…until WPPI (not Disneyland, but it is a Disneyland for photographers). For those of you who are going – kudos! For those of you who are not – how come?

As a sponsor of WPPI, they offered me 10 FREE full registration passes! This is applicable for only those who have not registered. There are no refunds offered for those who already have. Before we get into the guidelines for this giveaway, let me share with you my story.

When Tofurious Was Just An Itty Bitty Baby

Every year around this time, I would hear on Facebook and Twitter about this convention called WPPI where photographers from all corners of the globe convene in Las Vegas – booze, drugs, sex, shows, buffet, lights. Seriously, WPPI at that time was just another excuse to go to the entertainment capital of the world.

For those of you who don’t know, WPPI (Wedding Portrait Photographers International) is a giant convention where many vendors show off their latest stuff. Don’t feel bad, I didn’t have a clue as well. It was about two weeks away from 2009′s convention, and Tofurious was only three weeks old or something, I said, “what the heck, there’s one 10×10 spot near Shootsac and I have a few thousand dollars to spare, I’ll take that spot!”

At first, I thought I was just going to have a table and sit there like some of the ugly local bridal conventions here, but I was totally wrong. Everyone had giant hanging displays, custom carpet (apparently MGM’s golden brown was yuck), ridiculously-large-fill-up-my-peripheral-vision-type-televisions, cool bags, and the works.

Fudge.

What did I have? A photo booth…uh, a table, hrm…a few chairs. Yeah.

Here’s the flip side – it opened my eyes. It’s a great place to meet new people – follow the amicable Becker because he always tweets things like “Meet me at the lion at 10am and let’s get coffee,” or something like that. It’s a great place to learn about new products – album companies, proofing stations, workflow management, etc. It’s a great place to do portfolio shoots! The list goes on and on!

Tofurious is Now 1 Year Old and Walking

I’m attending WPPI again this year – booth 1240 (next to Shootsac and ShootQ – two companies I adore). I also have a Bloggers’ Lounge in the main building with free WiFi for your internet convenience.

What will I be presenting? I’ll blog about it this week.

Free Passes For WPPI

Details about passes here – http://www.wppionline.com/storage/lasvegas/home.html – $400 value for non-members

Guidelines:

1. You must not be registered already
2. Make a blog post (on your own site) as to why you want to go to WPPI – make sure to include your email in there somewhere
3. Send me a link to your blog post for consideration
4. Submissions are due this Saturday, Feb 13, 2010

I will announce the winners next week. Good luck!

WPPI is seriously worth going,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. For those asking about the photo booth software, it will be given away for free this convention (courtesy of MBS).

How do you market your business? There are many ways to market yourself, but you can read about how I did it below.

Two months ago, I had the privilege of sharing what I had learned about strategic online marketing with many photographers ranging from top 10 in the world to those with less than 10 months in business.

My workshop focused on two items:

1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – being found on Google
2. Blogging Techniques – converting traffic into inquiries (examples)

Reasons Why I Chose SEO

The traditional form of advertisement (word of mouth) is only effective amongst the current client base. Outside that circle of influence, there is a large audience that is untapped. The goal is to be found by those who do not know you.

Why This?

There is probably a ton of options out there all claiming to be SEO experts, but when it all boils down, I can prove it with my inquiries and online ranking. Plus, it’s more than just SEO that makes a sale.

Being found is only half of the battle. The rest is strategic marketing (sample) through blogging, which will convert traffic into clients.

Some Testimonials

I didn’t have the chance to put together everyone’s testimonials, so it’s incomplete and a bit scattered.

Lots Of My Heroes

Aaron Dieppa, Becker, Ann Hamilton

Jasmine Star

Gene Higa, Keats Elliot, Catherine Hall

Dane Sanders

Sara France, Jose Villa

Mike Colon

Robert Evans, Doug Boutwell, Shaun Austin, Peter Garr, and more…

Catherine Hall

Tiffany Fosnight (Adeline & Grace Photography)

Doug Boutwell (Totally Rad Actions)

Kameron & Lyndsay (Shooting Gallery)

Kara Schultz

If Interested…

There will be a digital download coming very very soon so subscribe!

1. SEO Volume I and Volume II
2. Blogging Techniques (sample)

Invest into your business by arming yourself with new marketing strategies (auspiciously for the new year).

