School Photography Season

indiegirl

It's coming, it's coming!!!

I am shooting two private schools this fall. I've done school shoots in the past with smaller schools. I have two mid-sized contracts this fall which will be a great test of my planning, experience and administrative skills - not to mention the photography

I'll be shooting students aged preschool through seniors--the individual and class as well as faculty. I expect to have around 500 students/orders. I have an assistant checking in the kids and will have all student into the week before with correct name spellings and class lists, so I can do a lot of prep ahead of time.

I will include marketing for family portraits as well as something else. Something brilliant, unique, useful and economical. Think upper class, educated parents who don't want flashy or gimmicky, loud or mass-produced "party favors."

Ideas?

Snowgirl

indiegirl wrote: »

I will include marketing for family portraits as well as something else. Something brilliant, unique, useful and economical. Think upper class, educated parents who don't want flashy or gimmicky, loud or mass-produced "party favors."

Ideas?

Maybe partner with a local quality framing shop for a discount coupon? e.g. have a family portrait done and your 16 x 20 print can be framed at the prestigious frame shop XXX for ONLY $YYY - a ZZ% discount valid until dd/mm/yyyy type of thing? One thing I have learned - the more money someone has, the cheaper they tend to be.

msf

Hmm, private schools, I havent given school photography much thought becuase 1 its a big business worth millions and its hard to get, but I didnt think about the private schools. Theres a new one around here.

Another reason I havent given it much thought is because its assembly line, get a kid in there, tell them to smile, click the shutter if they did or not, and get the next one in. You dont get much time to work wit them, help them get a natural smile, etc. Theres a reason alot of parents hate school pics and take them to a real studio to get good shots. I wonder if a school would let you do 10 or 15 min per kid, it would take ages to get all the kids done, but the results could be terrific.