Show transcription
[00:00:32] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I am very excited about this conversation with Michelle Harris. if you are listening to the show and you don't know who Michelle is, just check out the show notes, click on that, and you'll learn all about Michelle and,you'll see her link to her website where you can check out her work.
[00:00:49] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: her education and all of that fun stuff. So Michelle, I'm glad to finally get you on the Workflows Photography podcast. and I can't wait to hear all of the insights [00:01:00] that you have to share.
[00:01:00] Michelle Harris: I am really excited. I think everything's in in perfect timing.everything is going well, going really well. I think it's perfect timing that we are doing this now that I've moved in and then settled. So I'm excited to talk about all the things.
[00:01:16] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Well, you know, I have my typical questions that I ask to guests for the full workflows episodes, but I'm gonna throw a little twist in here because you just said something very important that not every photographer has to experience, but when they do, they worry about something, and that is how do you handle. Keeping your business going and keeping the bookings going as the level you need and want when you move. Not, not just a little move, you didn't move from like town to town. You moved
[00:01:49] Michelle Harris: Yeah.
[00:01:51] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: three states away? Something like that. So, so, so how, how did, how are you handling, 'cause you're obviously, you're still handling, [00:02:00] it's only been two weeks.
[00:02:00] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: How are you handling that process?
[00:02:03] Michelle Harris: So I feel like. Other people would be able to do it a little bit more gracefully than I did because I just up and was like, you know what? I'm moving. And so it just has all been like falling into place really quickly though. I, the good thing is I've always been destinations, so it's not like, I've never done a wedding in Atlanta before.
[00:02:22] Michelle Harris: I've been down here, I've done weddings, I know planners, I know makeup artists. I know, like I know people here. so luckily I just, as soon as I announced I was down here, I just put it out there that I was available for second shooting step one, because I'm like, I wanna be able to go to these venues and, you know, meet with planners, people like all the vendors, without having to stress myself out about like, booking weddings right this moment.
[00:02:46] Michelle Harris: but I'm also about to. Announce this big huge sale thing that I'm doing, like this big promotion now that I'm here. and I'm just gonna throw everything at it. So it's not even just like, like I shoot weddings [00:03:00] mainly, but I also do family and I also do bdo. So I'm like, I'm just gonna throw everything out.
[00:03:04] Michelle Harris: Hey, I'm available for this and this, and I'm just gonna keep doing it and then fill up my calendar. But before I did that, I made sure to cross off all the weekends that I would be going back to my original area. In DC so that, one my clients wouldn't have freaking conniptions, thinking that like I'm just dropping off the face of the earth.
[00:03:24] Michelle Harris: But,that way I was able to send them the weekends that I'd be there for, like the fall and the Christmas dates and different stuff like that before even really like announcing that I'm moved so that they didn't freak out. So, but having that in place makes it also easy for me to be like, okay, these are the weekends I'm going back.
[00:03:42] Michelle Harris: and so this is all the time that I have here, so it makes it really easy, for me to separate the two. And then, like, people are always concerned about, oh, well, you know, if I, if I only do these certain dates, like people might not be available, then what? And it's like, then they make themselves [00:04:00] available.
[00:04:00] Michelle Harris: Step one, if they really want the shoe and they appreciate it more when they know that you are, you know, states and states away and, oh, my photographer's flying back so she can do our family session. Like it's not a bad thing. It actually is a good positive thing. So it's just a matter of mindset as well.
[00:04:18] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Showing that you're willing to, to make new travel plans for those who were local to where you were, to get back there for their days.and being, you know, you being flexible, having them be flexible, you know, is definitely a nice benefit to, like a, you know, just showing like how much you care, right?
[00:04:40] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Showing that you're able to, to do what you need to, to, to make sure everybody's happy and.I am, I was not expecting you to say that you were gonna second shoot to others, but for others, but I, I mean, that's a good, it's a good idea to, to start getting a feel for how things work in the new area. so it's very good idea.
