Original subtitles

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome.

We are going to start this particular section

on how to prepare your clients for an

engagement session.

I think it's easy for us to think

and show up and assume that our clients

will show up and they will do exactly

what we want them to do.

I kind of function this way.

I like showed up and I hope that

things would work out and they function that

way for actually a few months.

I have never been the type of person

to tell other people what to do, like

side note, that is clearly changed now, but

for the vast majority of my life, I

was never a person who should say, you

should do this, you should try that, you

should go here.

Not remotely at all.

It has since changed and it's changed to

better my business but also to better my

life.

Because I had such a hard time telling

clients what to do or what I think

they should do, it manifested because it came

to a head at an engagement session during

my second year of business when a client

showed up over two hours late to this

engagement session.

At this point, you're probably thinking, what were

you still doing there?

Two hours and some change after the start

of it.

One thing that you will know about me

shortly is I am determined.

I will stand you down.

There's just no way that I'm going to

leave this engagement session.

I'm going to stay here.

I'm going to prove it.

You guys are hearing how ridiculous it sounds.

Well, that was me at the time and

I called JD and I was in Malibu

and Malibu from Orange County is about an

hour, but any traffic estimations in California vastly

changes what that looks like.

If I were to leave the engagement session

at that time due to traffic, I'd be

in the car close to three hours.

That's just what it is to live in

Southern California.

I'm calling him every 15 minutes and they

still haven't showed up.

They still haven't showed up.

I would be getting texts from the client

or calls and she would be like, oh,

we're just exiting the freeway.

It's like 30 minutes later, girl, you did

not just exit the freeway.

You just did not.

She kept on being like, oh, well, this

happened and oh, well, this happened.

And I was so infuriated and I felt

so disrespected that when she showed up, I

was like, we have maybe 10 minutes of

light.

I will stay here and I will shoot

this, but if you want to reshoot the

engagement session, I'm going to have to come

down and charge it separately as a separate

engagement session.

She's like, no, we're just thankful you didn't

leave.

Let's just do the session.

And I'm like, in 10 minutes?

And she's like, 10 minutes.

I was like, okay.

So I did the best I could.

I ended up shooting the vast majority of

it at around 1600 ISO and I just

thought, wow.

So I get back in the car and

I am just, can you believe the audacity,

J.D.? Who does this?

Who shows up two hours late to the

shoot?

Who has a 10-minute engagement session?

And he just lets me have my tirade

and then he says, well, did you tell

them why they had to be there on

time?

I was like, what do you mean?

People should just be on time.

And he's just like, well, yes, but if

you don't tell people why they need to

be on time, they will not understand that

you can't do your job unless they show

up and adhere to the things that you

ask for them.

And I was like, well, well, then I'm

going to talk to somebody who supports me,

okay?

But he was right.

What this really boils down to is that

I needed to explain.

I needed to explain why they had to

be on time.

I'm a natural light photographer.

If I lose the sun, I cannot possibly

pursue with the engagement session.

I tell my clients, if you show up

30 minutes late to your session, I will

not extend the engagement session by 30 minutes.

The sun dictates how and why I shoot.

I say that now to every single client.

You want to know how many clients have

been late to an engagement session since that

disastrous one?

Zero.

People know that they are spending money to

get an engagement session and they're just not

going to lose it because they weren't trying

hard enough to be there.

I also needed to explain why it probably

wasn't a good idea for guys to be

wearing baseball caps and flip flops to their

engagement session.

That was a little uncomfortable.

I had to explain that going to four

locations in one engagement session, probably not a

good idea.

I actually had to start teaching my clients

what good ideas were and what not so

feasible ideas were because if I didn't take

time to explain it to them, I could

not be frustrated if they themselves did not

understand that.

Basically what this means is I needed to

prepare my clients for success.

How do I do this?

I explain what they should expect and it

comes in this way.

About a month before their engagement session, I

email my clients and I give them four

weeks advance notice because I cannot get into

an email explanation one week and that could

potentially change or pivot their expectation for the

shoot.

Four weeks, we can.

I outline what I want from their session.

I say in this email, I want them

to have a good time.

I say in this email, I want them

to get great photos.

I say in this email that it's a

great opportunity for us to learn and see

how we interact with each other before the

wedding day.

So I outline my goals.

Secondly, then I list what I'm expecting from

them.

What I expect from them is to be

on time, that they are eligible for one

outfit change and you can offer outfit tips

if they need them.

They get one location change and what I

also ask them to do is to ensure

that that location or either of the locations

don't have anything that could affect our shoot.

It could be under construction.

You might have to pay a shoot fee.

You might need a permit.

All of those things, I abdicate the responsibility

to them to handle that because I don't

want to show up to the engagement session

and the client's like, Jasmine, why didn't you

get the shoot permit?

Because then I would think, well, you can

get the shoot permit.

I have to tell them, if we need

one, you must get it.

Now, then I request for, I refer to

him as the groom, but it's usually fiance.

99% of my correspondence is with the

bride.

So in this case, when I say fiance,

I largely mean the counterpart to my client

interaction.

