Everyone wants to have fun. Everyone wants people to think they are fun. Like “passion” and “quality” I think “fun” is the next commonplace, inane thing that we all claim to sell that I think we ought to give up. But hang on, hear me out.
David Mamet is one of my favorite writers. State and Main is one of my favorite movies. It revolves around a big-city film crew coming to a small town to make a movie. As the big-city folks mix with the locals one of the film crew observes that in a small town you have to make your own fun. That’s when the local replies -”
“Everybody makes their own fun. If you don’t make it yourself, it isn’t fun. It’s entertainment.”
The wedding websites will tell you that brides want to have fun. Who doesn’t? Is it our job to make things fun? Or is fun what they are having when they aren’t busy dealing with wedding vendors? The client is making their own fun – that’s the whole point of the party and celebration aspect of the wedding. So you have to make a decision on whether you are getting out of the way of the fun, or whether you are the entertainment.
Yes, I think you should be a good person to be around. You ought to be pleasant – a sense of humor is a benefit. But selling “fun” is sort of a difficult thing. If you are creating the fun, then you are entertaining people, and if that is what you want to sell you are going to need to show the market exactly what your brand of entertainment entails. Video works well, but if the benefit of working with you is the entertainment that you bring you have to make sure that they want to watch the same show that you’re putting on.
I’m going to buck a trend and tell you not to try and create “fun” in your business. I think you should enable them having their own fun by managing expectations and getting out of the way. But if you are going to sell the entertainment aspect of your service you basically have to demonstrate it.
Portrait photography is somewhat different, in that nothing else is going on other than the picture taking so “fun” or “entertainment” may be more relevant. Again, I think the points above about entertainment and showing what entertainment means to you are relevant if that is what you are selling. If you want things to be fun my advice would be to have the client focus on doing something – they can enjoy the act and endeavor of trying to accomplish something, and doing something keeps their mind off of performing for the camera. So if you do want them to have fun, and you do want to enable that, help the client focus on what they are doing, not what you are doing.
Thoughts?
- trr
By the way – I’m pretty jacked about our new Youtube channel and our Livestreams. As of the publishing of this article (Tuesday Sept 4th 2012) we’re planning for our second live interview tonight, this time with Stacy Reeves. You might remember Stacy from Episode 10 and 11 of our podcast. We’ll be taking your questions live in the stream so please send them in prior to the show or join the stream and post your them in the Live Comments section. We’d love to hear from you. Please Tweet and share the Live Stream with your friends and colleagues – www.youtube.com/amantofish. The stream drops at approximately 9 PM EST.
I agree with what you say Todd, however I think there is a way to frame your idea that leaves room for middle ground (not that I think you need to leave room for middle ground, as it always comes out naturally in your discussions). There are photographers who are all about being in the background, and there are photographers who are all about being the life of the party. One of the selling points for Alicia and I with potential clients is that we know how a wedding is supposed to flow, so we will keep things moving along and fun when picture time is happening and nobody else knows how to keep things going. We are not trying to be the center of attention, and rest of the day we try to keep out of the spotlight completely, but there are parts of the day that are “funner” (better) because we are around and keeping the vibe going.
Looking forward to your Livestream with Stacy tonight.
“So if you do want them to have fun, and you do want to enable that, help the client focus on what they are doing, not what you are doing.
Thoughts?”
When the client sets aside3-4 hours for formals, there are two ways to approach it. As the “professional”, the service provider who does his job, or the one that makes it enjoyable for the wedding party. When the timing allows, I chat with the wedding party quite a bit, and while I’m shooting I bring up references to things they’ve told me about their friendships with the bride and groom etc, but always try to do it in a funny way. The result? I get photos with natural laughter throughout every single wedding, and everyone in the wedding party ( particularly the bride and groom ) notice it, and mention it. They talk about how wedding photos at past weddings they had been in were boring and how much of a good time they had, and they talk about how much they love the photos.
Perhaps you’re right in that fun is not something that should be sold to people, but I absolutely believe it’s an important part of my job on the wedding day and not something I’ll be scaling back.
Hey Jon-Mark – Like I said, being cool to be around is a benefit in doing your job, but it is a very difficult thing to market.
- trr
Interesting, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m no fun at all. Yes, I have my comedic moments, but it’s usually in one on one situations. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching others have fun, I actually prefer it. I think there are those with a charisma that flows so naturally, that people attract to that, and they buy into it. This is rare, and in my experience, fleeting at best. Extraverts may have somewhat of an advantage to maintaining the “flow” of fun (so I make sure I have one with me on every job). Introverts…the true photographers, observers, and natural intuition artists. We are not fun, because the party is on the inside; the external world is to overwhelming most of the time for us. Yet, the challenge for everyone is to know your self beyond words and beyond thought and then balance your client’s expectations against what your able to deliver. And when I see my clients having fun, I step away.
I am tons of fun. I get along with too many people but I am not the best at marketing. I have good days and lazy days…
Anyway… Love David Mamet.