Your portfolio is a curated collection of your very best images and represents the types of work you hope to create in the future AND the type of clients you hope to attract. In this episode of Cowgirls with Cameras, Phyllis, Kim and Cara take a deep dive into the importance of curating a portfolio, how to best structure your portfolio, and provide some tips on how to put that portfolio to work for you.

In addition, they discuss their recent experience at Animal Image Makers.

It's time to laugh, learn, and take your photography to the

next level with your favorite cowgirls with cameras, Cara, Kim

and Phyllis.

Hey there photographers It's Kim with Kim

Beer photography

and Cara with Fast Horse Photography

and Phyllis with Phyllis Burchette photo.

Welcome to Cowgirls with Cameras. So

today's episode is going to be devoted to learning all about

how to create and use and curate a portfolio which is a huge

important piece in any photographers professional

appearance and professional business standing. So it's very

important whether you're brand new as a photographer, or

whether you are a photographer that's really established your

portfolio is something you've got to go back and visit with a

lot. So that's going to be our topic du jour today. And we do

have a lot of information to cover with that. But, before we

dive into that Cara and Phyllis have had an interesting

adventure that I think they would like to share with you

guys. They got to go to the Twin Cities and visit with some other

photographers. I unfortunately had to miss out but I'm dying to

get a report y'all on what happened at AIM.

Well, we really missed you. I mean,

Phyllis and I we didn't know what to do without our third

Musketeer running around with us. But I think we had a good

time. Didn't we Phyllis? We had fun?

Yeah. It was just sad to not have Kim with

us.

That's right. But you know what? We

represented Cowgirls with cameras well, I still believe

that we did that. So it was a lot of fun. This was the first

year that I think I know for me, I don't know about you, Phyllis.

But it's the first year I got to go in person.

Me too.

Yeah, you were okay for you, too. Yeah.

So,

Of course we all signed up back in 2020 and

they had to cancel of course,

Right. So we did the virtual last year, which

was pretty neat. And I was so impressed with how they ran

over. I'd never had attended a virtual conference. I felt like

that was ran so well. It was really amazing. So the in person

conference was a lot of fun for me, I was able to attend a few

of the breakout workshops, got to chat with a lot of new

photographers. But the part I was most excited about was the

trade show and getting set up for the trade show. And then I

ended up not even being able to stay for it. I had to get home.

So I abandoned Phyllis at Animal Image Makers. Did you want to

talk about how the tradeshow went?

Well, yes, but I was just thinking maybe we

should let people know what Animal Image Makers is. It

basically brings together pet and animal photographers from

all over the world for a great weekend of education and

networking. The love of, of everyone that attends that we

all have for animals really creates a great instant bond

between each other and a great energy at the conference. It's

100% about animals and the business of photographing our

furry friends. Some of the top animal educators in the world

had been brought together. It was just a great experience for

everybody. I really enjoyed it. I got to meet some people that I

had always wanted to meet. So everybody left me alone for the

trade show. I had to run the booth all by myself

You were abandoned

Poor me. It was terrible. No, it wasn't it

was great. I had a great time. I got to meet a lot of wonderful

people. We got a lot of interest in Cowgirls with Cameras and got

our name out there and got to talk up our Cottonwood Ranch

event. I think it was well worth being there. And I really

enjoyed it. Like I said I got to meet some wonderful people, some

other vendors and people that were attending the conference. A

lot of great photographers, animal photographers, so had a

great time. Oh, and our T-shirts were selling like hotcakes.

That's right or over shooters anonymous

T-shirts. They are pretty much sold out at this point. Yep. And

both Kim and I are wearing Cowgirls with Camera shirts

today. So yeah, they're pretty much sold out at this point. But

we'll have another run coming sometime soon. But you know, one

of the other things I thought was really neat about that event

is that we got to see our pal Terri Cage of Terri Cage

photography, talk about equine photography, so we got to go and

support her. And that was pretty neat. She did a great job.

She did a great job getting the word out

there about telling people how to go about doing equine

photography safely and how to present the horse well in your

images. And also another really great highlight of my trip. And

I think for you to Cara was to get to meet someone that I've

been friends with virtually for years is Shelley Paulson. So

Shelley came and picked us up Thursday, Cara and I, and we

headed over to the Minnesota Horse Expo in a blizzard. And we

had a great day. So I was freezing. Of course Cara from

Florida was freezing. I think we had a really nice day we get to

see some a few horses that we hadn't seen before some breeds

and it was really cool, cold. It was it was a great day. It was a

fun day we spent we spent a lot and not probably not all day we

went maybe three or four hours at the expo and then we went and

sat in a coffee shop and talked the rest of the afternoon. So we

had a great time and then Shelley came back the next night

and took Cara and myself and Terri out to dinner because

she'd never met Terri before. So we had a really nice time.