Request that your fiance watches slide shows in

advance because what was happening was I would

get these guys to come to shoots and

the girls are excited and they're amped because

they had been seeing my photos on Facebook.

They were excited.

You know, they're feeling good and the guy

would show up, be like, yeah, you know,

doing this for her.

All right.

So, uh, how long is this going to

be?

There's a game, right?

Like, so we have been at this point

where it's like, I, I don't know how

to make you want this.

But what I noticed is if, if I

asked the girl to ask her fiance to

watch the slideshow, he would then see how

much it meant to her because he just

thinks it's just a thing to check off

of the wedding day things to do.

And for her, she's like, do you see

it?

Can you catch my vision?

And he, most guys just, you know, happy

wife, happy life.

They'll just be like, okay.

Then it changes the dynamic of how they

get to the shoot being prepared.

And then they know that I'm not there

to make them look cheesy.

I really want them to be confident in

the approach of shooting when they have their

fiance.

Uh, then I ask, um, them to, I

encourage them to get their hair and makeup

done.

Um, it can be potentially uncomfortable to ask

a bride to do this, but then I

explain why I say, if you're wondering how

your makeup or hair will appear in wedding

photographs, this would be a great trial run.

Furthermore, most brides get a trial run for

their hair and make it before the wedding

day.

And then what happens is you get it

done and then you're going to, are you

going to go grocery shopping after you're going

to go bowling?

Like the fact that we can actually kill

two birds with one stone is a great

opportunity for you to see how it photographs.

And then brides are mostly like, Hey, that's

a great idea.

But from a logistical perspective, we know as

photographers that when hair and makeup is professionally

done, it photographs better.

It simply does.

So if you want something, it's totally okay

to ask for it.

And also I, I, I asked to see

if they're going to be, be bringing props.

I don't want to show up to a

shoot and then be like, Oh, there's a

sofa in a field.

Right?

Then I need to figure out what, how

does this change the logistical lay of the

land?

So I have to prepare myself and then

I have to let them know what I'm

expecting.

Then it comes time for prep.

So I've outlined my goals.

I let them know what I'm expecting and

then I prep them.

I tell my clients that I want them

to feel comfortable.

So if you're starting to notice that there's

going to be a pattern is I'm telling

them what I want at minimum one month

to the, to the engagement session.

Then when we arrive at the engagement session,

I'm telling them again, I want them to

be comfortable.

I encourage them for freedom of movement.

I come in and I say, I want

your ideas.

If you want to go to a particular

place, let me know.

I tell them I shoot digitally.

So if you see something that you think

could potentially be a good idea, let me

know.

But then I follow up with, if it

doesn't work, it won't make the edit.

There's no pressure.

Offering me the back door so that if

the client's like, I want to stand on

this stump, I have really had the client,

there was like a stump in just like

this random park and she wanted her and

her fiance to stand on the stump.

And I'm like, and at this point I

had already given myself a back door saying,

okay, if it doesn't work.

So I was like, totally, let's, let's stump

this photo.

Right?

Like, I'm like, great.

It did not make the edit.

And when she had said, oh, did any

of those photos from the stump work out?

And I said, unfortunately the light wasn't right

and it wasn't the most complimentary because you

guys were at such a high angle.

That was it.

Had I not given myself the back door,

she would have expected that photograph in her

edit.

Then I explain how beautiful I find confidence.

I have to let them know I'm seeding

already.

You guys see that I want them to

be comfortable.

I want them to have a good time.

And I explain that I like confidence.

So then I'm already giving them the permission

to be confident upon arrival.

Lastly, I send ideas, encouragement.

And if my clients are shooting at a

location that I have shot at before, I

send them links to engagement sessions that I

have shot to give them an idea of

what they can expect.

If a client wants to know what she

should be wearing, if the location is okay,

I want her to feel really good so

that she's not second-guessing everything.

So that she did all the second-guessing

on the front end.

I assaged those worries.

She arrives looking and feeling beautiful, ready to

deliver.

Now, does it sound like a lot of

work?

Yes.

But the more work you do in advance,

the higher likelihood you are to have a

really successful engagement session.

Now, I want to move now to the

logistics of the shoot.

So now we did the prep for the

shoot.

Now I know what I do in advance.

And now we're going to get to what

it really looks like to ensure that my

bases are covered on the day of the

engagement session.

So it sounds very basic, but check the

weather.

I live in California, which is really, you

know, great most of the time of the

year.

And even just coming before I came to

Seattle, there was this freak rainstorm.

It was like days of like 78, 78,

and then boom.

60-degree day, which is, I'm sure, not

very cold for a lot of you.

But in California, it was like news reports.

This just in.

It hit 61 degrees.

Bundle up, ladies.

It's like, okay, but for us, this is

a big deal.

And it also rained.

So if I had an engagement session that

I just assumed, like, oh, yeah, this week's

great.

What can go wrong?

I would be doing a disservice to myself

to at least let my clients know it

will rain.

But in other areas, I'm sure you guys

are accustomed to this, but it never hurts

to know what the rain pattern will be.

Have a plan B when it comes to

weather, too.

