Hi friends, that's me on the cover. My name is Robert Provencher and I have been a professional portrait photographer for over 27 years. I am "not" an exhibitionist by nature. As a matter of fact I was quite reluctant to use this image on the cover, but when I polled just about everyone I know about what they thought (and I fully expected half to turn away in revulsion), it seemed to be the perfect picture.

Everyone said so. It was "so you" they said. The one and only objection I received was from my wife.(She being the conservative accountant this didn't surprise me- or maybe she's tired of seeing me without clothes.)

Anyhoo, the title says it all. I wrote this book with the intention of revealing "EVERYTHING" it takes succeed as a portrait photographer. This is not a "feel good, sugar coated" generic type of book. I really did reveal all. It may offend some, but the way I see it, I either call it the way I see it or say nothing at all.

"It's important that every studio owner read this book! Statistically, only a handful of photographers out of a hundred will celebrate their studio's tenth anniversary; this studio owners manual lead us down the right roads to new horizons and recession-proof profits!" Michael J. Ayers, MPA,SPA,M.Photog.,Cr.,CPP,API,ALPE,Hon-ALPE,FSWPP President, The Ayers Incorporated
"The World Leader in Albums" International Photographer of the Year -WPPI

Now available at AMAZON.COM

There are over 176 pages, in 16 Chapters. They are:

1. Photography Is Business
2. How to Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Succeed in Your Own Photography Business
3. What They Won’t Teach You in Photography School
4. How to Create a Style that is Uniquely Yours
5. Sure-Fire Selling Techniques
6. Marketing Part One
7. Marketing Part Two: The Business of Running Your Business
8. The Art of the Pose
9. Lighting
10. Composition
11. Weddings
12. Photographing Babies and Children
13. Families
14. Publicity
15. Websites
16. Dictate or Be Dictated To

The truth is, you can't take yourself too seriously. That's why I went with the cover I did. If you take the photographic industry and all it's bloated egos and prima donnas, you quickly understand that (especially in todays day and age and uncertain times) having fun, making people laugh, loving what you do and making as much money as you want is about the one and only way to make it work.

That's the way I see it anyways, and that's what's in this book. It's everything that I discovered that is important to being successful and happy.

Here's the introduction from the book (I thought of adding some brief excerpts here and there, but then I thought, "hey, buy the friggin book...." I mean c'mon. It's dirt cheap when you consider the fact that it is loaded with ideas and strategies and all my secrets. I sure wish I had something like this when I started out.)

EXPOSED: The Naked, Uncensored Truth
To Running a Successful Photography Business

INTRODUCTION
This is everything I know about photography and running a photography studio based on 27 years of playing the game.

There’s an inner voice inside me that nags me and asks, “Who are you? Who are you to write a book on this topic? Who are you to write a book on photography and not include any photographs?”

It’s kind of crazy when you think about it. Right?

Well, you know, all great deeds, all great ventures, all businesses, pretty much anything that we produce in our lives are all based on and initially start from an idea. Ideas are where it’s at.

I hope this book will be just that for you—an idea or a series of ideas that will inspire you because you have read my history, my story, and my observations and thoughts that I’ve collected over the years.

As a child in school, I was very much asleep and in la-la land most of the time. For me, school was dream time. And as a result, I wasn’t the class clown. I was very shy. I became very much a wallflower, kind of invisible, there observing half the time, and half the time in dream land.

This is important to note because it sort of molded me in many ways. I’m a big believer in taking everything that we’ve become in our lives and turning them into strengths--into things that we can use in a positive way-- because all too often we get caught up in the negative side of things.

And for photographers, we can take whatever, or whatever neurotic impulses we’ve developed over the years, we could take whatever things we can perceive as being very negative and turn them into very positive things. And we can massage these things, these characteristics, these aspects of our personality, and we can bring them forward and develop a strong talent. We can develop and encourage our creative sides.

The Biz

Of course, let’s not forget about the business side. In this book I’m really going to get into the business side of things. I’m going to get into marketing. I’m going to get into the creative side of photography, as well, because I believe that in order to be successful you have to have all of these elements working together.

Like I say in my coaching program, and like I nag and constantly bring up, over and over and over again, everything starts with the individual. And this book is about an individual—it’s about me. And you. Really, I’m exposing everything. I’m telling you, giving you everything I can possibly come up with that I’ve observed from being in the back of the room, the shy kid in school, the guy who barely talked; now you can’t shut me up. But here I am saying it the way I see it. You may not agree with some of it. You may not agree with all of it. Hopefully, at the very least, you come away with some new ideas. You come away with some new concepts that will inspire you to become a better photographer, a better businessman, and a better marketer.

I wrote this essentially for photographers…for photographers who are always looking and learning and wanting to find newer and better ways to create a stronger business, to create a better product, namely their photography, to create a more fulfilling life through their photography businesses.

Being an Idea Machine

There’s a book that I read years ago. I guess I was about twenty years old. And I don’t even remember the guy’s name. I know his first name is Robin, and it was called Creative Photography. That’s all the title was. There wasn’t a single picture in that book. But I always remembered it. And I read it several times because the ideas in it somehow worked for me. Now this guy was a stock photographer. And I am not a stock photographer; I’m a wedding and portrait photographer. Nevertheless, the ideas helped me, helped in some way develop who I eventually became and I am becoming.

So again, I’d like to reiterate that fact that ideas are where it’s at. So, get the ideas in this book. Read them. Try and follow them as best you can, and understand them. Keep an open mind. And if you have any thoughts or feedback or concepts that you would like to make me aware of or debate, whatever, I’m easy. You can always contact me or send me an email.

The Creative Factor

A few thoughts on creativity. Creativity is a part of this whole process; creativity insofar as innovation in business and as our abilities to create photographs. There’s two sides to the creativity coin. Really when you look at the whole picture, there are more dimensions than just being an artist. Because as photographers we tend to get stuck in ruts, and as photographers, we tend to find a system that works and we get into that system and we stick with it- forever. And after decades of using the same system over and over and over, we end up calcifying and submitting what worked for us the first time. And that’s great. The problem is, you want to avoid obsolescence. Because if what you’re doing does become obsolete, you may have a struggle. You may have a hard time breaking away from it and creating a new system.

The idea that I like to express to you is that, we need to learn as many variations on as many aspects as is completely possible in our business, in our photography, so that we can keep an open mind, and we can learn to innovate at both levels as photographers and as business persons.

This is vital. Part of becoming a complete, wholesome, prosperous, excited and growing photographer is exploring the many dimensions and areas for growth and opportunity in business and in creativity.

End of INTRODUCTION

Click the link below, give us your credit card info, name, address and such, I will get your copy out to you very soon. Not as fast as Amazon, but between sessions and all that is going on I will have on it's way within days.

Thanks,
Rob

P.S. Here's my studio, so you can see I am the real deal.
P.P.S. Here's my other passion, to do with photoshop tutorials, photography marketing and lighting.

P.P.S. I hope you buy my book. Hey, I ordered 200 copies and my wife doesn't want to see 'em sticking around long.

Oh, I almost forgot. I have some comments from one other photog (hey, you gotta start somewhere!):

From Ottawa photographer, Robin Spencer: "Hi Rob Stayed up last night and read your book cover to cover. Loved it!
Incredible amount of information and motivation."