Screen shot credit Professional Photographer Magazine, article by Allen Murabayashi

The package waiting for me at home could have been a surprise, but PhotoShelter kept me informed throughout the process. In the end, I was expecting the two glossy copies of Professional Photographer Magazine nestled inside the padded package. Nonetheless, I am thrilled to be published in this month’s issue.

Read or download the complete article

PhotoShelter had contact me to see if I use Google Analytics and SEO. After a short discussion, I was invited to participate in an article about how photographers successfully market themselves online. One short interview later and I was published. I have certainly worked very hard marketing my business online, which is like having a second job. In just a year, traffic on my site has tripled and my business has doubled.

Still though, it is not all about marketing. My two central pillars remain exceptional service and excellent photography. Marketing is just a necessary chore.

Take some time to learn more about Professional Photography Magazine, or the article’s author, Allen Murabayashi. By the way, Allen is also the head honcho over at PhotoShelter.

P.S. – Allen has the looooongest bio I have ever seen, but it is humorous at least. I dare you to read it all.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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The rock-solid principle upon which I build my business is service (and good photographs). Providing my Cleveland wedding and portrait clients with the very best service is how I exceed their needs, keep clients coming back, and ultimately ensure the success of my business. Part the formula is providing my clients with great online services, and I have my service provider to thank. Hit the jump to see how we provide wedding and portrait clients with the latest tools to help them capture and share their memories.

Nearly all of the services I provide to my clients are powered by PhotoShelter. If something is not directly powered by PhotoShelter, they had a hand in creating it. If you are one of my clients, then I am sure you are familiar the the services. If you are considering our services, keep reading for all the features we provide. For photographers, you need to know PhotoShelter.

Since the start of H Squared Photo, PhotoShelter has been our primary service provider and I have been with PhotoShelter since their start. In a weird way, I was with PhotoShelter before “turning pro” and their service and community had a big hand in shaping what I do and how I serve my clients.

Client services

Here is a short list of the services I can provide my clients, with a little help from PhotoShelter:

• View wedding galleries right online (password protected if desired)
• Image and gallery sharing on social networks
• Clients can download full sized copies of every image
• Avoid the pestering third cousin – she can download images too!
• Order any print product you could imagine right online – from a 4×6 to a huge 24×36 gallery canvas print
• Prints delivered straight to your door, usually in less than a week
• Watch and share slide shows
• It’s scary how easy it is to contact me (scary for me at least)

As an example, have a look at the slide show below. My clients can grab a slide show of their wedding photos and share it anywhere in the world in seconds. It is really that easy.

All of these client services are enabled by my favorite service provider. Even better, I can focus on my clients and run my business with greater ease because of services provided to me as the photographer.

It’s just a little about me

OK, I will admit it. Part of the reason I love PhotoShelter is because of the services they provide to me as a business person and a photographer. Here is just a quick look at how they help me to run my business:

• Amazing photo management system that has all the bells, all the whistles, and the do-dads too!
• Direct image publishing right from Apeture or Lightroom
• Great website and blog integration
• An expanding list of SEO capabilities and help
• Complete customization of my galleries – if I can dream the look, PhotoShelter can support it
• COUPONS for my clients!!!
• Great communication tools
• Amazingly good service
• Constantly improving list of features and add-ons (did I mention COUPONS!)
• One….kick….as….BLOG!

So what does this all mean?

Well, it means to be successful you need the right partners and PhotoShelter is mine. They serve me by helping to provide my clients with great services. I can then concentrate on providing my clients with great overall service (and photographs).

If you are in the Cleveland area and need wedding or portrait photography service, contact us to see how we can serve you. If you are a photographer, have a look at how PhotoShelter can serve you.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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We have just implemented a new feature that will allow wedding clients, portrait client and friends share galleries on many different social networks. The feature is integrated directly with each client photo gallery. To share any gallery, simply locate the share links at the top of the screen.

Select your favorite social network, such as Facebook or Twitter, and share the images. Friends and family can then easily find the gallery and access the images at any time. This is a great way for our wedding clients to inform their friends and family about the galleries. Simply share the gallery on your Facebook page and everyone will have access to the images.

However, the feature goes well beyond sharing images on Facebook and Twitter. Hundreds of social networks are available for selection. Just pick your favorite!

To access the wedding and portrait client galleries, simply click the “Client Gallery” link at the top of the page.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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I have been interviewed by countless couples and families seeking a photographer for their wedding or family portraits. In general, everyone asks good questions. However, some of the most important are often left out. If the questions go unasked, I try to bring up the information anyhow.