Just because the weather does change, I don't

immediately go to let's change it.

I go to how can we fix this.

And if you will be unhappy, then let's

get there.

Second point is to leave with plenty of

time.

And I know this seems like intuitive, but

there is nothing worse than showing up late,

even if it's five, ten minutes.

This is your first impression as a paid

creative member of their wedding team.

And if you show up ten minutes late

to their engagement session, they're going to wonder

if you're going to show up ten minutes

late to their wedding.

And that's not going to fly.

Because here's the thing.

Always assume there's traffic.

Always assume there is an accident.

Take a book with you.

Bring your computer with you.

Catch up with an email.

Be productive.

But more than anything, err on the side.

JD thinks I'm crazy.

I leave an hour, like an hour and

a half in addition to what it normally

would take me.

And I'm like, I'm going to take my

book.

I'm going to relax.

I'm going to be at peace.

Remember about creating that zone?

That's what I definitely need to do.

Thirdly, ensure you have the exact address.

Now, people will say, oh, we're going to

meet at Huntington Beach.

Or, oh, we're going to meet here.

No, no.

Learn from my mistakes.

A client had said, oh, we're going to

meet at Calamigos.

She had just said Calamigos.

And in my mind, when she said Calamigos,

I assumed she meant Calamigos, Malibu.

Because I had no idea that there was

a Calamigos elsewhere.

And so I'm on my way, feeling great.

And this is a wedding day.

This is a wedding day, okay?

We leave the hotel.

And I think to myself, wow, we're driving

a long way to get to Calamigos, Malibu.

And I'm going, and something in my heart

is just off.

And I'm like, something's off.

Something's really off here.

So I go to my phone, and I

search Calamigos.

And I come to find out there's three

or four Calamigos in Southern California.

And then I put my head between my

knees, and I'm dry heaving.

I'm like, boom, boom.

It's like, J.D., the wedding.

Like, I died.

I died.

And I was like, I don't know what

you have to do.

Get on this emergency exit, and we just

have to go.

We just have to go.

And he's like, okay, calm down, calm down.

Thankfully, the limo got a flat tire.

Thankfully, we were saved.

And I learned the most valuable lesson that

day.

I need an exact address.

Even you could say loosely.

Even if there's only one Theo Chocolate Factory

in Seattle, I need the address.

It's my responsibility to get that.

Double check your gear.

I shoot on an engagement session.

I keep what I shoot rather light.

I don't want to be overcome with my

options.

So I shoot with the 50 millimeter 1

.2, the 35 millimeter 1.4, and the

85 1.2. Those are the three lenses

that I use.

I keep one lens on my camera.

I keep two in my bag.

And I also take a spare camera that

I leave in the backseat of my car

underneath the seat.

So, God forbid, anything should happen with my

camera the day of the shoot.

Say, hey, give me a couple minutes.

I'm going to go back.

I'm going to get my spare.

An average engagement session, I'll shoot somewhere in

the ballpark of 8 to 10 gigs of

memory.

And we're going to talk about what that

looks like.

And I shoot medium raw.

Now, what I also want you to do

is to cross-check for daily events at

the venue.

I spoke with a wedding photographer who had

planned to do a downtown Los Angeles engagement

session.

And when she arrived about four, five, six

miles from it, everything was at a complete

stop.

And she had no idea why people weren't

moving and why everybody was wearing running shoes.

Unbeknownst to her, Los Angeles Marathon was going

on that day.

And so her clients are stuck in gridlock

traffic.

She's stuck in gridlock traffic.

And it was a complete waste.

They couldn't even get ultimately to where they

wanted to go.

Yes, theoretically, it was the client's responsibility to

find that out.

But anything day of, I also will cross

-reference just to make sure.

Now, we're going to move now on to

the engagement session.

When the engagement session actually arrives, I arrive

early and I scope out the location.

Now, I arrive early because even if I

have shot in locations before, you never know

what could happen.

Case in point, the Not Dream engagement session.

She tells me where to meet.

She tells me that they hike there all

the time, all days of the week, all

hours of the day.

So I said, great.

So I arrive early and I see that

there's a gate in front of the public

parking lot.

And I'm like, why is this gate locked?

I hop into my car and it's completely

locked.

There's not a single car in the parking

lot.

And I think to myself, okay, no big

deal.

I'm just going to find parking elsewhere.

We couldn't find parking for four miles on

either end.

And there was a distinct sign that said,

if you park at this Wayfarers Church, you're

going to get towed.

And I'm like, wow, okay.

So if I arrived early, it was so

windy.

I mean, it was like Dorothy and Toto

windy.

I was like, there's a house that's going

to land on us.

It's so windy.

We can't get into this parking lot.

There is no parking.

What are we going to do?

So I call her.

And I'm just like, I let her know,

this is the land.

She was like, I really, like, that's just,

it's our space.

Okay.

And the cameras with CreativeLive were there, so

I'm trying to keep it together on the

front end.

And I'm just like, oh.

I was like, okay, no problem.

No problem at all.

Just bring a rubber band and some bobby

pins because your hair is going to be

flying everywhere.

