016: Chrisman Studios – How to Build a Successful Associate Business & Create Images That Stand Out From The Crowd

November 30, 2020

“Surround yourself with good people.”

BEN CHRISMAN

Hey everyone! It’s Sally here, from Studio Ninja. Today’s episode is all about Chrisman Studio’s – we are really excited to have Ben on the show.

Ben Chrisman is an award-winning documentary, wedding and portrait photographer with Chrisman Studios in Charleston, SC. Ben has consistently been named one of the top photographers in the world since 2008, and has photographed in over 30 countries. As a leader in the photographic community, he speaks and teaches internationally at conferences and workshops throughout the year when he’s not in the studio or on assignment.

Check out some of the biggest points from Ben’s interview below:

Ben’s journey into photography
How Chrisman Studio’s was born
Top tips for creating super creative images
The importance of surrounding yourself with positivity and good people
How to direct a couple without it feeling posed
Sometimes the best images can be born from patience and waiting for a moment to unfold
Don’t forget to use objects around you on the day to add interest to your frame
How pre-designing an album increases sales after the Wedding Day
Always remember to re-market to past clients – don’t just forget about them.
Life is too short – have fun!

How did you find your associates?

Vlad taught me how to shoot when I was 20. He’s a couple years older than I am. So he was newspaper photographer, and I was a police reporter my first or second job out of school. Vlad let me shoot all my own crime scenes for the stories that we go to. That built up a portfolio of photography that way, and I ended up getting a job a few months later at our sister newspaper.

Then Mauricio, and Ryan, and Aaron Morris all started as interning for us. It was basically just an avenue for them to become part of the crew. Mauricio really didn’t have any photography experience before he met us. He had never taken a picture before, but we loved him and he’s really good at Photoshop and lightrooming. So, he learned that for a few months and then we just send him off. Now, he’s been changing everything ever since then. He’s a super talent. So same with Dave, and Ryan, and Aaron.

It hasn’t been a strategic business decision to say, “Hey, we want a bunch of photographers.” It was just we felt so close to those guys that we just always wanted to work with them and be around them. So, we just found ways to make that happen, and it just happened to be with photography I guess.

How do you find the post production side of things mechanically if you like or logistically?

That’s been a challenge because it’s hard. You start with journalism. You’re shooting one or two pictures. In weddings, you’re shooting hundreds. So, we’ve gone through a lot of different phases. In the beginning, basically when Mauricio and Aaron Morris started, they did all our library. I basically said, “Okay. I don’t care how you do it, but make all 800 photos look like what you see on our blog.”

I was kind of joking, kind of not, but they took it very seriously. So, they did it really well. They look splendid. They take all week doing it because this was 10 years ago when Lightroom, more beginning phase of the Lightroom. So, they handled it in the beginning. Then, we got so busy. We’re shooting so many weddings a year that we were working seven days a week nonstop doing lightrooming which is hard to manage.

So, I took that away from us and we gave it to Image Salon. Image Salon did it for years, and years, and years, and years and they’re amazing at it. Then, when everyone started moving to different places, it was hard dealing hard drive. So, the guys took it back. They started doing their own. Now, it works out great because we’re not shooting as many weddings as we were in ’15, or 2011 to ’16 especially this year. Weddings had been pushed or canceled completely. So, we have more time to do it. I mean, I still don’t do it. I still give it to a retoucher named Matt. He’s amazing. He’s here in Charleston but the guys do their own now.

If you could start your career over again Ben, is there anything that you do differently?

I would have tried to take business classes in college which I didn’t. I probably would have tried to do a better job with creating a database. That’s crucial because that’s where you can market to your past clients.

Most photographers tend to just forget about their past clients. Steve, our business coach always said there’s three ways to grow business, get people to use you more often, get new clients, and get people to spend more money with you. The hardest one is to get new clients. So, if you can remarket to the people who already love you, it’s going to be so much easier for you to stay in your business because most wedding photographers don’t make it. They make it three to five years, and then they bounce. They go into graphic design or they go into real estate. They go at whatever.

Photography is hard, man. I know I would never be rich being a photographer. That was never a priority. If you can just do well, survive and give your kids good education because the cool thing about photography is what we do is going to last hundreds of years. Not many job you can say will do that, right?

Thank you!

Thanks again to you all for joining us and a huge thanks to Ben for coming on and sharing his journey in photography and building an incredible business.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions about this episode, please be sure to leave them below in the comment section of this post, and if you liked the episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see at the bottom of the post!

See you soon,

Sally