Emotional High School Senior Photo & Video Sessions with Mary Vance

58 === ​[00:00:00] Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Mary Vance, we are, in two different areas, both with beautiful days and, we're gonna be digging into your, your workflows today, and I'm really excited about it. How you doing? Mary Vance: Oh, I'm doing great. Scott. Like you said, it's a beautiful day outside and yeah, we've been having a little bit of dicey weather, haven't been able to get out and, Behind my camera quite as much as I would like to. but I'm looking forward to it. 'cause the weather's, you know, perking up now and be behind my camera, outside, do some stuff. yeah, that's kind of what I live for. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: so, so for those who, don't know who you are yet, can you share what you photograph? Mary Vance: yeah, I, I, primarily photograph high school seniors. there's always a little bit of confusion, you know, for friends who are listening who maybe aren't from the United States. So I always add that high school in there because if I just say I photograph [00:01:00] seniors, then sometimes people think I'm talking about, you know, like pensioners or octogenarian, and. And it's not, I photograph 17 and 18 year olds. I love working for teen with teenagers. and also I do a lot of advocacy work, around inclusion for the, subjects, you know, and the clients that I represent, inclusive of neurodiversity. gender inclusion, LGBTQIA plus, as well as, body inclusivity. And so I do a lot of, of education and speaking around, you know, like differently abled kids and how we can support them and come along, you know, and, come along beside them in this milestone, moment in their life. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Awesome. High School Senior Photography Approach --- Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Now, I just want to differentiate because here in the US high school seniors, right, there's different, situations and that photographers have, there's either like the really high volume where you're just doing an entire school in a day or whatever it might be. Or there's, the individual where like the parents might be hiring you for one-on-one sessions with their kids. Which [00:02:00] side of that are you sitting in? Mary Vance: The second, definitely the, the parent or the student, hires me. I'm all outdoor, all natural light. So we will go, you know, out into the world. and it's really meant to be, more of a lifestyle view. I. As opposed to, you know, a, a high volume view that you would get with school photography? I offer school photography and, I've done that, oh gosh, probably for a decade as well. I do fine art school photography, but that again is, you know, is a backdrop in a school and you're moving through a lot of kids. So, for my seniors, the. The real heart-centered piece of that for me is the actually getting to know them. Right? And if you, if you've just got two or three minutes in front of the camera, you know, as, as you're going through a large volume, that has its place and it's beautiful. It even has its own place in my business. But for my seniors and the work that I, want to do with them, I really want to have a lot more connected time. And so, yeah, so my shoots are anywhere. From [00:03:00] 45 minutes to two hours, depending, and then if you add video in there, it can get up, you know, three, three and a half hours as well for like a full feature film, you know, or something like that. So yeah, I Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I'm excited to, to dig into all that, to, to dig into all that. I know we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna get to some video talk later as well, which is really exciting. now this is a good segue into the first thing that is going very well in your, in your high school senior business, being, knowing that it is either the, the, the, the student or the parent that's booking you. Let's talk about that because I know that's an area that's been working well for you. Can you dig into that process? Booking Process and Client Management --- Mary Vance: Yeah, I have a really seamless process for booking clients. and it came out of honestly a number of years of trial and error. I think when we all start, we kind of want to do that. Back and forth, you know, and, and it's, well, you know, you'll email them and you'll say, well, when's good for you? [00:04:00] Oh, okay, well I have something, you know, my kids got the dentist on that day, or whatever. And so from the beginning I kind of, I would get like frustrated, you know, with the back and forth of booking me and when are you actually available? But at the same point, I wanted to make sure that I was keeping those sessions that were really connected and had a lot of time. So I couldn't. Offload, you know, or, or hand it over to the parents to be like, oh, just get, you know, like whenever you want. And I couldn't throw a full open calendar because we're outdoors and I'm using all natural light. So you know that somebody would come and schedule you at like noon on a Tuesday, you know? And so, so yeah, trial and error over a couple years at