So, let’s say you found a few photographers and you really like their style. Now its time to contact them and discuss your needs. Make sure to touch on the questions below. This will help to ensure you get a good value for your money.  A good wedding photographer or portrait photographer will be able to adeptly answer each question.

1. Do you have references we can contact?
   This question is important for any contractor you hire. If the photographer stumbles for a second, you should be concerned. The answer should always be “Yes, I can provide a list.” Any other answer should be concerning.
2. Can I see a full wedding or portrait set?
   This is important. Most people can collect a few good photos with time. However, you want someone who can reliably produce a good set just for you. We warned if they say no. If they happily provide a set, don’t expect every image to be stunning. Look for good photography throughout and a few stunning photos.
3. Are you insured?
   This may seem simple and inconsequential, but it is important. First, if something go wrong, then you know the photographer has liability insurance. More importantly, it usually means the photographer is serious about their craft and business. Amateurs and beginners are rarely insured. Take it as a sign of professionalism.
4. Can I see your gear?
   Its a fact, photographers are usually gear-heads. They’re happy to show off their equipment. What should you be looking for? Don’t focus on the brand, model, or the size of the camera. You are looking for how many cameras and lenses they have, especially if the service is for a wedding. Gear fails all the time. You want a photographer than has back-up equipment in case something breaks. After all, the photographer cannot re-shoot the wedding if gear fails. As an example, I have three cameras, 5 lenses, multiple flashes, and many studio strobes. I bring everything to any shoot just in case something fails.
5. Who does your printing?
   How the final prints are produced is just as important as style and equipment. Wal-mart, Costco, and drug stores might produce a nice print. However, no one beats a professional photography lab. For example, I use Miller’s Lab. While it is more rare, some photographers also produce their own prints. Select a photographer who uses a pro lab or produces their own prints. Once you receive the prints, you will notice a difference.
6. How do you store images?
   Like having back-up gear, how the photographer stores images is critically important. Again, and wedding cannot be shot a second time. I shoot images on small memory cards. If one card should fail, I only lose a few images. I then store copies on my computer, my back-up drive, upload them to off-site storage, and make a DVD copy. You should look for a photographer that is very serious about back-ups and data security.
7. JPEG or RAW?
   For most people, this question is meaningless. However, it is important. For most photographers, this question is a guaranteed way to start a serious argument. Many will argue that shooting in JPEG file format is no different than shooting in RAW, so they choose JPEG because the files are smaller. I am in the other camp and you should be too. To put it simply, RAW files are more flexible, allow for more creative control, and allow for more fixes. Try to find a photographer that agrees. However, this is not a deal breaker. The wonderful photographer who shot my wedding did so in JPEG and I was fine with that.
8. Do I like this person?
   Unless you want a funny look, don’t ask this question out loud. Or do, and see what happens. Really, you need to like the photographer as a person. You are going to spend a good amount of time with them. Simply, the photographer should be nice, polite and good humored. Avoid any one who seems frustrated at little things, is constantly late, or unprepared. You are hiring a professional photographer, and should expect professionalism.
9. What happens if the photographer gets ill?
   This is the only question I will raise that should be spelled out in the contract. Expect a good photographer to have a long list of other good photographers that they can call. Expect them to communicate clearly with you should an issue arise. Expect them to stand behind the substitute. I have a list and trust those on it to do the job as well as me, or better. If the substitute costs me more than I am paid, then I eat the difference. It is not your fault I got sick. Oh, you did get a copy of the contract, right?

Speaking of the contract, get a copy and read it over carefully. Look for clear language regarding everything that could go wrong. Then, examine what are the responsibilities of each party  should something go wrong. You should feel comfortable to challenge passages in the contract that you do not like or are unclear. Whatever you do, DO NOT book a service without a contract.

Aside from the “advanced questions” above and the contract, just make sure you like the services you are receiving. I let all my wedding photography clients build their own package because I don’t need to sell a particular one. We jointly find services that work for them.

I think you can see from the above, that you get what you pay for. Photography is expensive not because photographers are rich. In fact, it is really hard to make a living at photography. Good photography comes at a price due to expensive gear, insurance, assistants, labs, internet services, and so on. For example, the contents of my camera bag cost well over $12,000, and it only lasts a few years.

