Sometimes the best strategy is to stand still

The internet is the main avenue I use to get business. How do you go from averaging 30 visits a day to getting 4,651 visitors just one day?
That's the beauty of the net. Sometimes, you just have to wait.
It pays to be ready. As an entrepreneur, you got to be willing to think differently and take a big risk.
So one day, shortly after the featured interview in Photoshelter, I receive a call from a very nice lady. I could tell it was a sales pitch. I get them all the time. How to boost your placement in google, yellow pages, a new card, you name it. This lady was talking about some Groupon thing. Poor thing had to spend about twenty minutes explaining what Groupon was. I was that clueless. Then the pitch: They wanted a radical discount.
Not to go into details. I ended up  giving her a VERY generous deal.
We agreed, emailed and the date was set. Jan 27, my Groupon add went live.
I could barely sleep the days before. What if nobody bought it? What if it was a bad decision?
I had a feeling, though. You can't expect to get different results if you continue doing things as you have. So I risked it.
That day, I answered calls from 7:00 am to about 8:30 pm. Answered emails non stop, posted comments on the Groupon board and best of all, booked the next three months of my calendar. Solid. Even weekends.
I went to bed so excited and absolutely exhausted. Determined to sleep in the next day. Fat chance. My wife texted me about 8 am, waking me up. "It's still going on" I got to my computer. I had a nice email from Groupon: They were so excited that the special did so good, that they extended it. So it happened all over again. I now have sessions scheduled in 2012.

What did I do different though?
Well, besides risking it (Really you are risking all your reputation if you don't please all these new customers). I changed my work flow. I streamlined my operation. I put myself out there. And at the end, I loved it!
I talked to very nice ladies, sold sessions for guys, got and invite for pizza and had a ball realizing how loving these ladies are, getting out of their confort zone to please their husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends.
I got asked and had to answer, "Can you make me beautiful?"
It's a tough question! makes you search within your soul.
Many will come out of town. Many will get up really early, or stay up really late. Many saw this as their last chance to do it, before life just didn't offer the opportunity anymore. Many just did it because they love who they are.
It really made me rediscover why I do what I do. Because it's quite an honor to have somebody's trust to show their inner beauty.
For that, I'm extremely happy.
Thank you
Adrian.

Introducing...R1D1

When I go out with my photo buddies, they have come to expect weirdness from me. When it's customers, they just stare and later appreciate the extra sitting bench. The thing is, tired of hauling bags, dollies, boxes or tired of my stuff going into the ground, I decided to take a radical approach. That's how R1D1 was born.

 

The good people of the hardware store provided all I needed. The Stanley wheeled chest. (there's different sizes) the PVC hardware, some screws, the things to hook up  the straps, the strap ant the rest was common garage stuff.

R1D1 functions not only as a gear box, with wheels. Also is my mobile power source.  My Vagabond battery is inside, you can see the power strip on the outside, ready to provide juice for my Alien Bees, my boom box or a small fan.

This is a detail of the side, where the painters pole rests. It's pretty handy. Sturdy and also much better than the light stand if it's windy outside. all the stuff in the box and the box itself make it extremely stable. That way I can even full the rig while taking pictures, like when I take pictures of somebody walking.

 

Here you can see how easy is to attach your tripod, lightstands, umbrellas, your walking cane and whatever you want, very safely attached with just one strap. No messy and bouncy bungees!

This is the rig in action. Fully deployed with my umbrella, music for mood, all my gear stored neatly inside, protected from the elements and readily available. As I said, the problem most of the times has been to get my customers to get off their comfy seat so I can get my stuff out.

Update:

One reader asked me if you could access the inside while having the pole in. The answer was no. So that bugged me enough to modify it and address two other concerns: Now it is possible to open the container at any time, regardless if the pole is in. I have now independent straps. This is useful if there's gear I use more often, so I don't have to strap / Unstrap Everything every time. Smaller bundles are easier to handle :)

Lastly, I added a net that keeps the smaller parts, rods or monopod from slowly sliding down and getting out of place. The net is kept in place by two small carabiners. So I think this is the last version. Not to give it a coat of black paint and we're good to roll.
Cheers!

We're not as modern as we think. or are we?

Corset from 1902. Il y a des femmes qui lassent leurs amants plus vite que leur corset. (There are women who tire of their lovers faster than their corsets.) From La Vie Parisienne

Think about it: This image is one hundred and nine years old. Over a century. This lady is going to be remembered forever. She had no problem posing for revealing pictures, even a century ago, when things were so different. Maybe. It makes me laugh how even today, how so many people, especially in certain small cities (like mine), think boudoir is too risque, or feel it is too indecent. You wouldn't believe how uncomfortable some people really are with it. Yet you see way more sexually aggressive things on TV, you hear way more suggestive things on the radio. (My four year old daughter has shocked me and sings things I wouldn't even repeat, and I'm a boudoir photographer!).
So have we really changed so much?
I see the stores carry the lingerie ~ Targets, Walmarts, etc, etc. People hear it on the radio. People see it on TV. People read it in magazines, (Ten tips to make your guy ......... and other guides for your sex life in Vanity, Marie Clare, and most women magazines)
Yet, many people don't want to talk about it.
Michael Angelo did it. Leonardo did it. Renoir, Tizian, Botticelli, Picasso, Dali, Kahlo, Gauguin...
It's just art. It's so natural, that we're born with it. It's our body.
Let's embrace what makes us human.
Adrian

We're just sand...

So, How do you get here?
All my customers, friends and even my wife often scratch their heads when I explain my ideas, or when they find out how I got the image I wanted.
It all starts with an innocent comment, something I heard, or a magazine. This particular one was actually kind of sad. Somebody I know is now in a very sad place. Let's just say that she risked her life, to try to get a better future. Things didn't work out for her the way she wanted them. This got me thinking about the dessert. I was in the dessert taking pictures about four years ago. Now I wanted to do it again. At Home. So I decided to build a gigantic sand box. I had an image in my mind, a woman alone in the dessert. Sad, vulnerable, beautiful.
I figured I could pull it off in a day or two. It took 500 lbs. of play sand. Many trips to the hardware store. A big pain in my back. Almost getting shot while collecting wild branches and grasses since it is hunting season and freezing temperatures.


It was actually a shoot that was planned for a very specific model. Somebody who inspires me and with whom I've worked before. She ended up rescheduling the very day of the shoot. Things have a way to work out, however. I had a shoot with another model later that day. She agreed to do my sand box concept. I feel bad for her. She got sand EVERYWHERE. However, I'm very pleased with the results. I got the pensive and delicate feeling I was going after. Defenseless under headlights. My thoughts go out for Dolores, hoping she'll soon be back with the people who love her and need her, Safe.

The art of waiting: a rant

Beware: this is just a rant. Seems like there has been an increase on the amount of people who think it's perfectly fine to waste somebody's time and money. And even worse, not even feeling the least amount of remorse. Two days ago, I spent an hour waiting, since I had an appointment with a potential customer. Not that I didn't enjoy good reading while I waited, but the gas I used to get there and back, the time I spent getting materials ready, putting pricelists, samples, albums together, the time and even more important, I left my family on a weekend, to accommodate her schedule. You would think she would have called. or emailed. Well, I'm still waiting to hear from her, two days after the date. Just a couple days before her, when I actually spend money building a set for a boudoir photo shoot, hauling raw materials into my studio, getting plants from the lake freezing temperatures, kept in touch and timely followed up with her, She cancels, five minutes AFTER the time of the shoot.

Is it asking too much to respect people's time and effort towards work?