Something New Every Week
Something New Every Week
Capturing the Senior Experience: Aaron Rodgers, AI Retouching, and Building a Photography Business with Dan Frievalt
What do Aaron Rodgers' NFL career and senior photography have in common? Find out in our intriguing conversation with talented senior photographer and Green Bay local, Dan Frievalt. We discuss Aaron Rodgers' move from Green Bay to the New York Jets and dive into Dan's journey from a free Facebook group to creating Sceners Unlocked, a subscription-based education platform for photographers.
Listen as we explore the power of AI retouching tools for senior photography and the importance of staying connected with today's teen demographic. Discover how Dan captures the essence of each individual senior by understanding their preferences and curating content that resonates with them, leading to a successful senior photography business.
In the world of social media, connecting with high schoolers poses its own challenges. Join us as we examine traditional senior model teams' effectiveness and the power of word-of-mouth referrals in the senior photography industry. Don't miss this insightful conversation with Dan Frievalt, where you'll be inspired to elevate your photography game to new heights.
Hey there, thanks for tuning in to Something New Every Week with your host, me, jason Group. Each week, i'm going to give you something new that's happening in our photographic world just some great conversations with my friends and what's going on right now. Something New Every Week is sponsored by Miller's Lab. Miller's Professional Imaging is the largest professional lab organization in the United States. They provide professional prints and press products for professional photographers in all 50 states and Canada And they're just a great company. If you don't know them, go check them out. Millerslabcom. Welcome to another episode of SNU. Something New Every Week And as the first 100 episodes of this podcast, this has been an evolution, and the last couple of episodes have been a new evolution. And if we're talking new and exciting and bringing somebody back, one of the first people I thought of was Dan Freevalt, and he's joining us today. Dan, say hello.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Dan and I spent the first few minutes. We've been going back and forth. I'm wearing my Jets hat, dan is wearing his Green Bay hat And we'll definitely we just it's the elephant in the room, so we have to start with Aaron Rodgers And we've been. I've been very excited to welcome him to New York and hopefully bring us a Super Bowl this year. Dan's probably going to laugh at me And I'm curious about your thoughts on everything that's gone on.
Speaker 2:It's been exciting on our end in the front here in Green Bay as well. I live right in Green Bay, so it's because Green Bay is such a small market, but we have a football team. We don't have an owner.
Speaker 2:It's a very unique dynamic but it's all this town basically revolves around, And so it's it's been exciting as well, I think. From so my perspective is I think it's a great move Him leaving. He was great here. He'll be great wherever he goes. He just needs that little chip on his shoulder, He needs that little push that I think he got. That he didn't really have here. It kind of got kind of redundant. So I'm excited to watch as well to see what he does, Cause I think he's really going to explode and do two great things, And I think that's that's great for him.
Speaker 1:And that is such a nice thing to say, given given the situation, and it's pretty much the same thing that I've heard from most Green Bay people. And again, Dan is a is a is a Wisconsin based senior, senior, high school senior photographer. We're going to get into all those different stuff that he does, but he's one of my few photographers generally aren't the biggest football fans, So the, the few that, the few that I do have I relate to and chat quite a bit. I love Green Bay's, like the whole makeup. The fact that they don't have an owner everybody that is a season ticket holder as an owner, It's a really, really unique thing. And I think that, Aaron Rogers, you're right, He needs to play with a chip on his shoulder And hopefully the New York City market doesn't gobble him up alive, which is what I'm most afraid of, Cause if he loses that first game to the bills we are he's in, he's in big trouble.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, and he has a way with words where he can handle things pretty well too, i think. But yeah, yeah. And then the other thing I think of it's like, you know, not so much last year, but the year before it's like we kept going like to the, you know first round, you know buy and home field advantage, and we would lose. We're like, well, what do we have to lose? Like we're in a different perspective, we're so spoiled between Farr and Rogers and making it to the playoffs. But if we lose a playoff game, we're like, well, that wasn't worth it, when you know the Jets haven't been in the playoffs for the longest streak ever.
