I would like to see more on creative designs for business conversion. What type of design adds money to the bottom line, rather than just looking good.
Halogen design

I would love cr8.lv to host a workshop for the photographer starting a professional photography business. Topics to include: building a portfolio, determining your target market, finding clients, creating a pricing structure and its evolution through the building of the business, determining product offerings, legal and business issues including invoicing, contracts, insurance, establishing a budget and business plan, timelines for implementation, copyright, logos, website and blogs, etc. The cr8.lv workshops are amazing for developing skills but I feel they are a bit geared towards the person who is already established rather than the person that is trying to get into the industry and build a business.

Stock Photography is something I'm interested in. Can you make a living doing it? Do you have to specialize? How do you break into it? A lot of info on the web is discouraging regarding getting into it.

I wish I was qualified to teach it, but I think a seminar about websites for photographers is very important. So many of the presenters have Flash websites, some are a little tacky. A beautiful and accessible website is so valuable. In this mobile age, people want to check out websites on their phones and those fancy Flash portfolio sites don't usually show up at all. Thanks for reading my suggestion :)

Something I'd like to see would be how to leverage networking to improve your photography and find inspiration. I'm quite shy and find the whote process intimidating.

I would love to hear experts who can guide us through basic post processing, color management & inkjet printing.

- It's like, now I have the pictures, so what's next?

I would love to see workshops on Interiors and Architectural Photography, please ;) Thank you for all you do for us.

I would love to see workshops by Sarah Petty- Joy of MArketing and Ana Brandt- TAoPAN - each would be fabulous!!

workshops with David Hobby or Joe McNally would be great.

I would love to see a film workshop. Jose Villa, Jen HUang, Ozzy Garcia , Tara lampart to name a few

I would love a workshop on commercial kids photography. It seems impossible to find information out there on it. I would love to have someone discuss how to break into the business, building a portfolio, if you need an agent and how to get one, working with clients & models, etc.

I would love to see any of these photographers do the workshop:
Rachel Devine
Shannon Sewell
Ericka McConnell
Nicole Hill Gerulat
Stephanie Rausser

I also second the "fusion" workshop too! That would be wonderful!

I would love to see a workshop on Architectural Photography. (Interiors and exteriors)

I'm watching Christa Meola's workshop and I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed. What I think a lot of people would like is to see a workshop teaching how to shoot plus sized women boudoir style. Its easy to shoot slim models, but it takes a lot of skill and tricks to shoot a plus sized gal for her to look great on photos.

With respect to setting up a business:
* Legal: Articles of incorporation etc, Contracts, Agreements
* Financial: Setting up Tax IDs, etc. Subcontracting to second shooters (or becoming one yourself) and using 1099s. Setting up initial capital investment, how to record that and get it back (should I rent my personal gear to the business or write off the gear as purchased by the business and hence have it at risk when someone goes after my business?). Getting a paycheck from the business. Taxes (sales tax, state and federal laws and best resources).
Insurance: all questions by DigitalMitchell below..

I would like to see a class on starting a business. While it has been briefly touched on in many classes it would be nice to have a more in depth workshop on it. What are the different types of business models, how to you set them up, ways to get backing, what you need to look for in renting space, the correct type/amount of insurance, marketing etc. This could go beyond even photography on some levels and be about setting up any creative small business (crafts, printing, writing).

Maybe James Russell would be nice to see about fashion photography and building a name in one big company.
Or another idea, it would be interesting to see two different photographers who has different styles critiquing same photos from internet or audiences.

We really would like a course on the Legal and Insurance aspects of the Photography business. So often when you ask a question the answer you get starts with: "I am not a lawyer..."

Could you find a lawyer and an insurance agent who specializes in photography issues? I think a lot of us don't know what we don't know on these two topics and they are very important ones at that. Too often it is not until it is too late that we find out what we "should have done."

Topics:

What contracts and when to use them.
What we can and can't photograph.
Where we can photograph.
What are our rights when confronted by security guards/police?
How to avoid litigation.

What should we insure.
What riders should we consider.
What one time policies are worthwhile.
What agencies are photographer friendly/knowledgeable?
Amount of insurance needed.
Insurance on things we rent.

I would think just one day for each or probably half a day would work to educate us so that we can talk effectively to our local lawyers and agents.

I do realize that every local laws and regulations are different, but giving us examples will get us to think and be able to ask the right questions at least.

Hope this helps.

Dawn & Michael Mitchell
www.DigitalMitchell.com

Marketing, pricing, coops or not, and travel ... Could be a series