Take your Photography to the next level while you cruise to one of the most Exquisite and Beautiful Islands in the world, the Bahamas

Imagine seeing, living, and breathing the sea air, all while letting your creativity run loose in one of the most captivating places in the world. Set sail for the Bahamas! Learn from master photographer, Scott Robert Lim, as he teaches you how he achieves his signature lighting and posing style. Scott is recognized as one of the leading photography educators in the country and is happy to share ALL his trade secrets. This is your chance to be a part of our community of international photographers, driven to excellence, and sharing a passion to be world-class photographers, all helping one another to achieve our dreams. Be inspired by former students who have risen to great success, hear their story, feel their passion, see their work, and be prepared to take your imagery to the next level. We will cruise down the Atlantic Ocean leaving from Miami, Florida making our way to the beautiful and serene Islands of the Bahamas. Make friends from around the world, and of course take some images that will set you apart in our competitive business. Just don’t imagine yourself as an international photographer, be one!

This workshop will sell out and there is first priority to those who have previously been to a week long SR workshop, or if you are currently a lifetime member of our mentoring series in both the San Francisco and Los Angeles area. The few remaining spots will be given to those on a first come basis. All new workshop attendees must fill out a pre-registration form. This workshop is an investment and we want to make sure this program is a right fit for every attendee.

Registration includes a FREE immediate download of my Master Learning Guide to Flash Photography- an interactive pdf filled with info on how to get started with flash, containing diagrams, learning tools, audio, videos, links to live web content for almost unlimited learning on the subject of flash photography, a $95 value.

If you are new to a SR workshop please fill out this pre-registration form

If you are a SR Alumni “add to cart” to reserve your spot now!

Bahamas Tuition: First 1-10 Students $ 1,495, the next 11-14 students to book the Tuition is $1,995

*USD (travel, accommodations and meals not included)

Itinerary (subject to change):

Please fly into Miami International Airport if traveling by plane

Thursday- 6:00 p.m. Meet and Greet dinner in Miami, Florida (Meet in lobby of Beacon Hotel)

Friday- 12:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Board Cruise Ship (Departure time 4:00 p.m.), Afternoon-Lecture (Lighting), Dinner at 8:15pm, Night-Practice shooting (optional)

Saturday- Early Morning-Lecture (Posing), 10:00 am Arrive in the Bahamas, After arrival-Shooting with models (Late afternoon and evening)

Sunday- 7:00 a.m. Ship Departs the Bahamas, Morning-Lecture 10am, Lunch, Free-Time, 4pm-7pm Sunset-Shoot on Cruise ship

Monday- 8:00 a.m. Arrive back in Miami Florida

Accommodations:

Thurs Night: We will have one night in Miami Florida before we set sail Friday afternoon. I recommend that you arrive in Miami a day early if you are flying into Miami just in case flights are delayed or canceled. Please book your reservations, see below info for special hotel rate:

Friday to Monday: We will be sailing Carnival Cruise, price per-person including taxes and fees is between $281.49 (interior cabin) and $301.59 (ocean view cabin) while on the ship, food is included. Price for cruise is subject to change after Sept 3^rd 2011. PLEASE CALL Cortland Anderson at Carnival Cruise is (866) 857-7231 EX 35528 (there is no online registration for group registration)

When booking please use this information: Scott Robert Photo Group and our group number is 758LL5, Dinner reservation time is 8:15pm

Tuition Bahamas Workshop $1,495 USD (Does not include travel, accommodations and meals unless noted)

If you can’t make it to Bahamas, join us for the local series of lectures and program to provide coaching throughout the year in San Francisco Bay.  An amazing opportunity to be mentored and coached by Scott Robert Lim. Complete the mentoring program and receive a certificate of completion and be one of the elite recognized as a qualified professional under the supervision of a certified master photographer. Click here to see what our complete mentoring program has to offer.

About Scott Robert

Internationally acclaimed, master photographer, Scott Robert Lim (Cr. Photog, AOPA) was awarded the prestigious 2009 WPPI Kodak Award and was inducted into WPPI’s Society of Excellence and has earned an Accolade of Outstanding Photographic Achievement by one of the world’s largest photographic societies. He is recognized as one of the finest and leading educators in the county and honored at Imaging USA 2011 were he was awarded his Photographic Craftsman’s degree. He has won over 50 international awards. His work has been published in books and magazines distributed worldwide and has taught and mentored many professional photographers around the world. Scott is a popular international speaker with an exciting and inspirational style.

