Hello everyone!! We are really excited about this week's episode because once we started brainstorming our ideas for it, we couldn't stop! This week we're chatting about 15 unprofessional habits of photographers! We are all guilty of some of these, so this is a no judgement zone, but we do think it's important to address a few of the most common faux-pas we see within our own businesses & other photographer's businesses to make sure you guys aren't doing any of these things! Key Takeaways: We aren't going to share EVERY bullet point with you here (you have to listen for that!) but here are our 5 favorites from the episode:

1. Typos on websites and emails: Oh man... huge pet peeve!! We totally understand that grammar/spelling isn't everyone's strong suit, but if you know this about yourself it's a good idea to have someone proofread your website, email templates, and online promotional ads! Typos, spelling errors, and grammatical errors could completely overshadow a beautiful portfolio on a website for some potential clients! Take the time to make sure everything looks correct before launching your website. If this is a weakness of yours, also consider maybe hiring someone to respond to emails for you!
2. Inconsistent style (editing especially): To us, nothing gives that "amateur" vibe quite as much as inconsistent style! We've all been there... you're starting your photography portfolio and have no idea what your personal style is yet, so you play around with a bunch of presets and actions & get so excited about how everything looks you just can't choose, so you end up with 5 different looking styles within one single shoot. Don't do that!! Take the time to discover your personal style first & display a cohesive look on your website so potential clients know exactly what type of photos and editing style to expect when they book you!
3. Taking too long to respond: Ashley is REALLY good at responding quickly to emails and oftentimes hears back from the client that she was the only one who responded in a prompt matter (or at all). What is that?! We totally get it... nobody decides to be a photographer for a living because they just can't wait to answer all their client's emails and phone calls. It might even be one of the worst parts of our business! However, it's necessary to answer emails in a prompt manner in order to not lose out on potential business. So put your telephonophobia aside & respond to your client inquiries!!
4. Casual clothing: There's a little bit of a divide here between wedding photographers & portrait photographers. We feel that portrait photographers can get away with dressing a little more casually than wedding photographers, especially when they're working with children and going to be crawling on the ground or traipsing through trails & fields, that sort of thing. All three of us are comfortable wearing jeans and a cute blouse or top to portrait sessions but would NEVER wear jeans to a wedding. For weddings, Julie typically opts for a cute dress (with shorts underneath JUST in case!). Kate's not a huge fan of shooting in dresses, but she always wore black dress slacks & a nice blouse when she shot weddings, but opts for jeans for family shoots. Ashley used to wear long skirts and cute tank tops for weddings, and accessorized with a lot of pretty jewelry to fancy it up even more. Basically as long as you look put together & nice, you'll look professional.
5. Tardiness: There is simply NO excuse to be late for a shoot. First off, we typically want to plan shoots for the best possible lighting windows, so if we're late, we're messing up the lighting for the shoot!  Clients should never have to wait for their photographer to show up (unless they're like.... insanely early in which case that's their own issue, although Kate's nuts enough about being early to shoots that she would still probably beat them there). Be sure to have everything ready to go for the shoot the night before (including gas in your car!) and leave your home early to account for any traffic, parking issues, or unforeseen circumstances that might cause you to be late!

Related Links:

• http://peek.usertesting.com
• https://www.fiverr.com

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