Ok so, first off I realize that if you are looking at dates, it looks like I am posting these all on the same date. That is not the case but I did have to redo all of them on the same date because true to 2020 style, I messed up all of my blogs while trying to set up this new blog lay out and deleted all of them.
I remember like it was yesterday. I, like most of you, were excited to bring in 2020. A new year and we were going to KILL IT… right? Hell at this point I would like to get 2019 back.
I know that everyone likes to say the new year was going to be theirs. This is Paul N Carter Photography’s case was actually going to be the case. We were set to have our best year to date.
My team and I had an agenda to attack and we were excited to do so. We had test shoots set up and we have a ton of editorials lined up. I was designing my portfolio to be sent off and printed by SAAL which I still can not wait to have done. We were mailing off to ad agencies and really working hard on creating our own Paul N Carter Photography waves. We still have all of that in the planner, covid just slowed us way down like it did most everyone else.
Here is were the spin for me happens. When this first started around March I thought, meh… this wont last long. Then it got worse and I really started feeling the crunch. I thought well, this may end me as well as a lot of other small businesses. I was not doing much, I was watching a ton of Netflix for probably a month. Tiger King was absolutely the best WORST thing I have ever watched lol.
I woke up one day and decided, lets convert the garage into a make shift studio and I grabbed some sheet rock I had laying around and made flats. Incredibly heavy flats but it is what I had laying around. I painted them Onyx Black.. that just sounds cool, and i dusted them with white chalk dust to create a texture and I started shooting. I talked to the team and we decided. NO, this is not going to beat us. It is going to make us better. Lets focus on what was not working and fix it or get rid of it and lets see what was working and make it even better. I started reaching out to online photographers that I have been learning from and watching for years. Some wrote back, I started asking from critiques from them and suggestions. Some have been very responsive and I have created great relationships with some of them. Their critiques have really opened my eyes to what I hope takes my work to the next level. I also want to take my business to the next level and that is where I have been doing the majority of wrong. I have once again optimized my web page to be more business friendly. More “funnel” friendly. I really started looking at what is working for the mentors that I follow and trying to take their lead. It is crazy, but because of this I am glad that I was delayed a little more before I actually sent my portfolio off. The critiques really opened my eyes up to some things that I had not seen before. Now my portfolio has a chance to be better.
Have I been working through this pandemic? Sort of, I had 3 weddings already booked in June and all 3 still happened just smaller. Way smaller and 2 of the 3 pushed their receptions back to September. As of now we will see what September brings. I have had a few Senior Sessions for kids that were trying to wrap up their weird 2020 year and a family session but that is about it. I am meeting with and sending out quotes to clients again and I hope to maintain, that. I will say that after truly concentrating on the web site and how it works under the hood, I have started actually receiving contacts through the page asking for quotes which tells me that the website is starting to be seen and functioning as a website should. Super Exciting!
We have a few dresses coming in that we ordered for a couple of models that we will be shooting in the near future. I have also been shooting and designing some logos and stuff for a company and an influencer. I will be linking them on my page soon and you guys can check them out.
We are working on a training series for people that have cameras but do not know how to use them. A 101 photography course that will be fun and easy to learn from.
We had a bridal shoot in Port A, at the beach postponed due to covid. I was really looking forward to that.
I actually made a switch from photoshop to Affinity Photo and Capture one. Mainly because I am trying to trim some fat during this covid shut down. Adobe was costing me around 60 a month for the past 10 years. So roughly &720.00 a year because I also used after effects and premier for video stuff. Well, Affinity Photo cost 50 and I got it on a covid sale for 50% off so I got it for $25.00. I thought, for that price I might as well try it. Thinking that it probably would not compete with Adobe. I was surprised that it actually does. In my opinion it is a more sleek, customized version of Photoshop. The only thing that I do not love it the way it handles its highlights but that is why I have Capture One as my raw editor. You can pay $9 bucks a month or buy it for $129.00 or with Styles for $218.00. Either way, I am saving a ton of money there and not missing a beat. Oh and what am I doing for video now? Glad you asked. I am now using DaVinci Resolve which is a great setup and Fusion has replaced after effects for me and get this. There is a free version that works great while you decide if you like it or not. You do not have to ever buy it but for an upgrade you can buy the package for $299.00. So far I love it. The only slight down fall for it is it does not have as many 3rd party plugins and things that you can purchase as Adobe but I am sure that will change as we go. I know that my team is working on solving that issue ourselves.
So in wrapping it up. 2020 has not been without challenges. A lot of them. It is hard to believe sometimes. It has effected some people more than others but has effected all of us in some way. As for myself and Paul N Carter Photography, it will not be our end. We will not be beat by this. We will come out the other end better then we went in. We are excited to produce more amazing work that beats anything that we have done to this point. We are looking at it as a chance to wipe the slate and come out the other end with a clean start and ready to kick ass. If you are not already and would like to come along for the ride. Head over to our facebook page and smash that Follow button. We would love to see you there.