Speaker 1:I think I heard That's correct.
Speaker 2:So, like I know, everyone wants a Super Bowl over there right away, but just to make the playoffs, i think would be quite a great achievement and excitement. And when we're spoiled we're like we want more than a playoffs. I guess everyone does.
Speaker 1:but yeah, Yeah, when you're winning, you want to keep winning, right, So that totally makes sense. Yeah, I would be happy with a 10 and seven season and we make we get through the first round of the playoffs. Just to say that we're in the playoffs would be really great. It's been brutal. The last 10 years have been absolutely awful, and you know the schedule doesn't help. I mean, do you know that the Jets have never beaten Philadelphia?
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 1:They've never in the history of the franchise, have never beaten Philadelphia. And now they're predicted to beat both the Bills, which I think they will do. They beat the Bills and Philadelphia. That's rough. They're also playing the Giants. It's just a really rough schedule. But yeah, and truth be told, i don't even know, so you guys even do we know who the Green Bay starting quarterbacks going to be?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Jordan Love.
Speaker 1:Oh, it is Jordan Love, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:I don't want to get too far in a tangent, but that's, you know, rogers was kind of whole hum and that's why they drafted Jordan Love. They gave Jordan the chip on the shoulder. He went back to back MVP's, So it's like it's kind of that same thing. He's a great quarterback. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's going to be great.
Speaker 1:And I think I think Green Bay needs a spark as well. So I think I my prediction is that they're going to have a good season. But all right, we're five minutes in. Let's move on from football. So Dan is a great photographer. High school senior photographer has been at it for, i think, over 15 years now And he also runs a website called seniors unlock that he launched, i believe also during the pandemic And amongst other things there's. He has a great podcast and lots of educational tools. He's going to be the key. Are you the keynote at sync this year?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i'm the closing keynote speaker at sync.
Speaker 1:Yes, he's the closing keynote speaker at sync, which, if you're considering getting into high school senior photography sync, s Y N C sync, not kitchen sync is a really, really amazing conference of really just incredible individuals that are part of it. It's a small community and very, very giving bunch of people and some of my favorite people on the planet. I'm actually going to try and make it down there this year and I wouldn't want to miss that closing keynote. That's awesome. So it was during the pandemic you launched. Seniors unlocked right.
Speaker 2:No, actually seniors unlocked was launched probably a good 15 years ago. No, probably 12 years ago, Oh sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's all right. I said we launched the photo happy hour podcast during the pandemic.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And you guys have to be well over a hundred episodes at this point.
Speaker 2:That's a good question. We just reached 25,000 downloads.
Speaker 1:That's incredible.
Speaker 2:But yeah, i think we're close to a hundred episodes, maybe over that. I can't ever keep track of that part.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, well, so maybe it was that you launched a membership during the pandemic, where before it was just products and stuff.
Speaker 2:That too, right before the pandemic. So I launched SU Insiders, which was in February, and then March, the pandemic hit. So, yeah, right before the pandemic, i launched the membership and, yeah, like a month later, everything shut down.
Speaker 1:So yeah, okay. So for those people who don't know what seniors unlocked is, give us the elevator pitch.
Speaker 2:Yes, good, because I have a lot of things going on so sometimes it can get confusing. So, sceners Unlocked I started right around the time when After Dark kind of stopped and I missed the connection with photographers and everything. So I just started, like everyone did, a free Facebook group back in the day and just had a bunch of photographers there to keep connections with creative people. I find the more time you spend with creative people, the more creative you are, and I missed that when After Dark was no longer. So we kind of kept it going via online with a Facebook group page That was absolutely free, just shared information. That is still going on. You can still join for free. And then I also had some products because I was teaching at the time. So I just kind of put the products underneath the same brand Sceners Unlocked, with my montage course and some overlays, things like that.