Sincerely,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. If there is one thing you could get for XMAS, what would it be? My Honda Civic is looking a bit bleh… Hmmm…

Yesterday, Becker graced me with an opportunity to speak at the [b] school Study Hall. The topic was on effective blogging techniques.

I can relate.

• blogging is not that fun
• blogging is time consuming
• why blog? do people even read it?
• how do I validate it being useful? based on number of comments?

Don’t worry. Blog for the sake of blogging. Do it for yourself. But I admit, there are ways to do it more effectively. And over the years, I have been honing this skill and have booked many weddings from it.

Coffee Tour Shared Blogging Techniques

Just a couple of months ago, I went to 13 cities to have coffee with photographers and shared some blogging techniques that I use to book weddings. They are simple things that everyone can do and that will dramatically bring in business.

Think For Your Readers

A lot of times, I hate to admit it myself, it is easier being told what to do rather than to think for ourselves (so pat yourselves on the back – business owners). Even Apple’s Senior Product Innovator said, “At Apple, we like to give our customers features they do not realize they want yet.”

Interesting.

Think about it – a normal photographer’s blog post consists of a short little intro, then a whole slew of images including detail, preparation, bridal portraits, ceremony, couple portraits, kids, reception…and the list continues. At the very bottom of every post, a client has a few options:

1. comment on the blog post (highly unlikely)
2. scroll all the way back up to find a contact button
3. leave the website

In this age of instant information, it’s difficult to expect a reader to know what to do next. Rather, give them options that are seemingly the next steps. After one reads the blog post, I give two choices:

1. view portfolio
2. contact me

Look at Chenin Boutwell‘s blog as an example.

Write Compelling Blog Post Titles

When you have interesting titles, people are more inclined to read them. Let me give you some examples.

1. I Guess Jasmine Star is Making Me Lasagna
2. 3 Steps to Marketing an Idea
3. What Makes A Successful Photography Business?
4. Drinking Too Much Milk Leads To…A Funny Story

Here is an idea for children photographers – “Not Funny – Baby Puked On Me”

Want more ideas? I subscribe to Anthropologie‘s newsletter for inspiration. If you want to subscribe to mine, it’s here.

Transparency

Transparency is what Becker likes to say, “being real.” It’s extending yourself onto the web. Talk about yourself! Good examples would be Becker‘s public love for poker and Jasmine Star‘s kisses and disses.

When clients look at your website, they can connect with you. Remember that you are selling yourself, not your images. To an untrained eye (let’s say most of our clients), all of the photos look the same. Be different.

One last example, consider Perez Hilton and TMZ. Perez Hilton is just as successful (if not more) as one person versus a whole company delivering the same news. Why? He injects his personality and opinions.

So talk about your favorite foods once in a while. Yes, people do read about it.

Write Reviews

Everyone likes reviews because it is inside perspective on something. To help your clients, review things that pertain to them such as bouquets, or destination weddings vs. local weddings, and etc.

Since the wedding season is winding down, use this opportunity to review wedding venues you’ve photographed or all of the different types of bouquets you’ve seen in terms of style and fashion.

Here is a review I did for Contiki Holiday‘s European Tour.

As a result, they published my video on their website and will use my pictures for their 2010 marketing materials!

Thank You

I appreciate everyone who tuned in – there was 594 people who signed on! Nice!

So what are your thoughts? I know many of you are already using the techniques! Give a shout out!

Cheers,

Lawrence Chan

P.S. I just bought a 26″ LED monitor from Costco for my workspace. SO. MUCH. DESKTOP.

On October 14, 2009 (Wednesday), some of industry’s leading photographers came to host the first Portfolio Plus Workshop. It covered a variety of topics for operating a wedding photography business.

• Ray Santana – workflow and presentation
• Kenny Kim – business inspiration
• Kenny Nakai – Chicago helping hands
• Becker – passion, profit and community
• Lawrence (ME) – strategic online marketing

IF YOU ARE A BRIDE, I still encourage you to peruse and check out some of my wedding pictures taken at Biltmore Hotel despite this being a post on a workshop – contact me!

After covering topics on business and marketing, 3 real brides were invited to come to be models. We had the opportunity to photographs all throughout Biltmore Hotel and the chapel across the street.

