Photovision Roadshow

First of the year held in Edinburgh. Great to see many Scottish friends and thanks to everyone who turned up for my presentation. I would recommend photographers to attend this event as this offers so much i.e a variety of free seminars, trade shows and a chance to meet up with other professionals. I was presenting on behalf of Nikon and I will be at the next one which is at Hatfield House, Hatfield on 28 April 09.

My presentation is ‘The Business of Photography’ is at 11.45am to 12.45pm. Hope to see you there.

Registration & entrance is free. Please visit Photovison’s Website for more info.

Oz

Portraits for Profit

The last leg of the tour was held at Poole, Milton Keynes & Kingston. Thanks to everyone who attended and a big thank you to Katie Green for being our wonderful model. Due to overwhelming demand, another date has been added – 9 May 2009 at Nikon House, Kingston. To avoid disappointment, book early!

The workshops are about shooting on-location with simple lighting techniques, usually a single light to create images like these as below:

For bookings & details, please visit Nikon’s Website

Oz

Apple Store: Regent Street London

THE BUSINESS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Thank you to Apple for inviting me to do a presentation at their UK’s flagship store in Regent Street London. The turnout was very good and the audience was a mixture of full & part time professional photographers. I enjoyed the evening very much and I always love presenting  at my favourite store in London!

I’ll be back at Apple on 15 June 2009 where we’ll have a studio set up demonstration of how to shoot on-location with Nikon’s Creative Lighting System. No booking is required, however you are advised to turn up early to secure a seat. Hope to see you there.

For more info and schedule of other events & workshops, please visit the Apple website.

Oz

BIPP

EVENTS SEMINAR

I was at the Head Office of The British Institute of Professional Photography to present a seminar on Events Photography. For a change I did not have to travel miles & miles as their HO is just 15 mins drive. The whole day was about Events and how photographers can make a living out of it. The next seminar is in November 2009. For more info & details, please visit www.bipp.com

New Scotland Yard

I was privileged to be asked to do a presentation at the head quarters of New Scotland Yard and talk about the various aspects of photography including how I shoot on-location, the type of work I do and the business of photography in general.

Almost 60 members of their photography society attended who I must say were extremely knowledgeable  and keen to learn new tips & tricks. 

I thank you for your invitation.

PS: I’ve never felt so safe in London before!!

Portraits for Profit – Manchester

 

Thank you to everyone who attended this Workshop. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and we somehow managed to miss the rain (& snow).

Some images shot during the workshop of model Katie Green.

Next stop: Cardiff on Wednesday.

Oz

Nikon announce new seminar

Business & Beyond

14 May 2009
Venue: Apple UK, Stockley Park (near Heathrow)
10.00am to 4.00pm
£30.00 includes lunch & refreshments 

Multi-award winning photographer Uzair Kharawala presents this exciting day long seminar. Oz will talk how to be creative in photography and in business, by being one step ahead of your competitors!  During this seminar you will learn how to organise your business in a cost effective way, how to market yourselves and create your brand, workshop tips and techniques from shooting right until output and much much more. 

For more info & bookings, please visit Nikon’s website.

Review of Foto SF by BIPP Magazine

“Foto SF offers productivity hike and slick admin for stressed snappers. The database solution for photographers who can’t stand databases could well bring an end to  sleepless nights.”

The March issue of The Photographer, monthly magazine of The British Institute of Professional Photographers (BIPP) did a review of Foto SF. Here is what was writtern in the article:

“Let’s face it. There aren’t many photographers who really like being organised. It’s almost as if there’s some kind of gene deficiency lurking deep down in the creative make-up that makes this so. Hence, when it comes to a product specifically designed to organise stuff, it better be good. Really good. Or no-one’s going to be bothered. After all, most of us consider filing to be a matter of knowing that we haven’t actually lost something.

So, if Foto SF was just a basic busines tool that joined together all the tedious tasks we do like invoicing and VAT returns, then it wouldn’t be worth worrying about. However, it is much, much more than that. Any piece of software just has to break the barrier of ‘I can now do something I couldn’t do before’. Then it becomes a worthy tool in the box. A number of the numerous Foto SF features fall into this category, and one such area is based around marketing.

If photographers aren’t particularly good at getting organised, then marketing follows a near second worst. But once Foto SF is built up with all your client contacts, it’s what you do with this information that counts, it’s what you do with this information that counts in spades. Whether you would want to easily and quickly send birthday cards to clients is uncertain (see the web demo) but the idea is crucial. Getting in touch with your client base in a memorable way (and regularly at that) is the name of the game – be that by means of snail mail or html email. Foto SF has a built in system that lets you send bulk html emails (messages that look nice for anyone wondering) to your client list with just a few clickerry-clicks of the mouse. Now we’re talking. And the £345 price tag (Mac or PC) is starting to make sense.

The next set of features in the latest version 2 that makes Foto SF stand out are about business management. You can create tiers of pricing and we like the sound of that, as really making sure you have a policy is just so important. All the while it can show you the percentage profit you’ve made on jobs. You can also input an inventory of all the gear you have (if you can remember) and see exactly how much it’s worth at any time. Neat. And there’s a system of reporting and reminders built in that trigger the sirens when overdues turn into bad debts and you are trying to forget about chasing them down. What’s more (and you better be sitting down for this one) Foto SF can in fact carry your business plan and illustrate to you how you’re doing, forecast against actual for the month or year. Gulp. Now part of me is attracted by that, and part of me has already run a mile. The choic….is yours.

It is also true that Foto SF makes a very pleasant job of running your office for you when you’re on the move, being entirely iPhone or PDA compatible. So you can log in to your database and tweak and change whilst you’re away from the desk. That’s all very well but it’s essentially going over some ground that especially Apple has covered by means of its Mobile Me functionality that pushes or pulls amends or additions to calendars and contacts from iPhone to server to Your Mac or vice versa, without you doing anything flash. So you wouldn’t buy Foto SF for that alone, unless you were more than a one-man band. And here’s the rub. If you’re a lone snapper with a decent but not huge client base, Foto SF is most likely a step too far. But if one has become two or three plus a supporting cast, then it very much is going to make lots of sense. Try before you buy and carry out your own cost-benefit analysis by visiting the Foto SF website.”

Portraits for Profit Workshop – Update

Very few spaces are left now on 2 of the dates. If you are thinking of coming along, book now to avoid disappointment:

4 March – Manchester, FULL

12 March – Cardiff, 2 places left

19 March – Poole, 2 places left

23 March – Milton Keynes, FULL

25 March – Kingston, FULL

For more info & bookings, visit Nikon’s website

Portraits for Profit – Update

Very few spaces are left now on 2 of the dates. If you are thinking of coming along, book now to avoid disappointment:

4 March – Manchester, FULL

12 March – Cardiff, 2 places left

19 March – Poole, 2 places left

23 March – Milton Keynes, FULL

25 March – Kingston, FULL

For more info & bookings, visit Nikon’s website