My favorite part of my job…
…is when I get to tell stories like these:
Sam made his 500 Free State Qualifying Time for the first time, beating the time standard by less than 3 seconds.
Fun pics from Clarke-Oconee Invitational, Jan 17 2009
A more serious post of pics to come + a post about general thoughts on this weekend, roadmapping, etc. For now, enjoy the fun.
It’ll be OK.
Just breathe.
–.
My class
Not necessarily company-related, but sort of obliquely photography-related, so whatever. Here are the twenty-two folks I hang out with every Tuesday and Thursday from 3:30 to 4:45 in Park Hall Room 60.
Event Wrap-up: 2009 Senior Circuit Meet
Welcome to the first in what will (hopefully) be a long line of posts: our event wrap-ups. One of the many things I took away from my internship with Athens Church is the idea of continual self-review in order to continually improve. These posts aim to look at what went well, what could’ve gone better, what we’ll change for next time, and any general thoughts about the event. So, without further ado, the 2009 Senior Circuit Meet Event Wrap-up.
* * * *
The Good:
A lot, thankfully. Our first event of 2009 showed a marked improvement in many regards over all of our 2008 events. While we had a few events last year that brought in more income, this event was our best ever in several regards. Specifically:
-Photo quality. Simply put, we took the highest-quality photos we’ve ever taken. As seen in the featured photos from this meet, the sharpness, clarity, color, and composition of our photos has reached a new high for us here.
-Photo quality consistency. A higher percentage of shots were usable, our shots required less editing out of the camera, and we took fewer shots overall (thus speeding up our workflow considerably) while still taking more keepers.
-Retail setup. Our retail setup looked better than it ever had before. We added a second table (thanks to the friendly Ramsey center staff), our two computers (one for browsing our website, one to run digital signage) and two new 22-inch LCDs, and a new database system. Things looked great thanks to the hard work of Kate and Matt.
-New employee. The recently engaged Matt Deitzel came on as our first new hire, and he knocked it out of the park. He was punctual, friendly, willing to learn a still-too-complicated setup, and much, much more. I look forward to having him at any future events we can snag him for.
-Composites. We offered a new item for sale–composites (comps) for short, and they were a hit. The sample we created sold immediately, and several more people were interested. We’ll definitely be looking to improve our offerings in that arena as time goes on.
-New database. This was our first stab at using FileMaker Pro live at an event, and it worked brilliantly. Hopefully we’ll have time to set up the web forms that will allow customers to input data themselves in time for our next event.
-Prompt service. Thankfully, we were able to edit and post some photos on Saturday; all photos were edited and posted by Sunday afternoon; and email alerts went out at 5:30am thanks to the wonderful MailChimp we keep as a pet. This is the level of service we’ve always aimed to offer, and I feel that we pulled it off quite well.
The bad:
Happily, not much (if anything) was out-and-out bad at this event. That doesn’t mean that there weren’t plenty of areas in which we want to improve or grow for next time. In no special order:
-On-site marketing. Waaaay too many people came up to us as they were leaving the meet to express their chagrin about not knowing that you had to sign up with us to have your photos taken. At future meets, a mix of print and digital signage, clearer announcements, and possible print advertising (in programs / heat sheets) will be used to make sure that everyone who would want to use our service knows about it.
-Digital signage. While not really awful, I want things to look a lot better in this department at our next meet. Enough said.
-Data entry. Our current print-based format makes it too easy to forget to include essential information. Which is why we’re aiming to move to an electronic, database-driven entry system.
What we’ll change:
-On-site printing. One of my big projects for this week is to work out how to offer on-site printing. At a one-day event. Fun time. 
-Print signage. In anticipation of a busy event, we’ll be adding print signage to direct people through the flow of our operations.
-A few items we need to aquire. Namely: A heavy-duty extension cord, a hand-truck (a nice-to-have right now), another table cover (and possibly another table of our own), a trailer and a trailer hitch (within the next month), Kensington locks, new composite prints, new storage bins. Already handled: another easel, composite frames (and mats), photo kiosks / ink / paper.