Historic Biltmore Hotel and Resort Coral Gables (Miami)
http://www.biltmorehotel.com

1200 Anastasia Ave
Miami, FL 33134
(305) 445-8066

This awesome image was taken at the penthouse suite at Bilmore Hotel where Al Capone used to reside. It was also used for the movie Bad Boys I in the opening scene. Isn’t she gorgeous?

What an infectious laugh! I love her positive energy!

There was a 3rd bride, but I did not get a chance to photograph her because I was trying to conserve energy for my presentation that followed the photo shoot. Plus, I just hosted my own workshop the day before!

Here’s me teaching (image courtesy of Kenny Nakai):

Here’s a group photo:

Contact me if you have any questions!

Lawrence Chan

P.S. After visiting the Al Capone suite at Biltmore Hotel, my Ritz Carlton suite looked plain.

P.P.S. Did I win, Ray? Hehe

Like this video? Embed into your own blog / forum:
<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/g54rgZrQdQA%2Em4v" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="550" height="340" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

Topics Covered

• What SEO is
• How you can use SEO to make money
• Tried and proven techniques on how to rank on Google (not tips)
• Blogging tips – basically everything that I did to make Tofurious what it is

SEO Outline

• Google PageRank (PR)
• Targeted key terms
• Links and sources
• Link Types
• Link specificity
• Meta information
• Header tags
• Google Analytics
• New media integration – video, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
• more…more and much more…

What To Bring

• Laptop and online connection medium if possible
• Open mind – this workshop is a no bull-shit type deal where “a bomb of knowledge is dropped on you” -Jasmine Star (video)

Reserve Your Spot Now

DISCLAIMER:

• Purchases are not refundable (even if acts of God prevent you from being able to show up)
• Tofurious reserves the right to refuse service to anyone
• One purchase equates to one seat (not couples/companies/partners)
• Workshop only offers tools for SEO; bonus stuff like admission to Tofu House (SEO community) and link building is offered at the discretion of Tofurious to maintain a network of credible websites

Orange County – September 7, 2009

SALE DATES: August 25 – September 1

Every once in awhile you attend a workshop that revolutionizes your business. This was the case when I attended Lawrence’s workshop… -Catherine Hall

Submit Your City

I will be hosting a number of workshops throughout the nation. Please submit any cities that I have not listed into the survey form. If there is a strong enough interest, I will be more than happy to open a new city (even if it’s in Australia, London, etc.). In the meantime, I will start with my home city of Orange County.

Other cities coming soon… Where would you like me to go?

SUBMIT YOUR CITY

Funny Quote From OC Coffee Meet

Becker said something along the lines of “If you must, sell your camera and rent because this workshop will make your money back so many times over that you can buy back your camera afterwards.”

If you have questions, you are always welcome to contact me or come have coffee with me and ask in person!

Follow @tofurious | subscribe for updates!

P.S. I realized that while advertising on theknot at $550/month yields $6,600/year (not $6,500). I recorded this video around 2am, so please spare me any rotten tomatoes please

P.P.S. For 2008, my prices were at $5,000 and I booked over 50 weddings. I still maintain about 2-3 inquiries a day. You are welcome to see it at the Coffee Tour!

Hello everyone,

As you might know, I am leaving for Europe for six weeks. If it piques your interest, read the following article for all of the countries I am visiting! I will try to tweet / post here and there, but know that I undergo great lengths to find a cyber cafe to say “hello!”

subscribe | follow @tofurious

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Did you know that Tofurious started a WordPress blog in February 2009?

I am not saying that I am an expert blogger, but I’ve learned a thing or two over the years. And most of my knowledge was acquired by observing successful bloggers (especially those within our own photography industry). So the first step toward becoming an effective blogger is to…

Observe Successful Bloggers

I use the word “successful” loosely, but what I really mean is “effective” [bloggers]. Just like photography, we study images that “work” and with time create our own styles. I will be listing a number of blogs that I have learned from, but it does not limit them to only that trait.

Interview Someone

When I think of interviews, I immediately think of Jules Bianchi’s Cafe; interviews by her lovely sister Joy – @joybianchibrown. Using the informality of coffee breaks, Jules interviews various industry leaders at Jules Cafe.

What does this establish?