[00:04:57] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So, have, have you done a second shoot job[00:05:00]
[00:05:00] Michelle Harris: So I have, I have done two associate shooting jobs though, since I've been here. so it just kind of works out where I'm like, I'm available. Like, oh, well, why don't you just go shoot this for me? And it has worked out that way, but I, I have noticed that people are just kinda like. You'll second shoot.
[00:05:14] Michelle Harris: Like, first of all, like people, do you not understand the joys of second shooting? Like what? I just get to go shoot the guys and then just like, move you on through the day without as much pressure with you. Want me to go shoot details? No problem. You got the family photos. Okay. I'll be back. Like I, I, I love second shooting, so I, I'm all for it and then I, I don't have to edit at all.
[00:05:38] Michelle Harris: Like, I know Imagen makes our lives easier, but it's even easier if you don't have to do it at all.
[00:05:43] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's for sure. That's for sure. Well, so let's talk about, you just, you just mentioned like shooting the family or shooting, you know, detail, photos, things like that.
[00:05:52] What is one thing that you do for the photographic process that has saved you time?
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[00:05:52] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So let's talk about one thing you do during the photographic process. You know, you've got the camera in your hand.
[00:05:58] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: What is one thing you do for the [00:06:00] photographic process that saves you time?
[00:06:02] Michelle Harris: mm Um, like do you mean like during weddings? Like family porches, that type of thing? Or just in general?
[00:06:09] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah, yeah, yeah. In, in the typical work that you do. Yep.
[00:06:14] Michelle Harris: I am, I'm very straightforward just in life as a human, so I make sure that I am very, very organized when it comes to people's names for like, family formals. I don't want, oh, you know, me and my cousins, me, and like the, no, I need to know every single cousin's name. If you, you know the names because you want 'em in the pictures.
[00:06:36] Michelle Harris: If you don't remember the names, they probably don't need to be in there. So I make them, give me a very, very detailed list and I stick to it. Like if, if they wanna add things later or like, you know, freestyle later, they can do that. But I'm gonna do this list first, and that helps me one, combat family members who want to add their own stuff and add their own people in and stuff like that.
[00:06:59] Michelle Harris: Because I'm like, look, [00:07:00] I'm sticking to this list that they gave me. And just run down it. It really makes things go faster by having people's names to call instead of just, you know, bride side of the family and just waiting until they say that everyone's there. And then they realize later that they left somebody at cocktail hour.
[00:07:17] Michelle Harris: and that way I just run right through it. But I mean, also I have a, I have a strategic plan for almost every single part of the wedding day ahead of time. So if I went through everything that I do to, to make things quick, we'd be on here for hours.
[00:07:35] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. It, are you a, 'cause everybody's different when it comes to this. Are you a printed piece of paper for the list of people or are you a type of person or are you a have the list on my phone type of person or on, on an Apple Watch type of person? What's your, go-to for
[00:07:52] Michelle Harris: My GoTo is on my phone, because I make it my, what do you call it, background screen so that I just have to tap [00:08:00] and then I can see it. Because I, I don't even wanna have to, you know, swipe up, hope it sees my face, maybe got type no, like it's right there. So I make the timeline, the, the background for, you know, most of the day.
[00:08:13] Michelle Harris: And then I will make the family list the background for the other parts.
[00:08:20] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Nice. Yeah, I, I started doing that, at trade shows like WPPI and imaging. I started doing that. but like in like a business card form, 'cause I don't have physical business, I mean not many, I don't think it's still super popular to have physical business card. So I started taking my L screen and making it the business card so that people could just take a picture of my lock screen.
[00:08:43] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So I think that's a really good idea to just utilize something that. It's real quick to just, you know, show what you need to for yourself or for others, at any given point. So it's a good idea.
[00:08:55] Michelle Harris: Yeah, and one of the best things Apple ever did was allow you to have multiple background screens [00:09:00] available. Like you can just switch through 'em the day before. You can set up the timeline and the family list long ahead of time.
[00:09:07] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yep. A hundred percent. It's a, this is, that's an, that's a tip that has never come up on the show before. So. that's so good. So good. okay, now one thing I know that you enjoy talking about is business. So what,
[00:09:21] What is one thing that you do for the business that saves you time or money?
