My Initial Idea
My aims and objectives for my FYP, is to create my own Photography Business specialising in Wedding and Christening photography. Starting in May 2012 I shall start to collate research and start gathering idea's of my own to create a unique and personal small business. Hopefully by the end of March 2013, my business will be up and running and I will have a portfolio, as well as already having done two weddings and a christening.
The Business
When thinking of a name for my photography business, it seemed that all the names I thought would best describe my photography were actually taken, therefore I decided to keep it simple and name my business after myself, 'Natalie Elizabeth Photography', which will also help get my name out there. After realising that I enjoy working with people, I decided to go into a photography career where I could provide a service that worked alongside the public to help create a special moment within their lives, with two of the main ones being Wedding's and Christening's. However, after collaborating a questionnaire about whether or not people would hire a Christening photographer, 80% of the people said no, therefore I will focus my main business packages as Wedding's and New Born photography.
When deciding a USP for my business, I struggled to come up with something different from everyone else. I looked at photographers that specialised their work in many different ways and I realised most wedding photographers preferred their work to be un-obstructive so they wouldn't get in the way of the happy couples day. This also became the result after collecting results from my questionnaire. However, when aiming for this style of photography, you need to be aware of any unwanted obstacles you may encounter in the background of the image, therefore you must be fully prepared to quickly capture a shot at the right time, otherwise you could miss a great opportunity. Where as, some photographers set up their shots, which allows the photographer to have time to set up their camera to the correct conditions allowing them to get the perfect shot. Yet again, this style can take a lot of time out of the wedding itself. For the main service of the wedding, I believe a photojournalist style would be the best way to tell the true story of the wedding and to capture peoples natural emotion. Yet for the getting ready shots or the engagment photography, I will use a more premeditiated style of photography, to make sure I capture the beauty and detail of the finer things of the wedding. I also enjoy close up and detailed photography, and experimenting a lot with a shallow depth of field. I could incorporate this into taking photos of the finer things innvolved within Wedding's. For example, the detail of the wedding dress and the rings which will be the signifiers of the day.
With New Born photogaphy, this style will be completely premeditated as I will create my own small studio in the back room of my house. I believe a premeditated style would best suit this type of photography as I want to capture the pure, beautiful nature of a baby and I believe the baby is the only thing I need to have in my images to portray this.
From this project, I want to gain my professionalism and expand my knowledge of Photography. I want to incorporate new techniques with past techniques I have learnt from the history of photography to find my USP. With my business I want to create a close connection with all of my customers, providing a service which is exact to what they want. To do this, with each photography shoot I want to meet with the customers at least two times before the actual shoot to prepare. Becuase i'll be working with technology a lot within my business, there are many problems I may come across. I have to be very careful I copy my work in at least two places incase I was to loose any work. I will ensure I take all my photos in RAW so I can edit them on Photoshop incase exposue levals were incorrect at the location of the shoot. On the day, I must ensure my camera is correctly set up, a fully charged battery and a spare, with all the correct equipment needed.
My business will not start up straight away. Photography is an extremely wide business, expeicially within wedding photography and it may take me a few years to get my name out there. Therefore, to start off with, I am going to offer my services free of charge, or at a small price to get the experience I need and get a strong portfolio together. With starting a business, I need to be in control of my finances. All the equipment is going to cost a lot of money. Luckily enough I will have the resources to borrow equipment such as tripod's and lenses from the University. I have my own 600D, but I may try and train myself on the Canon 5D to expand my knowledge.
From doing Photography for 3 years now, I already have the basic knowledge on using a digital DSLR as well as a traditional film camera. I have good experience of Photoshop as well as Final Cut Pro. From my final year, I want to develop my skills even more. I want to focus on developing my knowledge of Appature as I feel this is my weakest point.
Branding
As my business is mainly based on event photography, such as weddings and christenings, I want a positive mood represented across my branding. As weddings and christenings are a special occasion, people want to invest into a photographer who they know is going to be professional, therefore I want my branding to be smart and elegant which will represent my style within my photography.
Here are some of my possible logo ideas:
 I created this design by using a copyright free font from Photoshop. I like the design because it is simple and elegant, which portrays my style of photography and the deep purple colour helps signify my sophisticated target audience. I created my name to stand out as this will be the base of my advertising. |  I also created this design on Photoshop CS5 by using a default font. I tried to be creative with the EL on Elizabeth by turning it into a butterfly, which in manderin chinese symbolises 'long life'. I thought I could use this as a catch line for my work, for example, 'A simple moment for a beautfiul future', but I couldn't create one that wasn't too cheesy. or didn't express my work well enough. Although I used light blue and purple for the colour, I think I have made my business logo look too amature and these colours seem to target a much younger audience. Therefore I wont be using this logo. |
When thinking of a colour scheme for my professional website and branding, I want to go for a vintage, yet modern style colour scheme. I feel the vintage colours (burgundy, moss green, cream) will help represent the look of my photography, yet with a modern style website to show my professionalism. I will use the top left logo on all my promotional material, such as business cards, website and t-shirt's, as well as placing a half transparent version of it across copyrighted images.
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Risks and Dependancies
Risks
Equipment
- As I will be using a lot of equipment, I will have to make sure that the equipment I need to borrow from the university will be available a while before the shoot
- There is a possible risk of the equipment failing on the day, therefore it may be handy to have back up equipment or to fully test the equipment before I go to a shoot.
- As I will be going to various places to shoot my photography, the venue may need me to fill out Health and Safety forms
- I may have a fair bit of equipment on the day, therefore I must ensure that my equipment is clear to the public to make sure no one hurts themselves.
- My business is highly dependant on my primaries, so if there is no primary, I have no work, therefore no money coming into the business
- My primary can cancel on me any time before the event, therefore I may ask for a small deposit before the event.
- My business is highly dependant on my primaries, so if there is no primary, I have no work, therefore no money coming into the business
- Customer feedback is essential for me. I must keep my customers sweet to gain good feedback which will help me get into the market
- Without any equipment, there isn't really a business. I need to make sure that my equipment is future proofed and I am up to date on all editing software and technology. Although I only have a 600D at the moment, I hope to save for the Canon 5D mark 3.
- To gain my USP, I am dependant on editing software to get my unique style
- I already have a camera, and I can borrow equipment from the University, therefore the most of my expenditure will be on Travel and editing software.