Don't forget, we got to go to Mall of America,

which I found super fascinating that they had an amusement park

in the mall. So that was pretty amazing. I'd never seen anything

like that. So yeah, we had an amazing time with Shelley big

thank yous going out to her for entertaining us and getting to

meet her for the first time and just the four of us getting to

sit around talk shop was a lot of fun. So it was it was really

cool.

I'm so bummed I missed that.

Yeah, you really missed a good time. I'm

We did not

telling you,

But I'm more bummed that I missed the

amusement park in the Mall of America. Did you go on any rides

in the Mall of America?

We had an amazing charcuterie board at the

restaurant.

If I would have been with you, we would have had

to have gone on a ride.

We almost did the carousel.

That's way too tame.

Yeah, we almost did the carousel ride but

none of us really we were close.

They had a roller coaster

That's why you need me there, is to go on the

roller coaster.

Oh, I so would have done the roller coaster.

There was another reason you were in

Minnesota as well. Or another another fun thing you got to do

when you were there. Did you want to share that?

Yeah, I met a friend of mine Karen Blenker

that I think you and I had met before doing the Outer Banks,

the horses, the wild horses in the Outer Banks years ago. And

I've gotten to be friends with Karen. I had been up to

Minnesota to shoot great gray owls with her. But this time we

had she picked me up at the airport and we headed up to

Wisconsin to shoot sharp tailed grouse. And then we came back

down and got to shoot some more owls. I got to see some long

eared owls and great horned owls. Well, I had never seen

long eared owls before. So that was a first for me. So it was

pretty cool. We got to do that in a blizzard too.

It was a great time, I would totally do

it again. So anyone who's out there that's thinking, should I

go to Animal Image Makers, if you're really focused on animal

photography, whether you're a horse photographer or a dog

photographer, cat photographer, I didn't feel like they talked a

lot about wild animals. At some of the presentations, mostly

domestic animals, I would just suggest if you're into

photographing pets or equines, that it is worth going and

enjoying and the trade show was a lot of fun to you got to

really spend some time talking to the folks at the trade show.

So I mean, the different vendors that were there, so Kim, I know

you missed it. But we did the best we could to represent and

to bring back tons of awesome information and sent, we sent

you your swag bag and all of that. So your swag box and all

of that. So I know you receive that this week. But what have

you been up to anything you want to chat about since you missed

us?

I did get to go to an expo on my own. So I did a

one day table at the networking event that I belong at. And I

was actually there representing my Gestalt business, not as a

photographer. But my booth was right next door to a wonderful

photographer. And so we got to talk shop and they actually do

senior portraits and headshots portraits for corporate folks.

We got to talk about the fact that occasionally they cross

over into the equine world. So I got to share some tips and

tricks about how to get good pictures of the horses for them.

Very talented photographer and her husband that run a business

and just really nice people. So it's always nice to connect and

do that. Otherwise, I have been home taking care of my health,

which is why I had to miss AIM. Just trusting in my own process,

being an entrepreneur sometimes means you have to slow it down

and make sure you take care of you. And that's where I've been

at for the past month or so is just focusing on one step and

one day at a time.

It's right where you need to be.

Right where I need to be. So now let's switch

over our topic here to growing your portfolio. And I cannot

stress enough how important having a portfolio is to a

photographer. And I know we have a lot of young photographers,

maybe not in age, but experience per se, listening to the podcast

and following us and looking to us for suggestions. And

portfolios are such an important place to begin and to build to

get your career in the direction that you want it to go. Now if

you're a more established photographer, it's also

something that you can't just put a checkbox that by and say

you're never going to touch it again, like your website, like

all your marketing, like all the things you put out into the

world, you really need to pay attention to it. So hopefully,

if you are a more experienced photographer, you will hang out

with us here and listen, because there's ideas that are going to

be coming your way about how you can improve the portfolio that

you currently have, and be able to utilize it even more. So I'm

going to turn this over to Cara because she's got some fantastic

ideas in true Cara form a beautiful list of suggestions

for you. So Cara, you take it away.

