As I'm filming this, most of the world is in lockdown due to Coronavirus. So this Video will be a bit different than my usual ones featuring elopements. Today I'd like to share with you constructive ways to respond to this crisis and hopefully turn this situation into a positive one. It's mostly for photographers, but some of the ideas can also be used for creators. Here are the 5 Photographer ideas during the crisis.
When this pandemic kicked in, it was during the engagement season, which for the wedding industry is the main booking season.
On March 1st, we were supposed to launch our Tuscany Elopement Photography workshop held in a Renaissance Villa. After about 6 months of work curating a fantastic team we also had some great sponsors like Richard photo lab and Claire Pettibone to be join us.
Now everything is up in the air - Well, at least the workshop date which was to be in late September. It takes time to promote.And of course, my elopements in the Spring were all postponed. I was to fly to Italy the end of April for the season.
Not to mention how sad I feel for all the lovely couples who planned their elopements some even a year in advance.
Luckily, I've been slowly shifting my business to be more remote in the last few years. I created a prints website where I sell online fine art prints, I've written two books, sell online guides, online courses and one-on-one mentoring for photographers.
Yes, many dreams, goals, and plans have had to be put on hold. One thing this pandemic has given us is time.
So why not use this time constructively? If we can plant a few seeds now, we'll also feel better about our future, take our minds off of this crisis and help grow our business online.
Yes, it's hard to get the wheel turning in difficult times but this is what defines us.
Adversity challenges us and to do something different and new.
If you've got a couple of weeks off, or if things are slow, it's an excellent opportunity to start working on a skill.
With all this free time, we can ask ourselves if there is something that we’ve been wanting to wanted to do or improve?
For example, how about building an online side business to create safety net.
So here are 5 creative photography ideas you can do during this crisis:
1-Improve your portfolio, website
- Go through all your recent work, and choose 10 images and write about it and write 3 things you love about each image.
- Then choose 10 images that aren't your favorite and write what you could have done differently to improve each image.
- Update your profile images and biography or about page.
- Get rid of all old work and add new work.
2-Learn a new skill - you can learn a lot in a few weeks. Even if you dedicate one hour a day.
- Search online or go to Youtube where you can find endless how to videos
- improve your editing, learn Lightroom, shoot film or how to meter light
- Are you still shooting in automatic mode??? Now would be a great time to learn how shoot in manual.
- How about investing your time in video marketing like this Video? Video is huge now. There is no better way to build the like, trust, and know factors like Video does.
- You can start a youtube channel and upload your videos. It's free, and it's evergreen!
- Invest in a mentor or online course. You tube is great and you can learn a lot but sometimes an accelerated online course which is all in one place, can save time in learning. Since I know it is a super rough time right now for photographers, I'm offering now my one-on-one mentoring for 30% off on all my collections. This will be available until all this social distancing or quarantine is over.
3-Write some blog posts or social media content
- plan ahead and prepare pinterest pins or Instagram posts.
- You can use Planoly or tailwind to help you so you can schedule weeks or months in advance.
4-Submit some work to be published?
- Choose your best work, write a short article, and then submit to publications. They are always looking for content. Be sure to check out their work first and make sure your work is similar to what they usually feature.
- Submit to one magazine at a time.
5-Diversify: what can you do to make your business more online or remote?
- Can you start selling online prints?
- Can you write an ebook or guides?
- What about a book and sell it on Amazon?
- How about creating an online course? What do you know and how can you serve with your knowledge? You tube is great but sometimes an online course
- What are you good at?