We were able to park in 30-minute

parking.

There was two little parking spots.

And we just said, if we get a

ticket, this is the price we're going to

pay to shoot this engagement session because that

is what she wants.

I cannot pitch her any more.

So she knew.

But had I not arrived an hour early,

we would have been like, what the heck

is going on?

I didn't have enough time to tell her

to bring a rubber band or bobby pins.

I would have felt like completely off my

game.

When the clients do arrive, even though I

had already given Samantha heads up, like, hey,

it's very windy.

Hey, it's very bright.

And, hey, you will have to park and

there's a potential of your car getting towed.

And she said, okay.

I said, here we go.

So when they arrived, because that was our

very first interaction, it was the very first

time, I didn't even talk to her.

I actually texted her.

It was the very first time we had

texted each other.

I didn't want her coming to the engagement

session feeling apologetic or frazzled.

So when she arrived, I immediately put her

at ease.

Hey, how's it going?

So glad.

Isn't this working perfectly?

I mean, it was like a wind tunnel.

It's like, Chris, isn't this working perfectly?

But it's fine.

So then I kind of dove into what

I call my welcome spiel.

My welcome spiel is something, because you guys,

because I've spoken about this in previous lessons,

you know that I sometimes get frustrated with

my inability to articulate my thoughts.

So I figured the more I say my

welcome spiel, the more confident I'm going to

be as I approach the shoot.

So what does my welcome spiel include?

My expectations.

I've already emailed what those expectations are, right?

You know what those expectations are, but I'm

reminding them, and I want to put it

in the forefront of their mind.

I want to give them permission, permission to

be themselves, permission for ideas, and permission to

be beautiful.

Thirdly, I subtly remind them of my goals.

My goals are to give them great photos

for them to have a great experience.

And then I tell my clients that I

have arrived early for the shoot and that

I have a lay of the land and

that I can map out the session if

they so choose or if they have ideas,

I want to hear them.

Then, lastly, in the back of my mind,

I am focusing on the words that I

want to shoot for.

We're going to dive more into that in

a future lesson about what my words are

and how I shoot with intention.

But for now, my words that have been

my words for years are fun, fresh, and

editorial.

As I approach my shoot, because I'm a

lifestyle photographer and because I'm going to be

a little bit more hands-on in curating

my vision, every time I put my clients

in a pose, I must make it one

of three things.

Fun, fresh, or editorial.

Now, an ancillary word, like a fourth word,

that most photographers would just kind of encounter

naturally would be romantic because two people in

love, that naturally happens.

But I am not shooting with the intention

of it being romantic.

I am shooting with the intention of it

either being fun, fresh, or editorial.

Now, as I go through the shoot, I'm

constantly letting my clients know how they're doing,

offering feedback, and telling them where we are

headed.

I don't want to have them second guess,

and I want to stay one step ahead

of my clients.

I don't want them to say, where are

we going next, or how am I doing,

or how does my hair look?

I want to be telling them so that

the only thing they think about are my

directives and them not having the head space

to actually say, do I look awkward, how

do I feel, where's my arm?

Towards the end of the session, I tell

my clients, hey, about 10 minutes, 15 minutes

before the session, I will let them know,

you guys, I love what's going on, how

about we go to one last location, we

shoot there for 5 or 10 minutes, and

then we'll call it a day.

So I'm letting them know because sometimes if

you just abruptly end a session, they're just

like, oh, okay, great.

So you're seeding those expectations of what you

want, opening that communication.

Now, because I want them with me every

step of the way, I want them to

stay with my vision.

And the way I get the vision is

by simply setting up a photography map.

We're going to go to point one, we're

going to go to point two, we're going

to go to point three.

Each of those locations, we're going to be

shooting it slightly differently, then 10, 15 minutes

before the shoot ends, like, hey, guys, now

we're going to that last location, this is

going to be great, stick with me, thank

you guys so much, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Stay ahead of them.

Now, before the clients leave, I will inform

them of when they should see a sneak

peek to their blog post.

I say, oh, it'll be in about a

week, but I post a sneak peek the

day after.

And then I tell them, your gallery should

be online in about two to two and

a half weeks, but I will show them

their gallery in about one to one and

a half.

That is what my timeline looks like.

So, we're going to get into the specifics

of how to shoot an engagement session, specifically

how we will shoot the not engagement session

for Samantha and Taylor, so that you guys

can see a beginning, a middle, and an

end.

But I actually want to walk you through

what transparency looks like and how I communicate

with my clients.

Because I can say, yeah, you do this

and you do this, okay?

Right?

But then there's something else in actually showing

what my inbox and communication with Samantha looked

like.

Now, please forgive me if this is not

of interest to you, but I think that

it does bear to kind of show the

type of relationship that I'm building with a

complete stranger far in advance to us meeting.

That's the goal.

It's not to say, like, Jasmine, you have

a typo.

No, it is.

And maybe I do have typos.

I have typos.

It's how I roll.

But how I get to this point, how

I make them comfortable, how I define my

role as a professional photographer is done just

this way.

We had not met.

We had not spoken on the phone.