Speaker 2:Then when I started teaching I realized the disconnect was as you go to a conference or you get all hyped up and inspired, but then you go back to your hometown and you kind of lose that momentum. So starting the membership I call it SU Insiders, just a Playoff. Sceners Unlocked was a way for people to join that as a paid subscription where every month I jump on. I was on yesterday with my members, did a free training on some new AI retouching software, so every month I do some live training as well as there are tons of other guest speakers in there doing training. We do shooting, lighting, marketing, sales everything to keep you going throughout the year with your senior photography business, nice. So that's it. That's it. That's it. That's it in a nutshell. Well, and I was, you can leave a nutshell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is definitely a very short version of that. All over, vader Pitch And I was spending some time on your website, on the website today, and I didn't realize how much was in there between the templates and the membership part where you can join, like you were saying, where it's ongoing education, and there's a lot in here. So for those of you who know Dan, you need to spend some time going over to the website, because there's a ton of shit here that I didn't even realize And the amount of.
Speaker 1:I didn't realize that it wasn't just you teaching in there, that you have lots of. You've Dan McClanahan in there, and Michael Mowbray is in there and lots of other people who are coming in to help teach as well. So, all right. So some questions for you, and I want to start with the AI stuff, because I am And that's when I first reached out to you to talk about this. This for me if you're a seasoned photographer at this point and you're not looking at implementing some AI tools at this point, i think you are really doing yourself a disservice. Number one, for the speed of things that you can get things done that you couldn't do before. And two, the amount of creativity you're unlocking using these tools is incredible. I only really understand AI tools more on the wedding photography side, where people are using it for batch processing calls and then batch processing images and AI learning and stuff like that. Where do you think is the biggest thing that's happening with seniors right now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, good question, because I had seen some of that batch stuff at a convention and I was like, well, if I shot weddings, yeah, i could see that being super beneficial, but not photographing weddings anymore, i'm like I didn't really pay much attention to it. But for senior stuff. So there's several different AI retouching tools. Last year I experimented and played with retouch for you and it's really cool because it looks at the face and removes blemishes, or it looks at the teeth and just whitens the teeth. So what the AI is doing is identifying where a face is and doing whatever you want it to do, and that's not really new. Like portrait professional would do some of the similar things. But if you played with that, it would map out the face. It could even adjust the face, like open an eye or reshape the face, which I don't do for seniors, but for models. I can see high end retouchers using that for models.
Speaker 2:But just as of a few weeks ago, i started using it and I'm not saying it, i'm not sure how to pronounce it, but it's EVOTO And it's pretty cool because it has it all kind of built in in one and you just use sliders and you can adjust everything from shine on the skin, from removing blemishes to skin softening if you want to. If you want to reshape the body or the face, you can just use sliders. You can also adjust color in there. You can save presets. So it allows you to basically have your raw processor.
Speaker 2:It works under raw images Like Lightroom or Capture One. You can dump your images in there, raw process them, save presets and then export them out and then do anything else you want to do with them in Photoshop or just kind of use them as that if you don't use Photoshop. So that's pretty amazing because it can also identify. Let's say, you have a brightened groom. It can identify the male and the female and then adjust the sliders differently and do retouch in that way, which is pretty sweet. But yeah, i can see that For this year I'm going to really work on that a lot with my workflow for seniors and just batch, process a bunch of images without having to go in and hand retouch every image and remove blemishes. So yeah, pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i'm just looking at that as we're typing.
Speaker 1:I think the side of my face just blew up, side of the head just blew up. And that's what really is exciting about photography now is, i think for those and I think most of this audience is probably more seasoned photographers So finding tools that listen, if I never have to retouch a high school seniors face or like that ever again, it'd be too soon. Not that they need a lot of retouching, but we all do a little skin softening and blemishes and here and there. And to be able to get rid of that stuff and a couple of clicks and it learning how you do things because each of us do those things a little bit differently is just. I mean, we're talking about thousands of hours being saved and there's no reason to do that work if you don't have to. On the wedding side, it's not just thousands of value, it means tens of thousands of hours. But on the high school senior side, we do tend to really spend time retouching and more Photoshop work than you would ever do on a wedding, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And in the past my workflow was to well. When I first started I had to hand retouch everything and that was very labor intensive. And a lot of companies like Rebokucom and stuff came out where you could outsource it super cheap anywhere from 60 cents an image to high end retouching was like $2.50 an image, so I built that into my pricing.
