Lessons

Lesson Info

The Power of Weekly Social Content

showing consistency. So we talked about this idea a lot, but going back to how a video is 90% of all online traffic, I decided when I heard that really struck me. And I said, I really need to start just getting video content out there. Yeah, a couple of behind the scenes videos here and there are great, but I really wanted Teoh have something that was weekly inconsistent. So I came up with this idea for wanderlust. Wednesday is worth 1000 words Wednesday at all These W's like big obliteration. And I thought, How cool would it be if every Wednesday I do like a mini video, so low budget I do in my living room? I do a video that just talks about one image. It could be how I shot the image. It could be what I was thinking about what was going on when I took it something interesting because I thought, God, you know, pictures are worth 1000 words. They're worth more than that sometimes. And when I'm going through my travel library, I always find myself stopping and be like, Oh my gosh, Well,...

this time I was here and then this was going on in. Oh, my gosh, there's always like a story behind it. But if someone just saw this image of my website, I have no idea what the story was to take that. And I thought, That's such a missing integral part. So what I dio So I decided to do one photo week and again, it's so important. Have consistency. But this also gave me away. Teoh have to build a very large video library. I think now I'm up to, like, 80 episodes or something. I just started those. And so if someone go, I created a a wanderlust YouTube channel. So all of us can right now if you don't already have a YouTube channel that you create and just start posting videos to it. I wanted to have a theme behind it. Have a story, have a consistent video, and it's funny because a lot of these videos have helped me with being a host or being a TV personality for another travel site. It's given me a lot more travel content that's then drawn more traffic to my blog's and my websites, and it's a good way to show me on camera. So if they are wanting me to go travel for their brand and talk about it, they can see how I am on camera. It's just a really good way to get Mawr. Google drive herbal contents in myself. So I'm just gonna show you an example of one of my wonder list ones. It is way. Have you wondered Wednesday, everyone, he's worth 1000 words. Wednesday is an image that I took in Jaipur, India, and it's one of the floating like palaces. And what was so cool was I was trying to figure out a way to shoot it differently because a 1,000, people stand on the edge of the lake and shoot a 1,000, types of photos of the same like palace every day. And my favorite time of day to shoot is twilight because you get that perfectly 10 15 minutes for the skies like this amazing blue color and all of the tungsten lights or any kind of candle light or fire light or anything is like the exact exposure of the twilight and get it in that sweet spot there in 10 minutes, all matches and looks really perfectly lit, so I was there to cry like they just lit up the whole Lake Palace light and I was ready to shoot. Shooting was missing like I need something in the foreground of this picture. And I saw this little boy and his family like lighting a fire, and they're really poor family on the edge of Lake in their kind of cook their dinner. And so I ran over there and decided to frame the little boy in the fire in the foreground really callous and was one of my favorite images because it just all perfectly matched. It was like that sweet moment and sweet time of day, and everything kind of works out videos like that. Like I said, I think I like 80 or something. If you guys want to go to my wanderlust YouTube channel Wonder list by LG, you can see a bunch of them. Sometimes I give tips. Sometimes I'm just telling like this crazy avalanche happened, and by So it's funny that the whole reason behind doing it was also the tell its story. But it was it was just to get more dry verbal content. I wanted to put more videos out there somehow. And I'm not some crazy cinematographer. So I when I did that, I started, you know, obviously the starting better and better produced. And now I'm starting to want to actually do it in the studio and produce it a little better. I found that there's a block called Gala Vance and with an E at the end, and they're kind of a luxury travel blood and they do it like a luxury concierge service. And they saw those videos and they said, Would you be willing to start doing video content for us while you're on your travels and just get on camera for us? I'm gonna be like I'm here writing for Caliban, Travel a lot and then showcase it because they, too, are realizing as a brand that they wanted to start doing a lot and implementing a lot more video into their content. So having those videos has has given me a little bit more clout in in terms of being able to do that kind of stuff for other brands, and it's open the doors to a lot of opportunities. And speaking of Gallivan, going back, they're a really great resource. They do a lot of luxury travel this kind of a good sit for you guys to They do a lot of luxury travel, but they were finding that they are kind of missing a voice like they didn't like that and they didn't like that. It was so kind of highbrow that every you know, article that was being written for them was like views of the top five spas you must go visit. And, uh, they were missing sort of this element of being out in in the thick of it and traveling and doing more adventurous stuff. So she was like, Oh, my gosh, well, would you be willing to write more like down to Earth adventure travel for us? So I started writing for them, and I find that that's sort of a knish that's like that people were needing. Right now, they're needing somebody that's on the ground giving really, really cool tips on adventure travel. I think a lot of people are just kind