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[00:09:21] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: what is one thing you do for the business that either saves you time or money?
[00:09:32] Michelle Harris: Okay, this is gonna sound extremely, sponsored 'cause I still, I still feel
[00:09:37] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: let's not talk about, Imagen 'cause we're gonna get to Imagen
[00:09:40] Michelle Harris: alright. Alright. Alright. So one thing that saves me time, you said, or money? Mm. I think that when it comes to time, the, the number one thing that, that I love. Is that I can set my entire wedding in [00:10:00] different folders to upload at the exact same time on Cloud Spot. that saves a lot of time just being able to just select the folders and they all, it'll like upload the one folder, then go to the next, like, I can just literally just sit my computer there.
[00:10:13] Michelle Harris: And when I tell you that saves me a lot of time because I can do all different other things while that's happening.
[00:10:19] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. And it, and it's organizing it in the same folders on their system so that you don't have to reorder order things. Everything's just done the way that you want it.
[00:10:28] Michelle Harris: Yep. Because what I do is, when I cull everything, I put them in specific folders. So it'll say like, you know, getting ready, whatever, whatever. And it's in those folders. And so then I export them into the folder in those folders. And it just takes those folders and lets them straight into clouds spot.
[00:10:46] Michelle Harris: They're already labeled exactly what they are. They're already in order, and they have exactly what is supposed to be in there, so it works out great.
[00:10:55] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Nice. Yeah. Cool. yeah, that's a, that's a good one as well. so [00:11:00] again, let's, let's try to avoid, Imagen for a little bit 'cause we're gonna get there. But
[00:11:04] What is one thing that you do for editing that has saved you time?
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[00:11:04] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: when it comes to editing, what is one thing that you do for editing? And this could be pre Imagen if you want, something that you do for editing that saves you time,
[00:11:13] Michelle Harris: Something I do for Scott. You're killing me, man. Like, I don't,
[00:11:17] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: for example,
[00:11:19] Michelle Harris: I don't do anything.
[00:11:20] Michelle Harris: are you, Nope. Nope.
[00:11:22] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Are you a tablet type person
[00:11:23] Michelle Harris: I am not.
[00:11:24] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: that?
[00:11:25] Michelle Harris: I'm not. I put my memory cards right in my MacBook Pro and that. That's that. Like I, I don't, and I don't, I'm not a Kelvin person, so like I don't concern myself with the white balance 'cause I don't have to anymore.
[00:11:40] Michelle Harris: I know you want me not to talk about, Imagen like, I don't think you understand how much, like Imagen changed my life, man. I don't worry about none of that. Like before then, like I still didn't do like so much Kelvin, but I was also making my life harder, by not doing that when I didn't have a system to just.
[00:11:58] Michelle Harris: Fix my white violence for me. but I [00:12:00] felt that I, I, I would be fumbling around too much trying to move the Kelvin around. I never got in, like, got into the groove of that, so I just was like, I'll fix it later. I was the queen of, I'll fix it later, and now I personally don't have to,
[00:12:14] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: You were also outsourcing before Imagen, so you were still outsourcing to other, you know, whether it was Yeah. To another company. So,you know, that was, that in itself was, was saving you time even before, Imagen just taking that off your plate so you could focus on the other stuff.
[00:12:29] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: now it's just the turnaround times are better and the consistency is there and all that, all that fun stuff. So,
[00:12:35] Michelle Harris: things are understatements, what you just
[00:12:37] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah. Yeah. We'll get there.
[00:12:40] Michelle Harris: and 30 minutes. They're, we are not the same.
[00:12:43] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yep. Yep. okay, so,you just shot a wedding, right? You've, you've edited the wedding. Everything is good to go.
[00:12:53] What is one thing that you do after a session that has increased business?
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[00:12:53] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Now, what is one thing you do after a session, after a wedding, whether it's a family session or a wedding that has increased business?[00:13:00]
[00:13:02] Michelle Harris: After. Okay. So I don't know that after, the things I do after have increased business, but what I can tell you is what I do during the wedding has absolutely always increased my business for like the last five years I've been doing it straight. which are saying they slideshows and they, like, people don't understand how simple same day slideshows can be.