Speaker 2:I'm like, yep, i never want to remove a blemish in my life again. I have more important things to do, things that can make me more money. So I'm a big believer in outsourcing and doing the things that make your money and not removing pimples at two in the morning, like I see so many photographers do, especially at that price. So you know, and I even had employees at a time where they were just retouching. That's expensive. So it allows me to have employees without having full time employees or I'm seasonal because I'm here in Wisconsin, so it was always hard to find something for the employees to do in kind of the off season. So having retouching on demand to outsource whenever I had it, that was great And I still use that on occasion because AI isn't exactly there yet.
Speaker 2:But some of this stuff can also be streamlined and now done, even without outsourcing it. So that will save you know, some time and just help me be a better workflow. And then I can focus on like the five or so images where I go in depth or something like I mentioned before. When I do my composites and my montages like only I can do that to create that wow image that I'm going to sell as a wall portrait, which helps my averages. I'm better off spending an hour or two creating a composite that I know I'm going to have a huge sale on, then an hour or two retouching pimples off of a senior. So that's kind of my mindset with it and has been very profitable for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean more time you can spend on marketing, which is where we should be, spending all of our time.
Speaker 2:That too yeah.
Speaker 1:Sadly, that's where we're at, and if there's anything I've learned about running a photography business is the second you take your foot off the gas on, that is the second your booking start to decline. So you know, and it's even more prevalent than ever, which leads me to my next question. So, as someone who how do I want to word this question, because it's completely self serving as somebody who has has been at it a while and is kind of looking to really get things moving again with their senior business, what advice would you offer to that person? Not that I, you know, i'm asking for a friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, someone I know, not me. Yeah, i guess the best advice I would say is to reach out, network as much as possible. The senior seniors are tricky. What I love about seniors is they're very trendy and they change all the time, so I need that. As a creative person, i get bored easily, so I like to be challenged, i guess you know, we'll bring it back to you.
Speaker 2:Know, rogers, maybe I need, he needs, a challenge. You get kind of bored doing the same thing over and over again, and so, seniors, you know that's the beauty of it is, if they challenge you. That also is the frustrating thing is because it's like, oh, I have to learn, tick tock, now I need to learn. You know all these different things, where kids are and what's trending, what's, what are they associated with? Because every, every season, every class year, is different. It's weird. They have their own dynamic And so, being connected, you know, with what they want, like right now, what they really want is they want to know you as a person.
Speaker 2:So they're going to Facebook, not Facebook, they're not on Facebook. They're going to Instagram stalk you, they're going to see what you're doing. So it's very important that you put out content that they can relate to you, and it's not just about putting pretty pictures. It's about you know, we just got a puppy, like showing a puppy. Like you know we're on vacation, like they want to know you as a person before they actually even reach out to book you, which is very interesting. They are also very aware of their own brand, so they may only put six pictures up on Instagram now when before, millennials would take a picture of everything, post everything. So they want their their feed to be very curated. They want their brand to be very much a part of who they are. They may only post at a certain time, a certain day of the week. Their colors might be warm colors, so all their images might be warm. So if you're a photographer that loves to photograph with a lot of saturation and color and color pop, they probably aren't going to hire you. Or if they do hire you and you give them a bunch of that, they probably aren't going to like the imagery. So, getting to know what their brand is and what they like and putting that out there.
