We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Klaasen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
By no means would I say being a professional photographer is going to make me a millionaire. What it does do, it allow me to capture memories for families, moments in time that will be forgotten, and little fingers and toes that will forever grow. That being said, how am I suppose to run a business, continue to grow, and be profitable in a world where the camera is one swipe away? For me, that is a million dollar question.
In a time where everyone has a camera in their pocket at all times, it is challenging to justify why hiring a photographer is so important and why only purchasing digital images should no longer be the norm. The appreciation for photography has been lost in the creation of the point and shoot camera and digital filters. At first, it was a great solution and way for families to document their vacations and events you wouldn’t hire a photographer for. Somewhere a long the way, that point and shoot gave everyone the confidence (warranted or not) to call themselves a Photographer. The creation of Pinterest, Instagram, and filters have taken a task that would otherwise need training and creativity and simplified it so anyone could create a great photo at the touch of a button. Suddenly, the Art of Photography was transformed into taking pictures.
With that thought, no wonder it’s difficult to justify to clients why paying for a professional photographer is so important and why the pricings set by the photographer is so necessary. No one takes in account the hours put in to learn how to properly use a camera, not just cross their fingers and get lucky. No one takes in account the software expense and training needed for the photographer to take a raw file and create art with technology, not just a picture and choose a filter. No one takes in account the props, location fees, studio expenses, equipment costs, time and money the photographer puts into everything they do to create a beautiful piece of art.
In addition, the value of a photograph as been reduced to a kilobyte to be stored in a digital filing cabinet instead of beautiful art displayed on the walls of homes. In a world of instant gratification and good intentions, everyone wants the digital images and they will print off what they want….sooner or later. Instead of canvas’s hand stretched on wooden frames displaying the whole family to see everyday or glossy smooth surface of acrylic highlighting all the grandchildren on the bookshelf at Grandma’s, or even an albums to show off to anyone who crosses the threshold, we add the kilobytes to our hard drives and move on with our life forgetting to appreciate the art of photography.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Ashley Klaasen. I have been around a camera as far back as middle school. I interned in early high school at a local portrait studio and was part of the photographers of the yearbook class. I knew, even in times that I fought it, that I wanted to be a portrait photographer.
Attended Grand Valley State University, I received my Bachelors of Science in Photography and Communication. From there, I took a few years off to explore graphic design and begin building a family with my husband, all the while keeping my camera close to my side. In 2019, I began to seriously explore the idea of going full time with photography. With my love of portrait photography, I knew that I needed to specialize in a specific kind of portrait photography. If I wanted to be successful, I couldn’t just be a photographer of everything. I surprised myself when fell in love with newborn and children photography.
I love the adorable poses I can create while snuggling a newborn and then handing them back to their parents while I slept through the night. The high I get when a mom of an active 3 year old see’s the magic I can create through my lens after they couldn’t imagine I captured anything besides the back of their heads.
My passion for photography runs side by side with my desire to form relationships and serve people. I often have to check myself when I want to give more than I have to give and I struggle to keep my sessions to the scheduled time.
As I grow, I have changed my service model from all digital to product investment. I found that offering more than digitals allowed for my art to be shown and not just stored away on a computer. Very little feedback is given when you simply email a link to download digital images. When I switched to a boutique model, offering canvas prints, albums, acrylics, and more I found satisfaction and was encouraged when I see my clients eyes grow big and smiles go from ear to ear as I hand them a piece of art on canvas representing not only their family but my passion.
Today, I run my business from the living room of my 1955 ranch style home. During sessions, I move chairs and toys aside and set up my backdrops and props. I always light a candle and have soft instrumental lullabies playing in the background. The cabinets and drawers of my living room are jam packed with newborn backdrops and wraps, while the walls display the many bows I offer for little ones heads. My hope is to soon display products I offer with portraits of my art to show when you’re in for your session. It’s always a work in progress but what is growth without progress?
I want my clients to know that I am giving to a fault, very flexible if you communicate, respect my time and efforts, and just want to make you happy! Photographs aren’t suppose to be stressful so let me help you make your sessions enjoyable before, during and after your session. I am still growing and learning. I take all recommendations, constructive criticism, and advice seriously because I want to succeed. My dream is to own my very own studio space that isn’t in my living room where I can be even more creative and not have to usher my family away from the home (although they do go willingly ) each time I have a session.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
In January of 2023, I was gifted a mentorship with a local newborn photographer that I have admired for many years. Melissa Gregerson has had 12+ years of experience in the Kalamazoo area. She started as a wedding photographer and slowly shifted to newborn and family photography. She loves to share her knowledge and experience with others!
Back to the story, I was blessed to watch, participate, and ask any question during a 4-hour mentorship. I went in loaded with lots of questions, knowing she would answer many as the session took place. One of the biggest questions I had; why did she encourage products instead of digitals files. Her knowledge and advice on this subject has been a game changer for me and my business.
Prior to meeting with Melissa, I did timed sessions and included digital images within that price. A very common session I offered was a 30-session at any location for $150 that included 10 digital images. I was doing one very big mistake; undervaluing myself and my art.
Let’s break down the session from a business and numbers point of view. I am going to using the hourly wage being $24.02 an hour (given by ZipRecruiter in May of 2023) although I honestly have never given myself an hourly wage of any kind;
30-minute session – $12.01
Cull time (go through the photos) 2-hours minimum – $48.04
Edit time of a minimum of 10 images 4-hours – $96.08
Cost of my digitals at the time, $25 each (LOW) – $250 for 10
Total average cost of a 30-minute session $406.13
I was continuously losing over $250 every session and that’s not including the cost of equipment, gas to the location, software, and more.
To the average business owner this is a “well duh” but when all the hobby turned professional photographers as a side hustle were doing this, I felt like I had to do it too. Looking at the business this way I realized that I needed to make a drastic pivot in my business model or I was going to be one of the 85% of photographer who fail in the first 3 years and I am determined to not allow that to happen. This is where I changed from what I’ve heard called a fast food model to a boutique model. I want to offer an experience that make my clients come back to me not because I’m cheap and quick but because it was fun and memorable.
I am still working out the wrinkles and I feel like I will be for the next couple years but at least I’m confident I’ll be among the 15% succeeding and not the 85% looking for a new career.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of Mouth is the best source of new clients!
At first, I found social media to be my best friend! I joined all the mom groups in the area, tagged the right hashtags, and posted on each post from anyone looking for a photographer.
Now, I don’t feel that need to constantly be on the lookout for the best mom group or be the first to list my website on a mom group inquiry. Most of the time, a previous client is the one to tag me before I even log into my social media account. While I still found social media to be helpful, the best results and clients I have are word of mouth and referrals. Friends tell their friends who tell their friends! Do I still post on social media when I can, yes, but I don’t live on social media like I thought I needed to. Instead, I focus on making the experience better so that my current clients and friends refer me with flying colors.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashleyklaasenphotography.com
- Instagram: @ashleyklaasenphotography
- Facebook: @ashleyklaasenphotography
Image Credits
Ashley Klaasen Photography