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Anyone had any experience of this kind of portrait session? I wonder if the clothes are provided? Any comments?
most models will provide a wide range of gear, but you may find the cloths were provided by the designer / maker fo rthe site you link to.
it cna be done either way, some models even work as 2's 3's and kit out a house in themes, came across a lot in the gothic arena that worked that way.
Peter - this is something for joe public, not for models. You offer it as some kind of "portrait experience for women". The company in the link is based from Watford but they seemed a bit deparate when I saw them at the Clothes Show. However I've had a couple of enquiries now to offer something similar.
Forget the pricing - it really doesn't add up - there's much easier ways to earn your money! Then again £25 for a 5"x7" doesn't add up, but we all know what the real cost of some portrait sessions is! I'm not looking to compete on that price.
They were quoting £200 at the Clothes Show, but then reducing it to £99 as a "special show offer" - yeah, right! 
Just wondered though if it's still worth offering a portrait session with make-over - providing clothes is not something I want to do. Seeing as I don't offer a sitting fee (usual round my parts), seems reasonable to add one to cover a stylist with a bit left over. I'd be a bit fed up of them after 3.5 hours - think that's a bit long!
Quote: 3.5 hours for £99....the maths don't stack up
The sitting fee is a loss leader - just like most portrait sitting fees are. They make the money on the reprints. Chances are you will be paying similar prices that 'you-know-who' charges for reprints. But we won't venture there....
Subtle Dave, Subtle... ;o)
I met Mark Seymour back in November - head of the London Portrait Group and all-round interesting chap. He was saying that he loves doing weddings, whilst he just does portraits for the money.
He said that most weekends, he has someone in a shopping centre doing the promotions side of things. He reckoned he was paying at least £1500 a week just to get in the door before he'd even booked anybody in. He says that the portrait session is very much just a production line affair - he knows the poses that will sell and he just rattles them off.
The key to making the money is upselling. Making them buy more than just the £25 print that they initially signed up for. Obviously that's pure business sense... once someone likes the photo, then you have to get them to buy a big one, or a canvas one... His talk on marketing and upselling was certainly very interesting.
He said that if he liked someone, or if they were particualarly photogenic, then he'd also get them back in for another session where he'd be more creative. Apparently that's the only time he actually enjoys the portraiture!
Comes back to the same old thing, professional photographer = 90% business skills, 10% photographer.
Chris I'm just looking at offering a MAU as an add-on for portraits, rather than this service - heard some horror stories wrt to hard sell tactics on these ventures. Maybe I could do with some training on pressure-selling
sorry, make-up artist! can't even get3 letters in the right order!
Yeh Right I see what your driving at. I think a make up artist is pretty essential if you are going to get the best out of the subject. Generally people forget the less is more principal when applying their own makeup.
I think I would sell this extra service at a good margin. Make the whole thing pretty exclusive.
Cheers
Chris
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