I’ve had a bunch of idea rolling around in my head for blog posts on business tips to make life easier as a photographer. Something similar to Zach & Jody Gray’s Tuesday Tips & Tricks (which you should also check out!). I’ve spent the last 4 months really trying to work my business sense and wow! Can I tell you I’d much rather be working the camera? 🙂 But, being a photographer is really 10% photography and 90% business. If you can’t market, price yourself, pay taxes, and actually make a profit, you will burn out. It may take awhile, but it’ll happen.
Anyway – on to today’s topic. One of the tools I use for my business is SmugMug. I use SmugMug as a client gallery to show my clients their photos after the session. They are big, they look pretty, and SmugMug integrates pretty seamlessly with Lightroom which makes my workflow faster & easier. One of the great things about SmugMug is they are all about making you a better photographer, as well as encouraging networking among communities. To that end, they have organized SMUGs – or SmugMug User Groups. These meetings are held once a month & have a range of topics. The best part is that WE choose the topics! You totally have input. What do you want to learn? Who do you want to hear from? Plus, we have an AMAZING group of photographers here in Utah. Some of my best friends have come from networking with the local community.
So, want to learn more about SmugMug? Our next meeting is tomorow, May 3rd, and covers basics as well as some customization & tweaks, plus it’ll be lost of fun! Details can be found here: http://www.meetup.com/Utah-County-SmugMug-User-Group/ You can also join the Meet-up group and get emails about upcoming events.
You can also follow the group on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/#!/UTCountySMUG
See you there!