Now I know people are at a weird place right now. I’m in the midst of the Covid-19 virus quarantine as I’m writing this post. I realize people are more worried about the here and now and do not want to be sold to. But we also are in the mindset of embracing change and wanting to learn as much as possible to be ready for that change either for themselves or for their business. Now is the time to focus on content marketing and not direct marketing. Connecting with an audience is key. Therefore, I find that creating curated images that help businesses connect with their audiences are more important now than ever. People are online more, consuming virtually more. We as businesses need to get online and be ready for a virtual presence not if but when another pandemic like this happens.

Kristina Martinez is a wellness coach. She came to me to help her with her brand images. She wanted to focus on images that were friendly, displaying her wellness lifestyle and authority, and relatable. We made the decision to do the photoshoot at her apartment so people can have the inside look of what her dat to day life looks like. Her goal is to help others integrate a wellness mindset into their daily life more easily. She wanted to show that she is an example of what she preaches.

We made a list of things she wanted to cover: fitness, meditation, sleep, whole food nutrition, mental health and being flexible with food (meaning not depriving yourself). I told her to pick out her outfits. Usually, the colors and style people choose for their clothing coincides with the color and style choices of their interior home space. We planned out the set by cleaning up her living space and adding or subtracting elements that would enhance or distract the viewer. I am always “creating images” and not just “taking images”. We spent about half a day taking all the images. The benefit is now she has a lot of image content to pull from for use with her online content creation for a good amount of time. Now is the time to create that content! Take advantage of the down times in order to prepare for the opportunities that will inevitably come in the upswing.

Kristina Instagram Handle: @kristinamariefit

This diatribe is my long winded way of pointing out that marketing is all about understanding the human mind, what triggers our behavior especially when buying. There are many resources and podcasts about figuring out ideal clients. But essentially, the goal is to think about (really think about) who are they, what do they do on a daily basis, what is important to them. I talk about this concept with my clients in order to think about their audience as I form the look we are trying to communicate.

For a personal brand I also think about my client. What is their style? What image are they trying to portray? Are they aiming to appear friendly, approachable, confident, professional, successful, relatable? The shoot I did with my client, Barry, was done at a hotel. He is an e-commerce entrepreneur. Our goal was to make him convey success, friendliness, authority, and focused yet approachable. His clothing was his own business casual. Some looks he was smiling, some he was working and some he was thoughtful. We created a lot of looks that he is able to use on his site, socials and print that were consistent in look and in message. I run into a lot of people with a small business who hate being in front of the camera. But there is no way of completely avoiding it, if you are a small business, you need to show people who you are. It’s been said time and time again that PEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE THEY LIKE. They are purchasing something and choosing you over the competition because they like you (all other things being equal or close to equal). In this day of commodity products, easy access to information and uncertain times, brand identity is more important than ever.

As a fitness photographer I’m always thinking of ideas about how to display the body in artistic ways. I’ve always loved the way liquid gives a cool effect on the body’s form. In a pool, in a river or just a bathtub, bodies placed in water gives an opportunity to layer the image with another element. You can use opaque liquid to hide shapes or add another layered element like flowers or color or reflection of light. The added layered element gives the picture some depth, texture and interest.

A lot of milk bath pictures are for pregnant women but I thought, why not fitness women or any woman for that matter? Here is how it went down. 

I decided on a blow up kiddie pool for my container. You can find them here. All you need is a container that a person will fit in laying down. Just fill the tub enough to cover the person 3/4 of the way up. You may need a towel to prop their head up. For this shoot with IFBB Pro Krista Dunn we used powdered milk (purchased from most major grocery stores) and flowers. I purchased some fake flowers as well as real flowers. It turns out that real flowers work best. Fake flowers sink very quickly. You will also need a ladder to shoot down from above.  I have one light shooting from above down at the subject. I position the other lights to fill in where I get too much shadow. Once I’ve posed her I then add or move the flowers around to where I want them to be. You’ll have to move quickly because the flowers will start sinking or moving away from the subject. 

This is a fun set up to experiment with angles and different flowers and outfits. You can get a lot of looks with one set up. After I finish with the model, I have her leave the tub and place the flowers in the tub and shoot a bunch of flowers in the tub without the model. These shots are my back up flower shots in case I need to clone in more flowers to the finished image. You have little space so  I find that a 50mm or 35mm lens works best. Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope this helps encourage you to go for it and experiment with different set ups for  your photography or helps you to consider this type of experience for your next photoshoot.