Speaker 2:So I photograph a lot of athletes, a lot of dancers, a lot of people who want to incorporate something kind of funky in their session, and so those are the. I put that out there and those are now the people who are booking me. So yesterday I photographed a dancer, a day before I photographed the girl, and actually it was interesting because they came in and they're like the mom liked my style, but the daughter's like I really don't. I'm not an athlete, i'm not a dancer, i'm not this, and that I'm like, oh, that's fine, we don't have to do that. You know you'll see a lot of that, but we don't have to do that. And I just started.
Speaker 2:As I started talking to her, she felt as though she didn't have anything that was special about her. But as I started to talk to her and communicate with her, i realized I'm like you have all kinds of cool things. She was in the Marvel, she was into video games, she was into Harry Potter. So I started showing her past images that I've done with Harry Potter and gaming and incorporating things, painting. She was into painting And like. So I showed her a bunch of that stuff And all of a sudden you could see her like light up, like okay, this is going to be awesome. When she I think she almost felt like I want something cool, but I'm not a cool kid. I'm like no, you're super cool, like you have so many cool things. And then during the session, like she was, you could just see it on her face how excited she was that we were incorporating that And I wasn't trying to fit her into any kind of any kind of other person's personality, like I wasn't trying to make her a dancer. I wasn't trying to make her a fashionista And we're going to do all this funky stuff with dresses and stuff. It's like, no, she brought in her gaming stuff, She brought in her painting stuff, she brought in a Harry Potter wand and we photographed that all on a green screen And I'm going to make individual custom composites that fit her personality And I charge for that.
Speaker 2:I charge a lot for that. So it's not also like, hey, you're getting all this for 300 bucks in the digital file. So that's another reason why I meet with them beforehand. Before they even book with me, i, i, it's mandatory, they meet with me, we discuss it's no obligation I, i start to plan, i give them ideas, i, i want to show them all my pricing and let them know that this is going to be custom and this is going to be awesome, and that's what really drives me And I love seeing that excitement from them. And then, but you can't just, like I said, charge 300 bucks for that. So so, yeah, not everyone books with me, but that's okay, because that gives me more time to focus on the people who really do appreciate what I'm giving them And the time I'm putting in, and then they tell all the people, just like them. So it starts at that process rolling.
Speaker 1:Right, and and this friend, that that we're talking about here. It's interesting that you say that there's a couple of things that he has noticed. As someone who has an incoming junior, I've often and this is my observation now I've often I just said to my daughter the other day, like I don't understand this, there's only six pictures on your friend's Instagram feed. I don't what, what is this? And she's like oh, dad, they it's curated. And I'm like, but there's only six pictures. And yeah, dad, that's it. We just changed them out when we feel necessary to do so.
Speaker 1:And I found that. I found that super interesting, like How? and I said to her how am I supposed to get to know you in six pictures? She's like, dad, i just this conversations over. She's like, dad, you know, we just don't post every picture of our sons lacrosse game. Like that is lame. And I was like, well, how am I supposed to get to know you if that she's like you just don't say.
Speaker 1:I also had to promise my daughter that I would never post on tiktok and that part I'm struggling with now as I Want to get you know, get things moving with with my senior business. But you are right, it is interesting to the way they are curating their own brand. I see that with my daughter and and her friends, how much focus is placed on on who they are as a person, and what I'm curious is is, in the next few years, as more as these kids are have more gen X parents at this point, how that's gonna be influenced by them as well, because the gen X are still want to be cool and it's not really possible for them to be cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is interesting and that's one thing too like I want to mention, that I never try and be cool, i never try and be like a senior, because they can read that.
Speaker 2:That's a good guy gotten to the point like, yeah, let me know, like You know, if we're doing a behind the scenes and doing an Instagram story of them, like I Have a high school senior that I hire every year They are my assistant, they're my social media Expert, so I hand them my phone that they're posting the behind the scenes, they're posting a story, they're communicating with the senior, like is this cool, is okay if I post this and then they'll share it. So I am not, i purposely disconnect myself from that. I even go so far as I don't know what's cool. Tell me it's as cool as that cool. Would you post it? because I'm not gonna post it if you don't like it. Yeah, and so shine a fine.