Read Scott Robert Lim’s journey into photography. Also see current featured publications, news & awards, etc

We are grateful to be sponsored by these friends of Scott Robert:

Final image- used one of my LR presets and Photoshop

Concept and Composition

This photo was taken at my mentoring workshop in San Francisco Chinatown. Whenever you mix high fashion with an interesting looking liquor bar, it always seems to work. I’m a sucker when I see glass filled with colored liquid. It always makes for a nice background especially if you add some light to it. Fashion ads are filled with images using two opposing yet complimentary models together. I call it the Ying-Yang effect. I figured if I combined all these elements- models and bar, it would look pretty darn compelling.

In regards to composition, I created a triangle with my subjects’ heads meeting at the top of the triangle and then their bodies forming the sides of the triangle. The space separating the two subjects creates a pleasing and flowing effect and it creates diagonals which contrast the vertical beams of the shelves displaying the liquor. It is always important when composing your subjects to make sure heads are not at the same level- place one higher than the other. I contend that stacking heads with one head on top of another in any way will almost always look good.

Lighting

My initial set up was to have two side lights. I placed two Strobie 130s on each side of my subjects. After looking at the results, I thought it would add some drama to add red light by adding a red gel over my strobes that would not only light my subject but also spray on the unique ceiling pattern which was white and onto the liquor bottles. This would provide a night club feel with the colored light. Furthermore, when you have a lot of distracting elements in the background, if you shine colored light on it, the mono color effect tends to de-clutter the distracting elements by tying them together with a uniform color. One has to be careful using colored light on subjects because this will cause the skin to look discolored and unnatural. To remedy this I used my Killer Video Light with a color temperature of 5600K and shined this from above using my light stick. When using a light source mounted on a boom, we can get the light above the subjects and close without getting in the way of the photographer. I used my radio Tiny Triggers to fire flashes wireless- because it employs a radio signal, strobes can be triggered without a line of sight which is a major advantage over using the TTL system built into the camera and using expensive proprietary strobes.

Post Processing

My typical workflow is to import into Adobe Lightroom and then assign one of my SR LR presets to them. I love presets because compared to Photoshop actions, they are faster. I can see the final results of the preset in seconds verses running an action which may take minutes before I can see the effect. Of course Photoshop is very powerful and you can do more but to get a general idea on how you want to process an image, I like the speed of LR. So as I scroll through the hundred or so presets I custom designed, I finally stop on one that gives me the effect I want. I then fine tune the LR settings to my liking and then import into Photoshop to finish it off. In Photoshop I edit things like- fix skin, reduce hot spots, overlay a color over the entire image, add textures, etc. Below I will show the original image, LR editing and then the final editing done with Photoshop.

I really like the way this image turned out and is one of my favorite images, I hope I was able to give some insight on how I created it. Please share with me your thoughts!!

Original Image

SR Lightroom Preset

Final edit done in Photoshop

Many thanks to these talents who contribute their time and helps to make this shot amazing:

Looks and Inspirations: WING, Creative Fashion Design and Styling by Monique Zhang

Models: Ayumi Perry & Faith Garcia

Makeup and Hair Artistry Team:
Jessie Weng,  Alpha Borriboonratana, Ethel O’yang

To take learn more in-depth lesson on how to master off camera lighting,  I invite you to come to our next San Francisco Seminar on Monday Evening, August 1st, 2011 to experience my teaching about Off-Camera Flash -

Mastering Flash Photography (Advanced Techniques)  - On Location Lighting
Off camera flash techniques using multiple strobes, light modifiers, gels, etc.
Lecture – Monday, August 1st, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

• One time lecture (click add to cart to register) –  Tuition $95;    

• One time full workshop (1 lecture + 1 next day live shoot with stylized models) – $395;    

• For students who already on the mentoring program or purchased the lecture series, click here to register.

