21st Anniversary Post: Re-Educating, Re-Branding, & Going Back To Move Forward

I stopped booking weddings, newborn, children, and family photography shoots in 2018, though for some long standing family clients I still photographed a couple of shoots after that.

In May 2019 I photographed my last wedding.

It was time to start again, after 16 years!

But how and where to start?

I knew that women portraiture and, crucially, the business of women portraiture, had changed considerably since 2003.

Expectations were very different now, and business as a portraits' photographer for women was no longer familiar to me.

Also, the styling of the shoots had become very different…

So I did something which I had avoided for 16 years: I looked for a photography business mentor!

I needed to find someone who was credible as a business person in photography, and also whose portfolio of images was credible.

I needed someone I could not only learn from in a business sense, but also admire and respect as an image creator...

And I found just the person!

I embraced this new era with open arms, and began to learn all about the business side as well as the more practical aspects of posing and styling women portraits, in a totally contemporary way.

I learned that women now expected "an experience" rather than simply coming to the studio, and doing their own hair and make-up.

"Pampering and feeling special!" That's what women wanted from their photographer, and I had to set about ensuring I could offer exactly that!

After months of re-educating myself I was ready to launch a rebranded business, so I started to change everything from the ground up:

🌟Props associated with babies, children, and family sessions were sold
🌟All materials associated with weddings were either disposed of, or packed away
🌟All advertising materials were re-branded
🌟My website was completely revamped
🌟New price lists were created
🌟New, modern, portrait products researched and added to the price lists
🌟Social Media profiles were re-branded and re-named
🌟My beautiful Studio Wardrobe was created and populated with gorgeous gowns, for my clients!

In short: EVERYTHING changed! And the above list is the tip of the very large iceberg that my re-branding became!

So I was pretty exhausted but very happy, and was ready for the next stage:

The launch and opening the studio doors, for women clients…