Well, I know Phillys will have a lot to chime

in here too, but one of the things that when I think about

my portfolio is that it's a constantly evolving collection

of work. So it's changing and it's changing as I continue to

grow and learn in my photography. So my portfolio

from when I started shooting regularly six years ago, it's

very different than what it looks like today. And there's a

lot of reasons for that, not just that my work has changed,

and I hope it has gotten better, but that I have different needs

for my portfolio. And it needs to fill kind of some different

buckets that it didn't need to fill back when I was first

getting started. I think I have some tips that I thought would

be helpful for folks. And the first one that I can think of is

that a lot of times when you're in the early days of portfolio

building, you don't have a lot of work. So you don't have a lot

of paid shoots. Maybe you don't have a lot of unpaid shoots,

you're just trying to get out there and shoot. And that's

honestly the best thing that you can do. So even if you don't

have sessions scheduled, you have to find a way to keep

shooting and keep getting people in front of your lens. It needs

to be, to me, whatever you're photographing, whether it be

people or just horses, or animals or horses and humans

together, it needs to be something that you see yourself

wanting to photograph in the future, because you want to show

what you hope to sell one day or show what you hope to shoot one

day. So you really need to be thinking about who is your

audience, who are you going to be and I put this in quotations

"speaking to with your images", so that you can start thinking

about putting together shoots that will represent that. So it

needs that needs to be your target audience, once again,

show the what and the who of what you hope to photograph in

the future. Another thing that I think sometimes I see is that

it's so important that the images that you're showing that

you're using in your portfolio, or that you're putting on your

website are really only your best images. With social media,

it's so easy to get caught up on showing everything that you

might do a photo dump of every image from a session or your top

10 favorite images from a session. And really, you don't

need to show those things unless they're your best. Because every

image you put out there, I hate to break it to you guys, it's

going to be out there forever, I have some images that will pop

up in memories, and that my clients will share because they

love them. But I'm like, oh no, that image is gonna haunt me for

the rest of my life. Because it's not an image that is the

best representation of my portfolio. These days. Any

photographer that's out there in the time of social media, and

the ability to share and be super proud of your work

probably feels that way too, at some point. And they just never

go away, I would definitely spend some time once again,

thinking about the audience and who you're trying to speak to

and then look at your portfolio and say, Do I have holes in my

portfolio buckets that I need to fill by creating images that

really are going to go to work for me. So you know, go through

your images look for that, that unique eye that you have that

unique asset or your unique point of distinction that is

represented in your images that will really set you apart from

other photographers in your field. It might be a way that

you shoot, the type of shooting that you like to do, or even the

way that you process your images when you're done. You're looking

for that thing that really defines you and set you apart

from every other horse photographer that is available

to be found on Google. I would love it if we talk about this

more in detail maybe on another episode, but definitely go out

and actively plan shoots just for the purpose of portfolio

building where you sit down and plan out the concept, you

determine your end goals, hire models, and collaborate

potentially with other business owners to make sure that you're

creating images that are going to work for you. And you're not

just creating when you're being hired to create. I also

recommend if you can do a portfolio review. So take those

existing images that you think best represent you and sit down

with a mentor or another photographer in your industry

that you really trust and that understand your industry and get

some feedback from them. Anytime I have done this, I have found

it. so eye opening to see how my images are viewed by other

people. I think we get caught up in being afraid of criticism,

and being afraid of hearing that we could do better or do

something differently. And if we can get past some of that I

think our work just goes to a whole nother level. If we can

take the criticism and actually like process it and think it

through. I think that's probably the biggest thing. I think the

last thing I would say just because I love doing this is I

love to team up with another photographer and do shoots

together. It's a great way to get creative and bounce ideas

off of each other. You can split the cost of model hires or some

of the props that you bring in and it's just a really fun way

to get creative. And I think some of that's what we bring to

the table with Cowgirls with Cameras workshops.

I think you really covered a lot of bases

there. I was just going to add also that I think attending

workshops, whether it's ours or anybody's it's a great way to

build your portfolio. So I'm going to talk a little bit more

about how to structure your actual portfolio and your visual

portfolio, I guess is what I'm talking about on your websites.

Back in the day, of course, we used to have a portfolio book,

you know, but I think one of the biggest things is, whatever you

do is make your passion very prominent in your portfolio,

what you really want to be hired for and to make sure that that

interface on your website or in the portfolio, that you're

showing that it's clean and very visually attractive for people

to look at. Maybe even try to inspire your audience a little

bit by combining words and images that make people want to

act and respond to what they're seeing. Again, like Cara said,

choose only your best images, ask someone to look at your

portfolio that you're wanting to put up and give you some

feedback and but make sure it's someone you trust their opinion.

I would also say choose photos where each image stands on its

own. You can do a story building portfolio, but I think it just

depends on if you're being hired by a client and you're showing

them this portfolio, you can read your client, you can read,

do they want to do a story building series? Or do they want

images that stand on their own? When you're doing it for a

client, think about creating a portfolio that's focused on

images that will show them that you're the right person to hire.

And if you do shoot a different photography niches, like you

know, maybe you shoot landscape, maybe you Shoot horses, maybe

you shoot portrait. It's okay to make multiple portfolios, you

know, to best suit your audience. So I think it's good

to show the client that you can do a variety of jobs. I know

back years ago, I got hired to do, I was wanting to do a lady's

ride and or look at a place was actually a cabin for hire in

Colorado. And I actually got the job because they wanted somebody

that could do architectural images along with landscape and

horses. So it's good to be able to show that you can do a

variety, a client will be looking for variety. And I

think, lastly is, gosh, take risk. I think risk are a really

important part of the world of art it extends and this extends

into your portfolio, don't be afraid to take a risk that you

think is going to show examples of your creativity and

innovation and stay current and modern with that be sure to

update your work, which I'm bad to not do.