And I had just sent her that e

-mail of preparation that I just told you

about, right?

My expectations, how many outfits, how many locations,

let me know.

I had just sent her that.

And after she had said, we're going to

shoot on this date, and I said, perfect.

And then she had sent me an e

-mail, and she said, Jasmine, I'm so sorry.

My mom was unexpectedly scheduled for a round

of aggressive chemotherapy, and I'm her primary caretaker.

Is there any way that we can switch

this?

And I e-mailed her back, and I

said, absolutely.

These are the days that work for me.

You let me know.

And she let me know the day before

the session.

And I think it's really important to deal

with people with grace surrounding elements that they

cannot control.

So this was her response.

Hi, Jasmine.

Your e-mail seriously made me cry for

so many reasons.

First of all, I'm ecstatic to hear about

your mother being in good health after such

a battle.

How cute that she is voting.

I let Samantha know.

I said, my mother.

Samantha knew nothing about me.

She knew nothing about my story.

I said, my mother was diagnosed with brain

cancer that seeded into her central nervous system.

I know what it's like to be a

primary caregiver.

I know what schedules look like and how

appointments come up unexpectedly.

I am here for you in any way,

so you let me know, and we'll be

flexible.

And I also told her that my mom

is voting for, like, her wedding dress and

for her bridesmaids' dresses, so.

But she really.

My mom is all about this wedding.

She said, but I'm so sorry your family

endured that, and it breaks my heart to

think of all that you went through.

It is.

It truly is the most challenging time any

of us have ever faced, and every day

is just a big question mark.

Having said that, it's so comforting to know

that you have an understanding for our situation.

We really appreciate you being flexible.

May 4th works for us.

We will put that down.

When it comes to locations, we actually wanted

your opinion.

There's a beautiful place in Redondo Beach where

Taylor and I go hiking.

It's called Abalone Cove.

It's breathtaking right off the cliffs of Hello

Verde.

However, should engagement shots be done in a

similar setting as the wedding?

Since this is an oceanfront place, we didn't

think more of a rustic location would be

better since the wedding is at a winery.

If that is the case, there's plenty of

places around us with that feel.

Thanks so much.

We can't wait to meet you.

My response.

Hi, Samantha.

Some of the greatest things Cancer gives is

patience, flexibility, and understanding.

If nothing else, it's a great teacher of

compassion.

May 4th is locked as yours.

We'll settle a time once we solidify the

location.

Until then, let's chat about logistics.

The only rules for an engagement session are,

one, you should feel at home in the

location.

Two, you should be able to freely express

affection and emotion in the location.

Three, you should be at full liberty to

have fun.

Four, you should feel beautiful in this location.

Do you guys see what I'm doing?

I'm telling you what I have done, and

this is how it's working specifically for her.

As long as the location fits within these

parameters, we are good to go.

On that note, you mentioned a hiking trail.

Are there trees?

Shrubbery?

What type of trails?

Why am I asking this?

Anybody?

Just shout it out, and I'll repeat it.

Shoes.

Absolutely.

That's a total girl answer, but yes.

Shoes.

Because if she's going wearing high heels, which

most girls do, you have to bring a

pair of flip-flops, and then we'll change

into them.

I also was asking because I needed to

know what kind of light I was working

with, having never been to that location.

So I asked, are there trees?

Because then I know, great, I can shoot

in open shade, and I can rock that

at least at the beginning of the shoot.

Do you have photos of the environment?

This would be super helpful in advance, knowing

what we're working with.

The engagement slash wedding location doesn't have to

match, so err on the side of where

your heart leads.

Can't wait to hear from you soon.

These email correspondence happened between two days.

Her response.

I love your outlook and everything, and I

can already tell we're a perfect fit.

We will be working together.

Okay.

We all will be working together.

Well, she thinks we're a good fit.

And what is this based off?

She thinks we're a good fit based on

two emails?

That's great.

That's awesome.

If I can show somebody that I'm a

good fit in two emails, I know that

anybody can do the same.

Here are some pictures, but it does not

do it justice with a simple camera.

The area we enjoy the most is actually

right by the water with sea caves and

tide pools and such.

When you catch it at the right moment

on the right day, the colors of the

water and rocks and the atmosphere are simply

gorgeous.

You feel like you're in another world.

There's also a little beach section, pick attached,

before entering the cave, as well as more

hiking-looking locations along the way to the

sea caves, picture attached.

There are a lot more images on Google

search of Avalone Cove, too, but I hope

this gives you a general idea.

Let us know what you think.

Okay.

This is one of the photos she sent

me.

And I'm like, oh, okay.

So, we have lots of rocks, no trees,

and lots of dirt.

And I'm like, oh, my gosh.

So, I go to Google, and I'm like,

please, please, please, what am I working with?

So, I got a general idea of what

I'm working with, but I knew that I

had to arrive really early in advance to

see what am I working with and how

difficult is it going to be to shoot

in full sun.

You guys will see the video and how

that actually happened.