This lecture is part of a series of lectures and program to provide coaching throughout the year in San Francisco Bay.  An amazing opportunity to be mentored and coached by Scott Robert Lim. Complete the mentoring program and receive a certificate of completion and be one of the elite recognized as a qualified professional under the supervision of a certified master photographer. Click here to see what our complete mentoring program has to offer.

About Scott Robert

Internationally acclaimed, master photographer, Scott Robert Lim (Cr. Photog, AOPA) was awarded the prestigious 2009 WPPI Kodak Award and was inducted into WPPI’s Society of Excellence and has earned an Accolade of Outstanding Photographic Achievement by one of the world’s largest photographic societies. He is recognized as one of the finest and leading educators in the county and honored at Imaging USA 2011 were he was awarded his Photographic Craftsman’s degree. He has won over 50 international awards. His work has been published in books and magazines distributed worldwide and has taught and mentored many professional photographers around the world. Scott is a popular international speaker with an exciting and inspirational style.

Read Scott Robert Lim’s journey into photography. Also see current featured publications, news & awards, etc

We are grateful to be sponsored by these friends of Scott Robert:

I was “volunteered” (by my lovely wife) to take my daughter’s kindergarten class graduation pictures.

I was of course told the parents don’t expect anything “special” but if I was going to take my camera out of the bag, I wanted them half way decent! Geez, some of them know that I’m a professional photographer so my reputation was on the line too- I’m sure many of us have experienced situations like this. I’m not really a studio or children’s photographer but I was up to the challenge and I actually had a good time taking pictures of these kids, they’re so stinkin’ cute, how could I not have a good time?

This was a really good experience for me because I realized when doing this type of photography, you need everything consistent in regards to subject position, lighting, etc. This can be a challenge because kids can’t follow complicated directions, so I had to be systematic and simplistic in my approach to guarantee consistent results. For example I laid a strip of tape on the ground and asked each kid to touch their tippy toes on the tape. This would keep the subject in the same location and ensure that their shoulders would be square to the camera.

If I was going to get paid doing this type of thing I would set up differently, like using a posing chair so I could control the angle of body towards the camera, this would level shoulders horizontally too because kids stand differently. I could also adjust height too with a posing chair. I might even use a tripod!!! GASP!!! I would also use four lights and a darker more professional background but heck, I just wanted to knock this out in an hour so this is what I came up with…

My Budget Set Up

• Two Strobie 130s – two very basic flash heads, manually controlled (less than $300 for two strobes)
• Tiny Triggers- wireless flash system ($229)
• Shoot thru umbrella ($20)
• Basic light stand with umbrella mount ($50)
• White Sheet from Target ($5)
• Canon 5D mkII with 24-105L (I probably could have used my Canon G10 with the same results! LOL)

Here are my camera settings: ISO 400, 1/100, F5.6, at 105mm. I set my white balance to “shade” to warm up image.

I set my main flash with umbrella at 1/8 power and another flash pointed at the background to reduce shadow lines and brighten background at 1/16 power.

I’m glad I decided to do a studio set up because the day we shot was very overcast and all the available light would be very flat. Learning how to use your flash can guarantee a consistent light quality no matter where you are as long as you have a room to shoot in or some nice shade. A room controls temperature and eliminates wind. I can create this look nearly anywhere I go.

It actually took more time getting them changed into the cap and gown than it did taking the pictures, we had two gowns so my wife could get them one ready while I shot the other. It was fun trying to get the kids to give me their most natural smile. This was a challenge but the smiles they gave me made this project so worth the effort!

If you’re on a budget, a portable, small studio set up like this can do the job. Don’t feel intimidated by some photographers using a lot of fancy and expensive equipment. If one has a good knowledge of light- how to control and modify it, anyone can create a nice image we can be proud of.

I invite you to come to our next San Francisco Seminar on June 29th to experience my teaching about Off-Camera Flash -

Mastering Flash Photography
Off camera flash techniques, using multiple strobes, light modifiers, gels, etc.
Lecture – Wed, June 29th, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

• One time lecture (click add to cart to register) –  Tuition $95;
  
• One time full workshop (1 lecture + 1 next day live shoot) – $395;
  

This lecture is part of a series of lectures and program to provide coaching throughout the year in San Francisco Bay.  An amazing opportunity to be mentored and coached by Scott Robert Lim. Complete the mentoring program and receive a certificate of completion and be one of the elite recognized as a qualified professional under the supervision of a certified master photographer. Click here to see what our complete mentoring program has to offer.

