“Goth Town” by Kyle Goldie for Fantastics Magazine

Goth Town was shot on Canada Day in Vancouver, BC, Canada for Fantastics Magazine. Please share your comments and re-blog! Thank you.

Ekaterina by Kyle Goldie

Tip #7 - Your Competitive Edge

You are surrounded by competitors, so why should a client come to you and not the next person? If you can’t answer that question, neither can they.

Are you the least expensive? The highest quality? The most creative? The closest? Whatever it is, you need your competitive edge to have a successful, sustainable, reliable business.  Figure out what your competitive edge is not only in your local area, but nationally and internationally as well. It will grow slimmer and slimmer as you expand your global presence. Keep at building your edge against your competition with every image you take. Everything you do is branding your company, and yes, it’s being noticed.

Your brand should be showing your competitive edge without you having to say a word about it. Can you see yours?

Cheers and happy shooting,

Kyle Goldie – www.KyleGoldie.com

Meeting Joan Teasdale

This morning my photographer buddy Chris Naidu and I met with pro lifestyle photographer Joan Teasdale at a local coffee shop. I have been following her work for quite some time now after hearing about her work through TheyRep (photo agent) in Vancouver, Canada, but I had no idea she lived only 20 minutes from me until yesterday! I was shocked. She and I agreed to meet as soon as possible since we are both heading out of town shortly for work and I am really glad to have done so. We chatted about marketing, advertising, organizations, awards, our travels, where we want to go/where we have been, and just got to know each other a bit. I always enjoy hearing the stories of artists becoming who they are today. So, please share with me! I’d love to hear your story.

I am looking forward to keeping in touch with her for years to come. Check out her work at www.JoanTeasdale.com.

Marketing Your Photography Biz on a Budget

Marketing my photography business must have been one of the most difficult tasks when I was starting out. I didn’t have much money, but knew I had the passion to make something happen. Since I knew nobody in the industry, I didn’t even have the first clue about where to start. I hope this helps you.

When I first really figured out that I wanted to become a professional photographer, I knew I had to market myself. But how? I knew I didn’t have that strong of a portfolio at the time, but I knew that it was important to brand myself immediately and get my name out there within the circles that I wanted to work within. Now, as most starving artists are (hence the term), I didn’t have a ton of money to throw into a huge viral marketing campaign – and even if I did, I didn’t have the quality of book to back it up and would have started off on the wrong foot by showing sub-par work to the top Ad Directors, Creative Directors, Designers, Owners, CMO’s, etc etc etc. I scoured the Internet to find out what I should do at the beginning phases of my photography business, and here is what I found (and my opinions on them):

My Professional Website: If you don’t have one, get one. What should you name it? Industry standard is putting it as your name since you will be selling yourself as the creative professional, so your name is what you want branded. Keep it simple (don’t add photo or photography on the end unless there is a need for it).

My Model Mayhem : The joke of industry professionals. You know what it is – and you’re probably a member on there. So am I – just with my abbreviations so that when clients Google my name, my Model Mayhem page won’t pop up.  The first models I ever shot were from this site – because that’s where I figured out that I can get people to model for me for simply a disk of the images when we were all set and done. It was a great place to network with other creative artists from around Vancouver-Seattle-Portland area and I was able to find most of the teams I currently work with somehow through this site. Sure, I had to work my way through mediocre teams for awhile, but it’s all part of paying dues to be part of the industry. Right??? Haha   Most of the teams I’ve connected with on there are now professionally represented and 99% of the models I work with are also represented by well-known modeling agencies from around the world. I just keep my MM account to further get my work out there and continue to build my branding.

My Facebook : Personally, I love Facebook. I started the account just to keep in touch with old friends and current colleagues. It wasn’t until I started having people find me (my work) and had NO idea who they were that I realized that somehow my work and name is getting out there without me even really trying. When I first decided to utilize Facebook, everything seemed to blow up. I was getting more work routed through Facebook than any other type of media – and it’s completely free. I’ve also created a fan page (which I currently need to update) in order to further put my name and brand out there. Just try not to get distracted by all the applications on the site!

Myspace: What? What’s that? People still use that? Not me.

My Twitter : The new fad that is here to stay. Personally, I am still getting used to it, but it seems like another great networking tool and is quite easy to update on a regular basis (almost too regular… haha). I’ve created lists of different types on my Twitter page, so please keep an eye on those and “follow” them. They should be growing fairly large over the coming months/years and will be a good way to grow your network.

Blogging: Well, obviously I use Tumblr, but there are many other blogs out there that work great as well. BlogSpot and Wordpress are other blogs that are popular amongst my friends and colleagues. BRAND BRAND BRAND.

Parties, Gala Events, et al: This are phenomenal ways to grow your brand and get some crucial face-to-face time with those around your market. Get familiar with the people in your market and make sure to keep your face familiar with them as well – you have to make sure it’s a two-way street here. If you remember them – that still won’t do you any good if they have to keep trying to remember who you are. Get face time as much as you possibly can without being a nuisance. When you are at these events, talk a little business if you think it’s appropriate, but these are the times where we all want to kick back and relax with some good food, good drinks, and good people. This is the time where you are wanting to sell yourself on your personality – not your work.