And I actually emailed the producer that night,

and I said, you know, we got through

the shoot and things ended well, but I

just want to let you know, like, in

the beginning of the footage, when I'm actually

walking around during the pre-shoot explaining what

I'm looking for, you might have to edit

some of that stuff out.

Because I was like, on camera, they're like,

okay, so tell us what you're thinking.

I'm like, what I'm thinking?

I can't do this right now.

I can't.

I can't do this.

I was like, my hair is like out

to here.

Like, the mic, it's like, and I was

like, I have nowhere to shoot.

What am I going to tell people?

I have nowhere.

So, I was like, just cut that out.

Okay.

So, now that it's said, it may or

may not make the edit, but I was

like, you will see me kind of just

be real, like, in that second and just

be like, I'm having a moment.

I don't know where to take these people.

And it was to such a degree that

I'm walking around, and JD's like, I think

you should just do this on yourself.

I will do this by myself.

I will find these locations by myself.

I was so worked up about it that

these are Google images that just didn't do

you any good.

What'd I respond?

This is gorgeous.

I will arrive early because it's gorgeous to

her.

Right?

The better experience she's having, the more she's

going to trust that I will be able

to document it.

I will arrive early to ensure that we

have a good understanding of how the shoot

will unfold.

But ideally, we'd love to end the shoot

at the tide pools in Cove area, setting

expectations.

Again, Sunset is slated, because there's a web

app, it's like, not a web app, a

website like SunsetSunrise.com, and I figured out

the date, the location, and then it'll give

you Sunrise Sunset.

Sunset is slated for around 7.30, so

we'll start at 5.30 p.m. sharp.

Because the cameras were coming with CreativeLive, I

decided to extend the shoot a little bit.

Otherwise, I would have started 30 minutes later

to keep the engagement session an hour to

an hour and a half.

That's, like, the time I think is the

best.

Anything beyond that, it becomes a little bit

more taxing.

Please let me know if you plan on

bringing changes of clothes, as this will help

me draft a perfect timeline.

If so, we'll shoot one outfit on the

trail in the leafier environment, or as much

as possible, and the second outfit will be

by the tide pools.

Let me know what you think, and we

can take things from there.

Here's my cell phone if you need anything

day of.

May I have your cell for emergency contact

only?

Can't wait.

Lastly, I need an exact address of where

we'll meet, just to make sure everything is

perfect.

Thank you, JSTAR.

Hi, Jasmine.

The only question, actually, still I had were

in regards to outfits.

Do you recommend having two outfits?

And should I wear white, or is that

what most people wear for a session like

this?

Given the setting, I didn't know if you

had some suggestions.

She's asking for help, so I need to

position myself in a place of authority by

saying, oh, yeah, I can totally answer all

of these questions.

Hi, Sam.

Yes, two outfits is nice for options.

Sometimes one outfit photograph is better than another,

or sometimes it's just nice to have a

variety.

Feel free to wear clothes that make you

feel gorgeous, amazing, and confident.

This is my biggest advice.

Are you guys seeing the pattern again?

I think this is the third time I'm

telling her, I want you to feel beautiful,

and I want you to feel confident.

Stay away from patterns that can be a

wee bit distracting.

You can absolutely wear white.

I love it.

But no, there isn't a set rule for

what should be worn at the engagement session.

The idea for the shoot is to make

you feel like the photos you receive look

like they could grace a magazine.

Oh, maybe like the knot.

So don't hesitate to get creative and have

fun.

Does anybody notice that I chose, let's see,

photos that they can look like a magazine,

because that's one of my words, editorial, and

creative and have fun, which is another one

of my words.

I'm preparing her for the types of photos

that I want.

If you need more help or insight, please

let me know.

I'm here for as little, as much advice

as you need.

If you'd like, we can loop in Jeannie,

her wedding coordinator, into the outfit conversation since

she's a legitimate fashionista.

I'm going to empower Jeannie, the coordinator, to

be part of the conversation if she so

chooses.

Now, Samantha responded and said, thank you, that

works.

The day of the engagement session, this is

what I send her.

Happy engagement session day.

I want to remind her.

I just want there to be no miscommunication.

I'm excited to meet you, and I know

great things are in store.

Here is my cell in case you need

to reach me.

Can you send me your cell in case

I need to reach you?

This is the second time that I asked

for it because she didn't give it to

me the first time.

I'll see you at 5.30 at Abalone

Cove.

She sent me her phone number, and that

was that, which was great because had I

not had her phone number, I would not

have been able to text her.

So, this is the dynamic.

You have now seen how I prepare my

clients.

You now will be able to fully understand

what went into preparing them as I shoot

the engagement session.

Now, these emails happened about two days, and

at this point in our relationship, I don't

know them too well yet.

But up until this point, she has said

that she thinks I'm the perfect photographer for

her based on nothing but online presence.

In a future lesson, I'm going to talk

to you about how the shoot unfolded, how

we got through those difficult things in the

beginning, and just like when she had sent

me those photos and then I responded and

said, it's gorgeous, the response was, oh my

gosh, it's so windy, but we're just going

to get some great windblown photos.

I mean, you have to put a silver

lining to every possible experience.

So, your homework.