[00:13:26] Michelle Harris: and it just freaks people out and it stresses them out, but like. As long as you have a solid second shooter where you trust them. 'cause like you gotta do it while you're eating. So like you have to trust them to do things like take care of the speeches or the cake cutting without you just, if it takes that long.
[00:13:44] Michelle Harris: but you can send them out there while you're doing some, like you can just edit 10. It's 15 images and it will blow people's minds. Okay. So doing that, and like, and I don't have like a fancy setup. I don't have like a TV or anything or a projector or [00:14:00] anything. I literally take the same MacBook Pro I'm talking to you on and I put photos into, the photos app in the computer and just have a, a, what do you call it?
[00:14:11] Michelle Harris: What's a slideshow?
[00:14:12] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Slideshow. Mm-Hmm.
[00:14:13] Michelle Harris: literally just going across no music, no fancy transition, just literally just showing the photos and being able to show them those, like at their table while they're eating, blows their minds. Because I, I never warn them. 'cause one, you don't always have time. So I don't try to guarantee it, but like it blows their minds and then I put that over by like a cake or wherever.
[00:14:33] Michelle Harris: Makes sense. and I have a little, a little metal. print is what it's called. Technically it's a metal print, but it has a little stand and it has a picture of me, my logo, and a little QR code that leads them directly to my Instagram. And so by doing that, like the guests and the parents and everybody's like, oh my God, I love this.
[00:14:51] Michelle Harris: They scan my thing and they'll follow me on Instagram. and that is for me the best way to. Make sure I keep engaging with them because [00:15:00] you could send 'em to your website and they're gonna forget and they're not gonna go back and do what. But if they follow on Instagram, they might, you know, get to know you personally, and then they think about you later when someone else gets engaged and that type of thing.
[00:15:13] Michelle Harris: So that has definitely made things easier. And to get more clients
[00:15:19] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: By, you know, by them following you on Instagram. Then you eventually go and you post the photos of the couple from the wedding on Instagram, and you tag the couple.
[00:15:28] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Now your photos are gonna wind up being in their feed at again. You know, you know they're, you're gonna be in their feed the moment that they follow you, but then they're gonna come back into your feed again because you're now tagging their friends.
[00:15:41] Michelle Harris: Right.
[00:15:42] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: it's a big, it's a big win.
[00:15:44] Michelle Harris: Absolutely. 'cause I'm in, not even, just like tagging the collaboration feature is game changing. Like if I'm literally just saying, Hey, I wanna collaborate. 'cause now every time you tag a vendor it's like, Hey, you wanna ask 'em to be a collaborator? And you just say, yeah, whether they [00:16:00] accept it or not, it is fine.
[00:16:01] Michelle Harris: No one's gonna know that they didn't accept it, accept you. So it's not a big deal. But like. The fact that you can collaborate with vendors and the actual couples, it's, it's extremely powerful.
[00:16:18] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. okay, we're gonna get to my favorite part of the show. pick a color.
[00:16:27] Michelle Harris: green.
[00:16:28] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Green. by the way, before I forget, you mentioned same, the slideshows and you use Apple photos. So the TV back here,
[00:16:36] Michelle Harris: Hmm.
[00:16:37] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That's all that is. you probably notice it's looping.
[00:16:40] Michelle Harris: Yeah.
[00:16:40] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That is literally, that is literally an Apple TV on that TV looping that slideshow that's back there. And that's,
[00:16:46] Michelle Harris: so simple.
[00:16:48] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: okay, green, I'm gonna thumb through this and tell me when to stop.
[00:16:52] Michelle Harris: Okay. Hmm. Okay. Stop.
[00:16:58] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Okay. [00:17:00] My next question to you is, ooh, what was the best present you ever received?
[00:17:08] Michelle Harris: Ooh. Ever. Hmm. Wow. I got it. Shouldn't, it? Shouldn't even be that hard. I'm even trying to just think the last time I had, I got a present. Oh.I think the, the best present that I ever is gonna sound like corny and cliche, but, a couple years ago I just wanted to have a pretty basic birthday. like I just wanted to be in my house and, my friends were not having it.