Speaker 2:Interview them, even You know, asking them what movies they like, what you know, what music they listen to, like that, what video games are playing. I say I don't play video games, so I don't know. But learning about that, then I can easily research That and get a feel for what their personality is and try and capture that in their session, just based on Asking them what pop culture they are into. And Yeah, if we try and be too much like I'm gonna be like a senior, then They just don't connect. Like you said, you're old, you don't get it.
Speaker 1:No, i and and there's there's no way that I am trying to be that person as well. And and, like you were saying too, there's a girl that I started working with a couple of years ago and this summer She's back from college. Now, in this summer, i'll be working with her and she's gonna help me with social media stuff As well, and I'm looking forward to seeing seeing what she does and you know along those lines about, you know, the high school senior thing is such a such a pulling out the personalities of these people is so important and You know, the the biggest decision that I've made is that I'm not looking to Create work that isn't meaningful and I'm not looking for. I'm not looking for. I need to create work So I can build my portfolio back up and get things.
Speaker 1:I'm only going to be taking sessions that are based on exactly those things that that you're saying and, to be honest with you, like I've booked a couple of sessions for this summer and I've turned away almost a dozen dozen people at this point because as soon as they've seen my pricing total ghost on me and and I'm being totally fine with that, because You cannot build a successful senior business without With the, with those kinds of clients. I there's tons of moms in my, my high school Market that perfectly happy to do stuff. They can have it.
Speaker 2:They can have it right, right and it's tempting, you know it is when you're starting out or starting over to Tell like well, let's just get some people in the door because I'm kind of desperate and rebuild and get that flowing again. But because I went through that personally too, i I I started over and I was like I'm just gonna like Go lower pricing and get people in and then I can raise my pricing after that And I'm like, no, i can't do that because I'm just going to shoot myself in the foot. I'm just going to Attract the wrong clientele. And then they're gonna tell and then the next year, all of a sudden my price is double and people are like whoa, what the heck. So it was nervous.
Speaker 2:But and I changed my pricing this year I've been doing this for like 18 years. Every time I change it I'm like I'm nervous, like who knows what's gonna happen? you know. But you know, if you, if you believe in it and if you, you know, even there's times I have so self-doubt But I'm like nope, the last two sessions I just said just reconfirm that. It's like no, these people are loving this, and so I mean That that really helps.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's pricing is is a weird thing and seniors are weird thing, because I used to have this chalkboard where everyone would sign their name. I'd be like you know, when they came in for their session and everything, and then if I like around this time of year or like No, actually around April, i'd I'd wipe all the names off and I was like Oh, because that's kind of how it is like every year, like okay, here's a new, it's starting that zero, you know.
Speaker 1:What's gonna happen?
Speaker 2:You don't really know. You know, like You know my wife is in sales and she's like I know how that is, like oh yeah, but you have like some repeat clients, like a senior, if they don't have a sibling, or a sibling might be a couple years down the line, or you know it's, it just takes, it could take some time. So you're always trying to get New people in and I guess I'll come back to your question as well as well. You're trying to connect with Other, like people in your community, or reaching out, like you mentioned doing the sports team. So you're connecting with. You know everyone on the sports team, so that helps. Connecting with dance studios, which I do because I want to forget dancers, i want to forget Athletes, so I reached out to. There's tons. I'm sure they're popping up everywhere. I'm sure they're everywhere. Is these um Training facilities where they train athletes?
Speaker 1:you know high school athletes and pro athletes and they're every week with my little guy over there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're all the time. So I reached out, i did photo shoots with them, i had marketing materials there and it's a band is up there. So you know, you first see if they identify who you want as a client. It's very clear to me after doing this Who I wanted as my client, you know, and being very specific, not only on seniors, but it's a senior who is an athlete, who likes to also like just do creative things, or maybe they're into Not an athlete, but their hobby is something like something in the arts, because that's where I really connect to, but yours might be.