That part about staying current and modern

can be really huge. Because I've seen photographers really date

themselves and date their work by using types of editing or

shooting that is maybe just not done as much right now. So if

you've got some of that in your portfolio, and it's not

currently the trend, you know, really think about how that fits

in with what you want to shoot. I'm not gonna give any examples,

but that's, you know, just something to really think about.

I think that's really important too, because

photography does go through trends, just like fashion. Just

this morning, I saw somebody's work that was which is great

work. Don't get me wrong, but they're kind of living in what

was current five years ago, which isn't that way now. So

yes, look at the modern trends, just like reels is a trend on

Instagram right now, but it's not really a trend. I think it's

gonna be here for a while. So

Do you guys want me to talk about model

calls right now? Or do you want me to save it for the end? What

do you think

Models are something I think that newer

photographers are really afraid of, right? It's a scary thing to

put out a model call for the first time and working with

models can get really complicated. And I do know we do

need to do an entire episode on it Cara, or at least that's what

my feeling is. But I think here it's really appropriate to talk

about when you're building your portfolio, having a model and

making sure that you have your t's crossed and your i's dotted

you know, have your model releases and stuff. But just the

the asking and planning part. And we have some friends that we

hang out with, and it's a true privilege to hang out with them,

that have really good model ideas and ways to get models

into their business and also to work with models. So yep, go

right ahead.

I do agree with Kim that this could be an

entire episode in itself. But where models are concerned for

portfolio building and model calls, I have definitely used

them in the past. And I've had some successes and some failures

with that. One of the things I realized when I was first

starting out and I would put out a model call is I would have a

ton of interest 50, 60, 100 inquiries would go through my

website and want to be on the model call. So what I found was

happening is that I would go through when I would pick who I

thought was a great fit for the project I was trying to create,

I would go through the process of setting up a date and a time

with those people and talk through what I needed from that

shoot. And then what would happen is I would drive out and

to meet them on the day of the shoot and no one would be there.

They just wouldn't show up. And so that was a lot of time and

energy invested other people could have taken that out what I

thought was a great opportunity and participated in that. One of

the things that I started doing in the early days of model calls

is I created well actually I didn't create this part of it is

I participated in an online program called in person sales

mastermind and there was a workshop that was called the $50

model call. And when I went through that program, I realized

that even on a model call situation sometimes your models

need to have a little skin in the game in order to go through

your entire process. And for me in that model call, I wanted to

test my workflow. So it wasn't just about shooting and

portfolio building. For me it was the initial inquiry working

with clients, getting them prepped for the photoshoot, the

actual session itself, meeting with me afterwards to view the

images. So I needed them to go through that whole process. So I

actually started charging my models to participate in the

model call. And then that is when I realized I really was

able to slim down the amount of interest to people that were

really interested and were going to show up. And then also get

them to a place where I was learning, I was going through my

process, I was testing my process, and we were shooting,

and they were getting images. So the way that I always structured

that was that any money that I requested for them "to book",

I'm putting that in quotations book their model called spot

they got back when they completed the process. So they

got the money back, but they could go through the process.

And all that did was encouraged people to actually participate.

And it worked out really, really well for me, in the beginning, I

got a ton of portfolio work, I got a ton of new sessions. And

then from that, I was able to build much more of an online

content presence and actual good portfolio work. Now I'm not

saying that I think every model call needs to be paid, I'm just

throwing out some ideas out there that you don't have to

offer it for free all of the time. And you need to remember

that when you're offering a model call for free, you are

directly potentially undercutting other photographers

in your area. So you really need to think about how you do that.

And be really just be super thoughtful about when you're

advertising free photo shoots, as model calls Phyllis, and Kim

did you guys want to add anything to that?

When you offer something for free people take

it at the value that you offer it. So that's nothing. And even

if you don't want to, let's say you charge them a $50 fee or

$100 fee, you don't always have to give that money back to them.

It can be prepayment, and you can say I'll exchange this for X

number of prints or two or three digital files that you can share

out with you. Because let's face it, if people are showing up for

model calls, that means they have an interest in making money

in this too, or getting something else out of it. And if

they can see more of that benefit of what they can get out

of it in the future, then they're more likely to be

participatory in the process, they're more likely to show up

where they're supposed to be, they're more likely to be more

engaged with making sure that it's done right that they're in

our case that their horses are groomed and everything looks the

way that it should for the same way a potential client would

look. So it's to me, it's important that they do have skin

in the game, I have had zero luck with free model calls. In

my career, what I have had luck with was charging a set fee

that's much reduced from my normal fee in exchange for the

fact that I have to have X number of shots. And I'm really

very upfront with the people that I ask to help me build my

portfolio, I will simply say I am building my portfolio, I am

looking for these shots, when I first got into reining, you have

to be able to shoot a stop if you're going to do reining

shows. And that's what the show staff wants to see in your

portfolio. So I contacted really high end what I would, high end

for my area, mind you I'm in the middle of the Midwest, so barns

that had good reining horses and said here's the deal, I will do

you know, X number of stallion shots, which already had a good

portfolio for but I need stop shots. So I need you to be able

to stop that horse X number of times I need an arena that looks

good, I need to have dirt that's going to fly, these are the

things that I need to have, I need you in your show gear. So

you're gonna have to outfit your horse the same as you would for

a show. No jeans, no braided tails, you know, I need you to

be like really on top of it. So I'm asking a lot of that model

and giving it something back.