first, and I really honed my process down. So I, I use Squarespace, which is who's my website provider, and I use them to, I use their commerce feature to completely book my client from the beginning. I [00:05:00] release my schedule in March of the year, and then I don't start photographing seniors until about midway through July. and so my busy season runs from mid July until the end of October. And, um. yeah. So I released my calendar in March, and I don't have to send any emails back and forth. They can pick their date. They fill out all of their intake information. They fill out their disclaimers, they fill out their model release, they pay their deposit before I've ever seen them. I have honestly everything. So they fill out this one form, they see which days are available, they pick their date. All my stuff and then I'm just ready to see them when, there's a questionnaire on there. Yeah. I get, I collect everything in that one transaction. So from March, you know, whatever. Usually mid-March sometime, so let's just say March 15th, when I release my calendar until, until July or August or September when I see them, I don't really have to do anything. With [00:06:00] the clients that are booked, it's like they see my availability and they come in and then they're ready. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Workflow Optimization with Squarespace --- Scott Wyden Kivowitz: It's interesting, so it's so common for photographers to utilize a tool like Calendly or, or their CRM, a Sprout Studio, a Tave, an Iris Works one of those that, that has a scheduler built in as well. and it's not often you hear of somebody using Squarespace for that same task. And I'm wondering is that that's a built in feature of Squarespace. that, do you have to like, go digging to find it or is it just like a regularly available feature? If you're in like the commerce plan Mary Vance: Yeah, this is, it's funny, I actually spoke, four Squarespace for Circle Day because I took two of their products that they didn't intend to be used in the way that they were used, but they were there. I'm already paying for my website and also. The, the fewer number of clicks off of and away from my website that I can get [00:07:00] the better client retention you have, right? Like we've seen the data, you know, I'm sure where, you know, people have seen the data where it's like, okay, if you have to go from here and then you have to go to this other site and then you have to create an account over here and fill out something to add a form, and you know, like every single step away from that initial. Inquiry that you get, you have client drop off and I didn't want that. And so it's the commerce feature. And then, so within my website, I had a business website, so I already had commerce built in, so use the commerce feature and then I use, forms. So they have forms on there where you can go through and I can collect all the information that I need without having to move it to a separate CRM. Right. they can sign their disclaimers. They can pay their deposit. Because I'm using commerce, right? I can showcase my work. I can have my availability just posted at the top flag. Click here to book now, you know, and I can have all the back links within my website. Super easy. [00:08:00] And then I also use their email campaigns. And I set up automations. So as soon as someone, pays their deposit and secures their date, of course they're gonna get a receipt that's automatically sent from commerce. But then I have an email automation that's set up that says, okay, you know, in 15 minutes, send them my client guide. And guess where my client guide is right back on my website. So I'm keeping that traffic continually just generated throughout my website. They're not clicking off or going anywhere else. And then, and then they have their client guide. They have all of the information there that's right at their fingertips. I send reminder emails and so I can set those up in automations as well. I can say, okay, you know, a month after. Someone purchases this product, I want you to send them this email. Right. You know, or six weeks after they do that, I want you to send them this. And so, it's highly customizable and really, honestly, really effective. So they feel like I'm constantly, you know, communicating them. Because you book me in March, right? [00:09:00] And maybe you don't see me until September. That's a long time to go, you know? And so just by setting up the automations, then I'm, I'm in contact with them so they know like. I didn't just pay a deposit and she's gonna, is she gonna show up? Is she not? You know, so I have all of that set up and then it just, it makes it so that I don't have to do anything with that booked senior until the week before the photo shoot. And then I'll send them a, a, a, an email and I'll say, oh, hey, I saw that on your form you selected a, a waterfront location. Here are three great waterfront locations in your area. You know, what's your choice? And then they'll choose and then, and then I say, okay, I'll meet you here at this time. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So are you, you're effectively using Squarespace as your CRM, and I'm wondering, are you also connecting it to A-A-C-R-M of sorts? To also manage the business in the backend. That doesn't live on your site. There's no wrong, there's no wrong way about it, [00:10:00] of course, because you could, there's so many different methods you could do with anything. But I'm just wondering, it's so common for photographers to use CRMs and you're, you're doing it, but you're not using a traditional one, which is so interesting.is, you using one. Or are you managing it? A hundred percent from Squarespace. Mary Vance: a hundred percent from Squarespace on the front end. Then the back end I transfer over to my gallery provider, which is ShootProof, right? And so I don't need a, so I know a lot of people who will have website and gallery provider, right? You know, whoever that is and a CRM. And so I take that, I take that additional CRM step out. and, and honestly, it's one less thing that I have to pay for. It's one less thing that I have to manage, one less platform that I have to figure out and go into. And I realized a long time ago, the more time that I can spend behind a camera, the more money that I'll make as opposed to [00:11:00] behind a computer. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah, Mary Vance: Right. So, so what I do is I'll transfer over. Now, if you, if you had a volume of like. I don't know. A hundred, 200, 250 right. Seniors. Now what I am talking about, I do, you know, I'll, I don't double book on a single day, right? And I only work x number of days a week. I never work on weekends, with my senior clients because it always gets just too crowded in the parks and stuff like that. And also, I like my weekends. I want to have time with my family, you know, as well. And so, I book them during the week and then, sometime probably around last week of June, first week of July, which I'm usually already sold out by that time for the whole season. all the spaces that I have, I, I go in and I just move all that. You just download a spreadsheet, copy and paste, put it right into Squarespace. I generate the final invoices there. Not Squarespace, [00:12:00] it's shoot proof. I'd move it all to shoot proof, generate final invoices there. I go ahead and generate their galleries. So galleries are set up and they're ready for me to drop photos into just as soon as I need to. and then, yeah, they can pay their balance, right there that's due like a week before their session. And, it's pretty seamless. I don't do, like I said, I don't do that volume, so I'm not 150, you know, 200 seniors. I'm closer to 40 to 50. But that 40 to 50 is really, it's just a really tight process. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. When you send it to ShootProof, are you using, you're going directly through their website using a Lightroom plugin. How, what's that, look like for you? Mary Vance: for galleries there is, there's a desktop uploader. I think there's a Lightroom plugin as well. usually I, what I have done in the past actually, and this is, this is like, I'm like, okay, this one is probably not like. Super efficient workflow wise, but it works for me is that I, I pay my kid $25 to sit down. I [00:13:00] pay my kid $25 to sit down for about 30 minutes and just, just put their things and I'm like, okay, add their contact here, generate their invoice and do this. And they do 1, 2, 3, and they do that in shoot proof. So it's all already set up for me. and it's, you know, like I said, it's, it is a couple of clicks that they just do in copy pasta. I'm, there probably is a more elegant or tech savvy way to do it. but I. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: hopefully, hopefully in the. Now or the future 'cause we're recording this way before this episode airs, so you never know. But hopefully at some point, and if we're lucky now Imagen has integration with ShootProof and we can go right from your final edits and Imagen straight to ShootProof and that'll save you even more time. So we'll see what happens. Um, Mary Vance: okay, so.is there anything else in your workflow that you would wanna share that's been working really well beyond Squarespace? and, and [00:14:00] that that sort of, you know, part of the business, whether it's, whether it's, something that's going really well in like, when you're behind the camera, right? Scott Wyden Kivowitz: It doesn't have to be the business specific, but like, for example, you're, you're photographing. during the week as you said, which in itself is a really nice workflow 'cause it does give you that, your weekend time to spend with family and or do nothing, which is always nice. I mean, maybe that's it. Unless there's, there's, unless there's something else might, that might, you know, be coming the top of your mind right now that, that, is going well. Editing Workflow and Imagen Integration --- Mary Vance: Electric, yeah, my editing workflow, you know, has, has moved, you know, obviously has decreased, since I onboarded, Imagen in, I don't know, it was either 2022 or 2023. and the thing about that that I. It was just, honestly, it was just the best timing ever. the, like the universe or something, just, just pulled it right The same year that I onboarded Imagen. my, one of my kiddos had [00:15:00] like some health problems and so smack and I mean smack in the middle of my busy season where I'm doing. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, you know, Thursday, Friday, Wednesday I'm doing at least four, four sessions a week and right. And you're just clicking through those really, really quickly, especially when you're in the middle of your busy season. And right in the middle of that, I had to take off four weeks. I. Four weeks in a busy season. That's only a couple of months anyway, to be with and care for my kiddo. And the only way that I could get all of those seniors photos, I delivered, not a single one, past my, window that I tell them when they sign up for me, past my editing window. And that was because I would come, I came home from every session. I would import. I would call them immediately and then I could just send them off and they would come back. And it was just, it was so much easier for me to take the time to be with my kiddo while they were recovering, you know, from, from their major surgery. And, and that honestly, [00:16:00] I was like, man, that was one of those workflows that I was like, if I hadn't set this up ahead of time. I would've been like, back to like when you're, you know, brand new photographer and you're just sitting there editing until the wee hours of the night, you know, or if it's when you first just become like a hobbyist, you know, or whatever, and you have like your day job and then you're trying to make this photography thing work. And if I hadn't had that workflow set up, at that point, oh my gosh. So that's something that's, that goes really well. And now I'm like, well. You know, now that I don't have, you know, hopefully don't have any more family medical leave, you know, drastic family medical leave that we have to, adjust sessions for right now. I can just take more sessions, right? Because I have the time in my, you know, in my, in my workflow and in my day. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah, so a couple things on that. One is, not that we ever wish to have anybody get sick or have some sort of health issue and whatnot, but knowing that Imagen's able to [00:17:00] help with your business during that time. It's one of the things that makes us so happy that we're able to produce a quality product. You know, it's like you, you, you hate hearing the stories, but you love hearing the stories 'cause it motivates you to, to do it even better. and it, it, as you're saying it, it reminds me of a very early episode of the show that I recommend everybody I listen to with Hannah Hall.I think it was like episode four or five. It was, it was a while back and she was in a car accident and almost lost her arm. and the only thing that enabled her to. You know, deliver all of her sessions while she was laying, you know, in bed after multiple surgeries was setting up her profile with Imagen and knocking 'em all out through Imagen. so, and that was a while ago, and it's come a long way, long way since then. so it's a, it's a beautiful thing that we're able to, to play a small role in helping your business while you're going through a lot, a lot of tough times with your, you know, with your [00:18:00] kiddo. So, Mary Vance: yeah. Yeah. And, and then it continue, like I said, it continues to serve you moving forward, right? Because you, you either get to work less. Right. Or you get to take more sessions and increase your profits. Right. So it really is setting up, you know, making sure you have your workflow set up. It's, it's crucial. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: The other thing that it made me think about is you are living out east, right? Mary Vance: Yes, yes. I Scott Wyden Kivowitz: You were living out west for a little, Mary Vance: I was, I was in Seattle for almost 15 years. Yeah. Yeah. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: you've, you've gone through, a pretty major physical move from West coast back to East Coast, Mary Vance: Yes. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: and your business is still running. You're, you're still booking, you are still editing and delivering and, and again, this is all part of having a solid workflow in place, being able to make that possible. Hybrid Photography and Videography --- Scott Wyden Kivowitz: So, now I want, I want to shift gears a little bit because you are, [00:19:00] I, I love the word hot, the term hybrid, right? You are a photographer, but you also do video work. Can you share, before we dive into what is, an area we you're struggling and working on, can you share a little bit about how that fits in your business? The, the combination. Mary Vance: Yeah. So, you know, some people will use the word hybrid when they talk about,using. In photography, digital and film, right? And they'll say I'm a hybrid photographer. So, just to be very clear, what I'm talking about is, is doing still photography, and also videography that's attached and doing them within the exact same session. so very few people offer video, for. Very few people offer video to begin with. I think, the last time I checked the, the statistic at one of the, one