Wohooo... another booking out of the blue...!

theMusicMan

theMusicMan

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Hi All

On top of the world at the moment - just received a booking from out of the blue - a children's party (yuk, all that jelly and cake!!). Have been asked if I could do general candid photos of the kids during the party, and also if I could set up my portable studio for any parents who might want their children photographed more seriously.

The only thing is - I reckon it's smack in the middle of Wales v's Fiji crunch match...:)

Anyway - all hints and tips re kids parties (8 yrs old) most welcome.
 
all hints and tips re kids parties (8 yrs old) most welcome.
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Don't expect to take much backdrop home with you. ;):lol:

and more seriously, make sure it's VERY well planted. It's one thing with your family at home having them be carefull of the set up but a kids party is a warzone and they will run into and through it.

You really don't want to see the look on a parents face when the whole lot comes down on top of their kid.
 
Plenty of gaffer tape to tidy up all the loose cables and leads.

A packet of wet wipes to clean the kids faces before you photograph them(the parents will love you for that one).

A sense of humour.

Liability insurance. :D
 
I have done quite a few kids party's and all have gone very well, I also now factor in to the cost a photobox photo book, so the birthday girl / boy can have a proper book of their party the parents love it, and it only costs you a few minuets work, and you can make a bit on it as well.
 
Some fabulous advice there folks, thanks very much. Love the comment about the backdrop :)

I have been allocated a separate room away from the mess and cakes to set up the backdrop and flash gear etc, which is a huge bonus.

Really looking forward to this now. Thanks all for the great advice.
 
Nice one MM. Well done! Enjoy it and learn from it.
 
:agree: prepare, guess, live and learn
 
:clap: well done buddy and







good luck
 
the wet wipes might come i handy cleaning your equipment up after the kids have had to much junk food + to much running around :lol:

Well done on the booking :thumbs:
 
MM this is a 'Pro' event now so you really really should get yourself some insurance just in case little Johnny knocks your lights over on his head, or trips on a cable and bangs his head - either way - it's all 'SUE EM' these days

I've just been asked to shoot a whole nursery of 20-30 kids too, very locally to me, 7 months to 7 years so that should be fun too

The main point of these events is to impress the parents into booking an individual shoot with all of their kids/family later. A good job here can influence a dozen families in a positive way, cock-it-up or charge too much and the whole village will know! Bad news really does spread well!

Good luck
 
Congratulations mate & good luck (you'll need it with all those brats... sorry I meant well behaved children, running around :lol:)
 
Thanks all...

DiddyDave said:
MM this is a 'Pro' event now so you really really should get yourself some insurance just in case little Johnny knocks your lights over on his head, or trips on a cable and bangs his head - either way - it's all 'SUE EM' these days
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Hey Dave / Anyone

Where can I find some quick PLI cover for togs...?
 
spencer said:
Don't forget to record the the rugby!:woot:
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No point Wales are gonna stuff Fiji :lol:

But good luck with the party.. I had to take photos of 5 kids once and it was made so much easier by having a dedicated assistent i.e. a mum helping shepherd them around ! :bat:
 
don't forget to set the video recorder for the match!
 
what sort of price do you guys charge for birthday photography?
IS it normal to do the portrait shots too, could be profitable in its own rights for picture orders.

Where do you get your prints done? ......photobox
 
I agree with all what's been said above. I have a fund-raising shoot to do next Saturday in playschool part of a primary school and already have 20 families booked in. I have done it a few times now and have to think of every eventuality. Take a spare backdrop (puke takes some airbrushing). Insist on shoes and socks off. Take some pain-killers. Get that insurance sorted John!

Good luck!

Gillian

BTW John - did you ring into BBC Radio 2 the other day and report a traffic problem? The woman said "...thanks to The Music Man for that piece of......"
 
Hi Gilly

Thanks for the good 'puke' advice... :) hehehehe

Wasn't me I'm afraid, grrrr... someone's stolen my identity eh and is pretending to be me. There's only one theMusicMan.... theMusicMan at tMP or theMusicMan at tP :) figure that one out then ;)
 
well done and good luck, can i ask how you can get people to know you are doing that sort of thing.
 
Tell people 400user - that's a good start, and cheap one too :thumbs:

Otherwise, lineage ads in the local papers work well - big fancy ads are a waste of money by comparison

i.e. in our local rags, a credit card ad would be about £100 pwk for the 2 papers worth going in. That same £100 gets 21 words in lineage for a month in both papers. It's a good place to start as it's - a) easy, and b) works!

My return is about 500% doing it this way - which is nice :D

The word of mouth that brings then leads to other work that costs you nothing to gain - but it all takes TIME
 
How much experinece do you need and the other thing is equipment. What is the basics you would recommend.

Is it worth going into nursery and primary schools and saying you are doing party photography for a cheap price.

If you are starting how much would you recommend charging.
 
Update:

Well, the party and portrait photoshoot went very well, and I took what I think were some very good images. I will only post the one, but this is an example of the sort of shots I took. C&C appreciated... thanks.

Hopefully the parents will like them and place some orders.

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Hey Dave - don't mind at all sir... thanks for the help and advice. Have to admit, I loved this shoot, thoroughly enjoyed myself. I took your advice too and set up according to the charts you drew out for me and based upon measurements and experimental setups from tests at home.

PS: I didn't use the flash meter either... I took several test shots at the start, and checked as I went along using the displays on the cam.
 
Flashmeters are great for assessing individual flash output to try to balance them, but in simple set-ups the good old chimp the screen works perfectly well

What I especially liked here is that you've lit the chubby face (no insult dear lass, all kids tend to have such faces at an early age) from the opposite side to the in-view cheek; this helps modelling and makes chubby faces appear less so

Good stuff
 
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