About Scott Robert

Internationally acclaimed, master photographer, Scott Robert Lim (Cr. Photog, AOPA) was awarded the prestigious 2009 WPPI Kodak Award and was inducted into WPPI’s Society of Excellence and has earned an Accolade of Outstanding Photographic Achievement by one of the world’s largest photographic societies. He is recognized as one of the finest and leading educators in the county and honored at Imaging USA 2011 were he was awarded his Photographic Craftsman’s degree. He has won over 50 international awards. His work has been published in books and magazines distributed worldwide and has taught and mentored many professional photographers around the world. Scott is a popular international speaker with an exciting and inspirational style.

Read Scott Robert Lim’s journey into photography. Also see current featured publications, news & awards, etc

We are grateful to be sponsored by these friends of Scott Robert:

Picture of our students practicing off camera flash in our recent workshop in Paris, France

How to Maximize Learning

There are many people who read my blog who have a deep desire and perhaps a dream to become a photographer who can produce professional quality work and either earn money or more money with their imagery. Quite frankly that is a lofty goal and is not easy to do especially if you want photography as a career in your life. As the world famous photographer Gary Fong once said, “there are easier ways to make money”.

But life isn’t all about making money but pursuing dreams that bring fulfilment and finding a career that others can truly benefit from. The reality is that we all need to eventually pay our bills so we do need to make a decent amount of money with our careers. Even if photography is just a hobby for you, wouldn’t it be great if your hobby could pay for itself?

There is literally an ENDLESS amount of information out there about photography, most of it for free and most of it is unfiltered so how does a person know what to believe or pursue if there are unlimited learning options available- Do I take a community photography course? Which workshop should I go to? What editing program to use and how do I use it? Do I need a lightsphere? What equipment should invest in? Is there a specific type of imagery that will help me book more lucrative jobs? The questions are endless and the answers are many but who do we trust and believe?

If we had all the time in the world and all the money in the world, then life would be easy but most of us don’t have this luxury so we need to maximize learning… which means looking for the best teachers in the industry. Usually, the best teachers will be highly successful and have many opportunities open to them so in order for them to take the time to individually teach us, there is a high cost involved. Yet their teaching will more than pay for itself like a good investment because they have filtered the endless amounts of information for us. They give us the gold nuggets without having to spend years panning for it.

The bottom line is, If we want to learn photography at a high level, seek to learn under the best teachers at whatever cost because what they teach us will not only save time, effort and money, but their words of wisdom will take us to levels we never thought possible and quite possibly help us realize our dreams and goals in life.

I invite you to come to our next San Francisco Seminar on June 29th to experience my teaching about Off-Camera Flash -

Mastering Flash Photography
Off camera flash techniques, using multiple strobes, light modifiers, gels, etc.
Lecture – Wed, June 29th, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

• One time lecture (click add to cart to register) –  Tuition $95;
  
• One time full workshop (1 lecture + 1 live shoot) – $395;
  

This lecture is part of a series of lectures and program to provide coaching throughout the year in San Francisco Bay.  An amazing opportunity to be mentored and coached by Scott Robert Lim. Complete the mentoring program and receive a certificate of completion and be one of the elite recognized as a qualified professional under the supervision of a certified master photographer. Click here to see what our complete mentoring program has to offer  -

Who is Scott Robert Lim? Read Scott Robert Lim’s journey into photography.

Also see featured publications from around the world, news & international photography awards,

We are grateful to be sponsored by these friends of Scott Robert:

Come Join us for our exciting new program in San Francisco starting on May 25th, 2011.

Check out this video to see what it’s like to be in our SR SF Class, courtesy of Aaron Lee Films -

About Scott Robert

Internationally acclaimed, master photographer, Scott Robert Lim (Cr. Photog, AOPA) was awarded the prestigious 2009 WPPI Kodak Award and was inducted into WPPI’s Society of Excellence and has earned an Accolade of Outstanding Photographic Achievement by one of the world’s largest photographic societies. He is recognized as one of the finest and leading educators in the county and honored at Imaging USA 2011 were he was awarded his Photographic Craftsman’s degree. He has won over 50 international awards. His work has been published in books and magazines distributed worldwide and has taught and mentored many professional photographers around the world. Scott is a popular international speaker with an exciting and inspirational style.

