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Why Vermont's Refreshingly Simple Logo Rebranding Should Matter to Your Photography Business
News

Why Vermont's Refreshingly Simple Logo Rebranding Should Matter to Your Photography Business

The Power of Apparent Simplicity Vermont just released a new state logo, and I’ll be honest—my first reaction was skeptical. It looks intentionally uncomplicated. Almost too simple. But that’s exactly what makes it brilliant, and it’s teaching me something important about how photographers should approach their own branding. The design strips away unnecessary flourishes. No gradients. No shadows. No overstyled elements begging for attention. Just clean geometry and purposeful color. On the surface, it appears effortless.

Why Nostalgia Marketing Works: Lessons from Anbernic's RG SP Launch Strategy
News

Why Nostalgia Marketing Works: Lessons from Anbernic's RG SP Launch Strategy

The Retro Trend That’s Teaching Us About Smart Marketing I’ve been watching the gaming hardware space closely lately, and Anbernic just dropped something worth paying attention to. Their new RG SP—a modern remake of the classic Game Boy Advance SP—launches August 5th at a $65 entry price point, with early bird pricing available right now. But here’s what caught my eye: this isn’t just about selling devices. It’s about understanding what drives purchasing decisions.

Why Your Instagram Feed Isn't Booking Clients (And the Posting System That Fixed Mine)
Marketing

Why Your Instagram Feed Isn't Booking Clients (And the Posting System That Fixed Mine)

Last January, I pulled up my studio’s analytics and did something uncomfortable: I compared every inquiry I’d received in the previous 12 months against the source. Out of 94 inquiries, 11 came from Instagram. Eleven. I had been spending roughly four hours a week on that platform, which works out to about 200 hours over the year. That’s 200 hours for 11 leads. The problem wasn’t that I was bad at Instagram.

The Client Management System That Helped Me Stop Losing Money Between Bookings
Business

The Client Management System That Helped Me Stop Losing Money Between Bookings

I lost a $5,000 client because of a sloppy contract. Not a bad session. Not difficult personalities. A contract that didn’t clearly spell out the payment schedule, so when the client disputed the final invoice, I had nothing solid to stand on. I ate the loss, spent a week furious at myself, and then rebuilt every client-facing document in my studio from scratch. That was four years ago. It’s the reason I now have a 47-item client experience checklist and why I’m writing this for you today.

What Tony & Chelsea's Portfolio Reviews Taught Me About Why Photographers Lose Clients Before They Even Say Hello
Video Tutorials

What Tony & Chelsea's Portfolio Reviews Taught Me About Why Photographers Lose Clients Before They Even Say Hello

I have a 47-item client experience checklist. I built it after years of watching small details cost photographers real money, including myself early on. So when I sat down to watch the third installment of Tony and Chelsea Northrup’s portfolio review series, I was nodding along within the first two minutes. Not because they were saying anything shocking, but because they were naming the exact friction points that make potential clients quietly close a browser tab and move on.

How to Build a Photography Portfolio Website That Actually Books Clients (Using Squarespace)
Video Tutorials

How to Build a Photography Portfolio Website That Actually Books Clients (Using Squarespace)

I used to have a portfolio website that I was genuinely embarrassed to hand out. The images were fine. The layout was a disaster. Photos from three different genres were crammed together, the business name was some forgettable combination of words I’d thought sounded artistic at 24, and the navigation made no sense to anyone who wasn’t me. I was losing clients before they ever contacted me, and I knew it.

How Adding Workshops to My Photography Business Added $30K in Revenue Without a Single New Client
Business Strategy

How Adding Workshops to My Photography Business Added $30K in Revenue Without a Single New Client

The first time I ran a workshop, I charged $150 per person, hosted eight photographers in my studio on a Saturday, and walked away with $1,200 before expenses. I was thrilled. Then I did the math: after printing handouts, buying snacks, and spending two full days on prep, I made less per hour than I had shooting a basic portrait session. I told myself workshops weren’t worth it and went back to client work.

Before You Pick Up the Camera: How to Prep Boudoir Clients So They Actually Look Relaxed
Video Tutorials

Before You Pick Up the Camera: How to Prep Boudoir Clients So They Actually Look Relaxed

There is a gap between a client who looks stiff and self-conscious and one who looks like she owns the room. That gap is almost never fixed in post. It is fixed in the five minutes before you ever fire a shutter. I learned this the hard way early in my portrait career, spending entire sessions trying to coax natural-looking images out of clients who had no idea what their bodies were supposed to do.

Stop Dreading Your Slow Season: How to Turn Dead Months Into Your Most Profitable Ones
Video Tutorials

Stop Dreading Your Slow Season: How to Turn Dead Months Into Your Most Profitable Ones

Every January, I used to open my booking calendar and feel my stomach drop. December holiday sessions had wrapped up, the inquiry emails had dried to a trickle, and I’d sit there refreshing my inbox like that was going to fix anything. I knew the slow season was coming. I’d lived through it before. And I still let it catch me off guard every single year. That changed when I started treating the quiet months as a planning and product-development window rather than a waiting room.

Ditch the Dropbox Nightmare: How Pixie Set Transformed My Client Gallery Workflow
Video Tutorials

Ditch the Dropbox Nightmare: How Pixie Set Transformed My Client Gallery Workflow

There is a particular kind of stress that only photographers understand: it’s 11pm, you’ve just uploaded a full session to Dropbox, and you’re already bracing for the client email that says “it’s not letting me download.” I ran my delivery workflow through Dropbox for longer than I care to admit, and the problems were always the same. Storage limits creeping up on me, clients confused by the interface, and me spending more time troubleshooting file transfers than actually editing photos.

What Your Photography Portfolio Is Secretly Telling Clients (And How to Fix It)
Video Tutorials

What Your Photography Portfolio Is Secretly Telling Clients (And How to Fix It)

Every few months I sit down and audit my own studio website the way a stranger would see it. Not as someone who knows what the work took, or what the light was doing that morning, or how long I spent getting that kid to actually smile. As someone who landed on the page with zero context and maybe thirty seconds of patience. It is uncomfortable every time, and every time I find something that needs to go.

Why Your Photography Contract Isn't Negotiable (And What to Do When a Client Pushes Back)
Video Tutorials

Why Your Photography Contract Isn't Negotiable (And What to Do When a Client Pushes Back)

There is a moment every photographer dreads: you send over your contract, and instead of a signature, you get hostility. I have been there. Years ago, I lost a $5,000 client because my contract was sloppy and vague, and when a dispute came up over deliverables, I had nothing solid to stand on. That experience rewired how I run my studio. So when I came across this Watch the full tutorial on YouTube from Jessica Kobeissi, where she responds in real time to a photographer who got verbally torched by a client for simply requesting a signed contract, I felt every second of it in my chest.