Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012 by Ukandu

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

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0 MASTERING THE LIGHT .10-.11 15 DIFFERENT TRICKS .13 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES .15 THE POWER DEMOGRAPHIC .16-.17 SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLINE .32-.33 SANDY’S FAVORITE BABY STORES .34

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

SANDY PUC PRESENTS

2012 DIGITAL WORKFLOW TOUR WITH JACK DAVIS Join SANDY PUC and JACK DAVIS on The WORKFLOW TOUR You are seven hours away from a faster, easier and more efficient workflow process. In this informative and engaging seminar, Sandy Pucâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and Jack Davis reveal their workflow techniques that deliver breathtaking results time and time again.

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Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

Capture Every Moment Naturally The Spiderlite® TD5 is a true daylight-balanced continuous light source that offers the natural look of window light. Perfect for both photo and video, it provides over 900 equivalent watts of power at 5500 Kelvin. Daylight fluorescents stay cool to the touch Consistent color temperature Includes tilter bracket Visit FJWestcott.com for complete lighting kits, accessories and more. Spiderlite TD5 #4820

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15 Different Toys, Tricks and Games to Help Your Next Session

Whether it’s a newborn who won’t stop crying, a toddler who can’t sit still or a stubborn sixyear old, children’s portraiture always presents its own unique set of challenges and obstacles. Simply getting the young ones to the studio can be a challenge in itself for Mom or Dad, therefore it’s to your benefit to go out of your way to make the session a positive and entertaining experience. To help pave the way, keeping a stash of these items and using some of these tactics can really make a difference in your next session involving children and babies of all ages. The Feather Tickler This little device can actually be used with kids of many ages. From a soft tickle on a six-month old’s toes, to full-on tickle torture, it ensures the appropriate smiles. Keep in mind, however, that younger children (six months to four years) can be afraid of it, so take it slow.

Silver pom poms These are attractive to babies and toddlers because of the swishing sound they make and the shine they give off, which helps capture their attention for long periods of time. I usually shake one close to the baby, then slowly move back to keep the baby’s full attention. Rattles and bells Another great attention grabber, using these items along with a soft voice will bring the baby’s eyes directly to the source of the voice. Bubbles As a last resort, bubbles have saved me many times. Because they are messy, I try to avoid using them—but when you have an upset child, nothing provides a quicker change of attitude. Funny Phrases There’s always a few phrases that I reserve until I absolutely have to use them to help evoke those great smiles. A couple of my favorites are: “Okay, everyone. Look right here and say ‘Mommy is a monkey!’” and “Daddy wears diapers!” Give me Five When a child gives me five, they slap my hand and I bounce back to the camera saying, “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” Once they realize that you were playing, they will try harder to get you to cry. Hiding Snacks If you’re looking for a subtle expression, consider hiding a snack within an object. If you insert a treat in an open book or inside a flower or prop, your subject is sure to stop and look for it. This will create a thoughtful and serious look as the child focuses on the task at hand. Soft Noises Being a baby photographer often requires making a few cooing noises. Mothers are great at these, so if you need any ideas, don’t be afraid to ask your client to jump in. Each parent seems to have their own special noises that their baby responds to. Sneezing Faking a sneeze and following it up with a soft “bless you” will elicit delightful smiles.

The Treat Box There truly is a fine art to bribery. However, it’s important to never offer a treat until you absolutely need to.

Music I recommend keeping a variety of music on hand to soothe crying children, excite toddlers, or even help preteens smile.

Rubber Chicken This goofy toy has saved my neck a thousand times. Its ugly face and loud squawk can settle many wild children. It can also be used to startle a busy toddler.

Baby Phrases Some of my favorite baby phrases include, “How big is (child’s name)? So big!”, “Peek-a boo!” and “Hands up!” You can also ask the parents if they have a favorite song or phrase they sing when feeding or changing the baby.

Balls and Toys Have the child throw the ball to you—or get him or her to throw it at your feet to make you dance. Remember, the child’s eyes will follow the ball, so when you catch the it, be sure to hold it right above the camera.

Word Games Animal or counting games are a great way to get the excitement going. Asking a child what a particular animal says can get them smiling instantly, as will playing a number-guessing game with Mom.