Please read Scott Robert Lim’s journey into photography. Also see current featured publications, news & awards, etc

2011 Class Schedule

Lesson #1
The Four Elements of WOW- how to shoot like a pro & create images with impact
Scott Robert deadly lighting techniques:
Mastering available light, using video light & off camera strobes
Lecture – Wed, May 25th, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Live Shoot – Thur,  May 26th, 2011, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Lesson #2
Mastering Flash Photography
Off camera flash techniques, using multiple strobes, light modifiers, gels, etc.
Lecture – Wed, June 29th, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Live Shoot – Thur,  June 30th, 2011, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Lesson#3
Studio Lighting- basic set-ups using multiple strobes
Lecture – Mon,  Aug 1st, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Live Shoot – Tue,  Aug 2nd, 2011, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Lesson #4
Photojournalism & Finding Natural Lighting  - an storytelling approach to photography
Finding that hidden and spontaneous special moment
Featuring Special Guest Speaker – CM Leung (the 1st Asian based Photographer has won 2 two Grand Awards from WPPI)!
Lecture – Wed, Aug 31th, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

Lesson #5
Contemporary Posing Techniques for Wedding, Portrait & Fashion Photography
how to fine tune detail such as face, hand, hip, feet, facial expression, body angles and languages in posing how to pose for individual portrait, engaged couple to large wedding party
Lecture – Mon, Oct 3rd, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Live Shoot – Tue,  Oct 4th, 2011, 4:30pm – 7:30pm

Lesson #6
Post Processing is a Art Form Part I – Adobe Lightroom
Killer Adobe Lightroom Techniques
Expedite your post processing work flow, presets, batch processing and others
Using the right tools to yield beautiful results.
Featuring Special Guest Speaker*
Lecture – Thur, Nov 3rd, 2011, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

Lesson #7
Post Processing is a Art Form Part II – Adobe Photoshop
Deadly Adobe Photoshop tips and tricks while working with Nik Software Filters
Featuring Special Guest Speaker*
Lecture – Wed, Jan 4th, 2012, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

December 22th, 2011,  Thur – Christmas Party (Life time members and mentees only)

Lesson #8
Building Your Photography Business – Branding & Marketing
How to leverage social media network & viral marketing – Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Website
How to up-sale, Pricing Strategies, Phone & Closing Contract Techniques
Lecture – Friday, March 12th, 2012, 6:00pm – 10:00pm

A San Francisco Multi-Day Workshop
Date: TBD (June, 2012)
10 Steps to Remarkable – how to become a world class elite photographer
An intensive boot-camp on photography exposure, lighting & posing. Personal coaching from Scott Robert. Each day will consist of lecture and live-shoot with stylized models. All SF mentees are eligible to enrolled for this multi-day workshop.

Email – zabrina@scottrobertworkshop.com for additional question.

All lecture will be held at Fort Mason center in San Francisco with plenty of parkings!! Exact classroom location will be emailed to all registered students. Now accepting new students for lecture as well as mentoring program.

Investment options for new students, click add to cart to register:

• One time lecture (3-4 hours each lecture) –  $95;
  

• One time full workshop (1 lecture + 1 live shoot) – $395;
  

• Lecture Series (Entire 8 lectures) – $495; includes free download of Master Lighting Guide to Flash Photography at $95 value.
  

• Complete SF mentoring program with Scott Robert- $2,495:
  

SF Mentoring program includes the following: Master Lighting Guide to Flash Photography;  all lecture event pass; 4 live shoots with stylized models; image critique sessions; 4 personal consultation sessions with SR; a SR Multi-day intensive lighting & posing boot-camp workshop in SF.

Workshop FAQ

:: Why is this workshop not on a weekend? ::
We want passionate students who are willing to take their photography education seriously.  We are interested in students who are willing to sacrifice time on weekdays which will allow them to book their own jobs on the weekends, i.e. weddings, etc.

:: Who is this workshop for? ::
Whether you are a full-time photographer, a weekend warrior, or on the verge of turning professional, as long as one has a seriously desire to master the craft of photography, this is is workshop for you. Before coming to this workshop, we expect you to know how to use the camera in manual mode and have good understanding of the DSLR camera settings such as aperture, shutter speed, iso, metering, exposure & focusing.