[00:17:40] Michelle Harris: so they, like, they flew. To my house. And so they all came and they all were like, okay, we're all just gonna wear black. And I'm like, but we're not leaving the house. They were like, so, and we were just in my house and we happened to just wear black and we took a whole bunch of photos and just drank and ate and talked about whatever.
[00:17:59] Michelle Harris: And [00:18:00] that, to me was the best gift ever. Like, the fact that they, and they came from like everywhere, like all over the United States to the middle of Virginia. Like it, it was amazing.
[00:18:09] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: that is, that's a good gift to, to, for them to, for them to go a, you know, go above and beyond for a friend. Yeah. And to do exactly what you wanted.
[00:18:19] Michelle Harris: Right, but not let me do it by myself.
[00:18:23] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Love it. I wasn't invited.
[00:18:26] Michelle Harris: Yeah, you were, it was, it was a girls only situation. So don't, don't feel slighted.
[00:18:33] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: No, no. It's all good. It's all good. okay. So, this is a.a juicy part of the conversation. I want you to look from at your business from a 30,000 foot view down.
[00:18:47] Can you share an outlined breakdown of your workflow from lead to delivery?
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[00:18:47] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: can you share an outlined breakdown of your workflow from lead to delivery? And you can do it for weddings. If you want not fan, you can just focus on, on weddings.
[00:18:58] Michelle Harris: Okay. Yeah, that'll make it easy. okay, [00:19:00] so 30 feet. Okay, so step one, most of my ries come from Instagram. So that's just something that I've learned over time. It used to be Facebook and slowly it just transitioned over into Instagram. and then, so I mean, no matter where an inquiry comes from though, I don't care if it's a text message, a phone call, whatever.
[00:19:21] Michelle Harris: I still make every single solitary inquiry go through my website and send a, an inquiry through my contact form. 'cause otherwise it's al there's always something that I. Don't have from a conversation on Instagram or wherever. So I, I forced 'em to go through that. So I have everything in one place.
[00:19:38] Michelle Harris: and then my next thing is either getting them on the phone, unless I was already on the phone, but getting on the phone. I have learned that like my, one of my main love languages is just quality time. And so there are easier, faster ways to. You know, book someone, you don't have to get on the phone.
[00:19:54] Michelle Harris: You can just send 'em a video. You can do this. But like I am still one of those old school people that I wanna talk to people on the phone. I [00:20:00] personally feel that if you, have an issue. And you have something that you want solved. If you pick up the phone and someone actually is talking back to you, that like, you're gonna appreciate that more than anything else.
[00:20:11] Michelle Harris: That's why people are screaming representative like in the phone all day long. So, I do that, I talk to them, I have a conversation, and then I talk to them and ask them what is their, which one of my collections is the best for their day? And so. They tell me which one they think is most likely gonna work.
[00:20:29] Michelle Harris: And I say, okay, well I'm gonna send you a proposal. So I send it via HoneyBook and I give them just a couple days and check back in with them. And once they book. I sent 'em another email that's like, welcome. And here's a link so that you can book another phone call. 'cause the next thing we're gonna do is talk about your engagement session because all of my weddings come with engagement session.
[00:20:51] Michelle Harris: 'cause I, that's a whole nother rabbit hole. I can go down. I'm not, but everyone of my collections has an engagement session and I talk to them [00:21:00] about it on the phone. So I have a guide that I send them after. I don't know if they read it or not, but I know you've heard me tell you the things on the phone.
[00:21:07] Michelle Harris: So we go over like the location, daytime, what to wear of, not to wear all of these things. and then we have the engagement session. After that, I have them pick out their favorites so that I know what they loved. one because if I, oh, excuse me. If I want to, give them something. Like surprise them with something.
[00:21:26] Michelle Harris: I'll know which one, which of the photos they like, but also I know what to recreate on their wedding day, like what poses they liked or didn't like, that type of thing. I noticed that they chose more like black and white versus color, that type of thing as well. And then we have like a, a call like a week, the week of the wedding and shoot the wedding.
