Do you wish that you were one of those people that busts through the admin side of running a business in no time? Let’s face it, we’d all rather be out taking pretty pictures, making gorgeous films or just hanging with our Besties instead of being chained to a desk. If you are like us and the mere mention of the word spreadsheet brings you out in a rash, then join us for Kay Peacey’s informative and entertaining introduction to some of the programmes and apps that could help us all to claw back some of our precious time.

Kay is the girl geek powering the mighty Design Space and Site School alongside Melissa Love.

As both a music industry and wedding photographer, Lee Allen knows the power of a good candid shot as well as techniques for insuring that you get some killer ones. So we asked him to lead a class on shooting them at weddings. This session is both an examination into what elements form great candid shots and a practical hands on class with shooting elements.

• Starting with an expiation of what I think a candid so that we are all in the same page.
• very brief expiation on why I love candids
• The wrong and the right way of shooting candids – 

• Moments..
• People are creatures of habit
• The imprortance of light
• Layering 
• Stories in pictures
• Losing the fear of being found out (ie getting close without being a douchebag)
• Why candids are the glue that holds your wedding story together

This is a talk on growing your business in a human way, relying on word of mouth and more traditional methods rather than followers and the numbers game. I’ll give insight into how I grew my business not only within New Zealand but across the globe, how to come up with ideas that suit you and your brand to support what you do and basically just how to be the best human being in business possible.

*Undertone of what to do if you have a foreign name on social media and the odds of someone clicking your name are stacked against you.

Topics covered …

– Figuring out who your market is
– Why I avoid booking too much from google / social media etc
– Strategising the ways you deal with your couples and working through a customer experience
– Staying organised within your business and how I schedule my business
– Pricing and balance

Do you ever get the feeling that everyone else knows the tricks to Instagram and you don’t? Is there a secret magic formula to building up your following and gaining more business via Instagram that you simply don’t know? It totally baffles us so we asked destination wedding photographer Mark Pacura to break it all down for us. Mark has a very healthy following on both his wedding account (26k) and also does all the social media for the Wooden Banana (17k) account. He regularly books international wedding clients through Instagram and has grown his hugely successful Wooden Box and USB company very muck thanks to his regular posts featuring gorgeous product images and aspirational imagery.

Forget buying followers, Mark is proof that you can gain a large following and create a successful business with authenticity and style.

When I started out 6 years ago, there was an uncomfortable pressure to be a documentary wedding photographer.

Posing (and even being visible) was considered a negative thing. I used to look at the photographers I liked for inspiration, I looked at their work and would think: ‘why doesn’t mine look like that?’

Throughout this time I’ve seen some amazing documentary wedding photographers, and I’m not one of them. And so I looked harder to find out why my work didn’t hit home.

What did I have to do to change and get the shots I wanted?

Intervene!* *but only slightly.

I will show you images throughout my talk explaining how I increase both the quality and quantity of photos at many stages throughout the wedding.

Prep, ceremony, speeches, more.

I’m not a documentary wedding photographer, and that’s quite ok with me, because in 6 years, after almost quitting twice, I’m now shooting weddings with more enjoyment, more confidence, more ease than ever before.

So many of us seem to be all in on Instagram right now. Yes it is a great platform for showing your work but have you now put all your marketing eggs in one basket?

Neil Thomas Douglas believes that Facebook is just as good if not better for connecting him with current and potential clients, for getting his work to the right audience and for general business efficiency.

So we asked him to tell us about his approach and why we should all still be regularly posting there as well as some techniques that work really well for building an audience and keeping your work appearing in timelines.

A Shoot Based Class with Emilie White who believes that we don’t need epic locations to create interesting or spectacular imagery and Lisa Jane who is known for her intimate couple portraits.

Two Photographers with different visions showing you different possibilities within the same scenarios.

– Shooting in any location and shooting in crap light. Learning to see the light but also to see extraordinary in what can appear ordinary. Not just hero shots but thinking of the value that images can gain as time goes forward.

– Interaction with your couples: how to make them feel at ease and gain their trust.

– Getting emotional investment and connection from couples.

Kat is the Rock n Roll Bride, one of the world’s biggest wedding blogs and now a national magazine. She has a unique perspective on the industry, is always powering forward and knows a good photo when she sees it. Every single day she is submitted hundreds of weddings so how can any of us hope to stand out. Getting featured in a wedding blog or print magazine can be the holy grail of marketing so we asked Kat to give us an insight into how to get noticed.