:: What is our mentoring program goal? ::
The goal is to teach and develop photographers from the ground up and turn them into elite photographers through a year long teaching process that will cover all facets of portraiture and wedding photography. Scott will covers topics that are relevant to their learning and will provide coaching along the way to maximize their learning experience–ensuring their competence at each juncture. Every lecture is at least three hours featuring Scott himself or a special speaker who is an expert on the lesson topic. The optional live session with models consist of 3 hours of practical hands-on learning and experimentation on exposure, lighting and posing.

::What should I expect?
Lecture  - Scott’s lectures will focus on mastering various techniques on lighting and posing.  He will demonstrate how he achieves his award winning imagery; how he interacts with clients to maximize their beauty, how to bring out emotion, how to work with difficult clients, how to find amazing light and how to create it with the use of flash and video light. He will also cover how to modify light with the use of gels, snoots, umbrellas, etc. Scott is an expert at using the most basic equipment yet achieve world class imagery.

Lectures Featuring Special Speakers – Guest speakers will be experts on the topic that they will be speaking on, highly skilled and knowledgeable in real life application. We want to offer the very best learning experience for students not only learning from Scott himself but from other world class photographers/instructors.

Live Shoot Sessions – An opportunity for mentees to apply the techniques they have learned on exposure, lighting and posing and to create marketable images with impact.  On the scheduled live shoot session we will break into groups of 4-5, participants will take turns directing a specific set up with a model(s). The leader will be allowed 3-4 minutes to complete their vision. Yes, this is a very nerve wrecking experience but we want to duplicate a typical scenario any professional photographer on assignment would encounter. The live shoot portion of the workshop is an intensive boot camp on posing, lighting, exposure, small flash/video lighting.

:: Is transportation provided? ::
Each student is responsible for their own transportation to workshop locations. However, carpooling to workshops is encouraged–to minimize the number of vehicles at shooting locations, minimize parking costs and more importantly, an opportunity to get to know each other better.

:: What happens if I have to cancel? ::
We are unfortunately not able to offer refunds because of the limited number of workshops and seats available. Once a spot is scheduled, it is no longer available for anyone else. We have this policy in place to assure that only those truly interested and serious about the workshops sign up.

:: Submitting your Photography and Photo Competition  ::
Participants must agree that Scott Robert Photography Workshop has the right to use any submitted imagery for use in any of its publications, printed materials or electronic media, such as but not limited to any of their web sites or their affiliates’ web sites. Any photos taken at the workshop are not allowed for the submission of any photo competition. Model releases will not be provided to students.

:: Other Useful Information ::

• During the workshop, food and beverages will not be provided–feel free to bring your own beverages and snacks.
• All students are expected to arrive on-time on lecture and to live shoot sessions and to work together as a group.
• We advise for you to dress in layers, as all components of the workshop will be held in various location and temperatures and conditions may change

By being part of our community, many exclusive offers for seminar/workshop attendees from our list of friends below.

We are grateful to be sponsored by these friends of Scott Robert:

For those who’ve read on my post on “How to close a Deal by asking this one question,” if you would like to learn more on the essential tools about marketing, come to my next one day SF workshop on Saturday Feb 5th, 2011.

As part of our Mentoring Program, here is the detail of our Lesson #7 in San Francisco!!

Lecture Location:

Landmark Building, Room C370

Fort Mason Center,  San Francisco, CA 94123

Date: Saturday Feb 5th, 2011

1:00 pm – 4:00 pm -marketing 101 Lecture by Scott Robert Lim.

4:30 pm – 7:30 pm practice shooting, lighting demonstration, live learning and coaching from Scott Robert Lim.

Lecture topic Includes but not limit to:

Marketing 101 – Facebook, Twitter, Viral Marketing, Blogs, Website

Pricing Strategies/Closing Techniques

Q & A: Marketing, Lighting, Posing & Gear

Requirements:

All skill levels accepted. Gear: Any DSLR, your favorite lens and flash strobes.

Highly RECOMMEND: bring any portable lighting equipment and accessories: flash units, wireless triggers & receivers.

