Increase Productivity and Profits: Double Dipping On Your Investment–A Guest Blog Post By Steve Kalman

Good (Late) Afternoon Everybody,

I have been pounding away at my keyboard for two solid days. Yes, I’m still working on my Photoshop World programs – which, BTW, are coming together really well.  Then it hit me…. the blog!  I missed yesterday's post but I was ready early to go with today’s post. Time just slipped away.

Steve Kalman, a talented photographer and reader of DPT dropped me a note a few weeks ago with an idea he shared on how photographers could increase productivity and profits.  I liked the conversation we exchanged and asked if he would like to do a guest blog post.  Steve graciously obliged.  So, let me turn it over to Steve.

Double Dipping On Your Investment

Business executives know that machinery only returns its investment when it is in use. One of the sad truths about wedding photographers is that it is mostly weekend work. Another is that it is only possible to book one Sunday afternoon wedding per week. That leaves your expensive equipment and your talent, skills and experience idle more than active.

Another problem is that there is so much price competition that it is hard to continue making a living. David has addressed this issue hundreds of times on this blog.

Wouldn’t it be nice to also get paid for weekday work? Wouldn’t it be even sweeter if there was little or no competition?

The Pleasant Whiff Of A Good Idea

At the beginning of March I attended the Philadelphia Flower Show (it is the gardeners’ equivalent of the Westminster Dog Show). There were aisles of plants and flowers in pots, more aisles of hanging baskets, large spaces with gardens and even some enclosed rooms with the high humidity that some plants need. Every plant on display was a ribbon winner (First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention). There were dozens of categories, each with their ribbons.

Along the sides were people selling “gear”. By that I mean pruners, shears, pots, feed, garden gnomes, and all the accessories you can imagine (and some you probably can’t). However, there were only three artists. One had oils and watercolors of flowers and gardens, another had high quality photos, but neither had work that was tied to the show. The third had floral pictures on metal, and stone suitable for placement outside, but again not tied to the show or its winners.

I was thinking that a wedding photographer could work that show during the week with a product-shot setup in a booth. Ribbon winners could bring their entries to get a keepsake picture. Offerings could include shots of the gardener, the plant/flower, the ribbon or a collage of all. Some of the gardeners had winning entries in multiple categories, creating the opportunity for a series of shots or even a book.

It’s A Gold Mine Out There!

A quick check of the internet lists flower shows worldwide. Lists of garden clubs are even longer. There’s work out there, with very little additional investment (booth, product shot setup, possibly a macro lens).

Using your talent, skills, ability and gear in non-traditional ways to get a larger return on your investment makes sense to me. Does it make sense to you, too?

By the way, the collage software I use is called Tych Panel [link]. It is free and it plugs into PS as an extension.

About Steve Kalman

I am a semi-retired attorney who specialized in law office management. Over the years that morphed from stand-alone document management systems to networks, to penetration testing and forensics.

My photography hobby started 50 years ago in a black and white darkroom, but had a 30 year hiatus while life got in the way. I’m now a Canonista with more photos than wall space to hang them and use my part time work as an excuse to travel and shoot. You can find my stuff at www.stevekalman.com.

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My thanks to Steve for a WONDERFUL article for our Business Day Thursday  and for taking his time to do a Guest Blog post for me today. If any of our DPT readers have a good idea you' would like to share, why not drop me a line and we can discuss your idea for possible posting here at DigitalProTalk.

On that note gang, I’m out of here. LaDawn and I have a special meeting to attend this evening where I being honored, along with three others, by the Northern Kentucky Convention Bureau.  Turns out our PhotoPro Expo 2012 was one of the largest conventions to be held in the area and they want to say THANKS – kind of nice.

We’ve got a wedding out of town this weekend and will be leaving early tomorrow morning.  If I miss you tomorrow, I’ll see you next week.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you soon,  David.