of the larger conferences that, you know, that we go to, it was something like only 32% of people who have the, of photographers who have the capability to offer video within their business [00:20:00] do. Right? And so automatic, if you just looked at what, you know, whatever you call your competition in your area. Right. And you say, okay, I can get ahead of, you know, that fast, 68% of them by offering video. I have the tools to do it. Why wouldn't you? Right? So I, I tell people, I'm like, look, if you can offer video, especially if you can offer it in that exact same session where you're already there, and that's what I call a hybrid session. Maximizing Profits with Hybrid Photography --- Mary Vance: So photograph, photography, stills, and then video as well during the same session. it adds very little overhead. To, you know, to my time invested, you know, in my workflow with them. And then, but it has a potential to like three extra profits from a single session. so I love it. I love doing it. Incorporating Video into Senior Sessions --- Mary Vance: with seniors, this looks like, Filming, you know, several times it'll be like, okay, I'll put him in a pose. You know? And I love to have movement in poses anyway, so we'll be doing, you know, movement in a pose or something. I'll photograph it with [00:21:00] stills and flick over to video. And then I video, I say, okay, do it again. And they do it again. And we video the same piece. I add an interview in as well. So the finished product looks like, honestly, a very heartfelt glimpse into who this senior is. And so we talk in the interview about. You know, I want them to be, you know, kind of nostalgic, looking backwards, you know, and saying like, oh, this is, these are the steps that got me to this m step, milestone moment, right? All the steps that got me to this milestone moment. And then I also want them to, to be dreamy, you know, to start projecting like, what are, okay, where, where might you be going, you know, in the future? And so we do that through the interview. we transpose the, all the be real and, and all the interview footage and, and then we kind of weave this storytelling narrative of who this child is at this, you know, point in their development, where they're right on the precipice of becoming an adult, kind of what their hopes and dreams are. And then deliver that final product to a parent [00:22:00] and, you know, I mean, oh my gosh. Like I get teary watching them. So I can't even Imagen Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Mary Vance: what moms think, you know, when they, when they see the final product. But yeah, that's how I incorporate video into my senior workflow. Technical Aspects of Shooting Video --- Mary Vance: when you're, when you flip it to video, so I, I shoot with Nikon Z Z seven two, and Nikon zf.or for those not in the US a Nikon Z. and so when you switch it to video, Mm-hmm. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: I know with my cameras, if I hit the shutter button, it's capturing a JPEG for me. So I still get a still out of Mary Vance: Yeah, you can. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Do you do that with your, on when you're shooting video, when you flipped out to video, are you now still capturing stills, which is basically just taking a, a, a frame out of the, you know, frames per second from the, from the camera, but it's something still on the fly. You may not be raw, but you, you're getting that still at while getting the JP while getting the video. Is that something you do? Mary Vance: I don't, I don't hit the shutter while [00:23:00] I'm in video mode. my, your settings persist on my cameras as well. so I'm on, I'm on two, I have two Nikons Z seven twos. I've always been an NIK icon, photographer, but, especially when I made the shift and went to their muralists, it was just like the. Geez, the auto focus and, and especially for someone who offers video. At the same session, right? I need to be able to, to flick back and forth, but so your settings persist. So whatever you had your settings for, for your photography and whatever you have your settings for, for your video, they'll, there's a setting where you can make sure that, you know, like, like if I flip over to video and my settings are different, right? Because obviously like. You know, you don't have to worry about shutter speed in the same way for a video that you do for a photo because your shutter's not, you know, it's not actually opening and closing, right? It just opens and it stays open. so, you know, sometimes you'll have like mildly different settings and they persist. So if I'm in that lighting situation and I want to flip back over to photo, you know, to catch something, then I am capturing that photo in raw and then I flip over to video [00:24:00] and I'm capturing the high res video file. In terms of JPEGs, so I don't edit in jpeg. I don't deliver all my stills, so pulling a JPEG in the moment is, I mean, I guess I could, and I know a lot of people say, they're like, oh, I'm really worried that I'm gonna miss, like, like that great photo moment, but my camera has, is, is such a high, resolution anyway, that the video files that