“My husband said that one of his friends got pictures of his wife recently,”
said Dana. “He said he’d really like to have some of me—and he thought you
took the ones of his buddy’s wife.”
“Is his name Doug and hers Kristal?” I asked.
“Curvy short girl with a Courtney Cox haircut?” Dana asked. “If you
did those Christmas cards, you have a lot of admirers in the 454th!”
Within a month, Melanie, Beth, and Jackie all scheduled sessions. I also
photographed Dana, who I knew from photographing her wedding a few
years earlier, but she was the only one of the wives from the 454th that I
knew before the shoot—the rest were all new clients gained through the re-
ferral from Kristal’s husband.
In chapter 1, we looked at images of Fawn, Elizabeth, and Laura—all
medical techs from a prominent clinic. The three women did their sessions
together, booking a half day of my studio time. The referrals that resulted
from this session weren’t as fast paced as the military ones, but within a year
I had photographed a half dozen other women who worked at the clinic, as
well as some of their friends.
Special Events. Creating a special event can be a good way to get peo-
ple excited about your work—and to encourage them to book a session ei-
ther now or in the future.
For example, since 1997, Ihave run a Valentine’s Day promotion every
January. I originally expected nothing more than to boost cash flow in an
otherwise slow month. What I didn’t realize at the time was that most
women wouldn’t respond to the event directly; instead, I was building a last-
ing impression as to the type and quality of my glamour work. Now I run the
event with the intention of building my brand recognition and reputation
rather than booking a month’s worth of glamour sessions.
While I try to improve the promotion every year, I think I’ve come up
with a cost-effective, month-long advertising campaign that creates a lasting
impression. As noted on pages 107–9, the centerpiece of this is my mall dis-
play. In my market area of about a quarter million (I know that, to some of
you, this is small), we have one dominant mall. In
fact, an entire retail community covering several
square miles has grown up with Oakwood Mall at
its center. It draws traffic from probably a hundred
miles in each direction, making it perfect to display my work.
For five weeks, from January 1 to the first weekend in February, my dis-
play in the mall is devoted to glamour photography. The rest of the year,
glamour is a minor part of the display. I decorate the 8x12x10-foot kiosk
with fifteen to twenty large, framed portraits—all depicting different photo-
graphic styles and subjects. Again, relying on just a model release is not suf-
ficient for this usage; make sure your subjects know ahead of time that their
images will appear in the display.
To support the larger images, we’ll also include smaller galleries, a few
session books, a glamour album (propped up on a red Valentine’s Day candy
112 MASTER GUIDE FOR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
I’ve come up with a cost-effective advertising
campaign that creates a lasting impression.