to keep control on how I use my own will to shoot for free. Then the day I stop and start charging, I do not have to make any sort of explanations. I have heard some tell me that it does not look good to say one is doing things for free. I do not necessarily agree, but perhaps they do have a point. Never really knew, but decided to keep the details to myself, and play them by heart, rather than print.

Blog- I was telling another photog the other day, that depending on the purpose of the blog, one may or may not link it to their business website. I tend to get very thoughtful and brutally honest in mine, and I would never want it to be read by my prospective customers. Not that it would scare them away (though it would), but it would give them access to some personal insight that I may not want to profile as a business ( I.e. Entry: Hi, finally got a customer!!.. I have no clue what made them think I could shoot their photos, but I will bust my tail to do what I can. I did learn about Lice treatment on the Internet, so not all hopes are lost"). On the other hand, more professional blogs -photo journals- could very well be related to the business, so long as one considers them exactly that.

Anyhow, the home page, gallery, about, contact, it all looks awesome, fluid, and very nice. (Rates page as well, I really did like the layout of that one particular frame).

Best of luck in your enterprise, with POTN you count with a living atlas of pros who can give you the support and advice you can and will ever need.

(well, not from me, but the real photographers) ;)

[NicD]

wow, your site looks great. im jealous :p

as for what was said above me, i do agree that it is probably not a good thing to advertise that you will shoot for free, actually shooting for free but not advertising it can be a bonus, word of mouth will spread if they here, "she was nice enough to shoot for free" instead off "she must be new, if shes shooting everyone for free". just my intake on it.

great site, and very nice photos, hope you get your business up and running

best of luck, Nic

[AndreaBFS]

I agonized over that decision, but for now, I feel that being honest about the fact that I'm just starting out is going to be the most comfortable for me. I don't want to paint myself into a corner of being perceived as selling a service I am not really qualified to sell. However, I did want to place a limit on just how free it is.

My hope is that people will take the $25 credit (which is really only good for one $2 8x10) and use that to make an order for enlargements, which are not included in the free offer. This was all very thoughtfully based on Sam Puc's philosophy as well as my own from the last 5 years as an entrepreneur. My feeling is that people will want more than 5x7s and that in that regard, the offer is really not "free" at all (it just sounds free to the consumer).

My blog is linked for now because again, my hope is just to generate some WOM and I don't post anything sensitive or too deeply personal on my blog. I plan to use it to showcase favorites from my shoots and as a more dynamic way for people to get to know me more personally (again, based on Sam's awesome information about reaching out to people on a personal level).

I appreciate the comments. I will undoubtedly make tons of changes over the next few months. I was just so excited to get something up and running so that I can feel like I'm moving in the right direction. :)

[tim]

Your large prints are too cheap - $30 mounted? That's crazy, especially for portraits. I charge more than that for a wedding print, where the couple has already paid what amounts to a good session fee. For portraits without a session fee they're quite a bit higher again.

[AndreaBFS]

Remember, I'm not an established professional at this point. If I pay $7 for a mounted print, I feel OK with that kind of mark up for now. Geography also plays a large role. I do not live in or near a major metro area and this city is currently struggling through the loss of thousands of jobs with a major plant closing. I also don't want to do weddings, which I agree are a completely different ballgame. I took all kinds of things into consideration when I established those starting prices.

Right now, I just need to not scare off the people I need to fill up my portfolio.

[tim]

Fair enough!

[Mike R]

Nice site. I wish you the best of success.

[Noel_]

Best of luck, you've got nice shots and excellent processing!

[LW Dail]

A suggestion for portfolio building....

We're in OK so WI might be about the same....

Head to a Wal-mart in a smaller town in the afternoon. You will find a young couple with an ADORABLE baby and you will know they can't afford 'professional' shots.

Tell them you're a photographer and their baby is just adorable and you'd love to do some shots of him/her. Do NOT say "I'm trying to build my portfolio and need to shoot anyone who will let me..." Let them think you're the big pro.

Do the shoot, get the release, and give them copies of the pictures. Yes, give!

They get great shots of the baby, to keep forever and to share with their family, and they can tell the story how the big professional thought their baby was so special you HAD to do portraits of him/her.

You get your shots and you've done an incredible thing for someone!

[NetDep]

Great site - and thoughtful for you to include a link to your flickr! I am enjoying some of your landscapes.

[asysin2leads]

My wife and I will be attending B&B Tour in a couple of weeks. Nice site and photos.

I, too, am starting out with portrait photography. Today we were sitting at my daughter's soccer game. The couple sitting by us had an 18 month old that was playing with our 18 month old. She had on an adorable dress. My wife commented on it and the lady said that she owns a shop in town that makes things like this. My wife asked for a handful of my business cards and walked over to her. She handed them to the lady and discussed the various options. Now we have potential clients and all it took was 2 minutes of time and some business cards. That being said, everyone, and I mean everyone, is a potential client. Everyone has a family member, friend or neighbor with small kids. Everyone is a potential client!