[00:21:45] Michelle Harris: And then after, well, since I do the same day slideshow, I always send them the gallery with that in it, that night so they can do whatever they want with it too. I always send a vendor, gallery as well, so I'm always trying to take pictures of vendors. I don't care that they're like, [00:22:00] oh no, I look, I'm still taking them.
[00:22:02] Michelle Harris: Now. What you do with them. It's on you, but I'm still gonna give them to you. because people forget like how incredibly valuable that is, just to have an, an employee or themselves putting up a flower or, bustling a, a gown and things like that.so I always take those, send them that to them as well.
[00:22:21] Michelle Harris: And then I have them pick out their favorite 80 to a hundred images and I, oh, once the gallery's done, because I send it to them via like email with this long email, with all the instructions and what to do and all the things. and then I have them pick out their images and I. Design their album and then I meet with them on Zoom, which is another one of my little touch points.
[00:22:44] Michelle Harris: 'cause I gotta actually talk to you. Yes, I could have sent it via email and they made notes about no, we are gonna go line by line and be like, okay, how's this page look? Do you wanna switch this out? Whatever. And at the end I mail them their, their album and [00:23:00] that's it.
[00:23:01] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Nice. I made note of two questions for you. based on your workflow. first one is, now you mentioned you don't know if they, if your couples follow your, your guide that you send them for the engagement part of the, of the, of the, of the job. but how often, if you had to give a percentage, how often do you find your couples don't follow your what to wear at all versus they're pretty good.
[00:23:29] Michelle Harris: Oh, I mean, 90% of the time they follow it. What I say, because,
[00:23:35] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That's good.
[00:23:36] Michelle Harris: Yeah, it's just a matter of like, I don't know if they also read and like looked at the inspiration and like, I dunno if they did all that. But there, there's, there's one thing that I feel is the most important. No matter what's going on or where we're taking the photos, only one of them can have a pattern on period.
[00:23:55] Michelle Harris: I don't care what else is going on. If someone has a checkered shirt. She has [00:24:00] to have a solid color dress, period. If she has a floral dress, he has to have a solid color, everything. And I mean, tie everything because otherwise it is distracting. Even this exact same color. And I mean this, there are exceptions for like African clothing and things like, that's not what I'm talking about.
[00:24:13] Michelle Harris: But like regular, just dress up clothes. That's like my main number one concern. I don't even care what colors y'all wear together. If you think it looks good, I have at it. But, no patterns.
[00:24:26] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: That's, yeah. Yeah, yeah. the second question I had was, so you use Cloud Spot, and you send your, you send the images to vendors. I know that some of the other gallery solutions out there actually have a vendor option. I was wondering, does Cloud Spot have a specific vendor option as well to create vendor galleries?
[00:24:45] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Or you have, do you have to manually do that, yourself?
[00:24:47] Michelle Harris: I think, I mean, I know I just manually do it. Because I mean, I literally just separate the photos from the same day slideshow with those, and I just put them in separate folders. I don't know if they have a, an option [00:25:00] personally, I'm just so used to doing it how I've been. I haven't even looked.
[00:25:03] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Cool. Yeah, no, I mean, that's a, that's perfectly fine. I mean, these solutions have so many things that, you know, it's hard to keep track as they, as fast as they push,
[00:25:12] Michelle Harris: know. When you make a, a, a gallery, like you can, you can select a, you can select a, like the folders that you include versus not including it.
[00:25:22] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah.
[00:25:23] Michelle Harris: So, I.
[00:25:24] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah.okay.let's talk about AI for a second. obviously you use ai, but you're using AI from Imagen. which is not generative. It's not, creating text content for you. It's, it's none of that. But I am wondering
[00:25:41] What does the future of AI in photography look like to you?
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[00:25:41] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: what does the future of AI in photography, in your photography business look like to you? I,
[00:25:48] Michelle Harris: Hmm. it looks like I'll be using Imagen for the rest of my days. I don't, I don't think there's anything, anything else that like, I feel like I need in order to make, [00:26:00] you know, life easier or faster.
