Cowbelly Pet Photography Seattle Blog

I have spent weeks working on some new workshops changes and am so happy to announce I finalized them yesterday! (finally)

Now, along with the 3-day workshop, there is a new lesser priced 2-day option over the weekend- Saturday + Sunday, for those who want to save money, and/or can’t take the extra day off work, and/or who are worried about driving in weekday traffic (I hear DC is the worst!!).

The course schedule has been moved around pretty significantly, and now Friday is the optional day, with what is to be a gosh darn amazing schedule. I sent the email out to my mailing list yesterday and one respondent said “after reading your description of the entire workshop, how on earth can I do the (discounted) 2-day version?”. lol

Friday will be custom tailored to meet the needs of the people who opt for it, and will be a more informal, intimate teaching experience, with more hands-on practice. It will not take place in a classroom or studio, and instead I’m hoping we can break up the day over meals out, time at a park and/or hotel lobby and an actual full-length shoot for an actual paying client. I might just have to throw some surprises in there for the Friday people as well.

The 2-day weekend workshop will be more than adequate for most people wanting to start pet photography businesses and/or need a good push from where they are right now in their pre-existing businesses. In sum, it covers: #1: marketing, branding, websites, getting clients, making money: i.e. how to look good, where to get clients and how to do your biz. #2: how to photograph your furry clients, how to work with clients, and how to make the images look awesome with software so your clients will love them and buy them. This is a VERY simplified summary of the 2-day content. Please see the schedule page on the website for the full, detailed course description.

I have been doing loads of research on travel rates, and now is a fantastic time to travel. You can get hotel rooms for a song, airfare for not much more, and some incredible last-minute deals. I have been pretty astonished at how low rates are on everything travel-related. I just got one-way airfare from Seattle to LA on Alaskan Air (window seat) for $59. I also booked a 4-star room in LA for 45% off the regular rack rate. Awesome!

Lastly, some people have said that they plan to come to my 2010 workshops. I need to clarify something here and say that I have never guaranteed that I would teach workshops after 2009. What I am doing is creating an interest list and then IF I have enough interest in any one area I will consider it, just like I did for the workshops this year. BUT, there is a difference between considering it and actually doing it. I had to think long and hard about doing it this year, and generate enough interest before moving forward.

At this point there is only a 50/50 chance I’ll teach travel workshops again after this year, and I won’t know until the end of the year. If I do decide to hold more workshops I may stick to having them in my studio in Seattle, and only holding maybe one or two a year in my off-season like in April or May (yes I know it rains then but that’s the best time of year for me to do it), BUT, I still want to stress that all of this remains to be seen. Right now I have no PLANS to teach in 2010, but they MIGHT develop late in the year or in the first part of 2010. At this point I’m strongly leaning toward this being my last year, so- again, no promises! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!