Postcards, E-mailers, et al: These methods are used often for a reason, but keep in mind what I just said – they are used often. If you are wanting to sell yourself to a company who is bombarded with all these pieces of marketing materials on a daily basis, you have to make sure you stand out from the crowd. Hopefully you will be standing out based on your work and not a busy graphic. Keep it simple and let your work speak for itself. Don’t have anything distracting from it. If you think your mailers need a lot of special graphics overlayed around your imagery, you will be putting off the signal that it’s not strong enough by itself. Keep it simple. You might also want to think about 3D mailers as well (mousepads, coasters, etc) - more expensive, but more impactful.

Branding, branding, branding: I’ve said it a lot, but I will say it again – branding yourself is so incredibly important. Brand not only your logo with a certain color scheme and typeface, but brand your style of imagery. Nail down your body of work, lighting style, and post production to scream “Your Name.” If someone can’t tell that a particular photo was created by you, why are they hiring you? Ask yourself that question and you will quickly realize that it’s a good way to look at all your shoots from here on out.

In my opinion, those are the best ways to get yourself marketed in the right direction for the least amount of money. Once you have more money to market your company, you will want to consider creating custom “reminders” (aka gifts) sent out to prospective, current, or previous clients of who you are. Show your creativity, show your style, but keep it simple.

Just remember: get your face-to-face meetings often, brand yourself, your logo, and your imagery, and keep it all updated regularly. Fashion changes quickly – and it’s your business to keep up with it.

Cheers, and happy shooting,

Kyle – www.KyleGoldie.com

My Start as a Photographer

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for their continued support since day ONE of my start as a photographer. First and foremost, I want to thank my family for sticking by my side and supporting me through it all. Without them, none of this would have been possible. Love you all.

For those of you who are new to my name and body of work; I am a beauty, fashion and advertising photographer. My portfolio is available for viewing at www.KyleGoldie.com.

Now, I’ve been asked countless times how I’ve started, so I figure that is a good place to start. I’ll try to put this into a nutshell:

After getting into corporate management and advertising, I realized that I would be most happy doing my hobby for a living. After all, who wouldn’t be? There were critics and skeptics right and left, but I had to keep my head up high and keep at it. Doing what a lot of photographers do, I started out shooting landscapes and cityscapes – something that was relatively easy to do based on the fact that I needed no one other than myself. After a good amount of time doing that, I needed a new challenge. Now, for myself, I need a challenge to push myself to new limits for my own personal, intrinsic gain. That challenge was photographing people. I had NO idea and only had training over a single class in Kamiak High School, taught by Mr. Jim Sawyer. After meeting a model, Courtney, she quickly turned me on to the idea of photographing models to begin learning the subject. I quickly (and honestly) thought, “great looking girls, fashion, and photography combined – oh hell yes!” Now, after my first few shoots and comparing them to some of those photos in top magazines, I quickly realized I was a terrible photographer. Haha. It was my personal mission to better myself on each and every shoot I’ve been on. That improvement may have been small or it may have been large, but ever single day I did improve – which led me to my career as it stands at this moment.

Many people asked how I have learned lighting and if I went to school for photography. The answers are simple. I didn’t go to school for photography – I went to school for my Bachelors of Business Management. I’m self-taught. Now, how did I learn photography? Another simple answer. I was terrible when I started just by picking up my first camera (Canon AE-1) and not really thinking about any type of particular concept, location, or knowing what the hell any kind of modifier was… or even what the word “modifier” meant in terms of lighting. So, my first few shoots only comprised of my 5D and a simple 22″ 5-in-1 reflector and a few models who were willing to work with me on trade for a disk of the images. After reviewing the photos, I dove right in and studied them in immense detail. I did not only look at what I did right, but more importantly – what I did wrong. I took what I did wrong and improved on that on literally every single shoot to this very day. After photographing over 350 models since my start in this industry, those small incremental improvements have proved to be quite beneficial. It was just a matter of sticking with my game plan and not being discouraged. I’ve read a lot of photography books on lighting, posing, photoshop, et al, but none of them truly helped me out that greatly. It was really just getting out there in the field and the old practice of trial and error. Just a lot, a lot, a LOT of time at it.

As of this moment, my work has been seen around such places as Warner Brothers, Matrix Professional, Brocato Hair, Vancouver Fashion, FlareNow Magazine, Canadian Hairdresser International, and La Belle Reve Bridal. Without the help of the talented teams around Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland, none of this would have been possible.

I would like to extend personal thanks to Gavin O’Neill, Katrina Molson, Alecsa Nelson, Brenda Nelson, Chris Naidu, Vanessa Mills, Marianna Scarola, Jennifer Fulfer, Jessee Skittrall, Jesica Milton, Steven Lyon, Anna Dabrowska, Heffner Management, Seattle Models Guild, and TCM Models, my agents over the years, among others.

I must personally thank the local modeling agencies; Seattle Models Guild, Heffner Management, and TCM Models, for working with me as I was building my portfolio. These are the agencies that have been vastly important to my successes in this industry. Without their time, assistance, and most imporantly – guidance, I would not have the portfolio I have today. So, genuinely, thank you.

After renting studio space of my own in Seattle, I took advantage of the opportunity and went crazy. My first month in there I shot about 37 models to get a better grasp on how to light different concepts, different moods, and most importantly, different types of body types and facial structures. I’ve never taken this space for granted and capitalize on the opportunity to have such a wonderful area to show my creativity, lighting style, and new work on a regular basis.

Now, there is always that “next step;” and that is precisely what myself and the people around me are striving to achieve. We have all come this far and we will all get there – together.

Once again, I genuinely thank you for your continued support.

Thank you,

Kyle Goldie   -   www.KyleGoldie.com