That's 100% I think you can't just do a

blanket model call. Like I just I personally have never been a

big fan when people just say I just want to take pictures

people like let me know, you know, if you want your picture

taken, like you need to be super specific about what you need for

your portfolio. So if you're trying to build the commercial

side of your portfolio, you need to be working with small

businesses and looking specifically for the types of

products and services that you want to photograph. And that's

who your model call needs to be targeted at. If you're trying to

photograph a certain type of horse, a certain breed, or do a

certain type of discipline, you need to be super specific about

that. And that's going to help other you know, it's going to

help you get what you need for your portfolio. It's going to

help narrow down and make sure that you've got the right people

and it's going to help other photographers in your area

respect and understand what you're doing. I would add one

more thing about that. Yeah, I mean, I've spoken about how you

want your model sometimes to have skin in the game on the

flip side of that there are times when I have paid models to

get access to a particular breed of horse or a particular person

that I really wanted to photograph. So I think as

photographers, you have to balance what that is that you're

looking for and where you are in your game of portfolio building.

And horses, are property

Exactly. Do make sure that you have your

Horses are property. Well, I wanted to

legalities taken care of though, when you're doing this, because

there's nothing worse than getting into you know, go going

and shooting and getting the exact shots you need for your

change this conversation over unless you have something you

portfolio. You use them for a little while, and then all of a

sudden, the model comes back and says, hey, you're, you're doing

really well after those shots you took of me, I need XYZ now.

And you're like, yeah, there's model releases all over the

internet. I mean, they're not hard to come by. So grab a

model, release and familiarize yourself with the process of

that. And I also encourage people to definitely get a check

mark on a property release, especially if you're going to

somebody else's facility to take those photos. I know I did that

want to add here into how to use your portfolio because I think

that's a place though to building the portfolio is like

a lot. When I was building my portfolio, I was at nice

the fun part for most people. They're all down for that let's

facilities of famous people. And I needed to have some ability to

be able to know I could use those images legally and without

strings and horses, our property horses our property, well, I

wanted to change this conversation over unless you

have something you want to add here into how to use your

portfolio because they think that's a place though to

building the portfolio is like the fun part. For most people.

They're all down for that let's let's build our portfolio. Let's

let's build our portfolio. Let's go shoot. You know, people even

go shoot, you know, people even kind of bite the bullet even if

kind of bite the bullet even if they're shy about you know,

they're shy about you know, finding people to photograph and

finding people to photograph and that kind of stuff. But when it

that kind of stuff. But when it comes to actually using your

comes to actually using your portfolio, I see some feet

portfolio, I see some feet dragon. Now we used to back in

draggin'. Now we used to back in the day have printed portfolios,

the day have printed portfolios, and I'm sitting over here

and I'm sitting over here thinking I still have printed

thinking I still have printed portfolios. I have several books

portfolios. I have several books that I carry around with me when

that I carry around with me when I am in a target rich

I am in a target rich environment that people can just

environment that people can just pick up and thumb through. And I

pick up and thumb through. And I have to tell you, I have booked

have to tell you, I have booked more jobs off of those

more jobs off of those portfolios than I can count.

portfolios than I can count. It's it's absolutely the best

It's it's absolutely the best way to sell stuff. And it makes

way to sell stuff. And it makes sure you curate your portfolio

sure you curate your portfolio for the audience that you are

for the audience that you are going to be showing that

going to be showing that portfolio to I believe that was

portfolio to I believe that was Phyllis, you had that piece of

Phyllis, who had that piece of advice, which I also think is

advice, which I also think is super important. So if you're

super important. So if you're looking for commercial work,

looking for commercial work, what you can do is you can take

what you can do is you can take your digital portfolio, usually

your digital portfolio, usually in the form of your website, or

in the form of your website, or in the form of maybe a video

in the form of maybe a video that you can send to people via

that you can send to people via email or snail mail, if you're

email or snail mail, if you're going to print it, send it to

going to print it, send it to the people that you'd like to

the people that you'd like to especially work for if you have

especially work for. If you have shot some of their items for

shot some of their items for that particular brand, either on

that particular brand, either on purpose or by accident, and if

purpose or by accident. And if you would like to look at maybe

you would like to look at maybe doing some work for that

doing some work for that organization or brand, then

organization or brand, then definitely include that in the

definitely include that in the portfolio, do your research on

portfolio. Do your research on the brands that you're going to

the brands that you're going to approach to see if you can work

approach to see if you can work with them. You want to make sure

with them. You want to make sure that you capture the look, the

that you capture the look, the feel the emotion of that brand.

