1st equine trade show of my season

Snowgirl

OK - the booth is built, camera gear packed to take with me - I'm off to the annual Equine Review Showcase at the Princess Louise Park Show Centre in Sussex, NB. The sun is shining and it's predicted to be a lovely day so hopefully there'll be several thousand visitors at the show today. I'll let you know how it goes.

Glort

Good Luck with it Snow.
I'm sure you'll blow them ( and any competitors) away.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

Snowgirl

Glort wrote: »

Good Luck with it Snow.
I'm sure you'll blow them ( and any competitors) away.

Looking forward to hearing how it goes for you.

Merci beaucoup. The show went extremely well. I booked a number of shoots including two family shoots and two grad shoots plus four horse shows. And, there were several other tentative inquiries. So, I'd call the week-end, aching feet and all, a smashing success.

I'll sort through my pics tomorrow and post a few. It's is EXHAUSTING smiling and chatting people up non-stop for 10 hours a day - but it pays off.

Glort

Great to hear it went so well Snow!

Good job on picking up the non equine work as well!
Maybe I should start promoting portrait work at some of the shows I do as well. It's the perfect avenue when I think about it.

I did some trade shows a few years back that were 4 day, 12 hours. I remember going to visit a friend to help him with his new restaurant opening and by the time I got there my voice had gone completely. I survived a couple of days with him on caffine but when I got home I collapsed and was still not 100% a week later.

It's amazing how just talking can take it out of you but it sounds like you did it very well!

Snowgirl

Glort wrote: »

Great to hear it went so well Snow!

Good job on picking up the non equine work as well!
Maybe I should start promoting portrait work at some of the shows I do as well. It's the perfect avenue when I think about it.

I did some trade shows a few years back that were 4 day, 12 hours. I remember going to visit a friend to help him with his new restaurant opening and by the time I got there my voice had gone completely. I survived a couple of days with him on caffine but when I got home I collapsed and was still not 100% a week later.

It's amazing how just talking can take it out of you but it sounds like you did it very well!

I included shots of families and individual portraits I'd take in my display, along with the obligatory horsey photos - and that gave people the idea that I offer diverse services. It usually caused a question like - "do you do family pictures too?" (duh) But that opened up the conversations that led to the bookings.

I lost my voice yesterday (my husband was probably happy about that) and spent most of the day catching up on little things - like laundry etc. My poor dog, who is my "greeter" in the booth, has slept for 2 days - he's more tired than I am. I think he was mentally over stimulated.

So - my personal reward is to cash in my hubby's birthday gift - a complete massage - off to spend the morning being pampered (and recovering from the week-end - not as young as I once was!)

Glort

Sounds like a very well planned and executed initiative Snow.

Having your dog as a " greeter" is a stroke of genius. That would pull everyone in especially the kids and as you say, is great icebreaker.

If I took my Dogs to a horse show it would certainly interesting.
I'm not sure if the problem would be with the outfitters trying to use them to demonstrate Pony saddles or they would want to go play with the other "doggies" there with the long manes and tails and cause mayhem.

I could take my cat who loves to be cuddled and is a big sook but when he had enough sleep, he would probably want to go and stalk and kill one of the horses and drag it back as a love offering.
Even My Rottweiler " Horses" are scared as heck of him. People often remark on the security we have at home with the Dogs. My wife and kids always say, Forget the dogs, the cats the one that will kill you!!!

Did you do a competition or a mailing list to follow up on?
Have you got any after show inquirys so far?

Snowgirl

Glort wrote: »

Sounds like a very well planned and executed initiative Snow.

Having your dog as a " greeter" is a stroke of genius. That would pull everyone in especially the kids and as you say, is great icebreaker.

If I took my Dogs to a horse show it would certainly interesting.
I'm not sure if the problem would be with the outfitters trying to use them to demonstrate Pony saddles or they would want to go play with the other "doggies" there with the long manes and tails and cause mayhem.

I could take my cat who loves to be cuddled and is a big sook but when he had enough sleep, he would probably want to go and stalk and kill one of the horses and drag it back as a love offering.
Even My Rottweiler " Horses" are scared as heck of him. People often remark on the security we have at home with the Dogs. My wife and kids always say, Forget the dogs, the cats the one that will kill you!!!

Did you do a competition or a mailing list to follow up on?
Have you got any after show inquirys so far?

Ah yes, we too have a killer cat - actually, two of them. Our dog, an Aussie by the way, has a nasty sounding bark but is basically a big sookie too - although I suspect if he felt me being threatened it might be a different story.

He's very good at the trade shows - but I've been taking him since he was a pup. I do tie him (loosely) so he won't wander off and get lost in a sea of legs, though.

Yes, I have a nice little mailing list that I'll be calling on shortly. I'm currently booked every week-end in May and June and most of July. In fact, I was almost double booked. Now I'm looking for mid-week fillers.

Snowgirl

Glort wrote: »

Excellent!

That is great that you have got so much consistent work.
Very well done.

Is there any opportunity for corporate work where you are? That is always good through the week if you can get it.

As a matter of fact, there is! I just landed a job to document a manufacturing process. I'm just trying to figure out the best way to do it in terms of lighting and protecting my gear (and eyes and lungs) from an extremely dusty environment. Any suggestions?

Snowgirl

Glort wrote: »

If it's dusty you'll have to watch the lighting so it does not knock off the contrast of the pic too much but making the dust stand out.

As for camera protection, You could use an underwater bag or even put the camera in a plastic bag and seal it up but have just the lens protruding and have elastic bands or tape around the lens to seal the rest of the camera in the bag. You may need to do something similar around the eyepiece.

If the bag is soft and pliable as it should be, you won't have any probs with controls.
For yourself, if the facility doesn't have protection, a respirator and goggles would be the way to go and something to price into your quote although for a one off they need not be over the top expensive.

Good ideas. I have a Kata raincoat for my camera and lens which will help and I'm thinking a ziplock baggie taped around my speedlights etc. might do the trick.

Oh - I am supposed to BREATHE while I work???

I'll let you know how it works out.