In 2012 I have found myself knee-deep in mentor sessions. Its quickly becoming one of my favorite things to do with this photography career I have going. 
A mentor session is where I sit down with a brand new photographer or someone who has been in the business for a small time and is just “hitting brick walls around every curve” as one mentee put it. In the last 3 years I have learned sooo much [mostly through trial + error] and if I can share my mistakes and “ah-ha” moments with those just getting started.. I feel like it was all worth it. In these mentor session we talk about shooting, mechanics, equipment, vendors, post processing + workflow and branding [websites, logos, and the general perception of your business others have]. Branding is HUGE! Perception is EVERYTHING both when you’re starting out and as your growing.
While at WPPI last year in Vegas I was sitting in on a talk when the conversation moved to the importance of branding. One of my favorite photographers put it like this
[paraphrase]
“It’s like this.. Mac vs PC.. Folks have a certain perception of these brands.. and when you’re a creative these perceptions are very intense.. for example, I want you to raise your hand if you’re a Mac [in a room of 500-800 photographers/creatives, everyone I could see raised their hand].. okay now raise your hand, mac people, if you would ever buy a PC [1 personal.... I repeat ONE person.. an older gentleman with his logo on his polo raised his hand]… my point exactly… that is called brand power”
This is one of the BIGGEST things I talk about during mentor sessions. It’s ALL ABOUT your brand power. There are some incredible books out there about this.. most of which from Seth Godin. Purple Cow is a personal favorite [the idea here is to see what everyone in your industry/market are doing.. and do the opposite.. oh yeah it will ruffle their feathers... but that means it's working].
Anyway.. when I sat down to type this post I was merely going to showcase the amazing branding I had created for me from the amazing KATE MOORE CREATIVE —> CLICK HERE FOR SITE
I highly, HIGHLY recommend her.
Don’t have a brand or a clue where to start? I created a folder on my desktop called “inspiration” and just dragged images I found I gravitated towards.. fonts, logos, patterns and I began to see a pattern. There is a nifty new social network that makes this way easier and causes me to have logo ADD.. perhaps you’ve heard of Pinterest? If not, you can find me here CLICK HERE FOR MY PINTREST to see what all the fuss is about.
I took a few shots of the branding Kate created for me + the packaging I purchased from Craft + Jute.. love!
Thank You cards, Biz Cards + a glossy book of info/portfolio I give out at my meetings.. love that thing!
These are the envelopes I use when folks order prints from me… I ordered them from Kraft + Jute with a few of my logos.. one [the better one] that Kate created and the other [lamer one] I put together
These are the cases that house the digital negatives from weddings… I LOOOOVE these!
my sweet Thank You’s… favorite part!
LOVE THIS!!!!!!!! I want ALLLLLL of it!!