The Mastering Portrait Photography Podcast

In this interview, I get to spend a very happy hour in the company of Melanie East, an extraordinary Newborn Photographer and Trainer: Melanie is known around the world for her passion and creativity for newborn photography and is the author of the book The Art Of Newborn Photography.  She is equally passionate about running a business which is key to the success of any social photographer!

We get to talk about how (and why) she became a newborn photographer; her views on safety; running a business; the love of the sales process and her taste in soft furnishings (which, it has to be said, is flawless.)

Her chosen book - which I initially struggle to spot under a huge pile of publications that permanently resides on her coffee table - is the Icons Of Photography by Peter Stepan which is a wonderfully worthy addition to our ever-expanding library.  And you can get 2nd-hand copies for less than a fiver!  Bargain.

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

Meet one of our clients.  Rob Panting, Communications Officer for OxLEP (The Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership) has been a commissioning client of ours for nearly decade - starting at the Hearing Dogs charity in 2011 and then with Affinity Trust, Bucks Care and his current employer, OxLEP.

I thought it would be interesting to ask him what he values when selecting (and retaining) suppliers such as photographers.  Of course, the answer to that question is a useful insight (and the answer is NOT the quality of the photography!)

It was a pleasure to chat with someone who I really love working with and whose organisation really does value and use photography well - if you look at their website you'll see what I mean.  Rob came to our studio to chat along with Leona Weston who is their star apprentice and she also chats a little about why she chose an apprenticeship rather than college or university.

Plenty of stuff in this interview if you want to run a successful photography business.

As usual, I asked our guest to recommend a book for our virtual library and Rob recommended two. There's enthusiasm for you.

The first is Coming Back To Me - the autobiography of Marcus Trescothick. This is a true-life sporting memoir of one of the best batsman in the game who stunned the cricket world when he prematurely ended his own England career. Trescothick’s brave and soul-baring account of his mental frailties opens the way to a better understanding of the unique pressures experienced by modern-day professional sportsmen.

The second is not a book but a magazine: Sports Illustrated.  You'll have to listen to the interview to understand Rob's passion for sports photography.  While I can't give a link to be able to download the one book, you can subscribe to the magazine (if you fancy)_ here.

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

In this episode, I am talking about the all-too familiar feelings of a photography business: faith, fear and fatigue (and possibly one or two other 'F' words!)

When you start you set out from some point of having nothing more than an idea - and a whole heap of faith! Insecurity, sure, ignorance, naivity, risk, maybe a little poverty - but, in the end, an utter belief that it’s the right thing to do.  You may not be right, of course, but that faith carries you into the new venture.

Then it works. And the fatigue and the fear kick in.

This podcast is just me chatting away about those feelings and reading out the email I sent to Sarah way back in 2006 that described how I hoped things might pan out and firmly setting the two of us as the team that would make it happen (even though both of us were in different careers at that point!)

I mentioned a book by Anita Roddick in the email I sent to Sarah - I think she bought the bought the book for me as a Christmas present.  That book is 'Business Unusual' and can be found on Amazon for 1 pence (the postage is probably a tenner...)

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

"You soon start to learn a lot more about business"

In this interview, I get to talk to Karen Massey, wedding and portrait photographer.  Karen is a successful photographer and business owner, having started out owning a beauticians and then transferring her business skills to setting up a photography studio. She talks about how she has always worked, how she had to 'soften her accent' (not something you could be asked by an employer to do in this day and age!) and her plans for her new venture: RISE PFP, a group for professional female photographers.

Plenty for everyone in this podcast from business insights to how she runs her weddings.  Oh, and she's really lovely too!

Not only did Karen bring ideas for books for our little library, but she brought the actual books too!

• The first is A Coastal Reflection by Mary Shayler.  This can be found here on Blurb books
• The second is the Aston Martin Centenary Collection Programme 1913-2013. One for all you petrol heads out there! As I suspected in the podcast, this isn't one that you can buy (though a few copies do appear to be on eBay.) A real one off for our library!