Speaker 2:I Know people like who just love the photograph guys because it's like. You know guys with cars. You know Girls that are just dancers I've seen who's it. another one. Girls that are way into fashion, that's what they love, and they're like the boho type girl. They just want to do that boho look like it's very specific. So you have to find out, or anyone not you know, i'm just saying anyone listening first try and identify who Your ideal client is and then every piece of marketing you do, every piece of social media thing you post, you, you seed that, you put That in there. You've everything you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and yeah white dress on your on your web page and Instagram and then wonder why everyone's coming in with a white dress. You know, yeah, i'm dresses like I don't like the photograph. Prom dresses I'm like why is everyone coming in with a prom dress? I look, i this really cool image as a girl and the prom dress, and so everyone's bringing their prom dresses And I'm like I gotta get that off of there. I don't care how cool that image is right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i mean, the big push for me on this side is the fact that I have two high school kids right now. So access to the 1200 students that are at that school is, is, is, is is where you know, kind of I'm not trying to, you know, utilize my kids as my salespeople, but especially my daughter, who's it's like actually what wants nothing to do with it. So I've been trying to figure out ways to to attract her, because, you know, getting her to even, you know, share a social media post of mine of a picture that I took is difficult And I get it. You know I'm her dad and stuff like that and you know things like that.
Speaker 1:But along those lines, one, one last question that I'm gonna ask you. So, you know you're taking these pictures and you know, given that these, these kids can be skittish, are there incentives that you offer for them to be sharing In talking about you? and I know that's that's a huge question But, like, is there something very low, low level that you know is an idea that you know this friend of mine could use?
Speaker 2:Yeah, asking for a friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That that's. Another thing is that they are very, of course, because they're so. They're so. Let me back up. I think the reason why they are so protective of their brand and everything, it's because high school has gotten so rough and very Like, oh, you posted this or that. Like there's so much drama and stuff, like there's always drama, but it's even more with social media, so they've scaled back. So they're very aware, like I don't want to cause drama and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, like the model team, i haven't done. I didn't do a model team. Sure, i'm not doing one this year because I just feel like it's it's too much pressure for them. It's been a hugely successful, but I'm doing it a little bit different way than having a model team or an influencer team and You know, asking them to share stuff or even get referrals and that was dead ten years ago. Seniors just don't want to refer you. So I spend more time with the parents giving them excited in sharing and things.
Speaker 2:But The really easy locate, low, low key ask is when we're doing the actual session. They love the behind the scenes of it and so we'll do a Instagram story and tag them. So what's nice about Instagram is, if you tag them, they will see that Now they have the option to share that and a lot of them were shared. But their share maybe we'll do like maybe ten things of the story. We'll start out with like hey, the, the intro, which is like hey, i'm here with Jason today. We're doing his senior pictures, we're gonna do some really cool things with his sports, like lacrosse and and football and things like that. And then to some urban things, so and some.
Speaker 2:So follow along and See what we create. And then, as we bounce from thing to thing, we'll do a little behind the scenes boomerangs, things like that. Take them each time and then and with like that's a wrap. And so the seniors will pick and choose what's kind of things that they like and, like I said, my assistants kind of showing I'm like hey, what do you think of this? It's boomerang. And if we have to do it three, four times to get it right that they love it, that's okay. I'll take time I have that time built into the session right to get that content right as it's happening. So then they'll share that. Then, when they share that, then all their friends will see that.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's so. that's that's awesome advice. Yeah, yeah, that's it's also instantaneous.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, we're in the world of like we take a picture and then we want to Call down the images and we want to edit it and we want to cure it in our end And then finally maybe do a sneak peek, which could be I'd try to do that the next day. Right, that's too long, they want it right away. Like they, they just did the session, like where, what? that instant gratification, so doing that story Is instantaneous and that's what they're used to like. Everything is like right now. If they're at a concert, they're not going to take a bunch of pictures and edit them. And then the next day, here's the Taylor Swift concert.
