Kari Campos Photography | Chicago, IL

Hey there! I have lots to share since I last posted. I was hoping to share what I’ve been up to a bit earlier, but I was in VEGAS last week for my “real” job. Boy oh boy, does Vegas wear one out, whether working or playing. Anyway, back to the topic at hand…

1. Since the weather has officially turned here in Chicago, and the snow will likely be on the ground until March, my sessions have come to a halt. I’m not necessarily opposed to doing indoor shoots, it’s just that I have no experience in shooting portraits indoors. I know the importance of natural light, and I’ll have reflector by year’s end, so I may be open to giving some a try. One that I know I’ll definitely be shooting is my new nephew or niece who will be arriving in late January/early February. So stay tuned!

2. I can’t believe I’ve kept this one from you guys! I’m now the proud owner of a Canon 7D!! Ain’t she pretty (pictured here with the 5omm f/1.4 that never leaves my camera)?!

I haven’t had a lot of chances to shoot with it quite yet, but I did snap this shot of my husband and father-in-law the day after I got it. I can’t wait to try it with a full-on session!

I’m also the new owner of Adobe Lightroom. I’ve played around with it a little bit, but I’m so clueless of where to start. Anyone know of any good resources to learn the basics?

3. I’ve been making a lot of progress with the whole establishing a business route. I attended a free small business class at a local university to gain some information in addition to what I’ve been reading up on online. I’m currently drafting my business plan–one of the biggest tips I received. The plan in and of itself doesn’t guarantee success, but it helps one really think through all of the different aspects of their business (the current market, business structure, competition, pricing, niche, financial projections, etc.). It’s a lot of work, but I think it’ll definitely be worth it. Come January 1st, my plan is to officially submit my paperwork to become a business (sole proprietorship for the time being), which means I can take the next steps with a lot of other things I need to do, such as opening bank accounts for the business, purchasing insurance, getting a tax ID number, being able to write-off my expenses and pursue things like an overhaul of this website, my logo, etc. There’s so much I’ll need to do, but I’m hoping the break from session after session during the winter months will allow me to be totally ready to roll with Kari Campos Photography come spring! Whew, I have a feeling it’s going to be quite a ride!

I’ll be sure to share the journey along the way. I know when I was interested in pursuing photography, I didn’t know where to start (and in many ways, still don’t). So I figure, the more I share, the easier it will be for others out there who are also interested.

And if I don’t post before the week’s end, Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

My goal when starting this blog was to share my journey, the good and bad, the ups and downs, of pursuing a photography career. At first, I was very good about sharing what I’d been up to, what I’d be learning, my fears and worries. But lately, I’ve just been blogging sessions. Which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, because really that’s what I’ve been doing in photography land. But I still feel like I have a lot more to share, especially with those who first started reading this blog because they were interested in photography themselves and enjoyed reading about someone else’s experiences and not just looking at session pictures.

So I’m going to try to be better about it and share more. Starting with this post.

See this picture here?

This is a picture of my not-so-glamorous packaging. You see, when I offered to shoot a session with my little cousins in September, little did I know that my free session offer would take off from there (not that I’m complaining or anything). Before I knew it, I had several weekends booked with photoshoots.

I decided that, while I didn’t (and really still don’t) consider myself  a “professional”, I still wanted to present myself as one. My feeling was that if I were wanting to build clientele, then I needed to impress from the get-go, whether charging or not. Just mailing a CD of images a couple weeks after the session wasn’t memorable. I knew this because the photographer who took our engagement pictures and was just building his portfolio as well did just that. However, my wedding photographer’s packaging was memorable and beautiful. It’s something I still remember even though we received it a year ago.

Now here was the dilemma, I was shooting these sessions for free. I’m not made of money, far from it actually. I didn’t want to invest a large sum of money in packaging, yet I still wanted to make a good first impression. So first on the list was business cards. I used the logo that is on this website (which I designed on a whim one evening in about 30 minutes), slapped it on a card with my email and website and ordered 500 of them from VistaPrint. For the disc of images, I bought basic CD cases and mounted two business cards to the case.  I put together an informational sheet regarding their images. I also write a nice little note thanking them for the opportunity to photograph them, because really, I am so thankful that they trusted me enough to photograph them. I print out mailing labels (with my logo too) and put it on a padded envelope. And wala! There you have it–inexpensive yet semi-professional packaging.

Here’s the thing about it. Everyone has to start somewhere. I’m not “in business” yet. I’m not bringing in any money, so breaking the bank with pretty packaging just isn’t feasible. But, as with most things including my logo and website, I do plan to upgrade and step up my packaging come springtime when I “open shop”. 

“Baby steps,” I tell myself. And I have a lot of those steps to make in the next couple months.