An entire day of passion, learning and fun door prizes sponsored by below sponsors!!

Space is limited so do not hesitate or else you may not get a spot.

Investment is $399.  All payments are non-refunable and can only be exchanged for similar JeZa workshops if space is available. Use below button to sign up. New students welcome! No previous SR lesson experience required.  A limited use coupon code is available with this workshop,  e-mail zabrina “zabrina@scottrobertworkshop.com” to inquir.

$399- Scott Robert Mentoring Workshop SF

Maybe because my teaching is getting better and my students are getting better too! Thanks to all the models, stylist, makeup artists and hair stylists too, without them, our imagery would really suck! It was such a blessing in every workshop that EVERYONE had a great time and we all got along like good friends. I’ve been thinking about the power and importance of community in a person’s life. Often we are defined by the community we are associated with. For example, being a member of your high school basketball team is different than being a member of the USA Olympic Basketball team. In one group you are considered better than average, the other you are classified as one of the best in the world. The circles we hang in define who we are. The healthier the community, healthier the members in that community.

What do you you want to accomplish in life? Does it match the communities that you associate with? Come experience our local Scott Robert School community by attending our lesson #6 in Sacramento or come to any of my upcoming international workshop in Paris or in Hawaii.

As part of our Mentoring Program, we are announcing the detail of our Lesson #6 and we’ll be going to Sacramento!!

10 Steps to Remarkable – how to become elite photographer Part II

Here’s our tentative itinerary for our workshop on Saturday, January8th :

9:00 am – 12:00 pm Lesson #6 lecture by Scott Robert Lim, 10 Steps to Remarkable – how to become elite photographer Part II
Lecture Location:

Eu-Tech
2171 Fulton Ave
Sacramento 95825

1:00 pm – 5:00 pm portfolio building with couples & models, coaching from Scott Robert Lim.

Requirements:

All skill levels accepted. Gear: Any DSLR, your favorite lens and flash strobes.

Highly RECOMMEND: bring any portable lighting equipment and accessories: flash units, wireless triggers & receivers.

An entire day of passion, learning and fun door prizes sponsored by below sponsors!!

Space is limited so do not hesitate or else you may not get a spot.

Investment is $399. All payments are non-refunable and can only be exchanged for similar JeZa workshops if space is available. Use below button to sign up all the spot is gone. New students welcome! No previous SR lesson experience required. Any questions, e-mail zabrina “zabrina@scottrobertworkshop.com”.

$399- Scott Robert Mentoring Workshop SF

Three Reasons Why We Should Read Books…

1. Books are an efficient way of learning. Many non-fiction books pack most of the great information within the first two chapters so you can get 80% of the content without having to read the entire book!
2. Books can target the areas of knowledge we lack. For example, If we don’t know much about branding- we can find a great book about it, if we want to network with people better- we can find a book about it and so on. Whatever we want to learn, it is usually found in a good book. Books round us out, feed our minds with new information that will energize and inspire us to be better in life.
3. Inexpensive way of learning quality information! Heck most great books are GREAT BARGAINS. I like to pick books that have a proven record with tons of good reviews. I like to look for those books on Amazon with over a 100 reviews and have at least 4 stars. These types of books are usually best sellers and come in a paperback version which lowers the price dramatically and can be found for around $10, even hardbacks are usually around $15. If you consider the cost of college at $15K per year, books are a BARGAIN!! I suggest spending $200 a year on books as a starting point. Start slow and try reading one book a month. Go to your local library and find many great books to read at NO COST! The person who loves to learn new things will enjoy reading.

Remember there are also a lot of books like romance and fiction novels that might be fun to read but don’t really help us with our business. Create a balanced reading list. SHARE WITH US YOUR LIST OF BEST BOOKS!

Books I’m currently reading…

A One Year Reading List for Non-Readers… one book a month for 12 months in no particular order. Please share this list with a friend!

Personal Development

Business

Spiritual

We are so tickled pink when someone likes our work, we work for FREE sometimes! Fortunately for myself, I was an entrepreneur/business person before I considered myself an artist. I have been in business for myself for over 22 years and I am proud of the fact I’ve never taken unemployment a day in my life. Most of those years, it was always a month to month situation, very few times in my life have I ever felt like I’ve had more than a couple months of my income taken care of. Even to this day, I’m not sure how I’m going to survive next year or even the next few months but I know I can survive, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years so why would next year be any different? Sometimes we have to stop stressing and just have faith in our hard work ethic and character- those two things have never let me down over the two decades of being in business for myself, so take a chance, BELIEVE in yourself.