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FREE Videos Peridically Sandy hosts live feeds from her studio in Littleton, Colorado to bring you the latest education absolutely free. Access the recordings from these live feeds by clicking on the images below. And be sure to sign up to be notified of the next Live Feed

RADIOPOPPERS

URBAN KIDS

MOMPRENEUR

with BrianaGraham Photo by Erin Jeppson

POSING COUPLES

VIDEO FUSION

MOTION & STILLS

STUDIO FUN

with Jerry Ghionis

with Shadetree Films

Sandy Puc’, Jack Davis, Mike Long and Jared Abrams

with Jerry Ghionis

with Jared Abrams

Sandy Puc’, Jack Davis, Mike Long and Jared Abrams

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

The Power Demographic 16

Trender, Spenders and Recommenders It’s fair to assume that you didn’t invest your time and money into the Creative Edge Kids seminar simply to find out that the industry “continues to change.” You know as well as anyone that the economy is still struggling, and that the services of a professional photographer aren’t considered a “need” right now. Unfortunately, portraits are seen by many as just another do-it-yourself project that can be done in order to save a few more dollars. However, despite those ominous trends, there is still one demographic that appears immune to these tough times, at least in terms of spending habits. Stereotypical or not, women between the ages of 30-45 represent the single largest spending demographic in the world right now. Despite the fact that members of this group don’t always earn the highest incomes, they’re fueled by a constant need to “keep up with the Joneses.” As you’ve probably already gathered, regardless of your niche, this demographic should be at the center of your target market. Not only do these women freely spend in order to have the “latest and greatest,” but they’re also more than willing to recommend/brag to their friends about where and what to buy. Perhaps best of all, when taking a closer look, you’ll notice that these clients have several traits in common. They live in the same neighborhoods, drive the same type of cars, shop and dine at the same places, enjoy the same hobbies and watch the same TV shows. Keep those characteristics in mind when designing your marketing and selling your products to this powerful demographic. However, the problem is, photographers have traditionally relied solely on word of mouth referrals to bring

business in the door. But like Bob Dylan once said, “The times, they are a-changing.” It’s not that word of mouth referrals no longer work. It’s just that they’ve evolved dramatically with the advent of social media. As you’ve probably already noticed, rather than waiting for a chance encounter at the super market, post office or community event, people now share their lives as they happen by constantly updating their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Such content is immediately saturated and can often become viral. It goes without saying that your business should have its own Facebook page and Twitter account. However, your social media marketing efforts go far beyond simply creating those pages. You must have a specific plan of action in order to maximize their effectiveness. You must turn “likes” into loves and “followers” into fanatics. Everything from your profile image to your Twitter background must be consistent in developing your brand. So how exactly should you use social media to build your business? Take a few minutes to learn from these experts: • “10 Dos and Don’ts for Brands on Twitter” from Mashable. com [hyperlink: http://mashable.com/2010/04/27/ twitterbrand-dos-and-donts/] • “4 Tips to Maximize Your Twitter Marketing” from the Social Media Examiner [http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/4-tipsto-maximize-your-twitter-marketing/] • “2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report” from Social Media Examiner [http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/socialmedia-marketing-industry-report-2011/] • “How to Claim Your Business On Facebook Places” from American Express Open Forum” [http://www.openforum.com/ articles/how-to-claim-your-business-on-facebook-places]

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

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Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

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Creating Adorable :

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When I started working for Sandy Puc´ nearly four years ago, I had little to no knowledge of working with children in terms of photography or video production. I think the closest thing I could call experience was snapping a few images of my niece with my iPhone. During my first few weeks working for Sandy—shooting the tutorial videos for the Tots2Teens tour in 2009—it was clear I was alongside an expert who could teach me a lot. Over the years I have learned tons of great techniques to get children to smile for the camera—and not just that cheesy, gnarly lockjaw smile, but that unique, tell-a-story-in-one-frame smile. I learned that simple interactions with children and babies could result in amazing, genuine emotions.

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

After a while, we started implementing video into sales presentations. Due to positive responses, we knew there was value in the moving expression. Seeing a child beam and laugh uncontrollably just warmed my spirit. And I don’t even have kids!

After that shoot, we went back to the drawing board, feeling defeated. We concluded that maybe he was just a little shy. If we got a client who we knew was talkative and confident, we were sure to get our amazing interview. We asked a 2 ½ -yearold girl to be our next guinea pig. Once again, we set up the studio for a perfectly lit video. However, the girl was wearing a dress, so we had nowhere to clip the lavaliere microphone’s battery pack to. Sandy found a quick solution, saying that we could just clip it to the back of the little one’s diaper. Turns out the little girl didn’t like cold pieces of metal in her diaper. She exploded into a fit of rage. We quickly aborted that idea. (See video one)

“Then we started the interview process. One by one, we put them in the hot seat and asked the same questions.”

I began noticing that the same exact techniques that Sandy used to encourage these lovable behaviors worked just as well for simple video applications. Not only did it give a new element to our presentation that other studios weren’t offering, but it also added a new avenue of story telling. The subjects were now telling their own story instead of the photographer. The slightest details all of a sudden become an “awe” moment. The blink of the eyes and a simple turn of the head touched the clients’ deep in their hearts.

