Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Tammy Blalock. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Tammy, appreciate you joining us today. Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in – but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?
I believe I’ve accomplished a few innovative things in my career…
I’ve turned my motor home which I primarily use for camping trips into a mobile meetup space for my customers. This way, I can make it super convenient for any potential couples who want to meet me in person and take my “office” right to their front door if need be. There’s no need for them to fight traffic, waste gas, or rush anywhere. I come straight to them and we have all the conveniences and privacy we need.
I’ve developed a workflow for delivering same-day slideshows and same-day prints for those couples who want to see and have the immediate satisfaction of seeing and holding the images from their wedding days.
However, the innovative thing I’m most proud of is my education for couples getting married.
You see? There are a million educational tools for photographers who are going to shoot a wedding. There are books, courses, conferences, organizations, certifications, masterminds, and local groups. But who is teaching couples how to set their photographers up for success and not make silly planning mistakes or have unreasonable expectations? Nearly every decision a couple makes for their wedding day impacts the photographer’s ability to perform. Decisions like how long the photographer is hired for, which direction the ceremony arch faces, whether they choose to share complicated family dynamics, even what the couple wears on their wedding day are all decisions that can have a negative impact on the photographer’s ability to do the best job possible. A lot of times, couples are naively setting their photographers up for failure.
I wanted to fill that void and close the gap. I wanted to create educational tools that could help teach couples things that could improve their chances to receive better images, receive better experiences, and receive better products from their wedding photographers. So, I wrote a book and started a podcast. No one will ever have too many photos of their wedding day… unless they’re bad photos.
Tammy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I accidentally happened into a career of professional photography trying to recreate the confidence-boosting images for my athletic daughters that I’d seen of myself in high school. I wanted both of my daughters to know that they could be strong, determined, disciplined, goal-oriented young women, and the easiest way was for me to show them images of themselves in competitive situations.
Eventually, I decided that this skill could also serve other people in diverse ways. When my mother passed away, my brother and sister and I only had a handful of images to choose from when selecting the image that would grace our mother’s headstone. After agonizing over one unflattering candid image after another, we ultimately chose one of Mom in her pajamas. Granted, it’s hard to tell that it is indeed pajamas she’s wearing because it’s a solid red top, but we know. We know that our mother’s headstone image is one of her in pajamas.
One day I realized that I could share my passion and talents with people to not only boost their confidence but also so that maybe no one would have to be memorialized in pajamas ever again.
We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.
I have a very detailed workflow with my wedding couples. In fact, there are currently 110 steps in my customer relationship management software for wedding couples. I won’t go into too many details, but those 110 steps include a certain process for onboarding and off-boarding my couples. Sandwiched in the middle of the CRM wedding workflow are 20 automated educational emails that correlate to the planning stage the couple should be in, reminders to personally check in with them every 30 to 45 days, and depending on what collection they have purchased, there can be up to 12 gift-giving opportunities that have nothing to do with photography. In fact, these gifts often have more to do with strengthening the connection and affection my couples have for each other. I always tell my couples that I will try to get them to the altar more in love with each other than the day they hire me.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
Early on in my career, I learned about this photo album maker in Italy named Graphistudio. Everything I learned about Graphistudio reaffirmed the things I was hearing about this company—that they were the best. They had been around since 1982, they had over 20 international copyrights and patents, they use archival-quality paper and inks which are rated to last for over 300-plus years, and they offer a limited lifetime guarantee. I was so impressed with this company, I visited their factory in Arba, Italy in 2017. This is the only album maker I have ever used for my clients. If the Vatican and the National Gallery of London trust Graphistudio, why wouldn’t you?
There are a few counterfeit album makers who try to replicate what Graphistudio is doing, but no one can copy the technology and proprietary processes they are using.
If a photo is captured, processed, and exported in AdobeRGB, this means that it can be printed with a 35% larger color range—compared to sRGB like most all other albums. In turn, your images are going to have more color, more vibrancy, more realistic skin tones, more incremental gradations in the skies, highlights (wedding dress, veil), and even in the shadows and darker areas. Just as important, they calibrate their printers every 30 minutes to ensure that colors are constantly at an industry standard—that’s 48 times a day. Conducting some informal research, I learned that most other labs calibrate once a day or at shift changes at the most. Without calibration, printer drift occurs which leads to colors changing and your skin ends up looking orange, or green, or blue! Lastly, Graphistudio’s album pages are printed at 2400 dpi. This is actual high definition, ladies and gentlemen! This means clean, crisp images for your viewing pleasure!
The best part is that if your Graphistudio-approved photographer is no longer in business and you lose your album in some way (fire, flood, etc.), or you want extra copies for the kiddos you had, you can go straight to them and purchase more copies. They store all the album artwork and plan to keep doing that as long as it’s possible and financially feasible. No other album company offers this service! No other company can make an heirloom!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.atagirlphoto.com
- Instagram: @atagirlphoto
- Facebook: @atagirlphoto
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammyblalock/
- Twitter: @atagirlphoto
- Youtube: @atagirlphoto
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/atagirlphoto https://www.pinterest.com/atagirlphoto/
Image Credits
The credited images are respectfully watermarked.