I'm taking. I can pull a JPEG in post. Right. And, you know, as a senior photographer, I also am not having to blow something up till billboard size. Right. You know, and even, even a jpeg pulled. From like a 4K video, right? Like it's gonna, you know, I could make something really big from it. So if I need, if I'm like, oh, I really want that second as a still, then I'll pull it from the video file later. Usually, instead of interrupting the video to take a,to take a [00:25:00] still Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. Now, so, so I photograph a lot of surprise proposals here in New Jersey and I offer video. I actually add it as a value add for mine because I don't, I don't, I don't flip it to video mode on my Nikon bodies. Instead, I'm attaching a GoPro. To the camera, and I have a, Insta 360, 1 of those little magnet ones that go to go on in my chest. and so I actually have that going for every proposal session just as a, Hey, I also captured a video of this for you. I'm not going through a full long, you know, editing process to make it more of a story. I, I'm just producing this for you. I'm gonna throw some music on it. That way you can relive it on video with video, along with the stills that I'm, that you're paying for. and that's worked out very well. So in a way, I'm also [00:26:00] hybrid photo video, but also, but also not,I don't, I, I, I trust my skills with, with still work.I don't trust myself yet flipping back and forth. Mary Vance: Yeah. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: To, to, to know that I'll produce the quality I wanna produce, that I would wanna produce if I was, if I was doing it, that approach. plus in a proposal, you're, you have very little time Mary Vance: Very little time. It's like you've got the moment and that's it. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: yeah. Yeah. So, so having the GoPro on top of, of, of the main camera and then having another action cam just attached to my body just going, has worked out very well. Mary Vance: sound would be the other thing that I, right. Like, that would be really difficult with video, with a proposal and maybe, you know, like, like, let's, let's find, let's ask this question of one of our, you know, wedding videographers or something like that. You know, somebody else is out there because Right, like, like having a microphone. Strategy, Scott Wyden Kivowitz: [00:27:00] Yeah. Mary Vance: to whomever is doing the proposing, right? Like, well, that's a dead giveaway right there, you know, and, and so how do you get that, that quality sound of the conversation, you know? And yeah, Scott Wyden Kivowitz: if you were doing it where you're actually truly flipping back and forth in your camera, miking it up would, would, would be valuable, but also very difficult. the way, the approach that I take, I don't even worry about the conversation. Like I don't want it, me as the photographer, I'm staying away, a far back. I actually don't want to hear what they're saying. It's not, it's not my. Mary Vance: It's not for Scott Wyden Kivowitz: not my concern, right? Yeah. It's not for me. So, for me it's just document. And in the video, if you hear it, great. If I'm close enough at that point and you hear it, great. Otherwise it's just, I'm just throwing music on it and just making it enjoyable, you know? so they have that memory. But, so you're doing a lot of video work alongside these stills as you just explained. What area of the video work has [00:28:00] been a struggle that you're hoping to, or, or actively working on? Bettering. Mary Vance: Yeah, so. Outsourcing Video Editing --- Mary Vance: A, a huge game changer for me in being able to offer these, the way that I do offer these was having, is having, an editor that I outsource to video editing for me. what I found over time is that I was being entirely too precious about it, right? Like down to the millisecond cuts, you know, and stuff. And it, it just eats up entirely too much of my time in order for it to be. really value from a, or valuable from a profit, from a profitability, kind of standpoint. So I decided to outsource my editing. I love outsourcing my editing, of the video in terms of the, the piece that they really deliver really well on is the compilation. Right? put it together, right? I, I give very. Specific instructions about, about how I want the flow and the storytelling. Right. And I'll say, [00:29:00] oh, you know, this kid talked about like how awesome his mom is. Like, can we put that near the end with the, you know, with the clips of him hugging his mom Right. Or, or whatever that might be. So the knocking it together, right, the timeline of it, my editors do a really great job with the piece that is. Challenges in Color Grading --- Mary Vance: Trickier, that has been trickier for a while is making sure that the way that I edit my photography and my stills, translates to the video. and especially in the color grading, color grading and video is done in a different way, because you're not just, you're not just correcting color at one point in time. you're correcting over time and sometimes that can be over a gradient, right? So like if we shift and we move from, the, the water, the river where they are, and we shift and we, you know, go towards the trees in that same clip and I want to be able to use the same clip, but I'm looking at drastically [00:30:00] different color balance, right? In terms of what are these greens doing over here, you know, and what is this? And so color grading has been the, the other area, making sure that. My video matches the color grading on my photography, and I'm like, oh, that, that's been one area that I'm like, I would like to have that process buttoned down a little bit better because my editors are great knocking it together. But the color grading, they don't have like a, they don't have a Mary Vance profile, you know, on that, or a, I haven't created a LUT yet, and I probably should, but yeah. