Failure has been one of the most important tools I’ve had in my kit since the beginning of my photography career. Failure has allowed me to learn right from wrong in my business. It's allowed me to correct course when I believe I'm on the wrong path.
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If you’d like to schedule your next portrait session or give us the honor of photographing your wedding, visit my website www.richardjnphoto.com or email katherine@richardjnphoto.com where my partner will guide you along your journey with us.
Don’t forget to keep creating, stay humble, and enjoy the journey.
Transcript
Failure has been one of the most important tools I’ve had in my kit since the beginning of my photography career. Failure has allowed me to learn right from wrong in my business. It's allowed me to correct course when I believe I'm on the wrong path.
<play intro music>
Let’s talk more about failure as a tool for success in your photography business.
Welcome to the 16th episode of The Richard J Nieves Photography Podcast!
I’m Richard J Nieves, portrait and wedding photographer, and owner of Richard J Nieves Photography located in The Bronx in New York City.
A lot of new photographers want to do a great job when they start working. They don't want to disappoint their client. The best photographers are the ones who gets hit hard by failure, but is able to recover quickly, analyze and learn from their mistakes, and get back to work.
The important aspect of failure isn't the screw up, but it's the moment where you see where you went wrong. You're able to step back, go "ah, I see what I did there," and not do that again or do it differently to achieve success.
Those who do not admit failure or learn from it will not be able to learn and grow because their ego is standing in the way. Again, those who do not admit and learn from their failures will continue to fail and fall short.
Here's some ways I’ve been able to analyze my failures in business, and find solutions for them.
One of the best ways to gauge your performance is by asking for feedback from the people who've seen you work firsthand. Your clients.
Tell them to be as honest and forthright as possible. A lot of people will try to be as positive, and thats beautiful, but if there was a glitch in the matrix, you need to know it in order to learn and grow as a photographer and provider.
You can get that feedback directly after a shoot. Ask your client for an extra 5 minutes of their time to ask a couple of questions about your performance.
If you can't ask directly after your session or if you're shooting an event or wedding, send an email later on asking for any criticism. CRM software like Honeybook will send an email like that as part of your workflow automatically.
Speaking of Honeybook, let's pay some bills.
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<Hire an assistant or second shooter>
A second option for getting feedback is having an assistant or second shooter on hand. If you're shooting weddings and events, you may already have someone who sees how you work and can offer advice or opinions on your work style. If there's any room for improvement, they'd see it and let you know what's up.
If you're not ready to lead, then you be the second shooter or assistant and get as much feedback as you can before you even make the mistakes. Sometimes preventative measures can make up for the lessons learned by failure.
A third way to analyze your failures and wins is to document. Whether that be by keeping a journal in your camera bag where you can write all of your wins and losses, vlogging with your camera, or keeping a small recorder or using your phone to remind yourself audibly of how you've done.
The 4th way and something I think we should all do, is just work on being reflective. After your shoots, there's always a moment for you to take a breath and assess how the day went. Did you notice something you did that you can do differently to improve efficiency? Was there something you did that didn't quite work the way you did it, but could work another way? Take a moment to think and look back. I use an app called Headspace to collect myself after a busy day of photographing. It puts me in the mindset to think about everything I've done and how I can improve.
Take your failures and turn them into lessons that'll set you up for wins for years to come.
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Welcome to the first episode featuring this section called The Kit!
I want to share equipment suggestions that I've used or would like to acquire so you can get an idea of what's out there to help get the job done.
Today, I'm recommending a birthday gift I received back in December. The Peak Design Travel tripod in aluminum.
A tripod is one of the first pieces of gear I'd recommend you invest in when beginning your photography kit. I started with an inexpensive tripod i got off of Amazon years ago. It got the job done, but there were things about it that could really improve my workflow and quality of life.
First off, the Peak Design Travel Tripod folds up incredibly small. When collapsed, it is only a little more than 15" in length. Width wise, this thing is about the thickness of a water bottle. When putting it in my camera bag, i fit it in the water bottle pouch on the side of my bag. It's a little hefty at a bit over 3 pounds, but it feels solid. It can take a fall. The carbon fiber version is more expensive, but much, much lighter. It's height is 60 inches fully extended. It's tall enough for my portrait needs, but there are definitely travel tripods which can get much taller.
The ball head is very intuitive, easy to use, and can hold my mirrorless camera with a hefty 105mm lens with no problems.
It even includes a handy phone mount right in the center column. I use it all the time for vlogging and when I don't feel like using my camera for some video going on social media.
If you use other Peak Design accessories, the plate thats included with the tripid also works with those too. I use their capture clip, camera strap, and hand strap. I NEVER need to take the plate off of my camera.
I absolutely love this tripod. It retails for about $350. It's fairly expensive when in relation to most consumer tripods, but for the build and how it performs, it's a worthy investment. I'd reccoemdn this for studio work, or if you're travelling and want a tripid that will last out in the world. For video, you'd best be looking at a video-centric tripod with sturdier legs that can manage heavyier weights, and a fluid head.
I'll leave links to this tripod and the rest of my gear in the show notes and blog post for this episode.
Please follow me on Instagram @rich_photog, that r-i-c-h-underscore-p-h-o-t-o-g
If you’d like to schedule your next portrait session or give us the honor of photographing your wedding, visit my website www.richardjnphoto.com or email katherine@richardjnphoto.com where my partner will guide you along your journey with us.
Don’t forget to keep creating, stay humble, and enjoy the journey.
Catch you later.