[00:26:03] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Well, are you using any, any additional AI tools outside of Imagen right now in your photography?
[00:26:09] Michelle Harris: I'm not, mm-hmm.
[00:26:11] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Not, no. No Chat j pt or any of those type of things at all?
[00:26:14] Michelle Harris: So chat, GBT was cool when it first came out, and then I think they came out with the one where you gotta pay for it. And then ever since they came out with the one that they've gotta pay for, and I haven't paid for it, I've been like, nevermind. I just read my own caption. So like, no, like I, I just. I don't know.
[00:26:31] Michelle Harris: I'm, I'm not at the point where I'm like, oh, I, I need to get all this information from another source. Like I have always just written my captions and. Made them personal to how I feel and what I wanna get out. And to me that is the, the most genuine way to do it. So like I'm, I haven't been concerned with like, trying to clone myself and have somebody else do this or that, and a third, like, I'm just to the point where I'm like, I'm just gonna be me and I'm gonna post when I can post and I'm not gonna press [00:27:00] myself out about it or like, you know, beat myself over the head and I'm gonna say what I wanna say and that's gonna be as genuine as it as it can be.
[00:27:07] Michelle Harris: So.
[00:27:08] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So let me ask you this. It's, we're recording this mid-June, almost the end of June. I'm not exactly sure when this episode is going out, but it's gonna be time from when Apple announced their, apple Intelligence. They're not calling it artificial intelligence, built into their devices.Does any of that excite you for what's what Apple is, is planning on integrating into their entire ecosystem?
[00:27:31] Michelle Harris: honestly, it doesn't excite me, but it also doesn't, I'm not like, oh, I don't like AI go away either. Like, I'm just kinda like, I mean, if it's helpful, cool, but like I, I almost feel some type of way, even when I Google something right now, because I Google something and Google has their, like Google AI now.
[00:27:47] Michelle Harris: so it just drops it down. It's like, here's like what we found. Most of the time it's right and it's the information I needed. So then I'm like, okay, but. Then that means I'm not clicking on the [00:28:00] links underneath it. So then these people are not getting, you know, their clicks and their, their credit for their information.
[00:28:08] Michelle Harris: So I'm like. That's even gonna eventually, possibly mess up blogs. 'cause like if you're looking up a venue or like, what do people think about it or whatever, it might just say, oh, you know, the average people think this and just like, fill that in. So they may not click and be and see people's photos there, like they still might.
[00:28:25] Michelle Harris: But I'm just saying like, that's the only thing that I'm kinda like, Hmm, how's this working out for you to give me the ai, you know, information And I don't have to click on any of the, the
[00:28:36] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah, I think the, SEO wise, it's gonna be a bit of a, of a shift that a lot of people are going to have to start thinking about with how do I now optimize in a way that I can ensure that the AI will recommend me in the search results? Because, you know, Google does have, you know, click here to visit the source, or how is this result?
[00:28:59] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Was it a thumbs [00:29:00] up, a thumbs down? That's the type of signal that's gonna wind up impacting the SEO. once that sort of comes out of beta and is like officially for everybody in the search results. so it's gonna be a bit of a learning curve for sure, but there still will be a way, people will figure out how do I optimize for the ai?
[00:29:18] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And then that's just another thing we'll have to do, unfortunately. but, but yeah. okay. I know you've been waiting for this moment for the past 20 something minutes.
[00:29:29] How did Imagen impact your life?
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[00:29:29] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: How did Imagen impact your life?
[00:29:33] Michelle Harris: oh my goodness. Okay. So it has changed life in every way, shape or form. the fact that like, not a lot of people know 'cause I don't do a lot of advertising for it, but I also have a, an associate team. Where, I don't have to do a lot of advertising for it because of the way that I've structured the pricing.
[00:29:50] Michelle Harris: So people come to my website and, they go to my contact form or right above my contact form, it says, you know, Michelle starts at 7,000. If this is [00:30:00] not like within your budget. her team starts at three. So like, people who have seven and up are just gonna keep going with, you know, my contact form or whatever.