Both worthy additions to our library!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

"To keep them coming, to keep them inspired, you have to give them an experience."

So true.  In this episode I talk to Steve Gregory, founder and owner of the inspirational Fitlife Gym about his career as professional footballer (soccer player for my U.S. friends), his motiviation for fitness and how he deals with the highs and lows of running a business. A wonderfully frank interview that deals with the low points of suddenly running a successful business (yes, that is often how it can feel), having good mentors and finding ways to keep the business exciting and fast moving.  This is one of those interviews where the parallels to the photography industry are all too apparent.  Except for the fitness bit...

This episode's addition to our every-expanding library is Start With Why by Simon Sinek - a great book if you're building a new business!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

 This podcast really is about the importance of relationships - particularly those with your clients - how some of those can play out in your career.

I don't know if this podcast makes too much of an intellectual point other than it being a vehicle for me to be proud of our son, Jake.  That's the nice thing about a podcast: I occasionally get a chance to wax lyrical about the people I love around me, whether family, friends or clients.

Still, it's only a short one so you can get through it in the time it takes to have a cup of tea, import the images from a couple of memory cards or play a few levels on Lemmings!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

This podcast was triggered by us selling our trusty Land Rover Defender (though we are replacing it with a newer one) and pondering on why we chose such an esoteric car at the heart of our business. Well, of course, it's all part of the brand we decided to build. And so I thought I'd chat a bit about just that: brand.

It's so easy to think the brand is your logo, or website, or brochure design or, simply, your images but, of course, it's not quite so simple.  Your brand is everything your clients experiences, and I do mean everything. And that includes my beloved Land Rover. 

Enjoy!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

In this interview, I get to chat with Keith Roberts who had the masterstroke idea of matching top portrait photographers with the world's top cruise line.

He talks about his life prior to setting up Paragon Pixels with many funny stories along the way (listen out for how he managed to screw up a critical roll of film while working in medical photography, leaving him barricaded inside the hospital dark room!)

Keith is a remarkable guy on a number of levels - not least of which, is that he is a phenomenal photographer in his own right but has spent most of his life promoting the work of others (something that is all too rare!) It was his idea to match up some of the world's top portrait photographers with the world's top cruise line and, along with Phil, his brother, and Phil's wife, Lydia, he set up the company which now delivers beautiful images to discerning passengers around the globe. 

And I am very lucky to BE one of those photographers!

Keith cites his favourite book as Steve McCurry's South Southeast. Enjoy!

If you did enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

It's just me for this episode: me, a microphone and my musings on creating portraits when on board a ship.  

When I first encountered the luxury cruise ship that was to be our home and business for the next month, I thought that creating images on board would be a simple extension of what we do here at the studio.  Of course, there are similarities but there are also innumerable unexpected factors to consider. Such as what happens when the ship changes it's bearing or how the different spaces of the ship are utilised during the day, making picking a spot that bit more complicated!

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk 

The great thing about having my own podcast is that I get to talk to lots of interesting people - not, necessarily, from within the photographic industry.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my industry, but I think there is much to be learned from outside the industry too and, besides, the world is full of really cool people full stories, experiences and insight that just might (and I stress just might) be useful when it comes to running a photography business.

While this interview focusses on Ellie's hugely successful wedding gown boutiques, there are plenty of snippets that are useful from customer care, looking after employees, using data and, most importantly, some top tips when photographing wedding gowns.

Ellie's website is worth a look as it is beautifully designed. Much to be learned there too!  It can be found at https://elliesanderson.co.uk/

If you enjoy this podcast, please head over to Mastering Portrait Photography where there are articles and videos about this wonderful industry.  You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, PodBean and Spotify.

PLEASE also leave us a review - we'd love to hear what you think!

If there are any topics you would like to hear, have questions we could answer or would simply like to come and be interviewed on the podcast, please contact me at paul@paulwilkinsonphotography.co.uk