album as a portfolio

mmmatt · February 19, 2009

Hey there,
I am in the process of working up a printed portfolio and want to do it in album form. I have some contacts at venues and florists and whatnot that will help me spread the word but I really don't have anything that is printed.

My thought, since I plan on spending about $350 per book from visionart, is to do sort of a best-of in a single album so that I don't have to drop $2k in books that I am going to leave with vendors. Is this a good idea, or should I scale back my book cost and do individual books for a couple different weddings.

Then, If I do a single book portfolio, should I also include sections on family portraits and other portraiture or just keep it 100% weddings.

Thanks,

Matt

urbanaries · February 21, 2009

My experience is that vendors get these kinds of "offers" a lot....and they really have no incentive to display your work unless it is a gig that features their work...their venue, their flowers, etc.

I have the best luck using these albums after I shoot a venue...talk up the catering manager at the gig, and present them with a few free prints to display, and an album. More than 50% of my leads come this way! (granted, I only shoot about 12 weddings a year, but that's my choice).

If cost is an issue, downgrading the album quality, page number or size still makes a nice impression on the vendor, which is half the battle!

mmmatt · February 21, 2009

urbanaries wrote:

My experience is that vendors get these kinds of "offers" a lot....and they really have no incentive to display your work unless it is a gig that features their work...their venue, their flowers, etc.

I have the best luck using these albums after I shoot a venue...talk up the catering manager at the gig, and present them with a few free prints to display, and an album. More than 50% of my leads come this way! (granted, I only shoot about 12 weddings a year, but that's my choice).

If cost is an issue, downgrading the album quality, page number or size still makes a nice impression on the vendor, which is half the battle!

Thanks so much for the reply!!!

The initial florist in question is a acquaintance of mine but a mutual personal friend of one of my recent brides and I have lots of pictures of her floral work from that wedding which would be a part of the book. Her brother is the manager of a popular venue that I have not shot in yet, but according to her he is unhappy with the guy he is recommending currently ( I know him and he is very established, but also very old-school). This was all her (the florist's) idea and she requested books for herself and her brother. My thought is that If I am going to order 3, I may as well order 5 or 6. I have an event coordinator from another venue, and a wedding planner that I have both worked with and had good rapport with. These are all high-dollar/high-volume vendors and I think it would be worth my while putting something nice together for them.

GREAT point about featuring their product. I can do that now with all but the florists brother, so maybe I should set up a little model shoot before I finalize my design and utilize his venue... hmmmm

I did just find out that vissionart gives a %50 discount on any book over 9x12 as long as you allow them to put "studio sample" on the back cover. This way I can do different books for different vendors. I would probably still stick with the "best of" approach, but redesign the first few pages around that particular vender.

Thanks again!

Matt

album as a portfolio

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