After creating many slideshow presentations that included little vignettes of video, we began experimenting with other ideas and concepts. This was quite the learning experience. Our first attempt was interviewing a little boy. We were sexcited to do this.We just knew it was going to be so incredibly cute. Not only were the parents going to love it, but they were also going to share it with everyone they knew. So, we had a 3-year-old boy come into the studio, lit him perfectly for video, and attached a lavaliere mic to his little jacket. Then we started drilling him with questions. Naturally he clammed up and became very nervous. We should have anticipated this reaction. Even adults get nervous when there is a camera in their face and lights in their eyes. Somehow this little boy knew that we were formally interviewing him for something. To him, it probably felt like he was being interrogated. We asked away, and all we could get was single-worded answers. Safe to say, that makes for quite an uninteresting experience for the viewer.

Sandy and mom began calming the child down as I watched from a safe distance. For some reason, though, this girl was still not having anything to do with this mic. We tried everything. We ended up having to distract her while Sandy clipped the mic on her shoulder strap of her dress. We couldn’t clip the belt pack to her because she would know and flip out, so we hid it on the back of the chair. Once again we should have anticipated the repercussions of this decision. What is the first thing a 2 ½ year old does when you tell her to sit still? The child goes running, the mic pack gets caught in the back of the chair, and the whole thing hits the ground. You’d think that would be enough for us to learn. But instead, the mic hit the ground about four more times before we called it. We asked the same questions as the boy. And we were right! She wasn’t shy and she was very confident in her answers. However, they were still single-word answers. Defeated and deflated again, we analyzed the session to see why we couldn’t get it right. After careful consideration of the previous experiences, we determined that age was

definitely a factor. Although 2 and 3 year olds are super cute and automatically funny, formally interviewing them is too challenging. The other big factor hindering us was the audio. We quickly learned that small children shouldn’t be expected to handle foreign objects like wireless microphones. A boom mic is more reasonable, as it can be set at a height that is out of the way and not required to be attached to the child for crying out loud….Literally! Lastly we decided that the interview setting was too formal. These are kids we are talking about. We needed to make the environment more suitable for them to feel comfortable.

My mom always told me that the third time’s a charm. I was totally banking on that when we decided to try this concept one last time before completely bagging it forever. This time, though, Sandy called a family of seven into the studio: five children, who were all 5 years old, and a mother and father. Dad tells Sandy that he would like to use this as a Mother’s Day gift for mom. So now the heat is on. We need to get it this time. It’s not just a Frankenstein experiment anymore. Dad already wants it, and it’s not even done. Luckily we had total creative control. Sandy’s first idea was to get the kids to loosen up with some good ol’e jumping on the bed. She has the kids jump on a comfy couch one by one. The kids loved this. I don’t think they were allowed to do this at home, so extra points for us already. Then Sandy printed out some signs that read “I LOVE YOU MOMMY!” We gave the signs to kids out of order, and then filmed them as they tried to sort out the message, simultaneously capturing stills the entire time. The idea worked brilliantly. Next Sandy asked the children to sing a song. Together they all sang the song that their mother puts them to bed with.

Play Video

Then we started the interview process. One by one, we put them in the hot seat and asked the same questions. We used a boom mic this time so we didn’t have to worry about

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

broken equipment or switching the mic out every time we changed subjects. This made it very easy to get them in and out. For the most part, we got the answers we were looking for. It worked wonderfully. All along the way we captured tons of great video of the kids playing, singing and being silly. To finish the project, we asked the father to sit and say a few words to his wife. We set the camera up, pressed record, and left the room. We told him to take as much time as he needed, and to just speak through the camera to his wife. We knew that leaving him alone would put him in a very comfortable place. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want him holding anything back. It worked wonderfully. We captured his raw emotion. Anyone can feel how much he loves his wife just by watching

the clip. Success. We got our amazing interview. (See video two) The bottom line: applying video to your sessions may not be easy. You may fail. It may take you a few stabs at it before you really get it. Who cares? The beautiful thing is that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so new there are no rules! You can try anything you want. You make the rules. As photographers, you already know how to create laughter and capture moments that people cherish. You have the gift of getting people to forget about the camera and reveal their unique self to the world. You already know how to create a beautiful image. You know how to expose and compose. The hardest part is done!

I feel that photographers are backwards learning this whole video thing. You have the advantage here. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the videographers of the world who should be worrying about their jobs, not photographers. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their industry that is changing now, changing because photographers are now offering more services, using better cameras, and creating better imagery. Be bold. Get out there and experiment. Who knows? You may create the next big thing that every client wants.

Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

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Creative Edge Kids Tour: Canada 2012

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