of over the top 10 this or that, whatever. And that's a great way to formulate some died digestible articles. But I think writing opinion pieces about obscure places or really putting your flavor on a story and getting more deep into adventure. Travel stuff is sort of, Ah, I find that there's a big market for that, and we'll get more into that kind of stuff tomorrow. But like I said, it opened the doors and opportunities for me during these little video clips to host and be more of a media personality and Teoh to really help out in a line with other brands. One of the also, If you go to my honor list YouTube channel, there is some really funny videos in there, too. While I was traveling, there is one that is showing your personality. We're not going to show this video because it's a little long, but this one It was a funny story where we called it DP dubbed 90 Destination Photographer Workout. And sometimes it's fun just to do a video, to be silly like, honestly, there's not like a reason other than that. And we were just joking about how, like we never have time to go a step foot in a gym were traveling so much and doing all this. So we took our photo equipment. We went to the T call pyramids in Guatemala and literally did a full workout video using our lenses and her cameras, like as a total joke. And we It's really funny video, but it was just It was kind of truthful because all of us were like, I honestly think I have our muscles from, like lifting my lens and stuff. And so we decided Teoh do a spoof on that and, like, do dips on the pyramids and and use our camera equipment. And sometimes we just do simply videos just to get just to have fun and get content out there. So don't be. It doesn't always have to be so serious and so focused on branding when you're when you're doing videos and going finally in the video before I open up to more. Are there any questions? By the way, uh, for me again. Like I said, I was so fearful about adding video, and it's in Oliver cameras. It's in our cell phones. It's like don't fear this free tool that you have. I feel that everyone should embrace all their free tools like I just started Snapchat. By the way, it's Laura Greer travel. I don't know what I'm doing on this thing. Okay? Like I was like fighting it forever like, No, I'm not gonna join Snapchat and and now I have. And it's just like that's how it was a digital and then blog's on video in the Instagram. And then it's going to continue on on and on for the rest of our lives. Honestly, as long as you're doing any type of media or photography, if you want to stay relevant, you have to do it. And why not use the free tools that you have to help get yourself a more global audience? That was what I finally decided with video. What am I doing? Why am I fighting this? It's on the back of my camera. It's on. My cell phone is everywhere, and you might as well be using it. So that is my thought on video. We have a few questions from the Internet here, Um, so somebody saying that they love the idea of doing a video, But this card, the super smart, how often do you create new videos? How often are you cranking the about? You know, I not consistent about my behind the scenes videos air usually happening as I'm doing cool shoots. But now now I'm doing more consistent. Video is actually diving in a little bit instead, Tamar. But it's travel. Brands, like I said, are using video now a lot more. And so it's maybe rethink how I'm doing it, and I'm having to create them a lot more, and they're doing the editing themselves. So instead of producing, he's like, produced and edited shoots. I'm doing a lot more like video clips of me talking or where I am and just submitting the's raw clips to travel, stock and or other websites that then they repurpose it for themselves. So that's happening a lot more. But insider travel I don't if you guys know insider travel, they literally reposted one of my video clips of me, like floating in a mud volcano in Colombia with with Winston with my boyfriend. I just did like a funny video. I did it on a wonder less Wednesday, actually, and I just posted a video, get to climb up in this 50 foot volcano and then climb back into it and then you're floating and it's almost like the dead sea. Were the mud so deep you can't sink and you're floating in and the people inside the volcano like massaging you and then you feel like climb back out and go down to a local river. And these local women are are scrubbing you down and cleaning years like this whole experience. And I just did a little clip of it for my one or less Wednesday. Insider travel found it reached out to me was like, We're doing a whole piece on this to to move the too, too moo mud volcano. Can we use this? And they have over a 1,000, followers. And so they're like scouring the Internet on YouTube on instagram. They're looking for video clips to cut into their own pieces that they're putting out all the time, and it can only help you get a following or align yourself. And so when I wrote back to the girl, I said, Well, I've got tons of video footage from random places, like, if you want to just tell me like things that you're looking for, I can look through my archive and help you out, And so I kind of answer, I wasn't just like here. Use the video. I was like awesome. But in addition to that, I can offer you X, Y and Z and I started a relationship with insider travel to give them video content. And now I'm like purple, keeping that in the back of my head when I'm traveling and making sure, um, shooting these little clips for them And I'm just creating more content along those lines as well. Chris wants to know what you're shooting your weekly wonder, lest videos your intro videos with Are you on an IPhone or Oh, no, I'm doing that. I'm doing that on my five d mark three. I literally set it up in a on a tripod in my living room, and I've been doing it that way. I have a little extended microphone on top of it that I bought external