As always, feel free to ask me anything you like, even if you are hiring someone else in town. I am happy to help.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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This definitely falls into the business category. As many of you know, I extensively use tools provided by PhotoShelter. You could even call me an evangelist. Why, pray tell? Well, the PhotoShelter tools work well, they are very SEO friendly, and they work hard to support their user community.

Just announced, PhotoShelter now supports integrating photo galleries and images with Facebook. Users will be able to automatically post new galleries to Facebook from within PhotoShelter. For photographers who rely heavily on social media and marketing, this will be a huge help.

I do use social media for some marketing activities. I guess I have a toe in the water and keeping an eye out for sharks. I am just not sure it is worth the time yet. However, it is nice to know that the integration is there.

More here.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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The new site is finally here! For the better part of a year, I was not happy with my old site. To start, it was slow as a dog. The home page could take 30 seconds to load. That is crazy long for the “interweb.” I even tried to downsize some of the slide show photos to make the site faster, but with no luck.

So this post is about why I wanted a new site, what my requirements were, and how I went about doing it. Are you a photographer with no idea how to code? Do you know what SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  is, but have no clue how to make it work for you? This post just might help you out. So, let’s get to the meat of it.

Why a new site:

• As I mentioned, my old site was slooow
• The old site had some SEO features, but not nearly enough. At best, I could set the page title and the keywords for each page
• The old site had a rigid portfolio and image system. I had no choice but to use certain photo aspect ratios and forget video
• Flash sites are so 2002
• Expensive: I was paying $15/month for a template system that was slow and did not have the tools I wanted
• No integrated blog features

In the end, a slow site with poor SEO features is an anchor. So, it was time for a change.

My criteria for a new site were not simple. I actually had some very tough, but very specific things I had to have. Here is how they break down:

• Fast, Fast, FAST! This is a must for any site
• I don’t want to code. Yet, the site must still be flexible, easy to customize, and easy to administrate
• Must allow for many multimedia choice including photos, videos, slide shows, Flash content, and audio
• Cannot be restrictive about file format or image aspect ratio
• SEO-friendly: allow me to control the page title, description, keywords, URL structure, and be designed in modern HTML/CSS. Search engine like new code and do not like Flash very much
• Be relatively inexpensive. Less than my prior service preferred
• Integration with blogs and social media would be best
• Integration with PhotoShelter would be good

That is a pretty serious list. How many platforms do you know that meet those criteria. Up until the start of the fall, none. Just as I was getting completely frustrated with my old site, PhotoShelter announced integration with Graph Paper Press (GPP), a maker of Word Press themes.

Word Press is best described as a blog platform. However, it has additional features that make it easier to create an entire site. You might call it a personal publishing platform. Many different companies make “Themes” (or skins) for Word Press, and Graph Paper Press is one. GPP partnered with PhotoShelter to create a new themes that would allow for direct integration.

While the integration could be a bit better, here is what you get:

• A Word Press platform that allows for blog entries, comments, custom pages, categories, and many other “publishing” features
• Word Press is open source and has a huge community behind it. This means software updates are constantly being released
• GPP themes are designed for photographers and multimedia. I can use any media type, format, and aspect ratio I choose
• Very SEO-friendly – I can set the page titles, URL format, keywords, descriptions and more.
• Modern code base – the code is written in an HTML format that is most friendly to search engines
• FAST it is
• Very inexpensive – the hosting is cheap because everyone supports Word Press. The license for GPP is also cheap
• Word Press is a blog platform, so I don’t need to worry about blog integration. The whole site is a blog
• PhotoShelter integration allows me to pull photos, side shows and searches from my PhotoShelter account

So far, the only issues are with the PhotoShelter integration. However, it is new and not a big requirement for me. I can always upload media directly to this site.

The improved SEO is what I am really looking forward to. Since my blog and my site are now integrated, keywords from the blog should help my portfolio site. In the past, I could write an article about wedding photography or Cleveland and garner some SEO points for the blog. However, that “win” did not translate to my portfolio site. Search engines and users would first have to find the blog, and then my portfolio. Now, they are one in the same.

How to set it up:

• Go to Word Press and find a host you like
• Sign up with the host
• Install Word Press using the tools provided by your chosen host. Mine had a one-click install
• Join Graph Paper Press and download a theme
• Upload the theme to the Word Press themes directory of your site
• Use the built in Word Press admin console to easily configure your site
• Drink a beer, your done with the hard part!

For more information on PhotoShelter, Word Press, and Graph Paper Press, please see the links above.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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