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Erich McVey teaches everything he knows about photography and building a successful business
We’ll set the path for the chapters to come, and learn how Erich first got his start in photography. You’ll list out your hopes for your photography journey and business, and determine what you want to learn the most from the course.
What Erich did over the course of his first few years as a portrait and wedding photographer to grow the business and hone his craft. How these same practices can be adopted to benefit your own journey as a photographer and business owner.
Discover what success means to you and begin mapping out the resulting forward trajectory. We will talk about going all in, working less and making more, and will explore how to know when to say no. We will discuss the importance of hustle, and the necessity of viewing our businesses as just that—a business.
How will you know it’s time for your business to expand to new markets? We’ll talk about when and how to expand the reach of your business to connect with potential new clients.
Walk through a few exercises to better define and understand your unique brand. Review how to apply your brand to all aspects of your business in order to convey a cohesive message to your audience of clients, collaborators, and other key industry players.
Erich will shine a bit of light on how and why he personally shoots film, and help you with your own considerations as you assess how film fits in with your own photography journey and business model. Specifically, we’ll review the two immediate benefits Erich experienced when he transitioned to film (time and artistic vision) and how they might apply to your own work. We’ll address common concerns of photographers considering their transition to film, and finally we’ll take a look at the key characteristics of medium format film.
In this chapter we’ll review the tools, techniques, lighting strategies and settings that work best for Erich.
The key elements to set up every shoot for success, and how you can incorporate these practices into your own process, ensuring your client work is up to the highest caliber and consistency you have the potential to create. We’ll focus on portrait sessions like engagement shoots.
Erich’s sales process: from the minute an inquiry lands in his inbox to when clients book him for the job. How to give yourself the best chance possible to book the jobs you want at the prices you deserve.
How to bring your own personal artistic voice to every shoot, including jobs you are paid to do as well as personal projects. How to collaborate with other creatives when putting together shoots in order to nurture the artistic talent and voice of each person involved in the project.
Walk through Erich’s post production approach and organization. How he edits and manages a wedding gallery from start to finish, how he edits film scans, works closely with his film lab to ensure beautiful, consistent scans, how he edits digital images to create seamless transitions between film and digital work within a full wedding gallery, and finally, why every image counts.
How Erich conducts his business and executes his photography throughout the entire process from when a client books to when images and tangible goods are delivered after the wedding. Including client communication and timeline planning so you can thoroughly capture each portion of the day, and a complete overview of how Erich operates on a wedding day. Finally, we’ll end with a look at delivery and closing the transaction after the wedding.
Review some of the most effective channels through which you can put your work out into the world, and how once your work is out there, you can ensure that potential clients find it.
Review some of the key discussion points from the course, before following 20 prompts to create an action plan to get your moving in the right direction.
A 750+ page course where Erich McVey teaches everything he knows about photography and building a successful business.
It is important to note that while the course is certainly open to digital shooters, Erich shoots almost entirely on medium format film. There are a few sections in the course that apply to how Erich shoots, and will cover film, why he uses it, how he uses it, and other film-focused topics. There is still much to be gained by digital shooters who take this course, but film photography will be covered primarily.
Individuals just starting out with photography are absolutely encouraged to use this course as a launching pad for their professional wedding photography career. However, it’s important to note that while this course does include a large array of technical instructions and detail, a basic level of photography knowledge is required in order to fully grasp and utilize the information and content within the course.
The principles Erich uses to shape his success apply to everyone, whether you’re just starting out or looking to revamp and evolve your already-established work. This course is designed for three different kinds of photographers. - Those who are just getting started with shooting weddings and are looking to learn and grow quickly. - Photographers who have recently begun shooting film and want to avoid painful and expensive mistakes. - Seasoned film and digital shooters who want to revamp their business and reinvigorate their love of photography and art.
Yes, absolutely. This course takes a personal journey through Erich’s teaching methods and experience. The combination of written text, video, photo, and worksheets will help you explore the concepts taught in his workshops at a much deeper level. Read testimonials from other past workshop attendees who've seen tremendous value in this course even after attending Erich's workshop.
This course is specifically designed for people interested in wedding photography and growing a photography business. While many of Erich’s teaching methods would apply to all photographers regardless of their industry, there are large portions of the course focused on how to run and grow a photography business. An interest in working as a professional photographer is important.
This depends on where you’re at in your creative journey and the current state of your business. It also depends on what you do with the knowledge. If you apply Erich’s teachings to your photography and business, we know it has the potential to transform the way you shoot, expand your knowledge of lighting techniques and film, and elevate your portfolio to attract the clients you want. It also has the potential to drastically improve your ability to grow your business in local and destination markets, price your services for success, and find joy and fulfillment in your career.