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: And so, so you are, you are, when you flip it to your camera to video, it is recording in, in, log. Mary Vance: no, no, I'm not recording in log. I, but I do share, well, no, I'm not recording in log. I don't know if it's, it's, I don't know if it's MP4 or, actually, I don't remember what the raw version of my, thing is. It's just whatever the highest. highest? I, I, well, no, I actually might not Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Are you doing [00:31:00] like the, the, the Nikon like neutral profile, so that way at least it's like flat, there's no, Like, Nikon's, not choosing your, your, your saturation and your contrast and stuff. Mary Vance: Oh, oh, oh, no. I, that I do keep neutral. and then, and, and also Kelvin for, For color. And that will save you so much because even if, even if you're Kelvin, even if your white balance is off a lot, and that honestly like white balance is most of what I would do work with when I say color grading. Right. And you can, you can get a lot more in depth. and you know, like I've, I've learned how to go into all the models and you know, like really work with and, and fine tweak, but white balance is the biggest thing. And so that's a game changer too for people who are doing video is. If they're not already shooting in Kelvin, which I do for my photography and my video, but, you have to, you have to do it in Kelvin, or in something that is consistent for your video because, you know, if you put on an auto, and again, you make that shift, then the camera's going [00:32:00] to, like, they'll, they'll change the white balance on you. And so it's better to have it, even if it's off. It's better to have it consistently off. Then you can go in and you can say, okay, for this entire clip, I need you to change. Right. As opposed to trying to keep up with it again, anytime you're trying to add correct color or white balance over time, it's a nightmare. So, so yeah. The Role of AI in Photography and Video --- Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Could you see, ai, like all the, over the, over the, the past, you know, four years I'd Imagen it has existed. AI in the photography space has. Grown immensely, evolved immensely, gotten so much smarter, more accurate, et cetera. Could you see a lot of that porting over to video? And if so, what, what would you envision that kind of looking like? to, as far as how it pertains to your business? Mary Vance: So from a u, from a user perspective, right, and not knowing and understanding the capabilities of ai, I [00:33:00] think most all of us are just in awe. You know when when we say, we're like, wow, that did that. there are, there are details and values that I would assume that an AI can, can scan through, right? That would, that could happen in the snap of a finger as opposed to me sitting there and trying to zoom in, zoom in, zoom in and be like, okay, I found this, this pixel is the perfect gray. Let me try to, you know, track this through, through, throughout the, you know, the duration of the clip. Right? So for me, I would say that I, I think color grading with ai. In video, especially color grading to match what my photography profile is gonna look like. That would just be like game changer for me and I'd be able to just like color grade the clips. Actually, that would be super helpful too, if I could color grade the clips before I sent them to my editor to knock it together. So then I know that their project that they're knocking together is all already, like it's already in my style and I don't have to say. Could you kind of go back and fix the [00:34:00] greens on this, they look neon, you know, or, or whatever. And, and that honestly, I think would make it that much faster for my editors. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Do you think that the way that you send your, your clips to your editor and explain your, the story, what kind, what you want from the story, do you think that's something that AI could also replicate? At some point, or do you think that it's, it changes from client to client too much for AI to get to truly understand? Mary Vance: ai? I think it depends. Yes, I think that AI would be capable of doing that, right? I, I honestly like, like what everybody's first, first experience is, you know, it's like a chat GPT, right? And so I've gone in and I've trained custom GPTs to sound like me, right? So I send them a body of my work. I send them blog posts and emails and, you know, and things like this. And I made one that sounds like it quite literally comes from Mary Vance's photography, right? so this is how I've communicated with all [00:35:00] of my, all of my clients. I think that anything that you can, template like that, I think that AI can help with. and I also think that the more consistency you have within your work, then the easier it is for AI to replicate it. So, this is not for high school senior videos, but for brand videos. