Key Steps to Get Started in School Photography

 

So, you’re thinking about getting started in school photography? That is so awesome! School photography can be so much fun and can really get your creativity flowing! You get to be part of creating magical moments that will forever be remembered by kids and parents. But getting into preschool or elementary school photography can be a little tricky, especially if you are new to the school photography world. Don’t let that stop you though! Here are the key steps to get started in school photography you need to know to? start rocking school portrait photography!

* This post is sponsored and created to help you learn how to get the most out of getting started in school portrait photography. Any brands or products mentioned are ones I support and believe will help you succeed in your photography goals!

Get Organized

Working as a school photographer means that you will be working in high volume. Lots of kids, lots of parents, but also lots of fun! Because of this it is extremely important that you are very well organized. You will need to figure out your business plan, find customers, and deliver your photos in a way that is extremely easy and straightforward both for you and for the parents.

 

Find your Customers

Decide who your ideal customer will be. Having the right customers will ensure that you will get started on the right foot! It will also help you progress further in school photography. Some questions to ask yourself:

Do you want to photograph preschool students? 

Do you work better with the older elementary kids?

What is the demographic of your town?

Do you already have connections in the schools your children went to?

These are all great questions for you to think about when deciding what schools you will be targeting. Choose a few schools to contact and be VERY prepared to answer any questions they might have. Here’s a great free and downloadable cheat sheet for you on how to acquire new customers and what they might ask.

 

 

Know Your Camera Equipment

Next, you’ll have to decide what equipment you’ll need to run a school portrait photography business. Many people automatically think they need lots of gear, lighting, backdrops, props, hey the list can go on and on right?

That is not necessarily true.

You might decide that natural light photography works for you.

In that case, no need to worry about flashes and external lighting.

You might love the look of natural portraits. 

If so, forget all the fancy backdrops. Market yourself as a natural photographer and use the playground or classroom in a natural way.

Or you might prefer the look of the traditional school portraits

That’s awesome too, but in that case, you need to make sure you understand lighting and have plenty of backdrops to use.

 

Develop A Clear Workflow

This is the tricky part. It sounds kinda confusing, but if you get a set workflow into place from the beginning, working with high volume photography can be a piece of cake. 

So what should your workflow include?

First, you’ll need a way to find more customers and to make sure that your current customers are taken care of the best way possible!

Then, you’ll need a system for organizing all those photos (and there will be a lot!)

Next, you’ll need to take care of tasks like invoicing, processing orders and working with photo labs. Having service like, GotPhoto is one way you can do this and make things much easier for yourself!

Finally , stay on top of your workflow by automating all your day to day business activities. GotPhoto is awesome at this because they promise to handle the tedious admin work, so photographers can focus on enjoying photography. (they’ll even help you monitor your sales and marketing statistics!)

 

 

Have A Seamless Sales System In Place

If you are a parent, you’ll remember all those paper order forms your kids would shove in their backpack and return to you all crumpled up. Ordering photos from those paper forms was kinda confusing and you weren’t quite sure if your child would even get your order back to the teacher. You probably didn’t love that way of ordering, and other parents don’t either. They want a seamless and easy way to order their kids school photos.

For you to succeed in school photography, simplicity is key.

Having an online customizable shop can make the process super easy for both you, the school and parents. This is ultimately an online sales system (we live in the digital world now, right) Not sure how to go about choosing an online system for your school photography biz? No worries, I’ve got you covered, my friends at GotPhoto are letting you try out their online sales system for school photographers for free! (I think you’ll like it!)

 

 

And there you have it! The key steps for getting started in school photography! So get out there and talk to some schools, stay organized and create some magical memories!

 

 

I always love seeing what you’ve got! When you do jump head first into school photography, I’d love to see what you create. If you post a shot on your Instagram, make sure to tag or mention me @cozyclicks, so I can see what you’re creating!