[00:30:09] Michelle Harris: But if there's people who are like, oh, okay, I only have five, or whatever it is, they go to my associate team. So I am not only editing my weddings, I'm also editing weddings from my associate team and they shoot very different cameras, lenses, all the different things. So, even though I got my style down that to a point where it would be really, really easy to just run through, like with a preset or whatever.
[00:30:33] Michelle Harris: Trying to balance out everybody else's and they're like, when their flash went off, didn't go off, all these different things. it has changed my life because I can just run it through my profile and it just makes it really, really perfect to where I just have to go, maybe tweak a couple things. that and the straightening, like I don't think.
[00:30:54] Michelle Harris: People understand how much straightening has changed my life because I didn't [00:31:00] realize how like a little off I shoot all day long, but like taking a thousand photos and doing this to them, like it adds up. And then the fact that I don't have to do that anymore. It saves me so, so, so much time. especially 'cause like I shoot with Canon R sixes and because I'm so tall most of the time before I got the, the R six, I was like bent over, trying to be like level with whatever I'm shooting or whoever I'm shooting.
[00:31:30] Michelle Harris: And now that I'm just holding it like lower than me and I'm just clicking. It's definitely not level most of the time, so that has absolutely changed my life and saved me a ridiculous amount of time.
[00:31:45] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: not only are you tall, but you like to wear heels. You don't wear heels at weddings, do you?
[00:31:49] Michelle Harris: I do not, I do not wear heels at weddings, at conferences every day, but not at weddings, no. I do, and I always switch shoes. So like I start off with like some cuter shoes, [00:32:00] until the end of the ceremony. And then right after that, the ceremony, I'm putting some sneakers on and rocking out the rest of the, the night.
[00:32:07] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I asked, Chris Denner, his episode is out already. I asked him this question, I'm gonna ask you this question. What's your go-to sneaker the comfortable shoe? When, when you're shooting long days, like weddings and you just need the comfort, what's your go-to?
[00:32:26] Michelle Harris: So, I have a pair of Adidas and they're just all black, but the reason that I like them is they don't have strings. like they have strings, but like, they're just like, are like looped in. I dunno how to explain it. It's kind of like, like a elasticy type of thing. so I can just like slip my foot in.
[00:32:41] Michelle Harris: I don't have to worry about having to tie my shoe at all. I'm just, and they're all just black. Don't nobody pay no attention to them, and I just keep moving.
[00:32:51] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so I'm gonna, Blow your mind right now and I learned something in a TV show or a movie, I can't remember, and [00:33:00] I confirmed it. It's not Adidas, it's Aidas
[00:33:04] Michelle Harris: Ah.
[00:33:05] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: two. It's two words put together. So
[00:33:09] Michelle Harris: Oh my goodness. You know what, it's their fault because it,
[00:33:13] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: it is,
[00:33:14] Michelle Harris: long for to move to have a, a commercial and to let everyone know how to say it correctly. I ain't never heard nobody say Adidas in my whole life.
[00:33:26] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yep,
[00:33:27] Michelle Harris: What is going on? They didn't want people to know that.
[00:33:31] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah, our entire childhood, both of our childhoods are now changed forever.
[00:33:35] Michelle Harris: That's insane. Aida. Wow.
[00:33:39] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yep.
[00:33:40] Michelle Harris: And I'm
[00:33:40] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Michelle, I'm, yeah. Thank you so much for hopping in and, and joining me. especially, you know, as you're, you've just moved and there's a lot of chaos that comes with the move, so I really appreciate it. where can listeners learn more about you? Connect with you and of course, see your incredible photography.
[00:33:59] Michelle Harris: The [00:34:00] number one place to find me all the time is Instagram at MHarris_Studios. No matter what I have going on and other sites and other this and other that. Instagram is where you can find the information.
[00:34:12] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Awesome. Thank you so much. again, I know there's so much good, fantastic takeaways from this episode and I can't wait for everybody to hear it.
[00:34:20] Michelle Harris: I'm glad. Thank you for having me.
[00:34:22]