Needless to say, when a client is interested in hiring us, WE HAVE TO CLOSE THE DEAL. Our lively hood depends on it, we have to put food on the table, pay our rent, replace a dying computer, get a dependable ride, pay for college, go to a workshop or whatever! The key to closing a deal is finding out where you stand with your prospective client. We need to know if we are the front runner or last option. The key to negotiating is to only commit to something with they commit. There is a helpful and a classic book on how to negotiate which can had for around $10- “Getting to Yes“. I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t read this to at least read the first two chapters. It is important to learn how to find out what your client is willing to commit to- what are the conditions, if any, that they would hire you under?

So after your amazing presentation of slideshows, albums, prints, endless price lists, packages, etc. And the client is not ready to immediately sign on the dotted line, I usually go through a routine like…

Me: “Well, be honest with me, what do you think?”

Clients: “Your work is great, just need to think about a few things…”

Me: “Is there anything that you don’t see in my work or package that is important to you?”

Clients: “Not really, we like what we see”

Me: ” You two seem like such a great couple and I am confident I can produce some world class imagery for you and we’d have a lot of fun creating some amazing images I know you’re gonna love the rest of your life. I’m not the cheapest photographer out there but I know I am a sure thing. Out of all the thousands of dollars we spend on a wedding, to spend 2-5% more to get what we really want and peace of mind, in my opinion is worth it. I know plenty of people in hindsight would have paid any amount to get what they expected but once you hire a wrong photographer, it’s kinda too late. Usually a client only gets one chance to hire a photographer, there are no “do-overs” so having peace of mind is very important to my clients. This is a once in a lifetime thing and heck you deserve it don’t you…to get the best?

Clients: In their mind they are thinking “Heck, I do deserve it, my fiancé but me through heck to get to this point and I’m working my butt off to pay for this darn wedding!”

Me: “Let me ask you a question, Is there ANYTHING I could offer that would make you hire me RIGHT NOW? (this is the KILLER question that opens doors for you!) I just want both of you to put together your dream list together, in fact I can go away for a few minutes so you can talk and in your honest assessment, give me your conditions and let’s work out something we both feel great about.

At this point, you have just put the ball in their court. They have to respond in a way where you can know under what conditions they want to hire you. Regardless of what they come back with, you are in control or you know they just aren’t into you. I’ve had so many different offers come back to me, sometimes it was a simple fix like more hours or things like edited files, a free engagement session, more images in an album, etc. Sometimes it was worth it for me to give in to their demands (perhaps the wedding was in Paris, heck you’d do anything for that wedding) or other times we were so far apart we just had to go our separate way. Whatever they come back with on their dream list you have to follow up with this question:

(lets assume they want me to add a free engagement session)

Me: So, to be clear, you would hire me RIGHT NOW, if I could throw in a free engagement session (or whatever is on their list), you’d sign on the dotted line?

Sometimes after you ask this question, your client will still get skirmish and still can’t say YES. If this happens, the consultation is over, close the books, start packing it up and gratefully thank them for meeting you. Do you understand what is going on here? YOU CAN NOT COMMIT TO ANYTHING UNTIL THEY COMMIT TO SOMETHING. This leaves the dialog open and when they go home, they understand they might get everything they want from you. And no matter who they meet next, they know your FINAL PRICE IS STILL OPEN.

If they answer, “YES” you can either accept their offer or can try to negotiate with them somewhere in the middle. Even if you can’t meet in the middle, you can think over their offer and get back to them if you really want to book the job. You have all the control still.

The bottom line is to get your client to commit to something and work it from there. It is important to honestly know where you stand and how much a client is willing to pay for your services. Regardless if they book you or not, you can sleep at night knowing you gave it all you had to book this client and this is comforting in itself.

If this has helped you in any way, it would make me feel great if I could hear from you or if you could share this blog to a friend. Please feel free to give me a dream list of things you would want me to talk about!!