| | The busiest month 🎉It’s funny how your busiest months are the ones when you want to just relax and enjoy the sun ☀️🙄 Yes, I did have a holiday as well 😁 Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining that we were busy; far from it. It’s kind of ironic how things happen. But then again, I always harp on at people to make the most of the sunshine and update their photos 📸 One of the work(ish) things I did was for CARP (Community Against River Pollution), where I ran a photography workshop along the River Severn in Bewdley and helped to judge their photography competition, where we had to select an amazing 50 photographs! When people have a passion for what they do, it’s infectious, and this group certainly is passionate about protecting our river! | | | |
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| | I didn’t feel Google had good enough tips this month, but QBD did 🎉Where should I spend my marketing budget?Everyone's got an opinion on where your money should go, usually to the channel they happen to sell.This piece from QBD cuts through it with something more useful: there's no universal "best" spend, but there is a right one for the stage you're at. A business nobody's heard of needs different things to one that's already well known. Get that order wrong, and you're pouring money into a void.It walks through what each channel actually does for you: content, SEO, backlinks, paid ads, email, organic social, video and, more importantly, what each one costs you in time and momentum. Paid ads stop the second you stop paying. A blog post from two years ago is still working today.The line that stood out to me: “Video is the most powerful medium available to small businesses right now, and still one of the most underused. Nothing builds trust faster than seeing and hearing the people behind a business, and authenticity beats polish nearly every time."
Worth ten minutes of your Thursday. | | | |
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| | | | The DentistHow many people get to put the dentist in the hot seat 😂? Not that it was a lifelong ambition, but it was up there 😁 We ended up doing a half-day shoot, which included video for some of their PPC advertising with a specialist dentist advertising agency, Promothean. | | | |
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| | | | When does a photographer use AI? 😳
Controversial question in my industry right now. A lot of photographers are shunning AI because they think it will take work away from them.
Here's an example of when I’ve used it, and why:
I recently photographed a new furniture collection for Black Pear Bespoke, on location at their workshop (cheaper than a studio hire, and no risk of damaging handcrafted pieces in transit). The deliverables were cut-out images with built-in shadows, ready for web and print. Then the conversation turned to lifestyle shots. Furniture in a beautiful room, telling a story. The problem? Finding a location would have pushed the budget too far at this stage. But because we'd shot everything with transparent backgrounds, I created a few room-setting samples using Google Gemini instead. My take: a real-world lifestyle shoot is always the best way to tell a story, and I'll happily make the case for one. But if it's not in the budget, and your customers can't visualise a piece in their own home, you will lose sales. Most people can't picture a product in context without help. AI didn't replace the photography. It extended it. Full case study on the website, link below. | | | |
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| | | | Introduce a friendI’ve been doing photography and video for 17 years now, and in that time, I’ve come across a number of people who I’ve worked with or who have helped me along the way. So I thought that it would be a great idea to introduce one of them every month in this newsletter; who knows, they may be able to help you ☺️ PS. I am only doing 1 a month, and I plan on doing it for quite some time, so if you haven’t made the newsletter yet, then just be patient 😂 | | | |
| | Dave JamesNow, Dave is no normal business connection, as we go back, way back, all the way to school; yes, I know, that’s a long TIME! In his own words (sort of, because he is far better at that than me), he helps leaders and teams speak in public without freaking out. He’s a public speaking coach and 2x TEDx speaker. Highly commended at The Speaker Awards. Creator of Speaking Without Freaking® Oh, and did I mention his TEDx talks 😁 | | | |
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| | | | Behind The ScenesJust a few photos from on location so that you can have a peek into my world. | | | |
| | It’s not just about photographing glasses but editing them too 😁 | | | |
| | There’s always time for a selfie when your working 😝 | | | |
| | Client using the photos on social media 🎉 | | | |
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| | | | | Previous newsletters are available, providing a treasure trove of marketing advice and some delightful pictures, too! Take your time to check them out and enjoy a few extra minutes of reading. | | | |
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| | | | This month's Landscape Flower‘Sunflower' Okay, so why have I dropped this in here? Well, the reason is that it’s actually an iPhone photo! And the quality is amazing! I wanted you to realise you don’t necessarily need an expensive camera nowadays (although I didn’t get quality as good as this with my old Samsung Flip 😳) Oh, and it’s not edited. It probably should be a little bit. Oh, and I didn’t grow the sunflower; my daughters did, and probably my wife, but I wasn’t there ☺️. | | | |
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| | | | Well, that’s it for this month and I hope there has been something in this which has sparked an interest for you. If there is something you would like to see in future, then just let me know. | | | |
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“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”
Albert Einstein
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