Harnessing the power of wedding blogs and magazines to only ever book your dream clients

– Dos and don’ts of submissions
– Styled shoots and why I hate them
– Blog advertising and how its changing
– Print isn’t dead
– Extra tips that your competitors wont have thought of

As well as being a website master, Melissa Love also runs The Design Space and Site School… A place where creatives can purchase website templates and learn how to adapt them and do all the ongoing work. She did the bespoke design for Lisa’s main website which is exquisite and this site is built on one of her gorgeous templates. I think that if she can get me to understand WordPress then she could educate just about anyone. So at Farm we just can’t get enough of Melissa and have asked her to return with an updated version of this talk. She will cover a little of everything including the latest thinking on SEO, blogging strategy, design and selecting for your portfolio.

You might have heard of Constellation. It’s a wedding photography workshop created by myself and The Twins. Rangefinder Magazine sponsor it, and Junebug Weddings called it ‘One of the Best Wedding Photography Workshops to Attend in 2018’. My two classes at Farmers Market are taking some of the most popular elements from this workshop, and wrapping them up into neat one hour sessions.

My talk ‘The Art of Slight Intervention’ is my mental explanation as to why I’m OK with not being a documentary wedding photographer, and how this approach is getting me the shots I see in my head.

I’m adding one more one hour talk to compliment my first class and it’s called ‘Living Outside of your Camera’.

If you’ve already booked your ticket to ‘The Art of Slight Intervention’, then consider this class as the technical 50% on how I shoot the images I want

How I’m shooting less at a wedding and delivering not only more, but the exact images of the exact quality I want, whilst never missing moments.

Attend both or either class, they are different aspects of the same theme.

As well as being a busy UK based Wedding Photographer, Emilie White used to be an intellectual property Lawyer. So she has a detailed knowledge of the law and what is required in a contract. She will share her insights as to what should be included to protect yourself and be clear as to what happens with our images.

Of course no matter what you do, sometime the shit just hits the fan. We deal in a highly emotional business so it’s not alway going to go your way. If you become the target of a client’s unhappiness or dissatisfaction, how do you limit damage to your hard earned reputation and what are good strategies to resolve any issues?

As both a music industry and wedding photographer, Lee Allen is well used to having to think on the run and work with a minimal kit. So he can always be as mobile as he is creative, Lee doesn’t lug around a ton of kit. After seeing him shoot a couple of times, we are sure that you will learn lots from the half day shoot based class where Lee will show you some surprising techniques that are all super accessible. This isn’t a deep dive into flash, instead it’s a fun session designed to open your mind as to what is possible with a few select and affordable pieces of kit that easily fit in your pocket or current kit bag. If you are stuck for ideas when it comes to bad lighting or shooting after dark, then this session will really fire you up.

Do you scroll though your Instagram feed and feel envious of all those photographers shooting in beautiful destinations? If this is an area that you dream about breaking into or you’ve tried and not made much headway yet, this class could be perfect for you. Mark Pacura is always on a plane to beautiful places, shooting gorgeous wedding and elopements. He must have more air miles than George Clooney in Up and Away but is it all as glamorous as it looks and how do we get a slice of the pie?

Luckily for us, Mark is very much a realist, this isn’t a talk where you will be told that you shoot for free and make it all look good on social media. This is a practical examination of how to carve out a sustainable business shooting destination weddings. How to book them, shoot them, show them and make money from them.

Björn Lexius shoots weddings as Hafenliebe and also very striking portraits. We have yet to meet but invited him over to Farmers Market as we love his punk attitude with a vegan soul. His images are edgy but always focused on emotion and connection.

Connect to your clients better by understanding their relationship. Achieve more emotional connection between you and them and how to get more emotional and hopefully meaningful photos for them.

Liveshoot around Brighton

Post-Processing

Branding to find the right clients for you

Melissa Love is the brains behind The Design Space and Site School… she has been building websites for creatives for several years and has evolved her business into a one stop shop for branding, websites and education. She is passionate about marketing and wants to open our minds as to how creating and managing a mailing list could help us be more specific in who we target and make much better use of our marketing budgets. I highly recommend that if you buy this class, you also book onto Smarter Facebook Ads. Although both classes are powerful in their own right, combined they could revolutionise how you put yourself in front of the right clients.

Siân Davey may be our only speaker at this event with her own Wikipedia Page. She has won much praise for both of her published books, Looking For Alice and Martha and also picked up multiple Taylor Wessing National Portrait Awards as well as a Royal Photographic Society Medal. She has exhibited a solo show at The National Portrait Gallery and her list of accolades and achievements are far too many to list here. Her photography might on first viewing appear to be simple in its presentation and subject matter. It’s based on her family and everyday surroundings. However, most likely due to her background as a practising psychotherapist, Siân’s work is actually as complex as it is compelling. We feel very privileged that she will be joining us at Market to present a talk on her approach to Portraiture and her philosophy on photography.