What I want you to do is I

want you to make a list of ways

that you can prepare your clients for an

engagement session in advance.

Then what I want you to do is

to create a template that outlines your expectations,

that outlines your outline of the day, and

that outlines your prep tips.

Expectations, outline, and prep tips.

I have done this in a series of

email templates.

The thing that I hear the most from

photographers is they don't know how to put

words around what they always want to say

and almost 10 years into it, I've just

decided to create a little system.

You can find my personal preparation email templates

on jasminstar.com, jasminstarstore.com.

And lastly, what I want you to do

is I want you to exceed their expectations

by managing their expectations.

I want you to find ways to outline

the shoot and what the shoot will entail

to prepare you for the things that you

want.

Now, I think I'm off with my keynote,

just a little bit.

Oh, yeah, here we are.

Perfect.

Exceed expectations by managing your expectations.

Thank you, guys.

I'm excited to show you what the shoot

will actually look like.

And on that note, we can open it

up for questions and answers if you guys

have them.

Great.

So if we do have questions in regards

to preparing clients, we'll just make sure that

you guys have a mic.

Okay.

Yeah, so my question, it seemed like with

that email exchange, like that's pretty extensive.

And I can imagine that she really felt

taken care of after all of that interaction.

Full disclosure, I'm not great at that continual

interaction and getting back to somebody immediately with

that.

So I want to know, like, what would

your recommendation be to create kind of canned

templates and just do it that way or

to outsource?

Well, it depends.

It depends on what type of brand you

want to build.

In its most basic form, I believe that

you can build a personal brand and you

can build a business brand.

I have chosen to build a personal brand.

So to outsource my email, it would be

a disadvantage to me because people have become

accustomed to my voice and accustomed to the

emotional connection that we're creating prior to the

shoot.

On a side note, I want to heavily

encourage you that the generation of people getting

married mostly belong to the millennial generation.

The millennial generation has high values for constant

contact, quick and swift service, and personalization.

So if email is a pressure point for

you, then you need to say something needs

to change.

Maybe if you have a business brand as

opposed to a personal brand, you can turn

over that responsibility for email.

Or like what I do is I allocate

an hour and 10 minutes every single day

to email and that's where I start my

day.

I start my day with my inbox and

I will only do what I can get

through in an hour and 10 minutes.

I prioritize client emails go on top, family

emails go on bottom, business in the middle,

and business emails go on the bottom.

If I cannot finish all my emails in

an hour and 10 minutes, they get pushed

back to the next day.

But I can guarantee that my clients are

getting a personal response within 24 hours.

That is a high value point for a

lot of the brides that I am booking

because they're educated professionals, they're lawyers, they're doctors,

they're CPAs.

Now, they don't want to wait 24 hours

for it, and I think that it goes

back to creating the type of experience.

So if it's not something you're good at,

then I would take a step back.

Yes, abdicate the responsibility if you're building a

business brand, but if you're building a personal

brand, you need to just reshift your day

and say, these hours, nobody can talk to

me, I need to plow these through to

make sure my clients are taken care of.

Sorry.

Bummer, take care of my clients.

Are there any other questions?

We'll go Mike here, and then we'll go

back.

I guess this one ties into the same.

Do you see a benefit to using email

that extensively over just having a phone call?

Because my experience was I would just call

them, but then they would have no resource

to refer to if they were having questions

about the session.

So two things to that.

One, I think it's a generational thing.

I think that millennials value electronic communication.

And two, it's a legal thing.

The little law school that I did have

is like word of mouth is not admissible.

It's a he said, she said.

So I would prefer to have detailed email

exchanges.

We said 530.

If you show up at 630, no, we

said 530, and here it is in the

email.

I also don't communicate with my clients by

way of Facebook, and I try to limit

texting to a minimum, so much so that

Facebook has not been yet qualified as admissible

evidence, but email has if we ever got

into a legal altercation.

It has not got to that point, but

if a client texts me, because a lot

of clients prefer text, they'll say, oh, do

you think we can add an hour to

the wedding?

I go back to my inbox, and I'm

like, hey, Kim, so excited for your wedding.

I see that you texted me about adding

an hour.

Can you email me back just to approve,

and I will amend your invoice?

And she says, yep, great.

So email for me is always that thing.

Yes.

So my question goes back to responding right

away.

Do you ever find yourself needing or responding

on the weekend or after hours, and how

do you handle that when there's an expectation

to respond immediately?

Yes, that is an absolute great question.

So I respond to my clients within 24

hours, Monday through, I would say, maybe Saturday

morning if it's client.

And if a client emails me Saturday afternoon,

I don't feel the pressure unless if the

bride is not getting married in the next

seven days, I give myself latitude.

If a bride is getting married within seven

days, I respond to her email immediately because

I know what it felt like to be

a bride planning things, and to wait a

full day for a response was so overwhelming.

So I need to make sure that I'm

delivering exactly what she wants.

Now, if I'm working or if I'm not

working on that Saturday, I will respond to

the email on Monday and be like, hey,

thank you so much for your flexibility and

patience.