feel the emotion of that brand. All of those things are really

All of those things are really important to commercial

important to commercial businesses. And it's important

businesses. And it's important that they have photographers

that they have photographers that they work with that

that they work with that understand that and a lot of

understand that and a lot of small businesses and a lot of

small businesses and a lot of big ones for that matter, they

big ones for that matter, they need commercial imagery. So if

need commercial imagery. So if that's the place that you're

that's the place that you're wanting to look for, to me, that

wanting to look for, to me, that particular line of showing your

particular line of showing your portfolio is the most curated

portfolio is the most curated line that you're going to find

line that you're going to find you're always going to choose

you're always going to choose just exactly the most specific

just exactly the most specific images to be able to show to

images to be able to show to those potential clients. If you

those potential clients. If you are wanting to work in the fine

are wanting to work in the fine art world. You can take your

art world. You can take your portfolio either digitally or

portfolio either digitally or printed and you can approach

printed and you can approach galleries about doing a show or

galleries about doing a show or having some of your images

having some of your images featured in their space. I've

featured in their space. I've done this on a couple of

done this on a couple of different occasions and had some

different occasions and had some really nice luck with it. If you

really nice luck with it. If you get to know the gallery pretty

get to know the gallery pretty well a lot of galleries like the

well a lot of galleries like the gallery where I have a small

gallery where I have a small studio space in Kansas City they

studio space in Kansas City they have member only shows several

have member only shows several times a year that I will also

times a year that I will also participate or hang other images

participate or hang other images throughout their seasons in the

throughout their seasons in the gallery and there's a lot of

gallery and there's a lot of galleries in that little area

galleries in that little area that I have approached about

that I have approached about having my work displayed in so

having my work displayed in so you can take your portfolio and

you can take your portfolio and show it there. You can also

show it there. You can also approach businesses about

approach businesses about showing your images in their

showing your images in their spaces. So I work with a lot of

spaces. So I work with a lot of visual artists other than

visual artists other than photographers in helping them

photographers in helping them market and I've not seen a

market and I've not seen a photographer do this personally.

photographer do this personally. I know there are some that have,

I know there are some that have that I have seen a lot of my

but I have seen a lot of my visual artists that I coach and

visual artists that I coach and work with and mentor that have

work with and mentor that have approached restaurants and

approached restaurants and offered to hang their work in

offered to hang their work in that restaurant or coffee shops,

that restaurant or coffee shops, I've had a couple they've been

I've had a couple they've been very successful with coffee

very successful with coffee shops or even corporate

shops or even corporate businesses. Now I've had a lot

businesses. Now I've had a lot of my work is displayed in

of my work is displayed in corporate offices, but they've

corporate offices, but they've purchased it through different

purchased it through different channels than me showing up with

channels than me showing up with a portfolio, there's always an

a portfolio. There's always an opportunity to get your art out

opportunity to get your art out in places. And that becomes a

in places. And that becomes a living portfolio for you as well

living portfolio for you as well because whoever is coming in and

because whoever is coming in and out of that space is also seeing

out of that space is also seeing your work, whether it's in the

your work, whether it's in the gallery or the restaurant or the

gallery or the restaurant or the coffee shop or the corporate

coffee shop or the corporate building. If you're looking to

building. If you're looking to do a portrait or private work

do a portrait or private work taking your portfolio and

taking your portfolio and printed form, or on a tablet to

printed form, or on a tablet to a booth or a table at local

a booth or a table at local events where your ideal client

events where your ideal client will be like my new friend that

will be like my new friend that I met at central exchange, she

I met at Central Exchange, she had a booth right next to mine,

had a booth right next to mine, she had it done up really nice.

she had it done up really nice. She had her portraits, her

She had her portraits, her portfolio stuff all laid out all

portfolio stuff all laid out all over the table, and she had a

over the table, and she had a couple of really fun doors. She

couple of really fun doors. She does a lot of her headshots with

does a lot of her headshots with doors in the background. And so

doors in the background. And so they had some really colorful

they had some really colorful doors there. And it really drew

doors there. And it really drew people over to the booth, I

people over to the booth, I thought she did an outstanding

thought she did an outstanding job. And another thing I thought

job. And another thing I thought she did really, really well was

she did really, really well was a printed piece, which I'm going

a printed piece, which I'm going to show Phyllis and Kara, where

to show Phyllis and Cara, where she does high end senior

she's does high end senior portraits. It's like a lookbook.