Do you spend May until October locked in your editing cave? You know there is no glory in spending every waking hour glued to your computer screen, there is always another way. We don’t know any photographers that shoot more weddings than Neil Thomas Douglas and yet each time that we head up to Glasgow, he always has time for a pint and a natter. In fact Neil is more likely to be at the tennis court of an evening than at his desk, yet he doesn’t outsource any of his editing.

Is he cutting corners? We don’t see how, his work is stunning and he has won more Farmers Image of the Week than any other photographer. So Neil, let us all in on your secrets …

Have you ever boosted a post on your Facebook or Instagram and just hoped for the best? Let’s face it, considering that their goal is to make money from us, they make it very far from straightforward. We have businesses that we want to put in front of specific people, we don’t want to just throw our £5 notes out of a big old social media window. So why is the interface so confusing?

In fact it’s not, you just need some guidance on how to use it, how to get your site ready to interact with it and how to precisely target the right clients. The truth is that when you know how to properly navigate ads, they are an unrivalled tool that can connect you with a very targeted market for minimal investment. When you finish this class I promise that you will be absolutely kicking yourself that you didn’t find out this stuff earlier.

Kay is the girl geek powering the mighty Design Space and Site School alongside Melissa Love. She has a straight talking approach to educating and she is insanely passionate about all things tech and nerdy.

Same kinda vibe as our “hustle hard” workshop, so you can get an insight on what The Costa Sisters are all about.

The goal will be for you to walk away feeling like you’ve got this! With a fresh new take on how to help your unique business grow, attract the right kinds of people for you + ultimately feeling more confident in your vision!
An informal mentor session where we’ll talking branding, marketing, directing + shooting Fusion or Videography.

So, expect a whole lotta us blabbing about:
x The importance of how you’re marketing your brand.
x Killer tips on how to attract your dream clients.
x The experience we give each of our clients, from start to finish.
x Insights to our structure + media packs.
x How we get that high energy during our shoots.

The more informal the better, as it’s more our style <3

Kat from Rock n Roll Bride has been blogging since 2007 and now ranks as one of the biggest wedding blogs globally. So she knows the power of blogging and in addition, her quest to find fresh content means that she looks at a helluva lot of photographers’ and videographers’ blogs. So we asked her to do a talk on blogging for today…

Social media is shiny and exciting. You share one killer image and it gets some lovely likes, maybe even a few nice comments and you get that warm ‘n fussy feeling of VALIDATION. On the flip side you spend hours putting together a blog post and it’s like tumbleweed. UGH! Is there even any point in blogging anymore?

I say YES, especially if you’re a wedding photographer or videographer. In this session I will talk about how and why you should still be blogging your work as well as sharing some of my top tips for success.

Why you should still blog

What to say, What photos to post

How often to post

How to engage people to reach out

What to share on social media 

While many of our wedding photography heroes might be targeting and showing a very specific style of client, Neil Thomas Douglas isn’t so fussed about booking couples with a certain aesthetic. Some of his weddings might even be deemed a tad traditional, however Neil is an absolute master at always creating something on the epic side. He has grown quite a reputation for his highly impressive imagery that often encompasses the landscape plus an extraordinary amount of rainbows. It’s at the point where I don’t think we’d be too surprised if we could spot a couple of unicorns grazing in the background of one of his shots.

So is Neil up in The Isle Of Skye every week or off on a flight to Iceland? Well he might be sometimes but he can just as likely be found in a city location or a country hotel. Yet Neil always seems to find somewhere to shoot that ensures his couples end up with really show stopping images. They don’t happen by happy accident, Neil ensures that his clients are as invested in achieving these images as he is and so we asked him to return to Farm and share his methods for not only orchestrating these shots but also executing them. And as this is a shoot based class, we will be challenging him to come up with something epic in or around our venue.

Wave goodbye to golden hour and say hello to the world of gritty, alternative and naturally lit group shots and portraits.

Since being named as one of Stylist Magazines top ten alternative wedding photographers Matt has been focused on bringing an alternative approach to even the more “traditional” elements of wedding photography.

He will talk through the inspiration and approach behind insta-worthy group shots, how to manage expectations, numbers, available light and drunk ushers.

He will also look at how to create alternative portraits wherever you shoot using low light, photo bombing commuters/guests/dogs/peacocks, framing and an eye for the unusual.

You will then all head out to put it into practice with a quick shoot in and around the venue before heading back to see Matt’s workflow and processing techniques.