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Mm-hmm. Mary Vance: I have a very set process for brand videos. that is a scripting process that I learned from,Patrice Puler. I don't know if you know her or not. She, she used to be a, today show, producer and and I took her video mastermind, course a long time ago. For the script writing side of things, and that is a beautiful process. But before, before I, you know, push a shutter or press record or anything, I already have the entire script for what this. Video is gonna look like laid out. And so, you know, generating those scripts, I think AI could help with the generation for the script. [00:36:00] And, and it could be something where, you know, for each individual business, you know, you pull from that client intake questionnaire and they say, I want my business to feel this, this, and this. Cool. And so it's like, write me a script that's gonna be 90 seconds long, which is, you know, like, I don't know, it's like a hundred. I don't, 150 words is a minute. Maybe, I'm not sure. I don't remember off the top of my head, but, you know, you can say this many words, write me a script for this. Right? And then I have that output to just send to my editor. And it's that much easier, you know, to say, this is the storyline, here's the order that I want, you know, the voiceover or, you know, the interview footage to go. So, could be, could be really cool. Yeah, Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Yeah. AI is a, it really is a beautiful thing when, when utilized correctly, Mary Vance: yeah, yeah. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: it really is. It Mary Vance: I like it. I, for me, the correct utilization of it is when it's based off of my own work and my own creativity. Right. And so it's, you know, like we always, any anybody who's [00:37:00] in business, entrepreneurial or anything, you know, that what's the first thing they always say, I wish I could just clone myself. Right? And it's like, well. You're not cloning yourself, but you are like, you're taking all of your own original thoughts, your own original, you know, artwork, if it's photography or your own videos, you know, and you're using that and then you're putting it in and saying, okay, do it the way that I did it. And AI's like, yes ma'am. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Gotcha. Mary Vance: Gotcha. And then they do. And so that for me is the, is the piece of it that's so beautiful. Is the, the being based on my own work and, and being able to, to consistently deliver that. So, yeah. Final Thoughts and Contact Information --- Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Amazing. Mary Vance, This has been, such a fantastic conversation. I, I love that we got to explore this. you know, I spoke to, someone that you know very well, Elena Blair, not too long ago. and she, she specifically talked about the, the volume schoolwork that she does, the fine art schoolwork, and I'm so glad that we're able to talk about[00:38:00] your, your side of this, that that's your, your favorite. and you get to do these stories and incorporate video into it. It's just a, it's a, it's, it's, it's so fun to, to talk about this and I'm glad that you're able to come on and share all this with us and share what's working, what's not working, and what you're hoping to, to improve. And, and, Hopefully a Imagen can help with all of it, Mary Vance: Oh yeah. No, you know, you know, Scott, any day that I get to talk to you and any day that I get to talk about Imagen is actually a really good day for me. I tell people all the time, I'm like, I will shout it from the rooftops because of the amount of time that, that I've have saved and the amount of people that I've been able to serve as a result of that time saved. So, yeah, it's, for me, it was a game changer. Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Amazing. can you, one final thing. Can you please share where listeners can learn more about you, connect with you and of course, see your beautiful photography. Mary Vance: Yeah. So my website is my name [00:39:00] MaryVance.com. most of my socials are the same. Mary Vance, or Mary Vance photography. please reach out to me, send me a DM if you have any questions. you can email me [email protected]. yeah, and I, but I really, I love to hear from people, you know. if anything about, if you have questions about my workflow, you know, and stuff like that, I'm happy to, to point, you know, kind of in some directions and some Right, right, right ways. So, yeah, Scott Wyden Kivowitz: Amazing. Thank you very much. Mary Vance: you're very welcome. ​