By: Sharon Lewis Fitness Photographer

My husband does not mind many things. He is always so supportive of my crazy creative ideas when it comes to photoshoots. I use water in my studio, black lights, a dancer pole, milk baths, water hose, you name it. But there is one thing that he just absolutely can not stand and that’s glitter! He pretty much hates the stuff. I do feel his pain because glitter gets everywhere! I had a glitter photoshoot done on myself once and that stuff stays in your hair for weeks. As much as it is a pain to clean off, the experience and images are definitely worth it. It is a very fun shoot and the pictures come out incredible!

First thing to absolutely do is cover everything with plastic! Get the plastic stuff at the hardware store that painters use to paint interiors of houses. You will need to cover the area around your shoot with it and even the bathroom! Seriously cover anything you think people will touch. To get the glitter on your subject first you need to apply either Vasoline or Hair gel to their skin. I’ve used both. Make sure the client is on a sheet so it’s easier for you to clean up afterwards. I ask the client what colors they prefer. I will often mix 2-3 colors together like gold/silver or purple/pink, Red/gold. It just depends. You really can’t go wrong. Then you sprinkle the glitter on top (most of the glitter should stick). Glitter can get expensive so always look out for deals and coupons (I think Michaels always has days with 40% off on everything). The backgrounds for the photoshoot can also be various things. I’ve used plain black or white or colored back ground. I’ve used string lights. I’ve used foil wrap. Play around with what looks you like.  Don’t forget the floor! I’ve had great success with glitter looks on the floor since you can spread the glitter around your model. Play around with the depth of field because glitter does well as a reflective bokeh in the background. 

This type of shoot is really fun because you can play around with so many things. I like to use rim lights as well as key light for lighting because I want the glitter to shine from the everywhere. I’ve not tried colored gel lighting but I’m sure it would look pretty cool. I also put different reflective prisms in front of the camera to create cool reflections from the glitter and lighting. Once I’m done shooting, the best way to keep the glitter to a minimum is to have the model towel off some of the glitter with a towel she brought, then change into loose fitting clothing. It may take several days until all of it is off but it’s all part of the fun experience.

“Hey Jonathan,
I hope this finds you well. I have a question about sales tax. I’ve not thought about this until now, so I have not been charging clients a sales tax. But should I? So right now, I’m mostly shooting fitness clients that want to chronicle their body transformations through photography. I take their picture, edit them on the computer then send to them digitally.  Most clients either do nothing with them and keep them as a memento and some post to social media. As far as I know, no one ever prints them out or, at least, not through me. My questions is, will I be subject to sales tax for these transactions? I found some info on it and attached the file, but it’s confusing. Can you please clarify? It seems to be saying that I’m subject to sales tax on the actual delivering of the digital files therefore I need to put a price on that actual digital file. However, majority of my cost is the labor of taking the pictures and editing them. The “physical image” costs close to nothing because it exists on the internet. With all that in mind, how should I be invoicing my clients so that I have clear breakdowns of my cost? I hope this makes sense. Please advise.”

This is the specific documentation I found regarding this matter in Colorado.

>>Go to Colorado Government Documentation Site Here <<

Pay attention to the part where it says: “The Department has traditionally viewed digital goods, such as digital music, movies, books, and photographs as tangible personal property because they are not merely a concept or idea, but, rather, are part of the physical world. Therefore, digital photographs sold by a photographer are subject to sales tax.”

So there you have it. Who would have thought? So now what? How do you put a price on this to even determine how to collect sales tax for this? At the advice of my accountant we treated the matter very conservatively and determined a hypothetical situation since nothing was specified for us. We assumed that every digital image I sold to my client was to be printed on at least a 4×6 at about $0.30 a print at a local CVS, Walgreens or the like. Let’s say I sold 500 images in a year, we would need to calculate $0.30 x $500 = $150 total sales. We figured out General Sales tax in Colorado at 2.9% (depending current times). That ends up at $4.35 to be collected and given to the state. Don’t forget we also now have to apply for a sales tax license in order to pay this sales tax. Depending on how many images are sold it may not be that much of a financial burden but simply a total inconvenience. But hey, I did not create the law. For further advice I recommend reaching out to your accountant. There is a bunch of legal jargon they may give you but this is the gist of it.