• It creates a relationship between the interviewer and interviewee
• The interviewee will promote said interview, thus promoting the interviewer
• Creates community

This is a good way for both parties to promote each other. Additionally, the interview will provide good content for readers, which is sort of the point. So…try to get interviewed, or interview someone (like me)! No one has interviewed me yet and it makes me sad.

Twitter

If you do not have twitter, go to www.twitter.com and register for an account. After that, follow @tofurious (that’s me) hehe!

Zack Arias @zarias recently wrote an interesting article about Twitter and “Six Degrees” of separation.

…helped the photography industry build community. Both virtual and real. Twitter is a key to my marketing plans over the next year but beyond that, it keeps me in touch with so many people that I would normally fall out of touch with due to time or distance. Not to mention how many new friends I have thanks to social networking.

In a nutshell, Twitter allows for a number of things, but not limited to what’s listed below:

• Follow activities of people through an instant feed of 140 characters
• You can connect with others
• Others can connect with you
• Spreading of ideas through #, RT, etc.

Less Is More

Jose Villa is the epitome of “less.” I was given the great pleasure of designing his new blog (not public yet) recently and his ideas truly inspired me. As a search engine specialist, I kept pushing for certain elements for his blog, but Jose dimissed them all. And I admire him for that.

So how does this apply to us photographers? Vu Bui once told me over breakfast that he discourages people to post more than 10 images on their blogs.

Vu preached that everyone has the same images over and over again. So rather than creating the same sink hole of bandwidth-sucking blog posts, post only 10 images that would knock the socks off of viewers. After that, post your 100+ images in a slideshow or something.

Jose uses minimalism in his photography artwork. He is, after all, one of the “Top 10 Wedding Photographers” in the world, so he is doing something right.

Transparency

I once asked Aaron Dieppa about something in his personal life, which I read on his website. “It’s something private, but it’s cool that you shared it.”

“Yeah, I believe in transparency. I want my clients to know me for me,” responded Aaron.

I had this similar conversation with [B]ecker and his poker aspirations. He and Jessica Claire are the only two people I know that post publicly their love for poker on their business websites.

Does this help / harm them? It’s relative. However, I believe that it helps them more than anything. By posting about one’s personal life, viewers can get to know the blogger on a personal level.

How does this apply to photographers? Brides have booked me [and the aforementioned] to shoot various weddings without even meeting in person. Great, isn’t it? Brides do this because they already have this informal / personal relationship with us. Before they even email or call us, they already have a good feeling how we operate as professionals and as regular individuals.

Take away the occupational titles, we are just humans. And humans like
to connect with other humans. We build bridges through common grounds, so express them!

Consistency

Have you ever read a blog post by Jasmine Star? She is one of the most eloquent writers I know [of]. (I hope to change “know of” to just “know” because I hear she is a fabulous person). All of Jasmine’s articles are like tiny excerpts of her clients’s lives.

Rather than telling a story only with pictures, Jasmine precedes it with a text-based story. And she consistently delivers every time!

So how does this apply? If you are consistent with a certain style, readers will expect it over time. However, I am not saying that you should not try new things. Just imagine cooking… Always bake your delicious cookies at the same temperature, but try throwing in raisins or chocolate chips to spice things up!

Cheers,

Lawrence

P.S. Transparency: I tried getting a pedicure for the first time on Wednesday. I liked it! I even got my eyebrows waxed. I liked that too! I think I will be visiting this one salon quite often now. By chance, you might bump into me

Honey Nail Spa – they ROCK

626-844-7299

563 S. Lake Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

Greetings,

subscribe | follow @tofurious

Thank you everyone who could make it out! We had local photographers from Orange County to super cool ones from far away – San Francisco, San Jose, San Antonio(Texas).

Due to overwhelming interest, the beginner’s workshop sold out in a few hours. Intermediate and advanced ones coming in the near future. They will be much smaller than this one because of the technical aspects of learning creative lighting.

Beginners – 3 hours

• Understand what equipment to use
• Get a feel of the difference between studio strobes and mobile lighting kits
• Locate sources of ambient light and how to angle / compensate for them

Goal: Student will be able to setup a 2-3 point lighting scenario and properly calibrate for subjects

Intermediate – 5 hours

• Learn how to frame an image effectively
• Use of harsh / creative shadows
• Understand how to reflect or deflect light
• Play with ring lights, barn doors, honeycombs, grids, etc.

