Episode 20 – Bruce and Josh Hudson
During this interview, Mike talks with photographers Bruce and Josh Hudson.
Bruce and Josh talk about their photography careers. Recently, they have done a lot of lifestyle portraiture and senior portraits. They say that they do a little more than a lot of people when it comes to senior portraits. A lot of their clients opt for longer sessions for senior portraits. They note that a recent client brought them out to Reno, Nevada for a huge hot rod car rally to shoot family portraits and senior portraits. They note that they also do a lot of product photography as well as headshots.
Mike wanted to know more about their wall portraits and asked about how different the workflow for making those might be.
They note that it is all individualized to the client. They meet the client and go to their home in order to look at the canvas they have provided by the wall. There needs to be a lot more of the lifestyle. They say that this is what makes the biggest difference for the portrait. He notes that the people become smaller and you’re incorporating more aspects of their life and lifestyle. They said that the overall composition is important because no one wants to put a large close-up headshot as a mural on their wall.
Mike asks about the book Bruce and Josh have written. Bruce said that it goes back to what he and his late wife used to do. They did a lot of work for Fujifilm “back in the day”. He notes that they did a lot of videos and other teachings. “Somewhere around 2 dozen literal VHS videos”
He and Josh now have a few different written offerings including How to Do Photo Classes, How to Do Large Wall Portraiture, and Bruce’s book called “The Relationographer: The Art of Relationship Marketing”. He recently wrote a revision and released it. You can find that here. The book is about how to build and maintain those professional relationships and how they have stayed in business for over 30 years now. Josh wrote a chapter about social media and how it is used as a relationship building tool for their business. “It’s about maintaining and connecting with existing clients and keeping that relationship [with us] in the foreground,” says Josh.
Mike asks next about the photography workshops.
Josh notes that Bruce was in the Rotary club for many years. A way for public service as well as gathering clientele, he created workshops for a lot of the rotary clubs in their area. He would talk about the 7 tips for better photography. They also did photo classes inside the studio as a fundraiser or a food drive of sorts a couple times a year. Groupon approached them after the economic crash in 2008 for an opportunity to teach people about photography. 7 years later, over 5,000 students are in their classes. Bruce’s experience in teaching communications, being a band director, and many other public speaking and teaching roles really made a difference in their classes. They have classes for photographers of all ages and skills.
Mike notes that the thing that he wants people to understand is that there is something that you get with hands-on workshops that you don’t get from YouTube. Bruce agrees and says that there’s nothing that will compare to working with an instructor and trying to improve your craft. They note that they’ve found that about half of their new clients were found in their workshops first. So, it is very important when building those client relationships.
For more information on Bruce Hudson, Josh Hudson, or their photography studio, click here!
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