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Chicken Soup for the Photographer's Soul:
Feeding 10,000 Creative Hearts!
By CharMaine Beleele
This will be the seventh year that I have begun my article on the annual WPPI Convention
and Trade Show with a quote from the popular Chicken Soup series of books. This
year's opening quote comes from Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul, by
Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Dahlyn McKowen, John and Elizabeth Gardner, Tom Hill,
and Kyle Wilson. On the back cover, the book is described as "a compilation of short
stories from entrepreneurs, large and small, who share their experiences of success,
failure, and courage, with helpful advice thrown in." These words also describe the WPPI
2007 convention experience, with its inspiring speakers, colleagues, sponsors and friends.
With a menu of mentors well grounded in business and the photographic arts, this year's
phenomenal convention defined photographers not only as artists, but also as entrepreneurs
in profitable business ventures.
For me, this year's batch of "chicken soup" began to steam before I ever arrived in Las
Vegas. At the airport, Bill and Linn Baker were conspicuous with their camera equipment
and bulky wedding dress bag. In an on-the-spot interview, they described their plan to
marry at the Grand Canyon and honeymoon at the WPPI convention. I shared the romantic
news with the pilot, American Airlines Captain John Bradshaw, who announced both the
wedding and the convention to 300 applauding passengers. Flight attendants Shawnee
Burke, Cindy Murphy, Catherine Diaz and Tonya Perkins brought champagne, and I made
photos of the couple's toast at 30,000 feet. After we landed, the captain invited me
to bring the happy couple forward, and we created photographs of them in the cockpit of love!
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I arrived in Vegas, and soon the convention was in full swing. At the Business Institute,
Skip Cohen set the tone for an intensive day of study, as well as the entire convention
experience. He dazzled us with wedding world facts and then sent us to
www.theweddingreport.com
so we could learn the statistics of a bride's world. He advised us to know the wedding
industry inside and out--from magazine publications to dress designers. He taught us to
look for continuity in our marketing and awakened us to a new target for mailing, "the
affluent retiree."
Mitche Graf added some hot pepper to our chicken soup with his "salsa box" idea: "Create
an index card box of your hottest marketing ideas, and mark them hot, medium, and mild!"
We learned many basic rules for evaluating our marketing techniques. Mitche taught us that
"A Campaign must be trackable, repeatable and irresistible to the client." He reminded us
to analyze what is not being done in our area so we can find a unique
marketing method.
Rachel and Andrew Niesen of La Cour, who were presenters as well as attendees at the
Business Institute, explained the BI experience: "It's important to focus on the business
side, not just the photographic side of a studio," they said. "We think the institute
manages to make the business side of photography interesting and engaging. This provides
photographers with opportunities to learn how to maintain profitability."
Andrew added, "The value of the Business Institute is that it is the perfect blend of
right- and left-brain activities. It acknowledges and celebrates good photography while
also balancing out the importance of business arts needed for a successful photography
studio." Masters of the miniature studio magazine, the La Cour photographers taught us
to re-think our marketing and advertisements in terms of storytelling. They introduced
us to the strange world of marketing research and unlocked the "code for luxury." With
this code, we could distinguish ways to "understand the real, unspoken needs and wants
of our customers." (Did you miss it? Go to
www.lacourphoto.com and tell
them Lois Lane sent you!)
While the business students considered how to increase their bottom line, many other
attendees were breathlessly watching the judging process in the print competition rooms.
Carey Schumacher, of Barefoot Memories in San Diego, watched the judge's work for her
first time. "I didn't know what it would be like," she said. "It was dark except for the
print displayed in the light, and quiet as a tomb. My first instinct was fear, but
instead of running, I sat down to see the beautiful images and to hear them critiqued
by world-renowned judges. If you enter, you will hear little tidbits of information that
your clients and forum friends would never tell you."
Photographers who had to miss the Business Institute still found several great business
and marketing classes to attend at the convention. Bruce Hudson introduced us to "cult
marketing" with his wonderful "wine club" technique for making evangelists out of his
customers. Kevin Kubota brought us fifty trade secrets, and convinced us that "all you
need is love"--but only if you are empowered with the "knowledge of knowing where you're
going both in life and in business."
Bambi Cantrell put us in the midst of a live fashion shoot to demonstrate how to become
a designer label. Tania Niwa taught us how to nurture a rich target audience and gave us
artful steps to improve our bottom line. John Solano explored what "perceived value"
really means, and Cliff Mautner offered his unique twist on networking.
Naturally, every bowl of chicken soup for the photographic mind must be simmered in
reflectors and gently warmed with strobes or sunlight. Such cooking can only be done in
lighting classes. For this step of the recipe, Dave Newman, Michelle Gauger,
and Claude Jodoin were among the chefs, who took us from the basics to the most advanced
techniques. Member Bob Coates, of Arizona, remarked, "Sometimes it was extremely hard to
choose whose class to go see. I really got a lot of great info on lighting with Fuzzy and
Shirley Duenkel. Some info was great review, and some ideas I probably wouldn't have
thought of for another five years."
When we turned our attention to wedding photography, Hansen Fong taught us three golden
rules:
"One, make the women look good!
"Two, do not force the men to touch!
"Three, if they like you, they'll like the photographs!"
He showed us his secret formulas for flow posing and fashion shooting.
Of course, romance is not only for weddings, as Rick and Deborah Ferro demonstrated
with wonderful posing and marketing techniques for our engagement couples. (Did you
miss them? Go to
www.ferrophotographyschool.com.)
There was plenty of soul food in this year's chicken soup, with inspirational presentations
by Marcus Bell, the Simones, and Arthur Rainville and Jennifer Hudson. Another inspiring
class was Mathew Jordan Smith's "Shooting Your Passion into Profit." He revealed his steps
for creating our image as well as our images. Art Wolfe thrilled and
shocked his audience with his incredible images of the creatures and landscapes of earth,
"the only planet we've got." Like me, many members of his audience will keep his images of
polar bear life permanently seared onto our retinas, because Art warned us that our great
grandchildren might not see these creatures.
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A new flavor was introduced this year, served elegantly at a brand new special event: The
First Ladies of Photography Forum, moderated by Arlene Evans and Bambi Cantrell. Stacy
Bratton, Angela Carson, Michele Celentano, Lynn Goldsmith, Julienne Kost, Claudia Kronenberg,
Tania Niwa and Vicki Taufer created quite a buzz throughout the convention. I took an informal
poll on the trade show floor, and the consensus was that this group not only provided wonderful
information, but also created more entertainment value than any Vegas show!
In this year's WPPI Show Guide, we read, "While competition is an everyday reality
in business, for one week during WPPI, a spirit of cooperation, networking and enthusiastic
reciprocation is the social norm." Skip Cohen and Steve Sheanin are the chefs who cook up
our chicken soup each year. Once again, they delivered a richly flavored dish for our minds,
hearts and souls.
In his opening address to the Business Institute, Skip Cohen said, "You are the magicians.
Be proud of what you do." He then stirred three major ingredients into the chicken soup for
our photographic souls: "Service, Style and Presence." For more about these three main
ingredients for 2007, and their unique spices, check your Rangefinder magazine,
coming soon to a mailbox near you!
CharMaine Beleele, with an MA in Communication, owns Angel Kissed Photography Studio
in Arkansas. She teaches communication at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith. She is
also a regular correspondent for the Arkansas Catholic newspaper. Email her at
photoangels@sbcglobal.com, or visit her new
website at
www.angelkissedphotography.com.
Photos © Catherine Hall
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