W
e could use this [image] for the center spread of your book,”
I said to Angel as we posed her for her image on the green vel-
veteen background.
“Ever since I saw that in American Beauty, I always wanted something
like this,” she said, “but I’m a yellow rose kind of girl.”
Click. “You’ve got to see this,” I said, climbing down from the steplad-
der. I knew we’d nailed the image. The pose, expression, lighting, and back-
ground weren’t going to get any better.
I turned the camera around to show her. “Wow... yes. That’s it,” she
said. The sale was made right there. Even though she’d later see the image
projected on an eight-foot screen, the two-inch LCD image confirmed it to
us both. In that one moment, I reinforced her desire to purchase the prod-
uct I’d be selling her at the end of the process. It was actually the culmina-
tion of the sale.
Plan for Success, But Be Open to Inspiration.
Of course, the sales process had actually beguna couple months earlier at her
consultation. Since we’re in a commissioned art business, it’s important to
understand our client’s desires and needs ahead of
time. After all, you can’t spend hours creating im-
ages in hopes you’ll stumble across something
your client likes. It’s equally nonproductive to fin-
ish a great session, show your client her images, and only then begin pre-
senting the product options. This isn’t to say that every glamour session goes
according to a rigidly determined plan. Instead, the consultation usually sets
up a flexible outline with a final product in mind. Depending on how well
the session goes, we often go beyond that.
A recent session is a great example. Renae (facing page) had been chosen
for this year’s radio station calendar. At her consultation, she said she wasn’t
really interested in doing anything more than her calendar features and did-
n’t really want to buy anything beyond the few images she got as part of the
radio station gift package.
116 MASTER GUIDE FOR GLAMOUR PHOTOGRAPHY
8. SALES BEGINS BEFORE THE SESSION
You can’t spend hours creating images in hopes
you’ll stumble across something your client likes.