…And then I noticed there was a button hole sewed into one corner of my napkin!
This is a definite shirt saver especially during a bumpy flight…
Now this might not seem like such a big deal to you, but to my wife who lovingly takes care of keeping me presentable to the public, my being able to easily secure a napkin across the front of my shirt while eating on a sometimes bumpy airplane can save a lot of time for her.
It’s the little things I’ve started to notice now that I’m traveling quite a bit and it brought me around to thinking about small flourishes of customer service ideas for our photography business.
Here are a few things I’ve noticed on the last couple trips.
On this US Airways flight (now the new American Airlines) I was bumped up to First Class for my travel to Houston to speak and judge for the Texas PPA Summerfest. In addition to the cloth napkin with the buttonhole sewn in are the little hot towels that are served up to refresh you before the meal is served is a great touch.
On a trip to PPA headquarters in Atlanta, GA, the Hyatt Regency had my name on the television that stayed in place for the length of my stay.
We all like to see our name in lights!
At the Phoenix Airport Hilton in Arizona as I was checking in I was presented a dark chocolate caramel candy bar complete with ribbon and a personalized note letting me know they were ‘Glad I was staying here with them’.
So how can we use some of these simple ideas to keep us ‘front of mind’ with our customers? A monitor could be playing images from the client’s last session in a little slide show for them to see as they walk in the door. Or more simply, at a studio portrait session a chalk board could be utilized to welcome clients by name in writing. Clients could be gifted with some small item when they leave the studio. A very small but elegant looking frame could be gifted as your clients leave the studio with a small image from that day’s session.
How will you (or do you already) make customers feel special? Let me know here. We all become better when we share ideas…
The scene looks like it was taken from the pages of a Louis L’Amour novel.
A Western set awaits as the Arizona PPA put on it’s annual ‘Fall Fest’ and you just might want to put this on your calendar. AZPPA board member Bruce Roscoe has put together an event you won’t want to miss. He has contacts with lots of actors from Westerns who have period costumes to go with the setting at Canyon Creek Ranch in Black Canyon City, Arizona.
Bruce asked me to get together with some of the actors to give you a preview of what’s in store. With the trusty Lumix GH4 in hand and a video fluid head atop my tripod we endeavored to give you a taste of the event.
Promo for AZPPA ‘Fall Fest’ video shot with the GH4 and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro
Check out the video and if you’d like more information you can ride on over to the AZPPA web site link for more information pardner…
I will be one of about 5 instructors that will be on hand to share ideas about shooting, lighting, posing on this all day event. There will be lighting equipment from FJ Westcott to try out and work with.
Looks like it’s gonna’ be a blast!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Watching the video will be your first step and you’ll be one of the first to see what’s coming. Sign up early as this will surely sell out.
PPS – The beginning part of the video was accomplished by using the Time Lapse feature in the camera. Camera was hand held with an image being made every 2 seconds as we drove down the road.
While I wouldn’t have used the word *’INFESTED’ I love the thought behind today’s Photo/Art Quote from Leo Steinberg.
I’m going to guess that being an art critic and historian old Leo was used to using some seriously negative pejoratives in his writing… But I digress.
Why does this quote resonate with me enough to share with you today?
“All art is infested by other art.” Leo Steinberg
I would like you to take this quote literally and be aware that your brain is like a computer and the old saying, ‘garbage-in=garbage-out’ is true. As is the opposite. Fill your mind with fabulous and wonderful imagery whether it be from standing in museums studying the Masters of photography, painting or sculpture, reading books and magazines with imagery you admire or looking at advertising photography. I have art books. I stand in front of paintings in museums and art galleries. I will fire up my I-Pad to view and study a single artist for 15 minutes before sleep so those images will be processed in the night.
As you study the artists you admire you will begin to see their influence coming out in your work. And, that’s a good thing! We all stand on the shoulders of those artists that came before us. Do so proudly and as you mix and match the artists styles you admire you will begin creating work that is uniquely your own. Allow other art to ‘INFEST’ your work.
Then others will eventually be standing upon your shoulders and the cycle continues.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
*Which is probably why you won’t find me quoted in lists of photography quotes!
Hey that image looks really familiar! Oh it’s mine…
It’s fun seeing your work in print.
Speaking later today at the Texas PPA convention at the La Torretta Resort in Conroe, Texas and found this magazine on the counter from when I spoke here in January.
Texas PPA Magazine cover
Looking forward to giving my program nad sharing some of the techniques that made it possible to create this image…
I saw a blog post the other day from Scott Bourne on photofocus and he said, “Your photos are better than you think!”
And, it got me to thinkin’.
He said that your pictures are better than you think they are “because there’s only one you”.
I agree with that. But, I would like to expand on the idea a little more and from a slightly different angle using today’s photo/art quote from Harry Callahan whose (from Wikipedia Callahan) “technical photographic method was to go out almost every morning, walk through the city he lived in and take numerous pictures. He then spent almost every afternoon making proof prints of that day’s best negatives. Yet, for all his photographic activity, Callahan, at his own estimation, produced no more than half a dozen final images a year.”
“I guess I’ve shot 40,000 negatives and of these I have about 800 pictures I like”. – Harry Callahan
We all tend to compare our everyday work, our B-Roll’ if you will, to everyone else’s finished movies. The images you often see posted on the web on Google Plus, 500 pix, people’s blogs, or in magazines and elsewhere are usually ‘Hand Selected Prime Grade A Number One’ images from a large number captured and then massaged before being shared with the world.
So before you become frustrated with how much your images ‘suck’ – sit back, relax and and look at your best work, and only your best work, from about six months ago (so your a bit more impartial) before you start comparing your work with others.
I think you’ll be surprised.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
PS – Have you had frustrations with your work? Share your story here how you got over it…
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