Senior portrait by Bruce Hudson
Have you ever felt frustrated that other photographers with less talent seem to be more successful at attracting the best clients?
With new photographers and competition popping up on every street corner, it might seem overwhelming and feel like one big struggle to get people to really appreciate the high quality you have to offer as a photographer.
It may even feel as if success is nothing more than a myth.
But it doesn’t have to be that way, and there are plenty of photographers out there making a great living from their work.
Bruce and Josh Hudson are living proof of that, and I sat down with them to talk about their premium portrait business that has been successful for over 30 years, and here’s a great quote from Josh, which I feel really sums up this whole episode:
“If you don’t define yourself as a photographer – your customers will do it for you…”
About Our Guests: Bruce And Josh Hudson
Bruce Hudson
Bruce Hudson and his late wife Sue started Hudson’s Photography in the Seattle area in 1982 when they took their wonderful hobby of photography and turned it into a full time profession!
However, they didn’t want just another “same as everyone else” portrait studio, so Bruce and Sue’s main focus was to build a business on the strong foundation of superior customer service and innovative photography.
Bruce has won numerous local, national, and international accolades, and thousands of photographers have personally studied with him over the years. Today, Hudson’s Portrait Design is considered one of the top family portrait and wedding photography studios in the country!
Josh Hudson
29 years later the focus is still centered solely on the photographic needs of their clients. In fact, many of their early high school senior clients from the 1980’s returned later as brides and grooms.
They then came back again as parents of newborn children, as family portrait clients, and even parents of high school senior clients!
Today, Bruce is joined by his son Josh in the business, and they work together to help other photographers succeed through their mentorship program at My Studio Mentor.
Recommended Reading
The Photographer’s MBA
By Sal Cincotta
If you have finally taken the leap with your photography and gone into business, or if you’re considering it, “The Photographer’s MBA” will prove a helpful guide in navigating the often confusing and occasionally frustrating territories of business, marketing, pricing, and contracts.
Photographer Sal Cincotta, who runs a highly successful portrait, senior, and wedding photography business, deftly leads you through “the other 90%” of the job of a photographer
Episode Summary
Here are some of the great topics we talked about during our chat in this episode:
- How Bruce and Josh got started in the photography business…
- Adopting a customer-service based approach…
- Why being the best photographer is not enough to guarantee success…
- Why high-quality service creates loyal clients…
- Branding each of your separate niches separately…
- Dealing with the idea of “local competition”…
- What you’re really competing with at a high level…
- The Hudson’s family portrait business model…
- The importance of the pre-portrait consultation…
- Why selling portraits from an online gallery is not a good idea…
- The important “touch points” with clients…
- The unnecessary mistakes new photographers are making…