Todd Van Fleet, creative director of Photographics (www.drphotographics.com) and (www.303seniors.com), a large, fast-paced studio in Denver, knows that connecting with the customer and offering innovative product and workflow solutions are surefire ways to win and retain clients. Since joining the Photographics team Todd has quickly grown their senior portrait business. Todd explains, “My average senior portrait sales have tripled in the last two years using Darkroom in my studio!” Given the freedom to be innovative, to map out his own route, he has consistently come up with innovative photography that the senior portrait clients love.
SNAPSHOT: TODD VAN FLEET
What is your favorite place to shoot portraits? "My studio. It is an extension of my work and of who I am as a photographer. It's designed so that I have many different options of where to take my portraits: inside, outside, on the roof. I worked really hard to make it creative, different, fun, and artistic."
What's in your gear bag all the time? "Canon and Nikon equipment and pretty much everything under the sun—from homemade reflectors to extra business cards to an iPod, so I can play music for the clients I work with.”
What product increases your productivity or profitability the most? "Any professional portrait photographer needs a high-end digital SLR and creative and abundant light sources. ExpressDigital's Darkroom Pro makes a big difference for me because it's so versatile. Prior to the client sales session I hand pick music to play in the software during their slideshow. We rate the photos together then I present the different packages ExpressDigital enables me to offer. I can retouch, fine tune, add templates, do creative things, offer specialty packages, print out the receipt, then the photos. It's awesome."
What is the best advice you were ever given? "Make customers happy by creating photo sessions that are fun, interactive, happy, and comfortable. Keep them happy by producing the best end products possible. Use your camera to its fullest potential and utilize all the resources at your fingertips."
What business advice can you pass along to others? "Know your customers. Take the time to learn a bit about their personalities. And come to every job with a fresh and creative outlook.”
Todd's enthusiasm plays really well with the kids. To build rapport with his subjects, he suggests they visit the studio before the shoot so they have a chance to meet him, discuss what outfits to bring prior to the shoot, and to see what a free spirit he is. "This way I can find out what the kids are like, get any special backgrounds ready, make a tailored playlists on my iPod, or tell them to bring their own music. We literally have speakers in every working area where I can crank it up."
His most successful images are those that reveal the kids' personalities. "One male student came in with just a couple of outfits, not really knowing what to expect. We talked. I asked him what he was into. He told me he's a drummer in a band so we went out and snagged his drum set out of his car. I quickly helped him set up in front of a backdrop that I built with corrugated metal from Home Depot, put some colored gels on the lights, and blasted some music. Those pictures really captured his spirit. They're the ones his mom bought the most of!"
For another senior shoot, a female student drove up to the studio in her lime-green VW Beetle. Todd flew up two stories to the studio roof and captured a jazzy image looking down on the girl with her wheels.
"I have designed all the marketing materials for our seniors program, including our 303seniors.com website,” says Todd. “Online, we market directly to the kids because they're the ones seeing what's new and edgy, deciding what they like. I also created a myspace page and found a lot of clients through our Seniors Ambassador Program."
Following a photo session, ExpressDigital Darkroom Pro helps him create a photo catalog of the session, keeps track of everything for him, and lets him edit and create special effects quickly. "When customers watch the slideshow, they often have difficulty narrowing down their picks," says Todd. Darkroom offers clients the ability to eliminate images by ranking their photos with 1 to 5 stars, 5 being their favorites. "Once we go through the ranking process and have a manageable number of images, we can design cool, custom products while our clients are sitting there."
In addition to specializing in senior portraiture, and working on other high-end in-studio photography, such as family portraiture and a few commercial projects, Todd develops all the studio's creative
marketing pieces.
"With so many tools at my fingertips and 17 full-time employees to make things happen, I'm able to put my face in front of potential customers as much as possible," says Todd. ExpressDigital technology allows him to provide unique services that often lead to new projects.
The business grows organically because demand is high for quality, customized digital photography. Photographics is about to become a Labtricity lab. Now that peak season for seniors work has passed, the plan is to output work for other photographers.
Todd's ties to ExpressDigital precede his time with Photographics. When a school friend of his from the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design became art director at ExpressDigital in 1997, he arranged an internship for his former classmate. Todd designed templates for Express Digital to sell to customers to use with their software, while earning credit toward his degree.
When J.R. Robert bought Photographics in 2006, he hired Todd, who, by that time was an experienced photographer and creative designer. The rest, as they say, is history.