microphone and just doing it simply with natural light in my living room. Uh, we now got carpeting, ticket out and hardwood floors and a little bit echoey, and there's I might have to like, make some adjustments or go use a studio. But honestly, as long as you finding places, good lighting and good sounds, that's all you need to do. Those and taking that a step further. Paul wants to know. Did it take you a long time to feel comfortable in front of the camera? I think a lot of people maybe aren't. It's not a natural thing, Teoh. Put yourself in front of the camera on Good point. Yeah, you got That's a very good point. I'm so awkward in front of the camera. In general, I think doing these videos and and over time seeing myself on video has helped me be better on camera, for sure. I think it's a great tip of I've never had any training and then you have a broadcasting or anything like that. But I think getting over my fear and talking about more and seeing myself I've been able Teoh make adjustments. The other thing, too, is I don't know. I do weird like things that my t rex arms, I call it. I don't know why I said, sometimes I'm just like hold my hands. They don't do weird things, you know, like there's things like that, Really, Why do I do that? Um but I also with that it helps and I can look at it. And with the wonder list Wednesday videos. What's so great is that I don't want to create more work for me That's done weekly, so I will shoot, you know, 15 of them at once. They're just 32nd clips. I just run in my closet, put it on a different outfit, run back out, do the same thing. So we pick the pictures, you know, in advance. And then I'm done for, like, a few months. I really only film those every couple months, and then I have them to set off and we have it just, like, ready to go and slated to run every Wednesday. So I'm gonna keep going with it. And the questions Beatrice is asking. Actually, we've had this couple of this question a couple of times. How do you figure out how much to charge for all of your stories? Photos and video? Do you have some guidelines for people who are just starting out and we can do ballpark weaken Dio Oh my God, I recommend it's honestly, it's customized for every job, like some jobs, air trade, some jobs, air paid. It depends on what their license and your images. Sometimes I'll do a trade with the Board of Tourism for exchange for travel. But then they will, like, purchase and relicensed images like right now in the poster child for South Dakota travel. I don't know. I was like a picture of me and the edge of the Badlands and out of all the pictures that I shot for them, they chose one of the Sophie that I did like on the edge of the Badlands. And it's literally their poster, like Visit South Dakota and it's like me on the edge of a thing. But and they license that for their billboards have been paid me for it. So I ended up, you know, kind of licensing back those images. It depends. The beauty is most press writers. We kind of have an advantage, right? If you can write an your photographer, you're at an advantage because, ah, lot of writers just do everything for trade and for press. And they don't really make much money, but they get all the perks. They get all the free stuff in the jobs and the obstacles. We as photographers get paid a lot better, and we're offering like a riel substances that we're offering them photos that they would pay a lot more for, like an advertising photographer, someone to come in and Dio. So not only can you come in and give them press, but you could offer these amazing images that they can use for marketing, so I feel like if you were giving them and we'll talk more about this tomorrow. But if you're creating like yourself as a media package, then you can start charging, especially if you have a good following on social media. And if you have all these things that you can offer, that's all part of your package. You can say to my 12,000 followers on Instagram to the five million people that are gonna read Huffington Post to the whatever it is, I can offer you all these things and I will take these pictures. But if you want to own these pictures for your marketing, it will cost X Y Z, and so I usually set it up that way, and it's kind of a nice they'll agree to it because they're like, Well, just wait to see your pictures until will pay for them and then once they see the pictures are like we want them and then they'll pay for it. So it just depends on on what you're doing. And I structure it differently for every job. You know, There I Heston's. I have one more from the Internet, So, um, kind of shifting gears a little bit, but it really you know, the supplies, everything that we're talking about. How do you handle model or property releases for published content? So can you touch on that again? I know we mentioned it earlier, but, uh, so I have been doing I'm represented by Robert Harting in the UK, and so they have provided me with really standard releases that they used. Honestly, I I only need to use model releases that the people are recognizable in the photos and same thing with property releases. Uh, like what's funny is that a lot of times you don't need property releases. I needed a properly property release for the inside of that Baroque library, but a lot of things where it's recognizable, like you've got the Taj Mahal in the background or whatever, it's not that important. If it's a public place like that, you usually don't need a property released and a lot of times that still, let's say you have an amazing photo, but you don't have a property relief. Sometimes it doesn't matter for certain types of stock, like for certain online publications, it doesn't matter. So it really just depends as as I'm submitting semi stock agency. I just right whether or not it's released and who it is. And it doesn't mean that it's it's completely out of the game if you don't have a property release, but for private places, you do need that.