Inside the Photography Business: LJ Lyons
PhotoMerchant: Tell me about yourself and your photography business.
LJ Lyons: I’ve been a photographer for many years and I started my business, Catch the Moment, in Melbourne about three years ago. I exclusively do wedding and portrait photography and am self taught. I think I’m at the point where I’ve learned all I can alone and would benefit from a course, so I’ve enrolled with AIPP.
My family lived in London for a long time with my husband’s work, and I had three children to raise, so I didn’t start the business as early as I would have liked. When we came home I decided I would do that for me.
PM: What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about running a business?
LL: It’s best to be yourself. There’s no point in trying to project an image that doesn’t represent you. I’m a country girl and am extremely friendly, much to the embarrassment of my children, but I think it works well with my clients.
Customer service is also incredibly important. You’ve got to follow up leads, respond to emails, call clients and be available. Because it’s only me, that can get a little bit demanding sometimes, but it just means I have to stay up a bit later to get everything done.
PM: Why do you think your customers like working with you?
LL: It probably has a lot to do with my personality and me being quite friendly. A lot of my clients are referrals, so I think that shows people are happy with my work.
I think the level of customer service I provide is also a factor. As I said I was raised in the country, and when I left school I worked for the local jeweller. They instilled the importance of good customer service in me. Customer service in the small business industry is pretty important because a happy customer will tell one person and an unhappy person will tell 10, which can really make or break your business.
My first job was to shoot the wedding of a family friend. It was pretty scary because when you’re getting paid for something as opposed to doing it for free, there’s a higher level of expectation.
In wedding photography, what sets professionals apart from amateurs is the ability to tell a story and convey the story to the client. After all it’s the biggest day of their life. You don’t want to miss the kiss, the rings, the signing of the registry. That only comes with practice and training, and I think customers appreciate that expertise.
PM: Is there anything you’ve changed about your business since you started?
LL: I upgraded all my equipment last year and that was a massive and expensive change.
As far as the business goes, I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t. For example, I’m always looking at new, more effective ways to advertise. I advertise on a couple of wedding websites and have had quite a few leads. We’ve got a place in the country and I do a letter drop, and I advertise in the country newspapers which are much cheaper than regular newspapers.
I advertised at the Patterson River Country Club near where we live which was expensive, and I haven’t had a single lead from that. It was an expensive mistake. Golfers obviously don’t get married! You live and learn.
PM: How do you manage your workflows and calculate the costs of running your business?
LL: My husband is a banker at the NAB and he helps keep track of my costs.
My workload is ok and the business experiences peaks and troughs, particularly with wedding photography. It’s quietened down now that it’s winter which will give me time to redo some wedding albums and get some new product to show clients.
When meeting new clients, rather than referring them to the website, I take prints, framed work, and canvases because it gives them an idea of the product. You’ve got to educate clients about the quality of work and printing. Good prints worth the money because they’ll last.
I’ve simplified my packages changing the offering from four to two. I found it was getting too complicated and taking up too much of my time making alterations. Now I offer a basic shoot, edit, CD burn and a shoot, edit, CD burn and album. That’s simplified my workflows quite a bit.
PM: What do you do to stay competitive with other photographers in your market?
LL: I’m comfortable with the niche I’ve carved out in my area, but there’s always room for improvement. I’m based in Patterson Lakes, 30km out of Melbourne, and there are a lot of other photographers around whose work is of higher and lower quality and cost. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I’m not expensive but I don’t charge $500 for a wedding either.
You have to be careful when trying to compete on price because you’ll end up losing money and attract clients who are focused on finding bargains.
PM: If you could go back in time and give your younger self a piece of advice, what would it be?
LL: I would tell myself not to wait until I was in my 40s to become a professional photographer. I could have been earning money doing it for 20 years instead of just three years. I’ve always taken photos and I’ve always done it for free because I like doing it. If only I was smart enough I could have done it when I was straight out of school.
Living overseas and raising three children made it hard to focus on a business back then. When I left school I wanted to be a jeweller and I dabbled in the industry for a few years. If I had my time over, I would forget about the jewellery industry and just do photography.
PM: Do you have any tips for new photographers?
LL: I’d say, “Get trained and get out there, but don’t give up your day job just yet!” It can be a long time between dinners when you’re first starting out. You’ve got to find your way into the market and produce work that’s valuable to clients.
You’ve also got to enter the market charging credible rates ì don’t be too cheap. If you only charge your friend next door $100 to shoot her wedding and you spend three weeks editing, it’s cost you hundreds of dollars in time. Also, if she refers you, the referral will expect a cheap rate as well, and then you’re stuck. You can’t increase your prices just because you feel like it.
The key is to do your groundwork first: get prepared, get trained, get everything ready before you actually try to put your foot in the water, and then you can justify charging professional rates.
PM: What do you think is going to happen in photography in five year’s time?
LL: I shot with film for a long time and the shift to digital has been amazing.
As more and more amateurs with good equipment enter the market, it’s going to be a challenge for professionals to set themselves apart and communicate value to their clients.
PM: What do you do in your spare time?
LL: What spare time? Actually I like to do nothing. I used to read and paint, but now I just don’t have the time. I started painting the four faces of the KISS boys for in my eldest son’s room, and I’ve only done half of Gene Simmons!
Being a one man band in a small business can be tiring, so I really just like to relax when I’ve got a spare minute.
LJ Lyons runs Catch the Moment, a Melbourne wedding and portrait photography studio.