portraits. It's like a lookbook. It's like a lookbook. It's a

It's like a lookbook. It's a little portfolio of her work. It

little portfolio of her work. It features local kids that people

features local kids that people are going to recognize it has

are going to recognize it has suggestions about how to book

suggestions about how to book your senior sessions, and about

your senior sessions, and about what to expect and little fun

what to expect and little fun sayings that are very

sayings that are very appropriate to the current

appropriate to the current generation that's out there. And

generation that's out there. And all of her photos are mixed in

all of her photos are mixed in with it. So it just makes it

with it. So it just makes it really easy for her to be able

really easy for her to be able to hand what I call a walk and

to hand what I call a walk and talk piece. You can talk with

talk piece. You can talk with people and then people walk away

people and then people walk away with it. And it's printed on

with it. And it's printed on some really fun to feel paper.

some really fun to feel paper. It's too bad you guys can't feel

It's too bad. You guys can't feel it. It's very fun to feel

it. It's very fun to feel paper. So you actually really like

paper. So you actually really like touching it. So it's just a

touching it. So it's just a really nice way to be able to

really nice way to be able to display the portfolio of her

display the portfolio of her work. And I can tell you she's

work. And I can tell you she's very talented. If I had a senior

very talented. If I had a senior I would definitely hire her to

I would definitely hire her to shoot my senior.

shoot my senior.

I was just sitting here thinking I'd slap a

QR code on that and make it a digital lookbook so people can

take pictures of it and pop it onto their phones.

Yep, well actually they picked up the

Cowgirls

I'm very QR Cody right now

You are but they picked up so I took our stuff

over to their booth and handed her our stuff because I'm like,

you never know when a photographer I did the same

thing at a horse expo, there was an equine photographer had a

booth at the horse expo, and I went over and introduce myself

and said I was Cowgirls with Cameras. But anyway, the lady I

met her name is Rye, by the way. And she's a photographer in

Stillwell Kansas. When I handed her our card her husband

immediately saw the QR code and was like, oh, how do you get

these I need to put them on there. So Cara, they're already,

already on to the next step.

They're on it. They beat me to it.

Cara has turned me on to the QR code.

I've already created mine in canva, so

I know between my QR codes and my

digital business card. I'm having people scan me all day

long. Scan me baby scan me.

Yeah, that's all about staying current and

modern. Right?

Well, I think that trips us over into another

topic that we wanted to bring you guys today. And that is our

gadgets, gear, and software section of the show where we

want to talk to you today about alternative input devices when

you're working on your computer. And I know that sounds really

fancy and fun, but basically it means a Wacom tablet and both

Phyllis and Cara have Wacom tablets, I have one as well. But

I'm going to reserve my comments for the end because I want to

talk about some of the things that I've been up to with a

tablet of a different color.

Well I'm new to Wacom tablets so I've been

only using mine now for about three months and it has been

touch and go literally the whole time and I have enjoyed it and I

do use it I would say 80% of the time for my editing now because

I'm getting more and more used to it. I still think there's

some kinks I have to work out in like my pressure sensitivities

and and stuff like that. But I really do love how detailed I

can be with stuff. So Phyllis, I know you've been using a Wacom

tablet for a very long time. Can you talk more about it?

Well, my current Wacom tablet is pretty

old but it's very similar to the one that I did a little research

on just finding out what the latest and greatest is is just

the Wacom Intuos Pro mine is a Wacom Intuos mine's pretty

similar to the new one because it does give really accurate

results. It has a lot of customizable buttons on it. It's

perfect for Photoshop. I really don't have anything negative to

say about this particular Wacom tablet. It is a little pricey.

It's about I think it's a little over $400 It does take time to

get used to I think you have to give yourself two to four weeks

to really dive into it.

They say you have to put your mouse

completely away, like just get rid of your computer mouse and

use nothing but your your pen or what do they call it a stylus or

something, use nothing but your pen, I call it the pen

That's the one I have

That would probably be helpful. I have both

my mouse and my Wacom tablet sitting here. So I use both but

I don't do a lot of meticulous work like I used to. When I used

Is that the one you have? Yeah, it's about

to do a lot of background replacements and stuff like

that. I don't do as much of that anymore. Like I used to, gosh, I

don't think I could have lived without it back when I was doing

a lot of that. I mean, you can you can you can do it with a

it's only about $150 or something like that. It's great

mouse. But it just makes things so much easier and so much

faster to have the tablet there is a Wacom Intuos medium, it's

it's smaller, it's about

for beginners, I highly suggest that if you find that you're

really loving the one you have Cara you may end up wanting to

step up to a more expensive one, just because it it will give you

more sensitivity. And I think you'd really like it. And I

think being able to customize it is a big plus too. I think the

less expensive one use, there are some customizable buttons in

it. I'm not sure I've never seen it before. But you could talk

more about that than I could. I think if you would like to do

photoshop work and you're into doing that and you love doing

some editing and being creative that I highly suggest you get a

Wacom tablet.

