SO, YOU KNOW HOW TO PRODUCE A BADASS STYLED SHOOT!? THAT DOESN'T MAKE YOU A BLANK

Nov 9

I have never been shy about telling my audience how important producing a styled shoot is ... in fact, I have many blog posts on the subject ...

Creating an editorial shoot does many things ... flexes your creative muscles, gives you website designing eye-candy with beautiful photos, allows you to design exactly what you want for your brand, gives you an edge to be featured more, and grows new relationships with other professionals ... they are a must and I say you need to be involved in at least 4 per year if you can swing it! But something styled shoots don't do??

STYLED SHOOTS DON'T GIVE YOU ANY EXPERIENCE FOR ACTUAL REAL, LIVING EVENTS OR WEDDINGS

A wedding or event is a living, breathing thing ... it's filled with emotions, paying clients, last minute changes, bad lighting, moving targets, and lots and lots and lots of people ... if you make your 'living' off of producing 15 styled shoots per year, it's possible you won't be ready when a real client comes to you. While editorial shoots are fun, they are in a controlled environment ... if you're a:

PHOTOGRAPHER

then a styled shoot won't teach you how to deal with BAD LIGHTING and NON-MODELS ... it won't teach you how to get the angles of the bride and groom just perfectly without telling them where to put every part of their body ... it won't teach you to get it right the first time, because they won't repeat walking down the aisle or their first dance because you didn't get 'the shot' ... the only way to learn how to do that stuff and get it amazing is to shoot at REAL WEDDINGS. If you are a:

WEDDING PLANNER

then producing an editorial shoot won't give you 'real client' experience ... it won't teach you what to do when 'dad' is missing and the bride needs to be pushed down the aisle ... it won't give you the 'in' on how to handle the DJ being late because of horrible traffic (.. and they have to do the first dance RIGHT THEN!!!) ... it won't give you experience on what to do when the wrong napkins show up to the venue and it definitely won't teach you how to deal with the emotions of a possible bridezilla and her very very very controlling mother who wants the exact opposite of her daughter because she wants to relive herself as a young, engaged bride (eye-roll) ... or dealing with a future mother-in-law who doesn't understand why she isn't invited to every single meeting ... that's what working REAL WEDDINGs will do. If you are a:

STATIONERY DESIGNER

then creating pieces for a styled shoot won't teach you how to calm clients down or explain the difference between the papers and why they cost what they cost ... it won't give you a feel for what printers will get 'what' done on time or who you can depend on to get the color of paper correct for the envelopes you needed yesterday because a client decided to wait until the *very* last minute to decide between beige and taupe ...

... if you are a:

FLORIST

then creating blooms for a styled shoot won't give you experience or knowledge of heat and wind factors at different locations or how long it takes to set up a full room at specific local venues ... or how to get 'off season' flowers at a great cost or how long a bouquet takes to wilt and how to avoid white flowers turning brown ... it won't give you experience with moving ceremony flowers to the reception room while navigating your way around a cocktail hour filled with hundreds of guests ...

HAS MY POINT BEEN MADE?

Heather, some of this stuff can be taught during a styled shoot ... so, not really. Ok, fair enough ... do enough styled shoots at enough venues and perhaps some of this *can* be learned through the process of an editorial photo shoot ... but not all of it ... not the part with real clients, guests, weather factors on the day-of, or last minute changes by a client that you weren't anticipating ... etc, etc, etc.

It's hugely important to work as an intern and take wedding workshops by the best of the best while you produce these shoots ... being an intern will give you REAL DAY OF experience and allow you to watch how the professionals handle it ... and taking a workshop, or two, or three will allow you to ask seasoned professionals questions and hear how they started, what they do, and how they do it. One of my favorite workshops?? LVL Academy << be sure to check them out!

MAKING 'THE PRETTY' IS ONLY A SMALL PART OF BEING A WEDDING OR EVENT PROFESSIONAL

Look, we all love pretty things ... I love pretty things more than I can possibly explain! The websites I design, in my opinion, are some of the prettiest ones around (wink, wink) -- but behind the pretty 'face' is a badass machine that is optimized, has a user experience optimization strategy, and creates BUSINESS and SUCCESS for my clients because of how it behaves.

XO~ Heather