Goal: Student will be able to use creative lighting setups and calibrate for virtually any scenario in a matter of a few minutes

Advanced – 5 hours

• Must have strong grasp of lighting
• Use of snoots for pin-point lighting
• Advanced level post production
• Learn how to fashionably pose subjects

Goal: Student will be able to book badass gigs based on flippin’ sweet lighting setups

Models Information

Need a model or makeup artist? In fact, they can even do their own makeup and hair so it saves you the trouble!

Tracie Cotta – model / makeup artist

http://traciecotta.com

http://modelmayhem.com/ivebeenshot

traciecotta@gmail.com
@traciecotta

Kyuri – model

http://www.modelmayhem.com/880296

headcase.kyur@gmail.com

Some Student Work

The first image (my fave) is by Jenny Liu Photography (Orange County photographer)

All images taken at Ritz Carlton (Laguna Niguel) after marketing workshop

Cheers,

Lawrence

P.S. You all ROCKED! Just too bad, I did not take any pictures myself boo…

UPDATE: PHOTO BOOTH AVAILABLE HERE

First off, thank you everyone for being so patient.  I tried my best to answer everyone’s emails while working full time at my WPPI booth and helping some friends out – the Bui Brothers – on the Epic Hunt (I will making a blog post about them soon so pay attention). If I could clone myself, I would totally do it. There are over 3,000 people using my blog themes right now, so that can give you an idea of the amount of emails I have, so again thanks for being patient

What a week! This was my first time attending WPPI and my first time ever having a booth – what a wicked experience. As much as I would have loved to peruse the convention floor, I had to rely on fellow mates to gather materials for me. For those who did not attend, Tofurious debuted a new photobooth software (created in conjunction with Made By Simple, LLC, which is another company I am partnered with) that had live view and touchscreen! It was encased in a full plexi-glass frame that was completely transparent. Why? We wanted to show how simple it was to create one – three items: camera, computer, [any] printer. We even let our competitor take pictures and video clips because we had nothing to hide.

Hopefully, in the near future I can have the booths mass produced in full sheet metal. The best part is that it will be collapsable. The last thing I want to do is to lug it around on a truck with hydraulics.

Last week’s theme: Digital Awesomeness

So many people came by to take pictures and so many people were ready to purchase a license right there and then! Unfortunately, there are still a few tweaks that need to be done before releasing it. I talked to an old buddy who works for UCLA and he was also interested in getting a few licenses for the university! I was like wow that would be stellar!

Anyway, due to a mountain of emails I am trying to respond to, I will just posting a recap video done by two genuinely cool friends – Aaron Dieppa and Brian Khang. Aaron is attempting to post one video a day for 365 days! It is like a television show that I tune in every night and I suggest you do the same Thanks Aaron for the recap video! Without this, all I have is one picture that Danny took for us.

Aside from that, I had lots of people come by to take pictures, many of which were posted on our clear photobooth. Check them out! I made them all black/white except for one that Doug liked a lot.

Sorry I have to point this one out because it is so funny – hah look at Becker sticking his head in with Danny, Doug and Jasmine Marie!

I – Doug (Lawrence’s brother) – took over this blog post! Woot! Yesterday I had lunch with Brian Khang and Aaron Dieppa. We had an interesting discussion about “radtastic” ideas.

My day was then followed by a competitive game of poker at Becker‘s pad where I saw a number of cool photography peeps – one of which was Jessica Claire! Check out my video journals with these inspirational people!

(screen shot from video)

Lunch With Brian and Aaron

Video blogging offers clients an opportunity to see our lives in a perspective aside from our professional demeanor. This allows them to communicate and bond with us on a more personal basis. Ergo, I advise everyone to not treat brides as clients, but more as friends

Chit Chat With Becker

Becker is not actually going out this weekend! When I filmed this, I was intending to release it next week, but decided that it would be no good by next Friday since Becker will already be in Las Vegas. Anyway, check out Becker’s [b] school – Changing the way photographers connect!

How Jessica Claire Got Started

There is no substitution for experience. Everyone has to earn their stripes! Therefore resilience coupled with prudent planning will pave roads to success!

By the way, Jessica’s work station has four 30″ monitors – I could barely keep my eyes off of it while holding up my camera. Anyway, check out www.JessicaClaire.net and her ShootSac products!