New Year, New Raise

Today my rate jumps from $4,800 to $8,800. Eeeeeeeeek!!!!

A little bit scared I'm going to scare away a lot of brides... (friends, remember I'll still give you a friend discount. HUGE friend discount.)

But I mean...I already have 20 or so weddings for the year...so I guess now is as good a time as any to try this out.

Engage13 really inspired me.

The people there told me I needed to raise my rates if I wanted to move into the super high-end luxury wedding market.

So here goes nothing...

Lemme Upgrade U

I'm in Saaaan Francisco!!!!



I got in on the 7am flight this morning.

And I came in early to scout out the locations for the big wedding I'm shooting on Saturday.

A big FACEBOOK wedding.

What does that mean? It means the bride and the groom and a whole lot of their guests are longtime employees of Facebook and are just days away from becoming STUPID RICH. (In case you live in a hole, the Facebook IPO is supposedly scheduled for next week. And everyone who has ever touched the company is going to be set for life....did you hear about the graffiti artist who spray-painted FB HQ back in the day in exchange for stock that now might be worth up to $500 million dollars?!?!? It's insanity!!!!)

Yeah, so I want to make sure these pictures are as incredible as possible, because this wedding could be a major source of some other super high-end weddings soon to come!

So....I got myself a new toy!



It was fate.

Literally, these Mark III's are out-of-stock and on back-order all over the place, even on Amazon. But I went down to Calumet Photographic here in San Francisco and asked the dude if they had any. And he looked at me like I was such an idiot for thinking I could just walk in a buy one "We're totally sold out," he laughed, "GOOD LUCK..." and without saying anything else he just turned to help another customer. But I continued to browse the store and literally no less than 5 minutes later, a delivery man walked in to the store with a shipment of two brand new Mark III kits. Only two. I saw them catch a couple of other people's eyes and I sprinted back over to the front counter.

I didn't even think twice and handed him my credit card.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Soooo excited!

I don't think it's going to be hard to take pictures of people looking happy and having the time of their lives this weekend! It's going to be THE BEST!!!!!

RAISE!!!!

As of tonight I will have I think 20 weddings lined up for next year. Plus one in September of 2013. CRAZY.

So...in an effort to slow things down a little, I just gave myself a raise.

Weddings are now $4800.

(But remember, I will continue to have special pricing for my friend's weddings!)

It's going to be a grrrrreat Christmas!

Raise!

Just gave myself a raise for Headshots.

Now charging $850 in NYC!

Hopefully this will help slow things down a little. I've been swamped lately. Shot two weddings this weekend. Sorry for the lack of updates. I know you're just dying to know about my life.

-- Post From My iPhone

RAISE!!!

It's official.

I gave myself a 26% raise today. I now charge more than Bjoern! (He is still much more hooked-in with agents though.)

It's at times like this that I really enjoy looking back on things like my quarterlife crisis.

Or when I was SO excited to get an email response from god-like photographer Bjoern who I just randomly cold-called.

Or that I once considered being an assistant to someone's BUTLER.

I can't believe I ever doubted myself. I'm so happy with life right now.

I just want to thank all my wonderful friends and family who have backed me up these past five years as I began this adventure that I now call a career. (And of course my clients who have filled my pockets with cash.)

My sights are now set on Peter Hurley's rate of $1100 a session!

Raise!

On August 1st, 2010 I'm giving myself a raise!

Since the next few months are full of weddings and my schedule is already pretty full, I figure it's the perfect time to test out the waters and see how I do at a higher price point.

As of August 1st I will be charging $725 for a NYC headshot session!

YAY!

Megoon and I have been brainstorming about what to do when I get my first $725 booking. I think I will throw a big party at a bar and convert the $725 into singles and at the top of every hour throw a stack into the air for people to snatch up and buy drinks with. Wheeeee!!!!

New Card. New Life.

So I'm at the airport.

Since I've been traveling so much this year, I've upgraded to the Amex Platinum Card.




Coolest thing about it? Access to airline lounges all over the world.





Also I get 2-for-1 domestic airfare and sweet upgrades at all kinds of hotels and resorts.

Now I just need to get a Black Card and I'll be all set.

Ta Da!!!!

WEEEEE!!!!

I get a raise today! Woooweeee!!!!

I love my boss.

Much excitement a-brewin'

Career-related happenings have been on the upswing this week.

On top of receiving several headshot inquiries and booking a couple clients, I've recruited a street team to publicize my services, gone on several part-time job interviews, turned down a job offer with CBS:



And eaten a delicious chicken meatloaf sandwich.



In somewhat related news, our friend Matt has booked some major gigs this week. First, he shot an ad for Chrome Hearts with the 19-year-old daughter of a certain rock icon. And the following day he shot the cover of Vanity Fair! (He'll be an accessory to a certain young TV starlet set to attend a fictional Brown University in the upcoming season of her faltering former-hit show.)

Matt has also finally put me in touch with his agent, who likes my work and who is hopefully going to take me for a "test drive", shooting new models for their agency!

AND Katie's birthday party is this weekend.



It's all so exciting!