And the rest:
That’s really it for now. I enjoyed this, and I’m looking forward to continuing this series in the future. Goodnight!
The evolution of our retail setup
This is what our retail setup looked like at Ramsey this past week:
Kate and Matt both did an absolutely fantastic job.
I very much wanted to take a few quick snaps so that I have a record of how our retail setup looks as it changes (hopefully continually for the better) over time.
Photos from 2009 Senior Circuit
A few of my favorites from this weekend. Look for a post on thoughts on the business side of this event soon.
Some new toys on the way
A few new products coming in the next few days that I’ll be adding to our retail setup. Pretty excited about these. Once they arrive and I have a chance to use them, I’ll post some reviews.
Parker Wedding Photos (Long Overdue)
I finally got around to editing the photos from Tori and Kevin Parker’s wedding today, which is funny since I also found out today that Tori’s pregnant–congrats to her! I’ve posted the edits here.
A few of my favorites:
What’s funny is that, even though I got some pics that I was pretty pleased with, they took _way_ more editing time than should’ve been necessary because they weren’t shot correctly. It’s kind of funny how much I’ve learned in the past half a year or so. Among other things I would’ve done differently, I would’ve:
- Increased in-camera saturation
- Reduced ISO
- Not shot with two of the three lenses I used (the 17-85 f/4-5.6 IS, which is WAY too slow even with IS and not terribly sharp, and the 50 f/1.8, which fails with a remarkable consistency to be sharp)
- Paid more attention to composition, especially visibility of faces and odd background objects
- Not fallen while walking around the Chapel balcony while everyone was silent (funny story, that)
Hey, you live, you learn, you correct what you can in Lightroom, and you do better next time.
Oh, and I still need to learn how to use Canon’s flash system properly.
Jobs for the next few weeks
So, in an effort to get my head wrapped around what’s going on over the next two weeks, I’m compiling a list of everything I’d like to accomplish over the next two weeks. Here we go:
Events:
- 2009 Senior Circuit meet, Ramsey center, Saturday Jan 10 and Sunday Jan 11
- HS Invitational, Ramsey center, Saturday Jan 17
Tasks:
- Update marketing materials (Meet Handout, Signup sheet)
- Check website for needed refreshes
- (Depending on his schedule) Train Matt @ Meet on 01/10/09
- Create FMP data entry setup
- Create promo loop for digital signage (next week)
- Check equipment (lenses, cameras, memory cards, batteries, computers bins) before each meet
- Edit Parker wedding photos
- Create operations manual (areas: Financial, Web, Customer Service, Sales Rep, Database, Data Handling, Marketing, Corporate Vision)
- Meet with Tim Waters
- Close out books for 2008
- Get back into OmniFocus / Jott system
There are probably 20-30 other things I’d like to do / need to do, but there are the biggies.
As I begin to face seriously the challenge of turning ROP into a full-time operation, I am starting to see the true importance of vision, which leads to prioritization, which requires focus. Ah, that I had more idle time to ramble about these things. Soon. Soon.
Welcome to the New Year
Welcome to the first official post of River Oak Blog! I’m so excited for this new year and all that it brings. The big idea here is that I’m seeing if I can transition River Oak Photography into my full-time job…
…in the middle of the worst economy in 70ish years.
I love a challenge.
So what exactly does this mean?
- A much more serious time investment in the things that matter: taking pictures (duh), sales, marketing, learning, networking, etc.
- Similarly, less time wasted on things that don’t matter so much.
- Consistent writing about this process so that I stay on-task and keep asking the questions that matter.
- Hiring employees(!).
- Potentially becoming an S Corporation.
- Getting equipment insurance (finally).
- Lots more picture-taking. Starting tomorrow when I return to Athens, I’ll be carrying my camera with me wherever I go, so I’ll be posting photos as close to every day as I can manage.
- Hopefully, making a dollar or two.
That’s it for now. Thanks!