Speaker 2:I was that right, yeah, so we have to look at it that same mindset. Like I just got my you know picture taken or I'll see them walk It in my studio and they'll be doing like a Instagram shot for their story with my sign in the background. You know, i used to even have like a welcome, welcome to your senior session sign. They could do that like a lot of air B&B's, like look at big companies to air B&B's, or like resorts and stuff. They'll have Instagram worthy little vignettes, like little sets set up and People that will just, it's just free marketing, because they're going to want to get a shot in that little set and be like hey, i'm on vacation at Sony Resort, you know, yeah, and I definitely see where.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i definitely see where they are. Yeah, and you know, there's reasons for the skittish as well, like. I'll give you one example last summer, my, my daughter, was accused of. They. Somebody sent a video of what they thought was Phoebe drinking at a party and It definitely looked like her and I think it's like a lot of people who are like her.
Speaker 1:And the coach suspended her and, you know, texted me and, and you know, said I think I'm getting suspended. And then by the end of the practice, they had worked it out and she came out crying. But the coach said this this is you, phoebe. You know you you've signed this document saying you would not do stuff like this and you're off the team. And It was an instant like you're guilty. And I pulled her aside a couple of days later and had a different conversation with her, because she did it all live, but she was mortified and it was because it was all right there and it wasn't her, and That this, this, this happens all the time on social media and they live in that world, right? So you and I, you know, would be embarrassed by something like that or Where this is. This is their entire world. So it does. I do understand where they're coming from, because You know their entire high school. I can't even imagine Living out my high school days on social media like.
Speaker 2:I can't no.
Speaker 1:I would have been cancelled.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, right, yeah, it's, it's, we're always That's. older generation like, oh my god, i'm glad social media wasn't around, because high school has always been dramatic in, and It's even worse now because everything's under that microscope and and out there, right, yeah. so or, like you said, the things we did when we were younger, it's like, oh yeah, we could never post that stuff right?
Speaker 1:No, that's for sure. All right, we're at 40 minutes, so I think we're gonna wrap up here. Dan give, give me some plugs. Give me you know you're speaking at sync Anything exciting that you want to announce about as you unlocked, or anything like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i'm at sync. The peak senior summit is another thing I run. That's gonna be happening in October, so I have like 25 different speakers. This is my third year with that. Okay, it's, it's. It's super cool, it's, it's all 100% online.
Speaker 2:Okay and That's gonna be happening in October. So kind of keep eye out for that and I have my posing guide out right now. You can. You can get that It's. It comes with posing instruction as well as how to set up for success before the session and And also has a posing app with over 350 images where you can go on and filter based on Urban nature, female, male, sports, things like that. So when you're on location and you can just pop it out and kind of figure out, give you some inspiration as you go, and so that's kind of my newest product. But yeah, there's tons of overlays and different things. The membership all I'm Seeing years unlock comm and You can go there and find out more. It just send me a Facebook message or email. I'm happy to answer Any questions you have.
Speaker 1:Awesome. I and I forgot about the peak senior summit. That's Definitely where and I'll put links to all of the stuff that we talked about so you can go directly to them. And, dan, thanks for thanks for being here today. I really appreciate it. This is helpful for my friend as well as me, and We'll we'll catch on the next episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hope your friend and anyone else listening gets the valuable information from this.
Speaker 1:All right, man, i that'll do it for this week's episode of something new every week. We hope that you enjoyed it. If you'd like to be a guest on the show, reach out to me. I'm not a not a hard person to find. Make sure you check out the links to Dan stuff and Catch him live at sing and other places and all of that other stuff. Thanks again, dan.
Speaker 2:Thanks, jason, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thanks again for tuning into something new every week. I hope you enjoyed this episode and if you do enjoy these episodes, i love it. If you hit that subscribe button on, however, you're listening to this again. We want to thank our sponsor, miller's lab. Miller's lab comm great company. If you're not familiar with them, you should go check them out. Thanks again for tuning into something new every week. We will see you back here next week.