On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 8:09 PM, Larry Colen <l...@red4est.com> wrote: > Frank, > > I just had one of my crazy ideas. I was thinking about the fact that you are > competing against the parents that are there anyways, have DSLRs and take > the photos for free. A lot of these parents have never owned a "serious" > camera before, and I bet most of them have never even been taught the basics > of how to hold the camera, never mind pre-focusing, when to use auto > exposure, or even the difference between aperture and shutter speed. > > Rather than competing against them, make them your customers. Talk to each > team. Plan to have one evening on lecture (the parent who provides the house > for doing the lecture gets a big discount) on the basics of using a DSLR. > The lecture would be two hours long and would cost $75 each. Then, for > $200, you will show up at a game, with your camera, to help and advise your > students. Each of your students gets a CD of 1200pixel jpegs of the > pictures you took that day, with the option of buying prints. > > I'm willing to bet that this isn't something that a lot of people are > selling. Also, I wouldn't target it the marketing at the dads, I'd target > it at the moms, who don't have quite so much ego invested in thinking that > they are already great photographers.
I don't think that's all that crazy... I just today taught my 2nd "Photography for Moms" workshop. I see parents all the time with DSLRs they don't know how to use, and who comment on how my camera takes such good pictures. (gah!) I also have a studio space that works great as a "classroom" during those weekday mornings when moms are available... I've gotten good response so far. I enjoy the teaching aspect of it, and there's no post-processing when the session ends! I also have a friend who (I think) is doing the same kind of thing you are talking about, Frank. Here is his website, if you want to take a look: http://www.sidelineportraits.com/index2.php I think he has found it challenging to transition from the "dad with the nice camera who shares his photos with us" to the "guy who wants us to buy his photos"... This may not be your situation, but it's a cautionary tale about pricing yourself too low... Best of luck -- keep us posted! :) -c -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