Yeah, I have found when I'm doing things like

cloning, or trying to if there's like an edge, say like around a

horse, and there's a fence I'm trying to get rid of, and it

edges right up to the side of the horse that I can make such a

cleaner line and it's it seems to flow so much easier with my

Wacom tablet than it does using the mouse. And that's probably

been one of the biggest features that I've enjoyed from it so far

is the detail work seems less clunky than it did with the

mouse.

Yeah, definitely, if you're doing a

lot of fine detail work, I highly, I highly suggest you get

a tablet

about it that if you tried a tablet years ago,

and you decided it wasn't for you, you need to try it again.

Because Photoshop has made amazing strides in being able to

offer pressure sensitivity to their brushes, and to all of the

tools that has gotten better as well. So it's not just that the

tablets have improved some but the software that you're using

has dramatically changed. Even in the last 24 months, it has

made big strides in being able to make that pressure

sensitivity a real key attribute in how you can utilize it inside

of the software on your images. And so much of Photoshop and all

of the tools that we use really, that are digital that will take

advantage of a Wacom tablet, they really have all come a

really long way. All of that said, I chose to go with a

different type of a system where I use my iPad Pro. And it's the

same concept, you're still using a stylus and you're still

utilizing that versus a mouse for your input to be able to

alter the image. And I absolutely love doing my editing

on my iPad Pro. Now, if you have an iPad, and you want to dabble

to say with this pressure sensitivity would a tablet

actually work for me and you do have an iPad at your disposal,

there is a software that you can download. It's not very

expensive. I think it's like $20 it's actually available for

Windows tablets as well. It's called Duet, D-U-E-T, like a

duet in music. And it will let you use your tablet, your iPad

tablet, as an input device. So you can kind of experiment with

it. You can utilize your Apple pencil if you have one if you

have an Apple device and be able to use it as a pressure

sensitive input device to edit your photos with so that's a

another opportunity if you if you want to dabble in this and

you're not quite sure you want to invest in a dedicated tablet.

It certainly is a way for you to experiment and to try some new

stuff.

I love that there's so many more people I've

seen doing edits on their iPads, if it's not something that

they're doing, maybe they just need to do quick edits, that

they're using their iPad a lot. And so to know that there's that

option. That's a pretty cool feature. I think a lot more

people probably have iPads already, especially with some of

the newer ones that are coming out. So that's fun idea.

Yeah. Someday we'll have to just chat all

about my iPad work.

Yeah, no kidding. There's probably some

people that'd be interested.

It took me a year. I spent last year figuring

it out. I was, yeah, I was throwing things it was it was

ugly for a minute but now I love it and don't want to ever go

back.

I remember those days

I know, I kind of remember those days too.

Well, I think that what we wanted to do here was just to

throw out another idea give you our take on using a tablet for

your editing. So if you guys have given it a try and you love

it, let us know, we definitely want to know more. Should we

move on to our final segment the challenge?

Yeah, Cara, why don't you issue the challenge

this episode,

Since I'm the one that came up with this

challenge, I'll chat a little bit about it. I thought maybe

that for this time period, we could do a challenge on creative

framing. So framing refers to using elements of a scene to

create a frame within your frame. And I love that because

I'm a big goof for looking for foregrounds looking for frames

all over the place to frame my subjects in. So a great example

might be that you shoot your subject through a barn door or

over branches or fences or on a trail or you look for arches and

buildings, some things are really highlight the focus of

your subject as the focus. So with this composition, you can

really create depth in a photo and make it a little more

interesting. So we would love to see your creative framing. If

you've done some creative framing, share it with us. If

you haven't done some creative framing and you want to get out

and give it a try. This is a great time to do it. Share with

us online at #CWCPhotoChallenge. And our goal is that if you tag

us, we're going to try to share it. We would love to share it

and get some folks to see your work out there.

I think that's a great challenge for the week.

I like that.

It is a fun challenge.

I think we all love framing. That's always

cool.

That is a fun challenge. Alright, so that

wraps us up for the week. You guys. It's been awesome. If you

haven't checked us out online, we are on Instagram and Facebook

at Cowgirls with Cameras. You can also go to our website and

see some of our upcoming events. Did you two want to give a plug

for any events you have coming up that you are looking to fill?

We still have some space left in the Art of

the Cowgirl summer event that we're holding in Big Timber

Montana at the end of August. And then we also have I think a

couple of spaces left for the Cottonwood Ranch.

That's right, we sure do. Go check those out

online. I think that's it for us. So I hope everybody has a

great couple of weeks of shooting and we'll be back in a

couple weeks.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Cowgirls with

Cameras. Don't let the laughter and learning stop here. Join our

community on social media. And be sure to visit our website for

more opportunities to fulfill your photography goals head to

cowgirlswithcameras.com. That's cowgirlswithcameras.com See you