This weekend I usually work, which is opposite

schedules of what you have, but let's start

this Monday morning off addressing exactly what you

want.

Then I go into that.

So I set expectations.

No, I will not respond to text message

or answer my phone if it's from a

client after 6.30. No, you can't text

me at 10.30 and then expect a

response.

I'm not a girlfriend.

I'm a hired creative for your day.

We have a personal relationship, but not that

personal.

I need to draw that line.

Awesome.

I think there's another question.

Yes.

I don't know if I missed it, but

I was just going to ask, for locations,

do you always choose the location or do

you get your clients to choose them?

That's a great question.

Why do you choose to do it the

way you do?

I request that my clients all choose the

location because, and maybe this is just a

little bit of legalese in me, if they

are unhappy with the results, I never want

them to look back and be like, I

can't believe you recommended us going to the

beach.

Don't you know we're snowboarders?

No, I don't know where you're comfortable.

I don't know where you feel okay to

make out.

These are things, but it's really true.

I mean, it's true.

I actually don't want to at all be

responsible.

I would say, by and large, my clients

pick really cool places.

Not the engagement session that I did with

The Knot, but the one before it.

I had clients who reside in Los Angeles

and they said, do you think that we

can shoot in our backyard in our home?

I said, absolutely.

I would have never thought to say, let's

shoot in your home.

And when we got there, it was such

a great session because it felt entirely just

like them.

And that was like perfect.

There have been times where I get to

a location and I'm just like, oh man.

And I think there was a little bit

of that at the Knot engagement session where

I was just like, okay, there's not a

tree here.

It's like a big field and it's so

bright and it's so windy.

And then to get down to the beach,

it was like a steep climb down these

switchbacks.

And I'm like, oh my God, oh my

God, oh my God.

It wasn't until we were going down the

switchbacks that I literally saw like a two

foot by two foot pocket of shade.

And I was like, this is what I

exactly planned, you guys.

Stand right here in the shade.

And I was like, tight cropping.

So that's how I looked.

And I think that, yes, it could be

a potential disadvantage, but it also forces you

to stay on your toes.

It could be easy to be like, there's

this great park by my house.

And then you just go through the motions.

Like, you know the spots, you know the

light.

Here we go.

Rigmarole.

But I don't think you get stuff that

you're really proud of.

And I will say that I'm dang proud

of the Knot engagement session because it turned

out so much better than what I thought

it was going to.

And they were really happy.

And we're going to get into what that

looked like for them too.

That was a really good question.

Was there another question?

Yes.

I'm just curious if you have like a

scheduling software resource that you use to manage

all the dates and coordinate with the client.

No, JD, please.

Please.

Please.

That man is just like so chill.

Like so chill.

Like we share a Google calendar, but you

can see, and this is the answer, is

that we use a Google calendar, which is

not an advanced system, but it definitely works

for us.

And so I'm like, JD, anytime you do

anything, you must add to this calendar because

this is our master calendar.

It's like Homeboy will add like one thing

every four months.

So, no, he's not exactly our go-to

guy for organization.

So we talked about how I email clients

four weeks in advance to their engagement session.

Once we establish the engagement session, I will

back it up four weeks and write a

little note in my Google calendar.

Send Kim email engagement tips.

And then as we get to the wedding,

we're going to talk about pre-wedding workflow,

like the things that I would do.

The things that I need to do is

to four weeks, six weeks in front of

the wedding, I schedule it in my calendar.

Send email prep tips.

If I'm flying for a destination wedding and

I know that it's going to be a

destination wedding, I back up 90 days from

the point of which I need to leave

because that's traditionally the best prices that you

can get for tickets.

And I email my clients the day, like

91 days before I want to buy.

I'm like, hey guys, 90 days is traditionally

the best time to get domestic tickets.

So if tomorrow is approved by you, I'm

going to do a cross-reference.

I will send you an invoice according to

what I found and you guys can give

me the final approval.

So I have all of this done in

my Google calendar.

It's not extensive, but it definitely works.

Yes, we're going to bring a mic up

here.

Perfect.

We'll pass it on that way.

Thank you guys so much.

I just had a quick question about scheduling

engagement sessions.

Something I've been running into is couples wanting

to schedule their sessions on the weekends, and

I may be available, but I kind of

like to take advantage of the off-season

weekends.

How can I convey to them that I

would love to do them on the weekdays?

How do you work with that?

So after the client books me, I will

send them about a few weeks after because

I don't know how far in advance they

want to do the session.

So a few weeks after we book, I'm

like, hey, I just want to let you

guys know I know that your wedding is

in August.

Let me know what you guys have in

mind for the engagement session.

I shoot engagement sessions Monday through Thursday because

I'm usually working on the weekends.

By saying usually working, you're actually conveying, if

I'm not working on a wedding, I'll be

working with my husband and dog at a

park, you know, enjoying the sun.

So you set those parameters before because if

you say, when do you want to do

it?

And they're like, Saturday.

Oh, I can't do Saturday.

Sunday.

Oh, I can't do it.

Instead of saying no, you set the parameters

first, and then take it from there.

Thank you guys so much.

These are awesome questions.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.